Abney Park

Melting Snow - oil on panel - 23 x 30 cm - 1985
Melting Snow - oil on panel - 23 x 30 cm - 1985

I live close to Abney Park, a rambling Victorian cemetery in Stoke Newington. When I first came to Hackney in the late 70’s I lived in a house that backed onto the cemetery and while I was living there I painted the view from my bedroom window, that picture is called ’The Dead Tree' and it’s the first image to appear in the gallery below.

I have always been sympathetic to the Gothic imagination in both art and literature. I like ruins and overgrown cemeteries, twisted trees and cobwebbed staircases, places with an atmosphere of abandonment and peaceful decay. For this reason I have painted a number of pictures inspired by Abney Park Cemetery.

 

Memento Mori  - oil on canvas - 102 x 76 cm - 2023
Memento Mori  - oil on canvas - 102 x 76 cm - 2023

This is my most recent Abney Park inspired picture. At first sight one notices the sleeping lion and then the various statues begin to appear in the half light. I worked on this painting off and on over a period of several years. In a future blog I'll be discussing the composition with some images of the work in progress.

A Dead Tree – oil on panel – 41 x 51 cm - 1980
A Dead Tree – oil on panel – 41 x 51 cm - 1980
Angels - oil on canvas - 51 x76 cm - 2023
Angels - oil on canvas - 51 x76 cm - 2023
Rising Mist - oil on canvas - 61 x 51 cm - 2018
Rising Mist - oil on canvas - 61 x 51 cm - 2018
Cirrus Minor – oil on canvas – 91 x 61 cm - 1984
Cirrus Minor – oil on canvas – 91 x 61 cm - 1984
Heavy Snow – oil on panel – 122 x 122 cm - 1982
Heavy Snow – oil on panel – 122 x 122 cm - 1982
After the Floods - oil on canvas - 101 x 76 - 1996
After the Floods - oil on canvas - 101 x 76 - 1996