805 steps: The view from Wansbeck Road

Monday, 25 May 2015

The view from Wansbeck Road

The scene behind me with the A12 in the distance

I've walked along Wansbeck Road quite a lot recently to and from Hackney Wick station and I keep seeing a view of the canal I wanted to record on paper. The weather has been very variable lately but late last Monday afternoon the sun came out and I decided if I wanted to get any drawing done that day it was now or never. So I walked up to Wansbeck Road where it crosses the Hertford Union Canal and set up my pad of paper and used the railings to lean on.

While it was very sunny it was also remarkably windy. My trolley blew away from me at least once. My eyes were watering so much I couldn't see what I was doing but I was determined to complete this drawing in charcoal and here it is for you to see photographed lying on the pavement before it had the chance to blow away.

There were two boats travelling through the lock gates while I was working on this

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Drawing the canal, 2015

During the spring and summer of 2015 I made a series of black and white sketches along the Hertford Union Canal from Wick Lane to White Post Lane. This area of Hackney Wick is undergoing rapid development and the existing industry that occupies the area is being replaced with blocks of flats and I wanted to make a visual record of the towpath before that happens.

I responded to anything that took my fancy and in the autumn I exhibited eight of the sketches (chosen from a total of 21), reproduced as small posters, on the doors of a building owned by the National Grid. I was keen to exhibit some of this series of drawings in the same setting that they had drawn in for the benefit of the people who use the towpath.