New river Thames drawings

Above: 'Rounding the Pier', watercolour on paper, 12.5 x 18cm, 2026. 

It's been so exciting getting up close to the Thames recently and I'm delighted to share these new drawings with you. These intense, small-scale drawings are currently available to buy for £300 (plus postage and packing*). 

Made on location on the riverbank, every mark is a response to looking very closely at the movement of the water as it negotiates the piers of the Thames Barrier on an ebbing tide. I would like anyone looking at these drawings to be able to slow down and, momentarily, become completely absorbed in the movement of the water.

Each drawing focusses on a specific type of movement. Within 'Rounding the Pier' (above) I wanted to draw the simultaneous layers of movement I could see: the way several currents of water appeared to flow around, against, under and over one another.

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Above: DETAIL from 'Rounding the Pier', watercolour on paper, 12.5 x 18cm, 2026. 

I was especially interested in the way the water sped around the base of the buttress of the pier closest to me (top left) then suddenly came up against a smoother, less ruffled passage of water entering from the near side of the pier (the darker area on the left of the image). It was as if two bodies of water were meeting one another, buffeting up against one another, temporarily creating a visible boundary between the two.

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Above: 'Cresting Waves' - watercolour on paper, 12.5 x 18cm, 2026.  

Watching the river is mesmerising. It makes me feel connected to a vast elemental force and reminds me that change is constant, intrinsic to life and can be a source of strength. When making this drawing I was very aware of the force of the river rushing through the space, and my field of vision. The river felt like a continual, adaptable, responsive flow, entering one side, exiting the other.

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Above: DETAIL from 'Cresting Waves' - watercolour on paper, 12.5 x 18cm, 2026.

I also became increasingly aware of the interconnectivity of parts within the overall mass of water. For example, when boats travel through central areas of the river, their wake pushes clearly defined waves through the piers closer to the shore. 'Cresting Waves' contains a succession of these waves as they broke alongside a section of the barrier. I loved the challenge of conveying the wider 'swell' of the water too, it seemed to undulate as a large mass, only occasionally breaking out into fully formed waves.

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Above: 'Give and Take', watercolour on paper, 12.5 x 18cm, 2026. 

Sometimes it felt like watching a never-ending dance, with unexpectedly languorous passages of water sliding behind repeated ridge like forms in the water (I think a reaction to rocks and submerged sections of the Thames Barrier, which were ever closer to the surface as the water level dropped), in turn giving way to a flurry of foaming water.

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Above: DETAIL from 'Give and Take', watercolour on paper, 12.5 x 18cm, 2026.

In the close up above, it's clear to see how the combination of fluidity and linearity which the medium of watercolour allows, was vital in enabling each mark to become a trace of the specific movements I saw.

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Above: 'Surface Illumination', watercolour on paper, 12.5 x 18cm, 2026. 

At other times, it was light which dominated. Flickering over the surface, fragmenting passages of movement, it was almost as if the reflected light moved independently of the water beneath.

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Above: DETAIL from 'Surface Illumination', watercolour on paper, 12.5 x 18cm, 2026. 

Drawing the image 'Surface Illumination' also felt like a sculptural process, as if I were cutting into the white areas with each mark, in turn revealing the light rather than drawing it directly.

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