Friday 24 February 2012

Painting over the Thames

I'm working on aerial paintings of the Thames now, based on photos taken on the helicopter ride with Neil Pinkett last summer. I'm really feeling the amazing history of these sites as I'm painting them, how much the architecture use has changed while the old river has kept plodding by. Back in the first half of last century this was a bustling port with hundreds of wharfes bringing in cargo from all over the world, with thousands of dockyard cranes working away day and night. By the 60s and early 70s this had all but died out, and the beautiful warehouse buildings were demolished or converted into very expensive apartments. Now much of the riverbank has been converted to soul-less money making apartment blocks and the river is little used. A reflection of changing times and fortunes.

Reading this you might think I don't like London, but its not that at all - in a lot of ways I'm just more attracted to its past than its present.

45x45cm acrylic on board


45x45cm ,acrylic on board (HMS Belfast)


Andre Derain -the pool of London 1908.


Pool of London 1930

This was a painting I found in a 2nd hand shop, of a BOAC airliner flying over 50s/60s London with all the old wharfes in use.

Frank Mason - the tower of London, 1938


HMS Belfast with the Shard shadow.

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