all of these elements of urban intrusion were not repulsive to art though : he was essentially a city boy at heart , having spent almost his entire life in a conurbation of some description : the countryside for him was not the pure , uncharted wilderness of the scottish highlands or the miles of unspoiled mountains in the english lake district ; for art , countryside constituted almost any green strip that was wider than his own back garden , and if this just so happened to run alongside a motorway , then so be it .