Riverside Delights
Sunshine on the riverbank at Twickenham's Embankment today, no ice cream van yet but hoping to see him any day soon. My journey to work is a delightful stroll from Queens Road across the tilted foot bridge to my studio on Eel Pie Island via the riverside. On days like this it's tempting to have a bask in the sun on the benches with my 'Muse Hound' Holly the Saluki, who has become a regular feature of studio life.
Today we encountered Peter walking his 2 pet ferrets and Holly was astonished to see them curiously sniffing up to her and not in the least afraid, in fact she actually hid behind my legs. The riverside is a joyful collage of rowers, joggers and mothers with babies feeding the ducks, (I spot a pair of Ruddy ducks and several Egyptian geese) coots, rooks, crows, pigeons, gulls and swans that congregate noisily where the high tides wash right up to the grassy bank.
No students today so I'm concentrating on my own work - a piece to commemorate the horrors of Japan - cherry blossom time is normally a welcome occasion for the Japanese but this year many of the trees will have been destroyed and with an unthinkable number of lives lost, poisoned air and water etc. My own home town of Christchurch in New Zealand is also suffering from this unpredictable destruction albeit on a smaller scale (see 'News' www.leecampbell.co.uk) so these are the thoughts predominately on my mind as the sun pours through the skylight onto my canvas.
It is always good to have visitors on days like this and it occurs to me that with Mothers Day looming one of my Art Vouchers would make a lovely and original gift... these can be redeemed against an Art Lesson (Drawing, Water colours or Oils) a Print, an original Art Work or a Creative Coaching session. I delight in commissions and am happy to work from photos and welcome visitors to view the work in progress and a selection of paintings in the studio or just to have a chat.
Visitors of Note
Now the weather is improving I'm hoping for members of my BNI networking group to venture down here to see where I work. There are several pubs serving food right on the river (Barmy Arms and The White Swan) and a delightful 20 minute stroll along the riverbank from Twickenham to Richmond - passing 3 historic houses, York House, Marble Hill House, and Orleans House.
Last Sunday Frank Harrington of Atlantic Plumbing and 4 members of his family, some who were visiting from NZ, and also Ann Marie Stevenson from the HR Department and her partner Richard Simpson, who runs an answering service and virtual office business based in Battersea, braved the high tide to experience one of the last working boatyards on the Thames and to see the big cruise boats winched up the slipway to be cleaned up and re-painted.
