Daily Drawing Diary

Pen & Ink On Paper 40cm x 30cm

DCR: That’s quite a Lowry-esque scene and composition; the fact that it’s slightly smudgy and blurry.
RP: I did that from the top of a bus.
DCR: Obviously you and I know it’s London Bridge, but there’s nothing inherent in it that speaks of London. it could be any commuter bridge in the world. In a sense, that’s one of the least specific drawings in this group.
RP: I don’t feel depressed by that drawing, because sometimes you can be by masses of faceless, nameless people.
DCR: That’s because you don’t have to commute every morning.
RP: I suppose I’m an outsider in that respect, romanticising what it would be like to walk to the city from London Bridge.
DCR: Maybe to empathise you should get up at six every morning for a month, commute to London Bridge and walk across it! and by the end of it, I think that drawing would be different. It would be called ‘Goodbye London Bridge’.

Pen & Ink On Paper 40cm x 30cm

DCR: Do you enjoy drawing figures, or would you rather that they weren’t part of your compositions?
RP: I really love drawing figures if they’re the subject; I find the tension between a figure and a landscape, and the relationship between the two, more challenging.
DCR: In the american drawings, you’re very much focusing on the figure, and you’re picking up the detail and the mood, whereas in many of the English ones, like Leadenhall and St. Paul’s, you seem to be more consciously taking the figures out.

Pen & Ink On Paper 40cm x 30cm

RP: London icons really fascinate me, from certain buildings to disappearing symbols from the past 50 years like Routemaster buses and the telephone boxes, which I love to capture. Having so many lines going in different directions leads to a really energetic image.

Pen & Ink On Paper 20cm x 30cm

RP: That’s my local tube station, and I drew it quite soon after coming back. Public transport was a novelty for us after being in Texas.
DCR: Again you felt fond enough of it to do a drawing.
RP: I’ve moved my studio to here now, and I’m reclaiming the area as such.

Oil & Gold Leaf On Canvas 90 x 120cm

RP: I love the symmetry to this image. Like with St. Paul’s, I wanted to set the main subject back and lead the viewer in to recreate the sense of walking up to this grand piece of architecture. The use of gold leaf here was to introduce a touch of delicacy to the piece, because the building also reminds me of a large amplifier!

Oil & Gold Leaf On Canvas 90 x 120cm

DCR: It’s wonderful in London to find this combination of buildings together. it’s an experience that’s hard to replicate anywhere else in the world.

Oil & Gold Leaf On Canvas 90 x 120cm

DCR: There’s a joy and an optimism to these drawings that I can’t quite define, but it’s certainly identifiable; they seem much happier compositions.
RP: They also involve technical changes – the paper got bigger, and my pen got smaller.

Oil & Gold Leaf On Canvas 122cm x 193cm

RP: I feel less of an outsider, more included, more a part of my environment here. I’ve drawn St. Paul’s on numerous occasions from this angle, but I always feel like I’m there, whereas the Dallas picture was drawn from the top of a revolving building, so I felt more removed from it. here, I’m more comfortable and am happy to be back again.

Oil & Gold Leaf On Canvas 122cm x 193cm

Pen & Ink On Paper, 20cm x 30cm

DCR: The architectural drawings seem to me to be celebrating the city – they’re grand and welcoming. The composition draws you in. It’s a different visual experience than when I’m looking at the cities in Texas, which seem crammed, crowded and intense. These are more expansive and open, and I’m wondering if that’s because you’re very happy to be back in London.