Havant

The Havant Gazebo Painting

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This was a nostalgic trip for me. I used to live literally round the corner from this lovely building, although at that time you could only see the top half as it was surrounded by a high wall. Pieces of glass were set into the top of the wall, to stop people climbing over. Even in those benighted times, this was illegal and constituted a man trap. Goodness knows when these shards were mounted into the wall, well into previous centuries certainly

Since then, walls were taken down and this delightful gazebo was exposed for all to see. It is from the c18 and was built as all gazebos were, to enable the leisured classes to enjoy the view from over the wall, and no doubt in those days for quite a distance. It would have looked out over the Fair Field, a large green space which would have hosted an annual fair. This is long gone, and today is commemorated by a road called Fairfield Road. The row of houses in this road was built in the reign of Queen Victoria, quite late in her reign as I remember, from building material taken from the demolition of the old manor house opposite.

Coming back to the gazebo, this was in a large garden at the back of a beautiful Georgian house called Magnolia House, occupied by two generations of dentists, now gone. Still a dentists surgery but the original old Havant family is no longer there. The house is one of the very few Georgian buildings to have survived a great fire in the c18. It is slightly uphill from the rest of the town which may have saved it from the flames.

I did this little watercolour quite quickly just to preserve a childhood memory. Havant is not a town which escaped development and there are very few gems like this remaining

I don’t live in Havant now, haven’t done for many years. My father lived in the family home in nearby Manor Close, named after the manor house which disappeared. I used to go down regularly so was able to look at the gazebo in all its glory, although could never go in as that is by appointment only, and time did not allow. The only problem with going back to scenes of one’s childhood, is that you start to hear voices of people you knew at the time, so stop and move on

Wedding Venue- Latest Commission

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Despite abysmal performance from my gallery this year, my belief in myself is maintained by a steady flow or is it trickle of commissions from various sources. The last one was for a parish church which brought happy memories for that particular client. This one, which I am going to show an image of shortly, is of a wedding venue, which the client is going to present to the happy couple. It should make a nice memento. The client has seen it btw and is very happy.

This took quite a bit of arranging. I had to move the bridal pair who were over by the hedge and very small in the reference photograph, enlarge them to a workable size, paint them that size and then shrink them to the position they are now, which was what the client asked for. That was the hardest part

In comparison, enlarging the pond as requested was easy. Quite a lot of wild flowers was time consuming but straightforward in itself

As this painting drew to a close, I was approached with a request for another wedding venue, this time a church, always a favourite. Waiting for a reference photograph before I can move on. Whilst waiting I have started on something for myself, an c18 brick gazebo, an elegant building in the not so elegant town of Havant, my home town, so I am allowed to criticise. This is a building I knew from boyhood, not that you could see much of it, behind a high garden wall

Today the building has been exposed to view, and is regularly maintained. I believe it can be opened to the public on appointment, but quite a distance for me these days.

I will publish the painting when I am happy with it.