Roy Connelly

Above: Ken Howard, Peter Brown, Roy Connelly – click to view

This is a recent interview with Ken Howard RA in which he talks about the difficulties encountered when painting on the streets of London.  The problem is not one of perspective,  capturing the light or changing weather but of being moved on under the spurious excuse of ‘health and safety’.

I was pleased to get a mention in the article, along with Pete the Street – Peter Brown NEAC.

The Health and Safety Executive saw fit to respond with a letter defending common sense:

“Real health and safety is about dealing with risks that are likely to cause serious harm or even death to those in workplaces. I would urge you to challenge those jobsworths who persist in devaluing the real and important stuff by using “elf ‘n’ safety” as an easy excuse for spoiling everyone else’s enjoyment.”

You can read their letter in full here on the HSE website.

Finally, in a humourous response to the original story in the Telegraph, The Guardian newspaper found 10 ‘serious menaces’ in Trafalgar Square that were apparently missed by the wardens.

I spent this afternoon at Messum’s in Cork Street where Peter Brown NEAC gave a very entertaining talk on his life as a painter on the streets of London and Bath.

Having recently spent a day painting with Peter in London and watching his painting emerge from the blank canvas it was good to hear his thoughts on everything from coping with changing light to why he wont use a camera.

The talk coincided with the exhibition The Magic and Poetry of Everyday Life. A collection of paintings by New English Art Club artists from its beginnings in the nineteenth century to the present day.  This fine exhibition is well worth seeing and runs until the 3rd of July 2010.

London has warmed up and the sun has been shining for a week now so it has been good to be able to paint without a jacket on.

On Friday I spent a very enjoyable day painting in London with Peter Brown NEAC. Along with Susan Wolff and Ann Hopkins the four of us set up our easels by Cleopatra’s Needle next to the River Thames.  You can see one of my pictures above.

In the last week I have painted at Marble Arch,  Hyde Park,  The Mall and St James Park (above).

Above is a view Duke of York Square, by the King’s Road in Chelsea.  All the paintings shown here are 8×10 inches (25x30cm) and are in oil on board.