Canal Bridges

Painting of my home village

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This is the centre of my local village, St John’s near Woking. The name St John’s was taken from the local church, built in the c19 by the then rector of Old Woking, as a chapel of ease for the village inhabitants. Quite a long walk to church otherwise in a century when no one had transport.

The village is mostly Victorian, and although surrounded by suburbia, does still retain its village atmosphere and integrity. Life started here in the late c18 when the canal was cut through open heathland. In the distance in my picture, the road makes a hump, as it crosses the canal. This is Kiln Bridge, where as the name suggests bricks were made from local clay, and these were used in the building of the canal. The canal was intended to link London with Southampton, but only reached Basingstoke before the railways were built and superseded canals. This was still a time when war with France was a possibility, and inland links with major south coast ports were desirable.

Today the Basingstoke Canal is maintained by Surrey and Hampshire County Councils. There is some leisure boating but not much. Wild life proliferates and the towpath is used for cycling and walking.

This is the very first time that I have painted my own village. I don’t know why. I put this painting on a local website and had more than 240 hits. All complimentary, I am pleased to say. No offers to buy though.

In the middle of the picture is our comparatively recent coffee shop, which has become the hub of village activity. Walkers and shoppers meet there to relax and catch up. We never had that before and it is a very welcome addition. We do have a pub but located going out of the village, so not so convenient. We have most shops so a useful selection.

At the bottom of my lane, we are blessed with a green open space, called St John’s Lye. Lye, lea or leigh means a green space. It is common land and so protected although we did have to physically resist Woking Borough Council who wanted to build a village hall on the Lye to replace the one that was starting to fall down. Eventually common sense prevailed and the new hall was built on the site of the old one. The Lye is available to all age groups for spontaneous activity including dog walking.

And so you have it. Not a place that many know, but loved by its local population

Plein Air Painting at New Haw Lock

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Something I rarely find time for is painting outdoors, but recently did, with our local art group at New Haw Lock, which is one of the many locks along the Wey Navigation in Surrey. The Navigation dates from the c17, and made the river Wey navigable by cutting canals across the meanders and shallows. Thus this mix of river and canal made the Wey navigable for barge traffic from Guildford to the Thames. Amazingly this traffic by horse drawn barge went on until 1959. By then the navigation had been cut through to Godalming in the south, and had been especially useful in carrying gunpowder from nearby Chilworth Mill through to the Thames and on into the Port of London

During the c18 the Wey Navigation linked with the River Arun, and on down to the south coast, but that leg was short lived and proved uneconomic to run. That section fell into disuse, although some sections have been revived by conservationists

In the picture, one of the many lock keeper’s cottages, very charming and very paintable still. New Haw is somewhat underrated and is easily missed when driving by.

We found shade to sit, as the day was hot and became hotter towards midday. The morning was enough for me, so for about 2-3 hours during which time, I worked out my composition, and just sketched putting in the shadows which of course changed quickly. Photography helps the sketch book and I recorded several stages. It is my intention to finish the painting in my “studio”, but for the moment need to finish my Alhambra painting

I shall look forward to painting the New Haw lock. This is a typical Surrey scene and a typical Surrey cottage. I will attach my drawing. I regretted afterwards only taking an A3 pad which didn’t give me enough space but at home i can use a half sheet which will enable me hopefully to include the lock in its entirety

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Now all I have to do is to decide whether or not to include the foreground tree which obscures much of the cottage but nevertheless provides some interesting lights and darks

Basingstoke Canal Bridge

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Basingstoke Canal Bridge

Continuing my theme of Waterways in Watercolour which is my next solo exhibition in February, and for which I am worryingly behind schedule, I am going to look again at the Basingstoke Canal which runs near where I live

This is a typical Sunday morning walk to exercise the dog and buy a newspaper in the village shop. The tow path is often quite busy with walkers and annoyingly sometimes, bicycles who use their weight to make people jump out of the way. Most are courteous but just a few are inconsiderate

The bridge in the picture is one of the original ones from the c18, brick built with bricks which would have been made in St.Johns nearby, most likely. It is a typical canal bridge, with shaped  walls that curve out on to the tow path. This enabled the bargee to bring the horse over from one side to the other without snagging the rope

I have painted this stretch of the canal many times, and it remains a favourite at exhibitions. My personal favourite which is in the gallery, is of one of the lock gates and which is into the light, contre-jour I think it is called. That sold at one of my exhibitions to a couple who were going back to New Zealand, and I helped them with the packing. I sometimes think of these paintings and where they are, rather like worrying about the children. How stupid can you get!

There is a flight of seven locks along this stretch of the canal, all fairly close to one another. An enormous amount of work for the barge people, getting out and opening the gates, and then closing gates behind the barge when in the lock. Fun to watch though

So far, I have just started to make some sketches, and there are some details I want to change, so nothing to show at the moment

For the future, I came across a lovely photograph which I took along the Amazon, a couple of years ago, of local boys with their pet alligators, small ones obviously, which they had on leads like dogs. This would make a lovely painting if I could bring it off, but might upset some people, so would have to give that one some thought