Painting for Churchill was more than the art of creating or a pastime, to him it was a form of therapy, a tonic, the importance of which he shared in his essays 'Hobbies' and 'Painting as a Pastime' which were first published in the Strand Magazine in 1921/22.

In 1948 Churchill finally agreed to the publication of these essays as a book, entitled Painting as a Pastime, along with colour reproductions of 18 of his paintings. 25,000 copies were published as a first edition by Odhams Press Limited and such was its popularity that five additional printings followed, and in 1950, 20,000 copies were published in the first US edition.

"We cannot aspire to masterpieces. We may content ourselves with a joy ride in a paint-box." - Winston Churchill, Painting as a Pastime