My thought process of why I chose this subject
Early Summer 2025, we met up with our daughter in London. She got us tickets for the two day exhibition on Eel Pie Island, which I have never heard of before then, where her and her boyfriend visited last year and bought some original works from one of the artists.
She got me intrigued and interested as it sounded like a good place to visit when we next went to London to visit.
It was a very hot day in June and was almost 30 degrees so was already feeling tropical. To get to the island you have to get to Twickenham and make you way to the River Thames and the only way across to the island is via a footbridge. Once on the island you realise that there is no traffic because of the size of the island and the only artists who have workshops on the island live there as well.
While walking around it felt very tropical and quirky but a feeling of the time when I travelled around the Bahamas with its run down shacks and tropical trees and plants.
It gave me the inspiration to paint larger works onto canvas but using the them of quirky gardens and workspaces. As we walked around the island it felt so familiar and after half an hour it came to me that it reminded me of our visits to the Bahamas and the The Great Guana Cay Islands and the community feeling and remoteness but relaxed atmosphere. It is so different to anywhere else in London just by crossing a small footbridge.
I am definitely going back to take more photos and get more inspiration now the first painting is finished. The painting I finished this summer is being entered into a competition and once it’s finished it will be sold
Below are some of the images that are possibly the next artwork pieces to work on
The images below are photos I’ve photoshopped. These are the ones that work to my style and technique on the large canvas but this also gives me the opportunity to change the colours to bring more life onto the image for better reference
This took a month to paint from start to finish using Acrylic on a stretched canvas. I am still yet to decide what to sell it for but feel £1000 is a reasonable price as I am not signed up to any gallery or sell work online
If you know of someone who might be interested in this work or future works I am working, on in the same style, just drop me an email or go to the website and message me on the various social media platforms
Thank you
Martin (ooqy) Taylor
OOQY 