People are often surprised when I tell them I'm based in South London. Watercolour landscapes conjure images of the Lake District, the Cotswolds, or the Yorkshire Moors. But Carshalton, tucked into the Surrey border on the edge of the London Borough of Sutton, has been quietly inspiring artists for centuries.
The Ponds
The ponds are where I always return. Fed by the River Wandle — one of England's most chalk-rich rivers — they sit in the centre of the village with a stillness that feels genuinely remarkable for a place twelve miles from central London. Early morning, with a mist sitting low over the water and the willows trailing their fingers in the reflection, is as painterly a scene as anywhere I've travelled.
I've painted the ponds in every season: the ice-blue clarity of winter, the explosive green of May, the amber and ochre of autumn with fallen leaves drifting across the surface. Each version tells a different story about the same place.
The Village High Street and Church
The high street retains a character that larger London suburbs have long since lost. Independent shops, the old pub with its low beams, and at the centre of it all, All Saints' Church — one of the oldest in Surrey, its flint tower rising above the limes. The churchyard itself is a painting waiting to happen in almost any light.
Carshalton House and Honeywood
Carshalton House, now St Philomena's School, has a water tower and orangery that appear in several of my paintings. Honeywood, the museum on the pond's edge, has a particularly satisfying reflected-geometry when the water is calm. These are the kind of subjects where watercolour's ability to capture light on water comes into its own — no other medium does it quite the same way.
The Wandle Trail
Following the Wandle from its source springs at Carshalton up through Beddington Park gives an ever-changing sequence of subjects: the chalk-clear river itself, the mill ponds, the old watercress beds, the sudden surprising wildness of the flood meadows. I paint on location here regularly, usually early on weekend mornings before the path gets busy.
Wider South London
Beyond Carshalton, the wider South London landscape offers more than most people realise. Mitcham Common, Nonsuch Park, the hills around Crystal Palace with their sudden views over the city, the Thames at Battersea and Putney — these are all within reach and all appear in my work at different times.
There's a particular kind of light in South London that I find distinctive — softer than the estuary, less dramatic than the northern hills, but with a warm quality in the late afternoon that I've never quite managed to recreate in paint to my full satisfaction. Which means I keep trying.
Commission a Local Painting
If you live in or around Carshalton, Sutton, Wallington, Cheam or the wider South London area, a commission of your home, your street, your garden or a local landmark makes a wonderful and genuinely personal piece of art. I know these places well and paint them with genuine affection.
Find out more about commissioning a painting →
And if you'd like to see my current collection of South London and Surrey landscapes, they're all in the gallery.
