For my eighth series of miniature watercolour paintings, completed last September, I decided that it was time to tackle some of the well-known landmarks in the U.K.’s capital city London. I have to admit that my own visits to London are relatively few in number, with most of the recent ones revolving around trips to watch Plymouth Argyle playing at Wembley (twice, both times depressingly unsuccessful), and against Arsenal, Chelsea and Brentford in the FA Cup. However, like pretty much everyone else, I’m very familiar with many of the obvious historical and touristic landmarks… but when I paint a series of miniature watercolours, I like to throw in a few less obvious subjects, and in the case of this set, that led to me choosing Hampton Court Palace, Battersea Power Station, the Royal Albert Hall, and the Globe Theatre.
The full list of the pictures (working left to right and top to bottom in the grid of pictures shown above) is:
- the Big Ben clock tower
- London Bridge
- Buckingham Palace
- Nelson’s Column in Trafalgar Square
- the London Eye
- the Tower of London
- the Globe Theatre
- St Paul’s Cathedral
- Hampton Court Palace
- Battersea Power Station
- the Royal Albert Hall
- Westminster Abbey
As with all of my other miniature watercolour series (Dartmoor Scenes, Capital City Landmarks, Cornwall Landmarks, Exmoor Views, Plymouth Miniatures, House Plants, Trees), I have listed composite prints and greetings cards of these pictures on Etsy and have sold quite a few of the greetings cards since doing so. Interestingly, as with some of my other series, I am finding that it is the cards featuring more unusual subjects that tend to be the ones that sell. I found this a bit puzzling at first, but on reflection it makes sense because with the more obvious subjects, buyers have lots of choice and the platform algorithm is much less likely to show them my picture in response to their search.
If I was going to pick out a favourite from this series I think I might go for Hampton Court Palace. I think I have picked out enough of the detail in the building and also managed to give it a bit of depth with the shadow under the archway. I think the people in the foreground also help to add interest.
Tim O'Hare 