The Story Behind The Painting
I have completed several paintings in the past that were quite personal to me however this particular one evokes the most happiest in memories. My mother moved to this street in the summer of 1971 and it was to become the longest term of residency that she was to experience at one address. It was conveniently situated near the famous 1960s’ boutique BIBA ( its second temporary business address before it moved to the former Derry and Toms Department Store in Kensington High Street in 1973 ) and opposite to what was the site of the old Kensington Barracks originally built in 1858 for Infantry and the Cavalry and demolished in the late 1980s. Little has changed from its days in the sixties. The street was largely occupied by small but highly visited 1960s Boutique shops , the names such as Bus Stop and Lord Jim’s along with the previously mentioned BIBA shop instantly spring to mind. It was part of the swinging sixties and continued through much of the seventies as well. It was quite definitely a different and more vibrant era than its the present day standing.
The painting begins with the west side of the street from the Patisserie Valerie Building to the St. Mary Abbott’s Church at the bottom of the hill. Originally Pierre Pechon was the patisserie shop name before Valerie’s took it over. It was there for many years but I used Valerie’s signage instead to give the present generation of the public a better reference point of where the painting location was used. I use neither pencil nor any marking instruments to outline objects and buildings in any my paintings. I always paint every outline with a faint light Davy’s Gray watercolour paint which can be easily adaptive to changes with heavier hues later. I get more enjoyment and reward in knowing that the finished painting has been formed and completed wholly with watercolour paint only. It does obviously take more time and patience in undertaking such a project of this size but I personally prefer not to see pencil or charcoal lines in such media, especially mine. At this stage, I begin building the corner of the building up with paint, leaving the interior areas for later. It is quite bland at this stage but it will change drastically in the following stages of the painting. I decided to add a couple of well known British advertisement signs that would frequently adorn brick buildings of the past. I chose Lyons’s Tea and Sunlight Soap Company signage for its prominent colours against the sand coloured brickwork of the building.
The closest building is beginning to take more shape at this stage with interior detail starting to appear within the Patissserie. The first floor rooms above have been given interior detail in different colours with many picture frames and lamps showing to add depth to the scene. The corner of Holland Street has been included now with build up of the upper portions of the buildings. The beginnings of the shop BIBA has begun in a distinguished blue hue.
The painting is slowly coming along with more interior detail added to the Patisserie and its neighbouring business – a Boutique named Her Ladyship’s. Pedestrians have been added outside the shop. The BIBA shop frontage has now been completed.
In this view you can get an idea of the amount of detail that has been added to the painting so far. The Patisserie is finished but more detail is to be added to the BSA motorised bicycle in front of the shop. It will be completed at a later stage.
Its time to work on the east side of the street now and begin with the Kensington Barracks structure. I wanted to include an Army Land Rover sitting in the side road to give more effect. Infantrymen will be added later. Further down the street the entrance to the Barracks is marked with a departing Army Lorry to give it more dimension. An array of period vehicles now occupy the centre of the paper. I added an Army Flag Standard flying above the Barrack Building. The scene is now well under way.
This is a close up picture of the vehicles painted between the foreground and background of the painting. The bright paintwork of the bus sized beside the buildings give depth and dimension to the painting. It is a prime focal point in the composition.
The infantry men are now included in front of the Land Rover to give more scale and depth to the painting. More detail work can be seen on the Barrack Building and the surrounding vehicles. Awaiting queue for the bus can be seen at the bus stop outside the BIBA shop
It’s time to extend the detail of the painting down towards bottom of the hill where Kensington High Street is located. The scene is busy with traffic and pedestrians waiting for the traffic lights to change. In the foreground, a couple of period BIBA shoppers can be seen walking up the hill with bags of clothes. I have also included my own 1960s period Moulton De Luxe Bicycle which I loved cycling around the town and countryside. It was a futuristic design for its time and was to be the forerunner to the very popular present day Brompton Foldaway Bicycles.
The beginning of work at the bottom of the street with the prominent St. Mary Abbott’s Church, with its tallest spire in London, dominating the painting in its initial gray first wash and the beginning of the Art Deco Building of Barkers famous Department Store at the foot of the hill. I deliberately made this building more curvaceous in its outline to bring more detail of its classic twin towers that adorn its frontage – in reality, the building is far more straight in structure and the viewer would only see the towers head on in view and less eye catching for the viewer. I also thought that this would enhance the overall setting and style of the scene.
One of the main considerations of making this painting more unique to the viewer was the inclusion of aircraft. I definitely decided to include the Queen’s Flight helicopter but at what angle and height in the scene. This took much time to agree upon. I first cut out small pieces of paper with roughly scaled sketches of the two aircraft – the helicopter and the smaller in scale airliner were folded and placed over the painting in different areas to give some idea of the possible finished look. Originally, I had the helicopter facing more pronounced towards the viewer’ eye. At one stage, I began to think of not including it although it was quite definitely a memorable and regular sight to residents at the end of the sixties into the seventies. It took several days to finalize the finished look. The helicopter was the first to be painted into the picture but not at its original angle – I decided to have it flying parallel to the street to show off the entrance door and the entry steps for the Royal Family members. It was on finals towards nearby Kensington Palace where it used to land. The Vickers VC10 commercial airliner was placed close to the top of the left side of the paper. I knew I would be placing a bank of cloud beneath it to give more height and distance from the church spire and the helicopter. I think it worked in its final form.
With the prominent Department Store in the background and everything else pretty much completed including the aircraft, it’s time to put the final brown wash on the church making sure that some of the original gray bleeds through to give its much needed aged look. The only major work to figure out and complete is the sky. I wanted to emphasis not only the department store but the aircraft above. I wanted a somewhat breezy and powerful looking sky to complement the rest of the painting. I didn’t want to over detail it either as that would obviously overshadow and at the same time under emphasise all of the detail I had meticulously placed within the street below. I think it worked out satisfactorily well and complemented the whole painting despite the paint drying up too quickly on several occasions when I had to answer important telephone calls – it all came close to disaster but in the end it seemed to have survived almost unblemished!
The painting itself was completed in an unusually long period of eleven months -simply there were many months that nothing was done on it. It sat dormant and somewhat unloved for quite a while but now I am quite relieved that it is all over now. I hope you enjoy the results.
