the thames, lifeblood of london

I am so grateful for the River Thames. Without the Thames, London would not exist, and I would have nowhere to go back to from California. It’s got a murky past for sure, but I don’t hold that against it, it’s all water under the bridge. Personally I love the Thames as a place to escape to when the craziness of London gets too much. We have great parks for that purpose too, but I love seeing the water roll by, and there’s so much to draw pictures of. Even as a teenager I would come down and sketch this area. On my recent trip home, I was flummoxed by Piccadilly Circus so retreated to the river, and sat in the middle of Hungerford Bridge, looking out towards the Houses of Parliament. I love this bridge. Until about a decade or so ago it was terrible, just the rail bridge with a fear-inducing pedestrian walkway attached to the eastern side. That bridge was not good, and you didn’t even get the nice view of Big Ben. Well, for the Queen’s Golden Jubilee in 2002 they did away with the old walkway and built two beautiful new bridges around the rail bridge (they are formally called the ‘Golden Jubilee Bridges’ but people still say Hungerford Bridge to refer to all three bridges). I sketched the view above while sat on the western bridge, and felt so much happier. This is the City of Westminster, seat of the UK’s government, with the famous Westminster Bridge in the middle. The London Eye on the left is in the borough of Lambeth.

However it wasn’t enough for this sketch-addict so I had to do more from the other side, looking east, a double-page panorama. This took just under two hours, standing fighting the wind, and boy it was a windy day. Sunny, but windy. That bridge above is Waterloo Bridge, designed by the same man who gave us the red telephone box (note the curvature of the arches, it is exactly the same as on the roof of the phonebox). The left of the picture (with Cleopatra’s Needle there) is still Westminster, but by about the middle of the second arch it becomes the City of London, the ancient and fiercely independent square-mile. the river Thames curves around, passing St.Paul’s in the middle (I started the drawing here), while the South Bank changes from the borough of Lambeth to the borough of Southwark. The tall pointy thing is the brand new Shard, beside London Bridge. It was along the South Bank that I went sketching a week later. 

Here are some happy campers, claiming their spot on the day before the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee River Pageant, a historic event that celebrated Queen Elizabeth II’s 60th year on the British throne. This was sketched outside Tate Modern, opposite St.Paul’s Cathedral. This was another windy day, though dry – the next day the heavens opened on these poor folk, but I think they had a great time nonetheless. People had come from all over the country to catch a glimpse of the Queen on her royal barge, with the massive flotilla sailing behind her.

And here is Southwark Bridge, with the jubilee bunting flying about in the strong breeze. I walked on sketching more, then had a bite to eat at Borough Market. I do love walking and sketching by the Thames.

by Pete Scully