Tag Archives: Architecture

Mar 19 2018
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Heavenly Music

Logicaltramp at the Farncombe Music Club

Heavenly Music

On Saturday evening, while the snow was falling outside, we were inside St John’s Church, venue for The Farncombe Music Club, listening to the heavenly sounds of Logicaltramp, a tribute to the mighty Supertramp. The wonderfully atmospheric lighting to accompany the music created a vibrant backdrop on the white walls. The whole ambience of the evening was a real tonic! The spirit of Supertramp was most definitely alive and had quite a few of us dancing in the aisles.

Sep 25 2017
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The Imposing Facade

St Paul's Cathedral

The Imposing Facade

I get very used to seeing images of St Paul’s Cathedral from the river, showing the famous dome. It’s truly iconic! There’s so much more to see around this incredible building. This is the facade from the front entrance. I have memories of standing here as a child, beneath the statue of the stern monarch, feeling very small and intimidated. I wanted to try to recreate that feeling of awe within this image. I crouched at child-height beneath the monument to capture the shot and then turned a bright, blue-sky day into a dark monochrome. This is my choice for this week’s Wex Mondays challenge. I’ll have a few more scenes from St Paul’s to share soon that show a few more unusual views of this London landmark.

Mar 27 2017
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City In A Spin

City In A Spin

City In A Spin

City In A Spin is my entry for this week’s Wex Mondays challenge. The swirled abstract was created from an image taken from the waiting area for Special Care Dentistry at Guy’s Hospital in London. Look closely and you’ll find the River Thames, the Tower of London and Tower Bridge. The dentistry unit is on the twenty-sixth floor of Guy’s Tower and the city can look confusing from up there! There’s much beauty to be found among the densely-packed city streets though. I am looking forward to sharing some of my work from The City Gardens soon. These gardens and green spaces are a respite for people and a vital resource for the precious wildlife of London.

Different Perspectives

Feb 27 2017
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Blue Monday: A River Runs Through It

Canary Wharf from The Thames Path

Blue Monday: A River Runs Through It

“Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world’s great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs.
I am haunted by waters.”
― Norman Maclean, A River Runs Through It and Other Stories

Also part of WPC: A Good Match. The quote just came straight to mind as I looked down the Thames toward Canary Wharf. It seemed the perfect match!

Feb 20 2017
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Wex Mondays: Watts Gallery

Watts Chapel Ceiling Fresco

Wex Mondays: Watts Gallery

I’ve been visiting the Watt’s Gallery and Artists Village in Compton since my college days in nearby Godalming. Twenty five years on I am still overwhelmed by the beauty and tranquility of the gallery, house and the memorial chapel. The vision of the Pre-Raphaelite artists in Victorian Britain has provided me with so much inspiration throughout my artistic life. It’s not just the paintings and sculptures at the gallery that inspire me. The buildings and landscaping make The Artists Village a truly unique gallery and experience.

My chosen image for this week’s Wex Mondays challenge is of the fresco on the ceiling of the Watts Memorial Chapel. It was designed and created by Mary Watts with her student artists from the village. I love to lie on the floor and just gaze up at this incredible work of art. It is dimly lit inside to preserve the art so I had to place the camera on the floor, beside me, and shoot a long exposure to reveal the intricate details and rich colours. I did get a few odd looks!

Here are some excerpts from the Watts Gallery website to give you further insight into this amazing place and the people behind it:

George Frederic Watts OM, RA (1817 – 1904) was widely considered to be the greatest painter of the Victorian era. A portraitist, sculptor, landscape painter and symbolist, Watts’s work embodied the most pressing themes and ideas of the time, earning him the title England’s Michelangelo.

In the 1880s Watts had the benefits of a reputation that was secure, and he was able to explore grand themes in his allegorical paintings or, as he described them, ‘poems painted on canvas.’. Watts built a gallery extension onto his studio home at Little Holland House, Kensington, and opened it to the public from 2 to 6pm every weekend. His belief that art should be accessible to all was reflected in this project and in his support of schemes that took art into the poor areas of London through exhibitions and the creation of new galleries

In 1886, at the age of 69, Watts second marriage to Scottish potter and designer Mary Seton Fraser-Tytler took place in Epsom Surrey. A few years later they leased land at Compton and commissioned Arts & Crafts architect Sir Ernest George to build their house and studios, Limnerslease, which proved to be a tranquil haven for them both in their last years. Their marriage was very much a creative partnership melded by the shared ethos that art should reach all, transforming the lives that it touched.

In 1903 Watts created a purpose-built gallery and moved all his paintings from Little Holland House Gallery to the Compton Gallery (now known as Watts Gallery), which opened to the public on 1 April 1904.

Shortly before his death in 1904, Watts Gallery was opened to the public, by which time G F Watts was a household name, both nationally and internationally. Mary had designed the nearby Watts Chapel, funded by Watts, who also painted a version of The All-Pervading for the altar only three months before he died.

During his last years Watts also turned to sculpture, completing his most famous work, Physical Energy, in 1902. The original cast remains in the gallery today. Bronze casts are also replicated in Cape Town and in London’s Kensington Gardens.

Mary Watts was the artistic force behind the creation of Watts Chapel, and she dedicated it to ‘the loving memory of all who find rest near its walls, and for the comfort and help of those to whom the sorrow of separation remains.‘

In 1895 Mary began to run evening Terracotta Classes at Limnerslease, the Wattses’ nearby residence and studio. At these classes Mary would teach local villagers how to model tiles from local terracotta clay with the beautiful and symbolic patterns that she had designed to decorate the walls of the Chapel.

G F Watts financed the building of the Chapel through painting commissioned portraits, and the Wattses presented it as their gift to the village of Compton. Watts Chapel remains a working village parish chapel to this day.

Watts Chapel - vintage style processing