This new watercolour painting of a London street scene came about after a wonderful family day out that we had recently. The weather was beautiful and we’d been treated with tickets to see My Fair Lady at The London Coliseum, which may be more familiar to some as the home of English National Opera.
It felt great to be in London as tourists, just enjoying the atmosphere of the capital on a beautiful summer’s day. Whenever I’m in the area of Trafalgar Square I invariably come over all nostalgic from the years I spent in London, and in particular, my time spent working at the National Portrait Gallery, which is just around the corner from this view. The gallery is currently under wraps as it undergoes a major redevelopment and refurbishment and I’m really looking forward to its reopening, scheduled for the spring of 2023. As much as the changes will surely improve many aspects of the gallery, both for visitors and for the collections, I also can’t help but feel a little sentimental about the gallery as it was when I knew it best!
We were strolling down St Martins Lane towards the theatre when I saw this view and took a risk with the traffic to step into the road and grab a few quick photos.
Usually, I complete a painting in a single sitting, perhaps only coming back to something to make the odd minor adjustment or add in a small detail here or there. With this London street scene, however, circumstances were such that it was painted over the course of a week. This wasn’t at all intentional and I was pleasantly surprised with how it turned out considering the somewhat disjointed manner in which it was painted. Maybe I should paint like this more often!
8 thoughts on “New Watercolour painting of a london street scene”
At first, I thought you painted this in a single sitting. Because the details! To my amateur eyes, at least. What a fine painting. You must’ve been at this for a while already, huh?
I feel like you’d get more momentum if you continued your YouTube efforts, and I’d love to see your Insta but the account seems to be discontinued. Anyway, thanks for the inspiration!
Hi Stuart and thanks so much for taking the time to drop by, I really appreciate it and your kind comments too! Back in March this year I moved from having a WordPress hosted site (called ‘Brushes with Watercolour’) to having a self-hosted site (John Haywood Watercolours). It was a well intentioned move, but I lost all my likes and since, engagement with my site has fallen off a cliff! I also changed all of my social accounts to the new name too, so I’m now John Haywood Watercolours on Instagram. I’ve dabbled with You Tube, but the time I spend sorting it out means even less time for painting! It’s a bit of a catch 22, but my analogy is that this weekly blog is the stick that keeps this donkey painting – and the paintings are my carrots of reward!Thanks again Stuart, I really enjoy your posts!
Yes indeed – perhaps try more painting in a ‘disjointed’ manner ?
Thanks for this Rukshana and yes, I think I might try to break my painting process up a little. I think I’ve probably ruined more paintings with my impatience than by taking too long on them!
This is a wonderful painting John. The longer timescale certainly doesn’t show. Not in any way disjointed as you feared it might.
Thanks so much for this, really kind of you and much appreciated! I may have to learn some lessons about patience being a virtue!
Hi John
This is a great watercolour, even though painted slower it has really come togehter
Terrific
Hi Brian and thanks so much for this, really kind of you to say so!