I have always found any stretch of water in the East End mesmerising in the Autumn and  I have executed several drawings and paintings of The Thames at Wapping in the past. Twilight is my favourite time of day and sunsets in this part of East London can be breathtakingly beautiful. Some time ago I did a colour pencil study of the waterfront further east at Beckton opposite the Tate and Lyle Sugar Refinery. Occasionally, I dismiss the result as being too pretty or chocolate-boxy, but now having revisited it, I see the building across the water as a beautiful anachronism, elegiac almost, the last bulwark of what the river and waterfront used to represent; a means of income for many Londoners. How to translate that on to canvas?

   

It is very important that I familiarize myself with my subjects prior to painting them. I have been looking at and thinking about this scene for the last four years. For me, studying through drawing allows development and reflection on the focus of the image so that the eye does not become simply a lens.