Limbo Lane just has that feel. A ‘haven’t we been here before’ feel that calls back to ancient times. Sitting in the north Wirral peninsular, the lane runs from Irby Road to Arrowe Brook Road bordering Irby to the west and the fields of Arrowe to the east. It is thought to have once been part of a series of packhorse tracks which follow the line of what is called the ‘Roman Road’ from Chester to Meols. (There is currently no definitive proof of any Roman road on Wirral, but that of course doesn’t mean there wasn’t one and work continues on collecting evidence). Still, the lane is many centuries old and lines up with the old route north through Greasby (Barker Lane, Pump Lane), and then on via Heron Road to Meols, the trading port used by Romans, Saxons and Vikings over the years.

The view here looks north, over the hill towards Greasby at Autumn sunset.

Limbo Lane

The Quarrymen, Kensington – That’ll be the day

There is more than enough information out there regarding the recording of the pre-Beatles’ first disk ‘That’ll be the day’ / ‘In spite of all the danger’, recorded as The Quarrymen at 38 Kensington, Liverpool in 1958. Excellent websites, linked below, tell the story of Mr Percy Phillips, the man who recorded John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, John ‘Duff’ Lowe, and Colin Hatton for the session.

The date on the plaque above the door reads 14th July 1958. It is stated in an interview with Percy Philips’ grandson Peter on the below website that this is an error, and the actual date of 12th July 1958 is recorded in the studio logbook. He goes on to say however ‘we’ll never know’, and according to Lewisohn (All these years, Volume 1: Tune In, p.178), how this July date has been arrived at has never been convincingly demonstrated. Recollections on the date may vary, but Colin and Duff both have a clear recollection of standing together on Kensington, holding the prized discs in their hands and just staring at it (Tune in, p.180).  I’ve been interested in capturing this day – whenever it was, and it doesn’t really matter – for a while and I’ve included here study progress to date, still to be worked up to a bigger picture but an approximate vision of what I think the scene outside No. 38 following the session could have looked like.

This is a painting project to tie histories together. Kensington was home for many years to several strands of my father’s family. The Biggar and Grist families lived in the parallel streets of Guelph Street and Renfew Street, where my nan Isabella Biggar grew up in the 1900’s. (Guelph Passage is where the light shines through in the painting). An auntie, Carrie Grist, was well known in the pubs of Kensington and Low Hill up until 1957, a year before this scene, and relatives still lived in the area up until the 1980s.

Tantalisingly, a second session took place at the studio in 1960 (Tune In, p.180), this time with just John, Paul and George with Arthur Kelly tagging along. The disk featured a recording of a new Lennon / McCartney original ‘One After 909’. Recorded 10 years before its official release on the ‘Let it Be’ album, this second 12” disk is lost.

For more information:

https://www.phillipsacetates.com/

The Quarrymen at Kensington, 1958

Leverhulme’s vision for mid-Wirral

A small bit of history on one of my favourite places on Wirral, the road network created by Lord Leverhulme (then Sir William Hesketh Lever), between 1911-13. Lever was closely involved in the Garden City movement and foreseeing that the borough would become more and more residential, wanted to mould the mid-Wirral landscape to make it ripe for development, along Garden City principles.

Following his acquisition of the Brocklebank Estate in 1911, Lever worked with architect James Lomax-Simpson to create a main arterial highway containing three carriage ways – the centre one for fast traffic and the outer ones for slow traffic. This main highway led from Prenton through the villages of Storeton and Brimstage to Thornton Hough. Early design plans show it was intended eventually to link through to Chester. Soon after it was laid out the road was offered as a gift to the Wirral Rural District Council, but the offer was declined. Cutting the highway at right angles is a roundabout named ‘The Circle’, one of the first in the UK (The first is at Letchworth Garden City). Across the roundabout Lever made a private drive to Thornton Manor, his Wirral home. This was used for Lever’s commute to his factory in Port Sunlight.

Only one section of the main highway is in use today, the section from Prenton to Storeton known as ‘Lever Causeway’. The rest remains private land still owned by Leverhulme Estates. Please see my ‘On the easel’ page for more paintings of the roads.

Leverhulme’s carriage drive – Main Highway

 

 

 

 

Williamson Open Art 2018

If you are able to get along to the Williamson Art Gallery in Birkenhead, you will be able to catch the annual Open Art & Photography Exhibition 2018. It’s a strong showing all round and I’m very pleased to be amongst the exhibitors this year with two pieces.

The exhibition is open Wednesday – Sunday 10am – 5pm and runs until 6th May. More details here: https://williamsonartgallery.org/portfolio/williamson-open-2018/

Cottages at Port Sunlight, Oil on Board, 2017

Port Sunlight prints

A selection of my historic Port Sunlight scenes are now available as limited edition prints.

This is quite possibly a one off print run so limited indeed. There are five scenes available and they are available to view over at the ‘Prints & Postcards’ page.

They measure 20 x 25 cm and each one will come individually hand signed and numbered.

As the original paintings are now all sold this is a chance to grab the next best thing.

Stuart

Royal Society of British Artists – Annual Exhibition 2017

Very pleased to write that I will be exhibiting ‘Study from the back bedroom window, Wood Green’ at this year’s Royal Society of British Artists Annual Exhibition (the society’s 300th annual show) which runs from 22nd March to 1st April, 10am to 5pm at the Mall Galleries in central London.

