Watercolours
Random selection of watercolours and pencils made over several years, projects and continents.
Welder smoking inside the Impalla dredger head, watercolours & pencils 15 x 18cms 1994-95 One of a series of watercolours made during the construction of Chek Lap Kok, Hong Kong’s new airport. Painted on site in the Marine workshop, Above is a large dredger head used to suck up sand & mud from the sea bed as part of the reclamation process, it constantly needed repairs from being ground down by debris & sand. It was a great subject to sketch, with orange clad welders sparking up their welding rods inside rusty sea worn structures.
Welder repairing the giant Excavator As I had a studio in a portacabin and would often stay overnight, sometimes I would go and sketch in the workshops. The wheels of these trucks were over 6foot high
Road Sweep, GSK construction site. A1 watercolour and pencils on paper 2000-1 This was the view from a temporary studio, where I was based during the construction of GSK new headquarters, London. I’d regularly hear the sound as the road sweep went round the site squirting out jets of water with its big brushes cleaning the streets. Working on building sites I became very aware of the daily routine & cycles & became fascinated by the often mundane but essential processes that are part of creating these huge infrastructures.
Market Cafe, eating a full English breakfast, A6 paper. A popular cafe next to Spitalfields church.. It had an open kitchen where you could go & choose the cuts from the roasting tray straight out of the oven. I lived & worked at the time in the area.1990…. note the old fashioned till, milk bottle and ketchup tomato shaped dispenser.. retro now but commonplace then.
Ohel Leah Synagogue on Shabbat , part of a series of postcards, commissioned by the Jewish Historical Society 2007
‘Dead Cutter Heads” led me to the commission to record the building of Hong Kong’s new airport in 1995 As I was out sketching these discarded parts of Dredger ships these had once bore into the seabed to create the platform for the airport. These along with other sketches caught the attention of a director who asked if I would be interested to record more processes…. and so as I said in my intro… if you keep a diary one day it will keep you……
LIFFE Sketches for Futures Exchange, see Corporate reliefs
Ohel Leah Synagogue, Hong Kong, part of a series of postcards commissioned by the Jewish Historical Society. 2007