Film star Lana Turner visited Walthamstow Dog Track in 1949. Her husband planned midget car racing at the track. In this print, I imagine her at the entrance, two 20th century icons together.
This print was a private commission. The brief was to create a busy, industrial canal scene.
This print was developed from a drawing done on the spot near Blackhorse Road Tube Station, London. The area is in flux, with lots of building work going on, and I wanted to capture it in transition.
Waltham Forest town hall was built in the 1930’s. King Kong, the classic film, came out in 1933. I combined the two in this image.
Available as a greetings card and print from 70 Hoe Street, London.
Manze’s on Walthamstow High Street has been selling pie, mash and jellied eels since 1929. Its shopfront is now listed. Here we see fresh eels being delivered.
Edward Lear is a great inspiration to many illustrators, especially the funny, fluid drawings he did for his nonsense poems. In this print, I imagine a shop run by Lear. He’d sell books by Tennyson, guides to the many places he travelled to, have a bust of Queen Victoria (who he taught to draw), and of course, nonsense food like the amblongus pie.
Created for an exhibition celebrating the 200th anniversary of Lear’s birth, London, 2012.
‘Biddle Brothers’ is an old shop that was regenerated as a pub. At one time the bar had a resident parrot, here commemorated on an invented billboard showing the parrot sailing a ship and thinking of rum.
Created as part of a residency at Pages of Hackney bookshop, 2015.
Like many old cinemas, this art deco building on Buxton Road, London, is being knocked down to make way for flats. This print depicts it in the 1950’s, when it hosted wrestling matches for a short time. It was a cinema until 1961, then a bingo hall until 1996, when it closed for good.
The Round Chapel, London E5, is a grade two listed building. It was built in the 1870’s as a Nonconformist chapel and is now a concert and events venue.
In researching my hand-drawn animated film “Fairground Fever” I spent many hours sketching at fairgrounds, from Hampstead Heath to the Links Market, Kirkcaldy. In this print, several drawings are combined in a single bustling scene.
The corner opposite The Bell pub is where Walthamstow’s Empire Cinema used to stand. Here I imagine a magic show taking place. In reality, the cinema ended its days as a snooker hall, before being demolished to make way for flats.
The William Morris Gallery, London is in the house where Morris lived as a boy. This image shows Morris as a young man, reading in the garden, which is now the entrance to the gallery.
This was built for the Salvation Army in Walthamstow High Street. The architect was George Gilbert Scott Jr, son of the famous architect. The Salvation Army advocate abstinence, so I imagined the building as a café serving tea (it is a nail bar at the moment). Scott Jr died of cirrhosis of the liver, in his father’s building, the Midlands Grand Hotel, St.Pancras.
This print shows the local E17 Art Trail. The terraced houses look very similar on the outside but inside are full of creativity. Various arts burst out of the chimney, including a blue plaque to Leyton’s Harry Beck, who designed the London Underground Tube Map. This view is drawn from the street I lived on.