The painting was executed from Palace Gates Road in North London, and looks North East across Bounds Green during summer 2016.

Very much looking forward to seeing the show now! my first London exhibition. Stuart.

Study from the back bedroom window, Wood Green' 2016

 

On the trail of Constable at Hampstead… Part 1

Judges Walk - 31st October 1821 (2) - Copy

Having spent many years pouring over John Contable’s work, in particular his Hampstead era landscapes and oil sketches – some of which I consider to be his finest works – last weekend I took the opportunity to explore his old stomping ground in North London.

Some background…

Despite the fact that Constable will forever be associated with Suffolk, that area of the county now labelled ‘Constable Country’, the artist spent a large proportion of his professional years based in London.

Like most professional artists of his time, Constable needed a base in London to negotiate with prospective buyers. After his marriage in 1816, he established a home at 76 Charlotte Street, Bloomsbury (now demolished), and then every summer from 1819 to 1826 rented a house at Hampstead for his family. During these periods he would let out part of the Charlotte Street property and would later remark that he was ‘three miles’ door to door – can have a message in an hour – and can always get away from idle callers – and above all see nature and unite town and country life’.

Hampstead Village was at that time part of Middlesex, outside the city. Constable originally arranged these summer migrations to improve the health of his wife and children, but he soon found plenty of subjects to paint. The family moved there more permanently in 1827. This first blog post deals with the area the west of the village centre, and West Heath.

Lower Terrace Number 2 Lower Terrace is the house the family stayed at in the summers of 1821 and 1822. The road is close to the centre of the village, and overlooks West Heath.

'Lower Terrace, Hampstead' c. 1821 -2.

‘Lower Terrace, Hampstead’ c. 1821 -2. Board of Trustees of the Victoria & Albert Museum.

I remember this painting appeared in one of the first Constable books I owned, ‘The Essential Constable’, which included a broad mix of works not always featured it more serious study’s of the artist – some of which had dubious attribution as I recall – but it also included some of the paintings that I would grow to love.

Note that the left hand edge of the painting is unfinished, and has been folded back at some point.

 

Lower Terrace as it is today.

Two views of Lower Terrace as it appears today.

IMG_2531

 

Judges Walk After moving out to Hampstead, Constable renewed his practice of oil sketching and many of his famous ‘Sky studies’ were done at this time. Behind Lower Terrace is ‘Judges Walk’, then known as ‘Prospect Walk’. From here views towards Harrow could be obtained and Constable painted many scenes looking west from this elevated position.  The two intense and vibrent evening scenes below are thought to have both been painted on 31st October 1821. Both feature figures enjoying the view, the second of which may even be the Constable family themselves. The artist wrote to his friend John Fisher on 3rd November:

‘The last day of Octr was lovely so much so that I could not paint for looking – my wife was walking with me all the middle of the day on the beautiful heath. I made two evening effects’.

Judge's Walk, Hampstead, Oil On Paper Laid On Canvas, c. 1821 - 22.

Judge’s Walk, Hampstead, Oil on Paper Laid on Canvas, 1821.

Hampstead Heath, Looking towards Harrow 1821

Hampstead Heath, Looking towards Harrow 1821. Oil on paper laid on Canvas. Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection.

Judges Walk, 2016

Branch Hill Pond Judges Walk looks out over Branch Hill Pond, which featured in many of Constable’s standard Hampstead compositions as well as oil sketches.

Branch Hill Pond, Hampstead, 1819. Board of Trustees of the Victoria & Albert Museum.

Branch Hill Pond, Hampstead, 1819. Board of Trustees of the Victoria & Albert Museum.

This is his first known dated oil of a Hampstead subject, painted on canvas at the end of October 1819. Constable would go on to repeat variations of this view until 1836 (‘Hampstead Heath with a Rainbow’ in the Tate collection).

This painting includes some brilliant impasto work dispatched with the palette knife.

 

 

Branch Hill Pond, July 2016.

Difficult to obtain the exact view, and probably taken from a slightly different angle to the right, but this shows the hollow where Branch Hill Pond once sat, looking west towards Harrow. The house to the left through the trees, The Chestnuts, on Branch Hill was once lived in by the American singer and actor Paul Robeson during the late 1920s.

The Grove With a flat roof resembling the quarter deck of a man-of-war, the house called ‘The Grove’ was occupied in the early nineteenth century by a former lieutenant of the navy, Fountain North. North had had the house altered, and is said to have fired cannon on special occasions.

the_grove_or_the_admiral's_house_in_hampstead

‘A Romantic House at Hampstead’ (The Grove), 1832. National Gallery Berlin.

Constable made several views of this property from different angles. The painting here shows the house as seen from Lower Terrace, almost across the road from number 2. The house is little altered and the same view can be obtained today. It is sometimes referred to as ‘Admiral’s House’ having been renamed that in 1917, in the mistaken belief that Admiral Mathew Barton had lived there. The painting was known as the ‘Romantic House’ amongst Constable’s children.

The Grove, as seen from Lower Terrace.

‘The Grove’, as seen from Lower Terrace today.