Limited edition print of Waterloo Station

45cm x 37cm watercolour (not including the white boarder paper) giclee print.

Waterloo Station

Waterloo Station was built by the London and South Western Railway (L&SWR). Originally there was no plan to make it a terminus, but simply a stop called Nine Elms on an extension towards the City.

Over the 19^th Century it was slowly expanded and over 700 houses were demolished to accommodate it. It carried on growing and much of what we see today was completed in 1922.

The main entrance is known as The Victory Arch. It is essentially a war memorial and was constructed by James Robb Scott and commemorates Britain’s involvement in World War I.

Painting Waterloo Station

I like this kind of challenge and once the bones of the building were in I sliced, diced and pulled about the arch until it began to work. As I worked I noticed that at the back of the clock is a great arc of frosted glass. And behind the glass you could pick out the occasional fleeting movement.

I imagined that this is the office of the king of the railways, enthroned behind a monstrous mahogany desk. The arc of bright glass behind him to enhance that imperious persona.  A pretty impressive place to have your office I should think.

I was cracking on now and the arch was working fine. I had enough characters to populate the busy steps too. Working on the final bits I felt I had enough to finish the rest off in the studio which I did do a while later. All in all I am pretty pleased with them all.

Oh by the way After I packed up on that day I went inside the station for a tea.  Up a flight of stairs I found one of the cafes for my cuppa. It was there I discovered that the ‘king of the railways office’ was in fact just a well-lit lavatory at the back.

Life can be like that sometimes.