Vicky and Bert go to the Park

Another pen and ink addition to my 'statues coming to life' series - 'Vicky and Bert'. I felt that I needed to do something that was a bit more summery, with a colour other than red. It made a nice change doing the thinking and photographing in a warm, sunny Kensington Gardens, rather than a dark and damp Crystal Palace Park earlier in the year, too. For the figure of Albert,  I obviously went to see his sparkling gold memorial statue (also in Kensington) but for Queen Victoria I found a great statue of her lurking in Croydon. Just outside the main library (Croydon Clocktower) she sits, overlooking a pelican crossing and one of those unforgettable 1960's office blocks that poor old Croydon is crammed full of. Yes, Albert does have an iPad.

The Subway Sphinxes

No, it's not a punk band from the 1970s. Well not on this blog, anyway. It's a pair of works that I mentioned I was working on in earlier posts. I had claimed I might be creating three, but I've decided to stick with two.

They are inspired by the six remaining sphinxes statues in Crystal Palace Park, and by the wonderful subway below the road nearby. This very atmospheric place, beautifully rendered in brick, once delivered 1st class Victorian rail passengers to see the glass palace in the park above. It's now closed to the public, but there are many local people working hard to get the structure made safe and open to the community. Luckily for me I was able to arrange access to get the raw materials (i.e. reference photos and atmos) for these images.

Sphinx statues

Rendered in with pen and ink (and coloured pencil), they have a dash of Victorian mysticism and definitely follow on from my earlier work involving the dinosaur sculptures emerging from the railway tunnel.

Prints of both are now available via my shop.

Here are a few of the 'works in progress' to show how they developed.

The Genesis of Boudica

Stuck in Traffic from Matt Bannister on Vimeo.

It was quite a long process, but I've created a little clip to show how my 'Stuck in Traffic' piece developed.

It's not a routine I will be implementing for every bit of work I do, mainly because you have to stop and scan in all the drawing at regular intervals. S l o w. Still, I'm quite pleased with the result. It shares another dimension to my work, and is my first foray into using Vimeo.

Stuck in Traffic

I've finished a new piece, called 'Stuck in Traffic'. It's in a similar vein to the 'Crystal Palace Monsters' image I produced earlier in the year, and carries on my idea of London statues coming to life.

This time, however, poor old Boadicea/Boudica/Boudicca is getting a bit of road rage on the way to work. You've got to love those pedestrians near the Houses of Parliament, haven't you?

Statue of Queen Boudica, Victoria Embankment.

People on Victoria Embankment.

I've added some 'work in progress' shots here, too, to show 'her' evolution.

"Stuck in Traffic" (work in progress) 1

"Stuck in Traffic" (work in progress) 2

To continue the theme of earlier work again, the piece has just been featured by Londonist.com. Their latest appeal for London art is asking for imagery where the capital's past and present clash, in 'Time Travel London'. Fingers crossed I'll be selected for the exhibition at the end, like last time.

Sneak Preview

Thought I'd share a sneak preview of one of my new pictures. There is a lot more to do with this (e.g. some colour and I still need to add the stars of the show) but it gives you a flavour. It's inspired by my recent trip to Crystal Palace Park to see the Sphinxes and to explore the subway tunnels. I'm hoping to produce 3 different pieces with the same theme. Watch this space.