The skyline in and around East London has changed immeasurably since the East London group painters were capturing the local landscape in the 1920-30’s. But although the sum of the areas parts would be largely unrecognizable to many in that group, the River Thames still - and always will, play a dominant role in informing the sense of place. The Thames is an ‘ever present force’: a part of London’s DNA.

And attempting to marshal that force is the Thames barrier. The barriers themselves are immense pieces of engineering that protect central London from flooding caused by tidal movements and storms. In contrast to the rollercoaster I’d painted at Blackpool – which primarily exists for pleasure purposes, the barriers have a real and serious role to play in protecting areas of London from serious harm.

There is an ‘audacious boldness’ in this intent, with the barriers appearing to openly ‘challenge the birth-right of the Thames’ to exist on its own terms as it has done throughout history. As a painter, I felt it was important to try and capture that context which meant choosing a composition that reflected how the barriers sit within the landscape of the Thames and the riverbank given their immense scale played out as part of that impudent endeavour. 

It was this exchange of forces – both natural and engineered that drove the compositional decisions I made for this painting: capture everything or capture nothing.

Hindsight meddled long after the day’s challenge was over. This led me to address some unresolved areas in the work in a minor way but it remains largely the same piece. it was important to keep the painting as that which I had experienced on that day and in that place. I can thank the sentiment behind Corot’s words from centuries prior for that advice.

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