Urban Art Created Following a Chance Encounters
Walking around London, you never know what you’re going to see. There are routine sights but every once in a while something strange happens. On my way to the Society of Women Artists Exhibition one year, I decided to get my phone out. It was a glorious summer evening and still very light. As I was leaving Trafalgar square, a large group of policemen on bicycles headed towards me. It’s not something you see often, one or two perhaps. There were about a dozen.
I immediately thought of the Bobby and the Bicycle.
It’s not a term that’s used often nowadays. Quintessentially English, all it needs is a telephone box and a union flag to complete the image. The British Bobby has been a national icon for decades. Although the current vision is a far cry from the one that comes to mind, like the one to the left.
I found this image at http://riponmuseums.co.uk/.
Times have changed and so has the police force. Today’s bobbies on bicycles are wildly different from the image above.This is what I actually saw. All high vis, protective body clothing on bright yellow bicycles, With a significantly higher gear to pedal ratio.
Not a domed helmet in sight.
As I said earlier, about a dozen of them in total but I only managed to snap 2 together. Disappointed that I didn’t achieve a crowd image. I felt this one worked. The picture is grainy as I needed to zoom in to get the composition I wanted. Fortunately, that’s not an issue for the painting.
The painting progressed slowly as I was moving from A to B to C to D when I worked on it. Here’s the masking nearly completed.
The Big Reveal - Bobbies on Bicyles
If you’re interested in finding out how you can create watercolour or mixed media paintings, I hold two weekly classes. One sharing watercolour techniques and the other mixed media techniques. Course adapted to your ability level.
Each block of sessions is five weeks.
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