In the autumn of 2014 I started working at Canary Wharf. Straight away I was inspired to keep sketchbooks recording, mainly in ink, my working day. Utilising those sketches, memory and imagination I built a portfolio of oil paintings about the area.
Working in that way enabled me to continue evolving the loose brushwork style which I have developed over the last twenty years. This brushwork, along with a saturated palette and somewhat awkward compositions leads to a style distinctly my own.
The work is currently on display at 25 Cabot Sq. Canary Wharf.
Heat & Mirrors (2015)
Medium: Oil on canvas (260 x 360 x 40 mm)
This painting is taken from a small sketch of a man smoking a cigarette in the summer sun. I played around with turpentine washes and the detailing in his clothes has been applied using a small palette knife.
The Minute Man (2015)
Medium: Oil on canvas (1530 x 1220 x 20 mm)
This painting is taken from a sketch made after work one evening. Lots of people were out drinking. Three people interrupted my sketching that evening. In the end I was glad to have finished. As normal I made few, if any, colour notes and the painting relies on what I remember and how I felt about standing there that evening. I have tried to create the sense that the sky is different, somewhat removed from the scene by painting it sparingly, at odds with the heavy impasto in the rest of the painting. The clocks all show different times. This is because I sketched the time on the clock as I reached that area of the composition. The sketch only took about half an hour or so, the painting much longer.
Ever Descending Circles (2015)
Medium: Oil on canvas (760 x 1020 x 40 mm)
This painting is the result of a number of drawings. I had a strong idea in mind but couldn’t quite work out the composition. In the end I made a few sketches from the balcony area at the rear of Canary Wharf station. I have tried to capture some of the commuter ebb and flow, the way the crowds bottleneck at the gates before people manage to rush free. The lighting is entirely invented but does bear some resemblance to reality.
A Watcher on the Wharf (2015)
Medium: Oil on canvas (760 x 510 x 20 mm)
Having a coffee one morning before work, I was taken with how still the newspaper people are compared to those rushing about them. It struck me as a rather solitary job, similar to sketching in many ways. Working from a later drawing of a different newspaper person I undertook the painting. I wanted to portray across that idea of identifying with their position as well as a keen idea of the stationary and of those in motion.
Blow (2016)
Medium: Oil on canvas (300 x 400 x 40 mm)
I grabbed a quick sketch for the painting “Blow” on a windy day. Bulldog clips are great for sketching when the wind picks up. When it came to painting the scene I worked using a lot of turpentine to give a more liquid and flowing effect to the paint and a light head to myself.
Cabot Sun (2015)
Medium: Oil on canvas (510 x 510 x 40 mm)
The figures in this composition came from a small sketch. I had to return to Cabot Sq. to make a couple of sketches for the detail in the background. Taken on their own, they are not fantastic sketches but I was deliberately vague as I knew I wanted to just hint at the surroundings and to concentrate on the figures.
Valley of Gold (2016)
Medium: Oil on canvas (1220 x 1530 x 20 mm)
This shows the view down to Cabot Square from beyond Canada Square Gardens. I did not use the prepared sketch for a long time as I wasn’t sure how to translate it to a painting. In the end I experimented with the large, dark sides giving an idea of being between two buildings looking down the street. The golden column is One Canada Sq. I removed its distinctive architecture as the composition is far more about 25 Cabot Sq. in the distance and the figures in the foreground. The foreground figures are painted with muted hues to add to the idea of the cool air between the tall buildings.
Stranded (2016)
Medium: Oil on canvas (1520 x 760 x 20 mm)
For this painting I returned to Canary Wharf Station. I worked from two sketches made months apart but of the same busker. I wanted to push further away from reality and I incorporated a rather limited palette. Looking at the sketches, one of which showed the back of the station, I was struck with the idea of a waterfall, which I played around with. The green walls are rather delicate with an idea that the heavily painted red pillars would stand out from the background. I did tip the busker – three times in fact.
Meeting in the Shade (2016)
Medium: Oil on canvas (915 x 1215 x 20 mm)
At the back of the buildings by the South Quay footbridge there is a large arcade type area with heavy columns. I stood by the entrance to the bridge and quickly sketched. In reality there was a lot more to the composition; bicycles, lights, vents, more people. I wanted to strip everything back and create an image which is almost two tone. This was one of the most enjoyable to paint. The palette knife marks at the bottom of the painting were made by a large catering palette knife made for icing cakes. Purposely the columns don’t actually line up properly; this is to keep the painting as free and loose as possible. I loved the idea of the two figures escaping to the cool shade at the rear of the offices to discuss whatever it is that they are talking about.
One Summer’s Day - June 24th (2016)
Medium: Oil on canvas (1520 x 760 x 20 mm)
This painting is a direct response to the result of the UK vote to leave the EU. June 2016 was a very wet and grey month. The abnormally grim weather reflecting the abnormally grim politics. The background buildings and clouds were blended in (using a mop head brush). Dry brush was then applied leading to marks that give the impression of rain coming in at an angle. The three figures walk down the walled pathway which shields them from the worksite but not the drizzle. One chap holds the FT over his head. The figures are all taken from life but from other sketches for other ideas. The view of the temporary pathway was partially invented; in reality it was much more winding.
A Boardroom (2016)
Medium: Oil on canvas (1215 x 915 x 20 mm)
During the course of my previous employment I quite often had to interrupt meetings, or at least try and slip in unnoticed. The atmosphere could vary greatly in these meetings. “A Boardroom” came about from a couple of sketches exploring the idea of a heavy energy in a meeting room where the occupants have been working extremely hard for a long time. Whilst it is a completely invented scene: The characters that you see, the alert, the studious, the bored, all have some basis in reality. The server entering the room at the rear is a nod to Velasquez.