Flight over the Thames, 2014

Flight over the Thames

The cable car ride across the Thames between Greenwich and the Royal Docks is a thing of elegant beauty. I’m always fascinated with engineering. By the way solutions to problems, such as aerodynamics and strengthening, can often be achieved in the most elegant of ways.

I love the way the holes have been made to spiral up the Towers, possibly to improve airflow and reduce wind resistance. Contrast the gleaming white Towers rising, like spindles, above the earthy, grimy warehouses and buildings below.

Draped across, like Gossamer threads, are the cables. Dipping slightly under the weight of the cars themselves. Tiny white pods, with small flashes of scarlet, are seen at a distance against an otherwise muted landscape. The cables themselves bristling, with life, like electricity sparking back into the air. All set against the crystalline sky.

The results of the cling film process and salt are particularly evident in the sky. Folds and ripples working with the starburst blooms and liquid flows as a colours have marinaded during the drying process. The swirls and patterns give the impression of celestial marble.
cable car painting. cable car that crosses the Thames at Greenwich

Lastly, you notice the Thames, the water dark, rippled and uninviting. Much better to fly over Thames today then go near those cold, dark waters.

The Cable car across the Thames at Greenwich in London has to be one of the best ways to see the city. The elegant supports are sculptures in themselves with the tiny pod swinging on the cables. It's sponsored by an airline, and next to flying in a plane, it come a pretty close second.

How it's made
The picture is painted on watercolour paper. I start off with a detailed pencil drawing. I then draw over the lines with masking fluid before painting it with a watercolour wash which gets covered with clingfilm. Once this is removed the picture is further developed using acrylic inks which are left to dry before the masking is removed to reveal the final picture.