The Thames at Teddington

Teddington Lock

This is a painting from a few months ago that I haven't shown you yet. It's the river Thames at Teddington Lock.

Here's a bit of historical interest for you - in May 1940 Teddington Lock was the assembly point for an enormous flotilla of small ships from the length of the River Thames to be used in the evacuation of Dunkirk. Hundreds of merchant marine boats, fishing boats, pleasure craft and lifeboats were called into service to rescue the stranded British and French troops from the beach at Dunkirk. More than 300,000 were brought back across the channel in this curious collection of crafts. Churchill described it as a 'miracle of deliverance' in his famous "We shall fight them on the beaches" speech.

Back to the present day I'm able to enjoy some restful studio time this week, working on developing ideas from plein air studies to new studio pieces. It's getting very chilly and I'm keeping an eye out for snow... any snowfall and me and my paints will be out like a shot!

Advance notice that I'm having a large solo exhibition in Nottingham from January 8th to 13th 2014. I will be there every day from 10.00am to 3.30pm so if you think you might possibly be able to make it pop it in your diary now and I shall be very happy to see you there!

Ponte dei Pugni

From the Ponte dei Pugni, looking towards Campo San Barnaba £285 

Another from last week's trip to Venice. I painted this one standing on the Ponte dei Pugni (which means bridge of fists), looking towards Campo San Barnaba which is one of my favourite spots in Venice. The large white building you can see on the right hand side is the Church of San Barnaba.
The ponte I was painting from is a bridge with an interesting history though - in the 17th century rival clans used to meet here to fight. In fact there are four footprints marked in stone, one on each corner of the bridge, to show where opponents should stand! Apparently the bridge had no railings at the time so you can only imagine the shouting and jeering and mayhem going on as grown men fell into the murky canal below. I bet it was quite a spectator sport.