Swans Print

The River Lea, or Lee, was once London's main water supply and its valley the home of extensive agriculture, most of it under glass. It was an important freight route with the Lea Navigation canal and offered a easy route for narrowboats and later the railways, then roads. Its length is broken up and criss-crossed with bridges, viaducts, locks and weirs but forms now the Lea Valley Park. Its banks are lined with all sorts of craft, many of them homes. Despite it picturesque quality it is a post-industrial landscape, much of it from the Victorian period with hefty ironworks, railings, columns and rusting iron panels. These are the inspiration behind these pieces. This work captures the dying light of day; the water slows almost to stillness, the light reflected is that of a setting sun, everywhere a glow or cooling warmth pervades the scene. The iron clings to that warmth, the water shares the echo. Three swans transformed in light swim against the stream.