Postcards available from The Old Royal Naval College shop

The following postcards are available from The Old Royal Naval College shop...

Business as Usual, Nevada Street.

Greenwich Peninsula.

Red Tug Passing St Pauls.

St Pauls from Bankside.

Tower Bridge from Cherry Garden Pier.

A Life's Journey...continued from blogpost 18th October

This blog continues an earlier post showing some of my post war, 1950's & 60's work...

Lamplight Scene, 1948 Indian ink & watercolour. NFS.

Our Gang, 1948 Indian ink, pen and wash. NFS.

The Arrest, 1947 Indian ink & watercolour. NFS.

A Wagon Load of Ale, 1949. Private collection.

Unloading Casks, Cherry Garden Pier, 1949. Indian ink & watercolour. Private collection. The wharves near Cherry Garden Pier stored a great variety of cereals, nuts and sugar barley. As a child I would wait for the dockers to go for lunch and receive for my patience a handful of barley sugar. The shoreline was my playground but so many children were drowned The London County Council distributed a poster; 'Keep Death Off The River'. This work is my earliest riverside painting, now in a private collection. I have made a 'cartoon' of this and am considering making as a stained glass panel. 

Tea Time at Carrons Wharf, 1948. Poster colour, crayon and Indian ink. Private collection. A docker pauses for a mug of tea while children play hoop-la in the middle distance. The pointed shape above his cap probably refers to the steeple of St Marys Church Rotherhithe. Life in London appeared very grim to me, a culture shock after the freedom and tranquility of Devon where I was evacuated to as a child. In 1946 I started as a Junior at Camberwell School of Art and then things started to look up.

Unloading Cereals, near Cherry Garden Pier, 1950s. Ink wash and watercolour. Private collection.

A Strike Gathers Strength

'On The Call' Surrey Docks, 1957. Indian ink wash drawing. NFS.

Two for the Barge, Bermondsey Wall, 1960. 

Unloading Bales of Jute. Indian ink. NFS

Surrey Docks Studies 1960's. NFS.

Morning Mist, Deptford Creek.

I have just finished this painting which was made from a sketch I drew in 1949 and came across recently in an old notebook.The vibrant colours of the blue ship sung out in the morning mist.

Morning Mist, Deptford Creek. Oil on canvas, approx 76cm x 89cm. £1250.  

Ballast Quay

I was recently invited to do a recording for the oral histories page of the Ballast Quay website. Ballast Quay, in Greenwich is well known for its riverside walks and The Cutty Sark Pub but this website provides a fascinating insight into the background history, industry and characters of the area.

Five paintings are featured on my oral history page;

  Thames panorama from The Victoria Deep Water Terminal - sold.

Steel for Canary Wharf. Oil on canvas, approx 71cm x 60cm. £900. 

The Last Ship From Anchor Iron Wharf - sold.

The John Mackay Cable Layer. Watercolour & gouache on paper, approx 84cm x 55cm £550. 

Greenwich Peninsula from Ballast Quay. Oil on panel, approx 140cm x 94cm. £1800. 

Also available as a postcard from The Old Royal Naval College Shop.

The Millinery Works Gallery presents 'New To Us'.

I am very excited to take be taking part in the 2016 exhibition of 'New To Us'; '13 important artists, new to The Millinery Works'. The following 5 works will be on show;

Ships Mate at Granite Wharf. Oil on canvas. 46cm x 56cm. £1500 - sold.

Welders at Pipers Wharf. 47cm x 38cm. £1200.

Two Tugs Passing St Pauls. Oil on panel 48cm x 61cm. £1500.

The City from Waterloo. Oil on Canvas. 65 x 95cm. £2500.

Two Barges off Pipers Wharf . Oil on Canvas 35 x 45cm. £1250. 

These works were painted over 3 decades when the river trade was beginning to dramatically change.

The exhibition runs from 4th February to 28th February 2016 at The Millinery Works Gallery, 87 Southgate Road, Islington, London, N1 3JS UK. Opening hours: Tuesday through Saturday 11am - 6pm, Sunday 12 - 5pm. For more information and to view the fantastic on line catalogue please click here.

A Life's Journey...

In 1945 I returned to London from a carefree childhood as an evacuee in Devon. The resulting culture clash gave rise to my first serious works depicting scenes from war-torn Bermondsey. These were mainly black and white pen and ink drawings on paper and were the first works I made on entering Camberwell School of Art in 1946. These continued throughout my 14th and 15th years.

Also at that time I started to paint the River Thames in watercolours. Since most of the male members of my family worked on the river and living just 2 streets away from the busy Bermondsey Wharves, this was a natural progression. My new city life both fascinated and repelled me but art school supplied the outlet I needed to express these feelings.

'Night Watchman' 1948. 24 x 20". Oil on panel.

Warming his hands over a coke burning brazier a night watchman guards valuable building materials by the Surrey Canal. Whilst much repairing of bombed buildings continued throughout the post war period, night watchmen were a common sight. Painted at the age of 15 while still in the Junior Department of Camberwell School of Art this was my earliest attempt in oils of a riverside subject. It was stolen from a gallery and is the feature of an earlier blog post here and here.

Unloading Casks, Rotherhithe. 14x12" Indian Ink and Watercolour 1947. Private Collection.

The wharves near Cherry Garden Pier stored a great variety of cereals, nuts and Sugar Barley. As a child I would wait for the dockers to go for lunch and receive for my patience a handful of Barley. The shoreline here was my playground, but so many children were drowned the London County Council distributed a poster; 'Keep Death off the River'. The work is my earliest riverside painting in watercolour and Indian Ink. Now in a private collection.

To be continued....

Blackheath Art Society Autumn Exhibition 2015

Yes it's nearly here our Autumn show. A fantastic opportunity to buy artworks as unique Christmas gifts or just a gift for yourself! A great variety of styles and subjects awaits you at The Paul McPherson Gallery, 77 Lassell Street, Greenwich SE10 9BJ. The exhibition starts 20th October and finishes 30th October. Monday to Friday 12 - 5pm and 10am - 2.30pm Saturdays. We hope you can make it.

The Sailing Barge 'Jock' at Ballast Quay. Oil on panel 14.75" x 14.75". £285

Ballast Quay in Greenwich was a favourite stopping point for sailing barges and small craft as The Cutty Sark public house was adjacent!