Clock Tower, Surbiton

Clocktower (detail), Surbiton, Watercolour and fountain pen, A3 Daler paper

Back in late March I did this rather detailed painting of the Clock Tower in Surbiton. I thought it was a War memorial, but a little Googling reveals it is ” a Grade II listed building completed in 1908 to commemorate the coronation of King Edward VII. It has stone facing and ornamentation in the Gothic style and is just over 18 metres in height to the spire, with working clocks facing to all compass points and a commemorative plaque to Edward VII.”.

Maybe I should have paid more attention to it, although I didn’t see any plaques. I have drawn it before from a distance as part of the Bus Shelter series (hold that thought, a future post will update you about those)

Clock Tower, Surbiton, Watercolour and fountain pen, A3 Daler paper

I have been experimenting with a more representational style, and forcing myself to work with buildings which isn’t my natural thing, and this went a little wonky at the bottom but for me, it’s a real advancement. I got some really nice comments while I was sitting by the Clock Tower Cafe, including a random old guy asking what was in my flask (it was hot soup, I treated myself to a new Ultimate Thermos flask. Expensive but REALLY recommended, I mean it keeps the soup so hot you have to use the cup, rather than my old Thermos food flask that barely kept anything warm for 1-2 hours).

But the best was a kid who said ‘if I had a million dollars I’d buy that!’. Made my day.

I noticed the Cafe was closed, which was odd because it was a week day. I later learned why – that the owner had died mid March, and learnt his name, Kaseem. I drew him in a stealth pen portrait posted as part of my 5PM Series which he was amused by and took a picture of, and I wanted to paint him but he declined because of his religion.

He was a lovely warm man and a refugee from Syria, and only 65 – way too young. So after I learned this a few days ago, I did this abstract thinking about him, and included details only from memory from the Clocktower painting. A very cubist/surrealist abstract landscape, and a reminder that time waits for no man. I like the bird at the top – one of the things I missed was the birds perching on the tower in the first piece, they moved too quick.