London Underground Paintings

It's easy for me to say that I love the London Underground, because I don't actually live in London any more, and because I don't have to use it on a regular basis. Well, that is true, but it doesn't obscure the fact that I do have very fond feelings towards the Underground. For me, my earliest memories of the tube are walking to Northfields or Boston Manor Station with my mum and my two brothers. The tube was a wonderous thing that took us to interesting places. Then, when I grew older, the tube was what took me uptown to sample the delights of the big city. It was also a way of getting home from Uni for a weekend. When I met my wife, the tube was where we'd say goodnight as she went off to the family she was working for at the end of the central line. So yes, my view of the Underground is hopelessly romanticised, and that's just the way that it is, and probably always will be.

At the end of 2019 and into 2020 I set myself the target of sketching all 270 London Underground stations. I finished them just before the first national lockdown in Wales. Some of them aren't too bad, but compared to my other sketches a lot of them are very 'sketchy' for want of a better word. In the summer of 2020 I also sketched all of the London Overground Stations, and then a few weeks ago I embarked on a project of sketching every DLR station as well. 

AS part of this year's 30x30 Direct Watercolour challenge in June I painted Northfields station, a pleasant experience which led to a commission to paint two others. I also painted a few other stations. I enjoyed that so much, and these seemed to go down so well that I've embarked on a series of watercolours of stations I like. Here's the ones I've painted this week: - 

Kilburn Park Station

Earls Court Station

Hammersmith (Hammersmith and City Line) Station SOLD

Perivale Station SOLD

I've used photographs of these. The photographs do make them look a bit dark, but they show off the colour better than the scans. For some reason my scanner doesn't make a great reproduction of watercolour.