London Underground Station Paintings

 I have sketched every London Underground Station, but so far have only painted a few. These are:-

Maida Vale Underground Station SOLD

This is my first painting of a London Underground Station. It's one of my more successful ink and watercolour paintings. I made it, then just left t lying around for a year or so, then was surprised when it sold at first time of asking.

Between this first painting, and the second, I sketched every station on both the London Underground and Overground networks. So when the 2021 June 30x3 watercolour challenge came around in June, it occurred to me to have a go at painting Northfields station, which was one of the 2 closest tube stations to my childhood home. 

Northfields Station Piccadilly Line
SOLD

I belong to a Facebook group for people of the Borough where I grew up where I posted this picture because I thought people might be interested - not trying to sell it. I immediately recevied an offer for it, and a commission to paint two more stations : - 

Sudbury Hill Station SOLD

Greenford Station SOLD

Well, well, thought I, there's a turn up. I used these last 2 as 2 more of my 30 watercolours, and I have to admit that when inspiration failed me a couple of days later, I decided that stations were a subject I could do worse then returning to. Here's the next: - 

Park Royal Station SOLD

This is Park Royal Station. It too is in my home borough, and it's another direct watercolour. It too sold.

Chiswick Park

This is one of my favourite stations in my home borough - Turnham Green on the District Line. It shows off the exuberance of architect Charles Holden's style. 

Acton Town Station

This one is Acton Town on the District and Piccadilly Lines, and its in a more typical Charles Holden Style. 

Kilburn Park Station

This is another of my favourite stations. This was not designed by Leslie Green, although it does resemble the stations designed by Leslie Green, with its glazed ox-blood faience tiles. This was designed by Green's assistant, Stanley Heaps. 

Earl's Court District Line Platform

I really wanted to do a 'platform picture' and I thoroughly enjoyed making this one. Mind you, it took hours to do! 

Hammersmith Station - Hammersmith and City Line - SOLD

Hammersmith actually has two completely separate stations. The District and Piccadilly station is just a bland entrance through a shopping mall. This wasn't exactly a commission, but it was in response to an enquiry through eBay. 

Perivale Station SOLD

This one was designed by Australian Brian Lewis, one time chief architect for the Great Western Railway. Construction began in 1938, but was halted due to the Second World War. The project was overseen after the war by FCC Curtis who made a few changes to the original design, quite possibly due to a lack of funds for building. Perivale station is unmistakeable - no other station on the network is of a similar design. 

Hounslow West c. 1955

Every now and then, if you're lucky, you will paint a picture, step back when you've finished it, and say - "For me, that's really good!" I love this painting - the buses absolutely make it. Hounslow West was designed by my man Charles Holden, and it is one of only 2 statios to have an heptagoal booking hall (Ealing Common is the other)

Rayner's Lane

This is a more typical Charles Holden Station - you can see the similarities to Northfields and Sudbury Hill above. However, I think Rayner's Lane is a particularly good one. 

Southgate Station c. 1940

This on the other hand is a very atypical Charles Holden station. Ladies and gentlemen, the aliens have landed. Or at the very least, a UFO has landed. What a design! Allegedly the spire on top was inspired (boom boom) by the static electricity collectors in the 1932 Frankenstein film. This is a stunning work of the imagination, and one of my favourite stations anywhere, anytime, anyplace. 

Hounslow East

Just to prove that I'm not just into old stations, this is a child of the 21st century, and I think it's absolutely stunning. 

In the summer of 2023 I made some direct watercolour paintings of trains in station platforms. The first was for the 30 x 30 Direct Watercolour Challenge -

Old Train at Southgate
SOLD

And the other 2 were made just for fun :-

Both of these were listed on eBay. It's not the only reason I painted them, but I'll be honest, I would like to make some money from them to top up the holiday fund.

So, as I said, I was interested in trying to make a little eBay cash, so I checked out what the competition were doing. One of the things that had not previously occurred to me was making very cheap A6 original miniatures. I was interested to see just how popular these seem to be. So I cut up a sheet of A4 into 4 and dashed off these four

Yes, if you can't beat them . . .