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| Wendover Signal Box |
This is a far less gaudy building than the ice cream kiosk, yet just as beautiful in its own way. After all, if a signal box were to be built today, what would it be? Answer - a featureless concrete, or possibly brick box, with little or nothing to draw the eye. Heaven knows, they didn't get everything right back in the past, but you have to admire the eye for small detail that would create such a pleasing functional building, even though most people would only ever see it as they were flashing past on a train. This has the most dramatic sky that I'd attempted up to this point. Again, I haven't sold it up to the time of writing, and if you're interested, contact me at londinius@yahoo.co.uk
Now, I was born and brought up in London. I've lived in Port Talbot, South Wales for about 3 decades, my wife and my kids are Welsh. However, I also have Scottish roots, and I tend to think that to a large part Scottish architecture is a well kept secret. For example, when you think of Glasgow, architecture probably isn't one of the first things to come to mind, yet it has some wonderful, wonderful buildings, both old and modern. Edinburgh, to be fair, is a lot more valued for the quality of its buildings. However, it's the street furniture that really interested me, which is why I painted this Edinburgh Police Box
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| Police Information Box - Edinburgh Grassmarket |
Now, your first thought may well be - TARDIS! Look again though. This is a very different shape from the TARDIS police boxes which were once a common sight throughout other cities and towns in the UK. Edinburgh had the foresight to keep a significant number of it's own distinctively shaped boxes, even though, as you can see from the painting, they're not necessarily all kept in pristine condition. Possibly the best things about this painting are the buildings and the red phone box in the background. I really like street scenes, and I think you can maybe get an idea of this from the background.
This painting has been sold since.
As I said, I was born and brought up in London, and London is not short on its own interesting little booths and boxes. I was taking part in a charity event in London in September, and I took the photographs which I used for reference when I made this painting.
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| Tollbooth - South side of Albert Bridge, London |
I have thing about bridges, in particular bridges over the Thames in central London. So the toll booths at either end of the Albert Bridge were a natural choice for me to paint.The Albert Bridge is a stunning, wedding cake of a confection of a bridge - it was designed by Joseph Bazalgette, the man Londoners have to thank for their life saving system of sewers, Bazalgette also designed the stately Hammersmith Bridge. It's something of an experimental painting for me. I was far more bold with the cloudy sky, and I had not tried painting water before. I really rather like the slightly off kilter bridge on the left. This one is available, and if you are interested then contact me at londinius@yahoo.co.uk.
Update - This painting has since been sold
After Blackpool Pier - well, at least the kiosk, it was a natural thing to paint the southern pretender to Blackpool's crown, Brighton.
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| Deckchairs and Brighton Pier |
This was experimental in as much as I painted it on canvas paper rather than canvas board. I found it harder to work on this than on the boards which I've used for most of my paintings. I think the pier itself is nicely painted, and I like it's slightly misty, ghostly quality, contrasting with the bold, simplistic depiction of the deck chairs on the promenade. Available for sale - email me at londinius@yahoo.co.uk
Update - this -painting has since been sold
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