About this artwork

This was the 4th and final picture I made at the Pintar Rapido plein air event on 22nd June 2019. I was running out of time, as I had to get back to Chelsea Old Town Hall to frame and hang 2 of the 4, and I needed to get the train back home to the kids. I was also very very tired, as my day had started at 4.45 am and after 2 weeks of rain it was blazing hot and sunny! But I thought- I must do this- it's too good not to- the composition is a little crazy but there were artists painting, a girl on a bike, stopped to talk to the artist who was very nice to her, and there were the pigeons floating about like mini ballerinas as they always do- not the skinny type, though. Compared to the pigeons back home these are amazingly dark- the legacy of soot and smog, I suppose. Anyway, I had lost my dip pen handles and got a new one, but used my grandpa's old dip pen nibs from the time he worked with my grandmother in doing the County of London Plan. He planned a lot more parks in London, and a lot more green spaces than they actually ended up making- a shame. Sitting here you could see why- you could see the joy in the children playing- not just sitting around being bored on i-phones, but playing games, and the people around me taking a break, breathing green air- it was good. So I painted this fast. I was holding the ink in my left hand, so there are drips mostly over on the left of the paper. I like doing a wash, but I was thinking I might well not do one, as it was looking nice without, but I smudged a blob of ink in a tree on the right, and I thought- no, I need to do a wash now, and that is one of a little blue watercolour with my brown inky water, and I like the fresh feel of it. Unfortunately, I was then in such a rush that I didn't have time to stop to talk to the other artists, but legged it back to the place to do the framing. A very good day! The paper was hot-pressed St Cuthbert's Mill Saunders Waterford. I used 2 sheets of that and 2 of the "NOT" paper.