Watching the river…

Posted byPatricia Stoughton

The tidal Thames and its endlessly restless water…

Gazing down at the water is like watching a continuously moving work of art; tides, wind, weather, and the wash of passing boats all changing the texture of the surface and reflections into an infinite variety of shapes and patterns. An alternative focus and escape into another dimension. Here are some moments from the past year captured, frozen in time…

MOMENTS I

Chill Wind I
Chill Wind II
Migratory black-headed gulls alight on wind-ruffled water
Lion drinking from a silky-smooth high tide
Softly, softly black-headed gull
Blue silk
Clear water

REFLECTIONS

Reflections 1
Reflections II
Reflections III
Reflections IV

MOMENTS II

Rain
Elasticity
Troubled by a Thames Barrier closure

GLITTER PATHS

Glitter Path I
Glitter Path II
Glitter Path III
Glitter Paths IV

As I wrote last June, “There are those who, through their long experience of work on the Thames, understand its moods, complexities and dangers.” But for me, escaping for a while from the state of the world, I have looked down at the water from the safety of Victoria Tower Gardens, struck by the beauty and constant changing of its surface patterns, shapes and colours, etched by winds and painted by skies.