Hooper’s paintings show the architecture of Leeds, particularly the brick and stone houses of the suburbs to the north-west of the city. The artist is not drawn to grand buildings, nor to scenes of urban decay: Hooper wants to directly show the beauty and individuality of the built landscapes around us, the places where we live. They go walking daily, taking photos, and making notes. At home they then select, crop, and print these photos in black-and-white. From these Hooper makes drawings in watercolour to develop ideas for colour and composition before painting.

For painting, Hooper uses water-mixable oils on canvas or board, working horizontally on a table with fluid paint. Hooper makes a series of paintings of a particular subject, and they work, they revisit it, taking more photos, and making more drawings, in an iterative process. Colour is central to the work: Hooper aims for an emotional atmosphere that mirrors the character of the subject rather than imitating its visual appearance.