Artwork Description:

Title: The Little Cobbler

The smell of leather and glue spill out onto the street from this tiny, busy shop crammed full of tools and materials for mending shoes and cutting keys.  How could I resist capturing this image of order created from chaos in a trade which seems from an earlier age but still services the needs of today?

Albert Street, Derby

Ink and watercolour.  Worked from photographs as there is only room for one person to stand at the counter and I was blocking other customers.

Artist Bio:

Working quickly with a fountain pen, waterproof ink and watercolour, Tom captures views of cafes, city streets and rural views in an urban sketch style.  Some of these are worked into larger pictures back in the studio using pen and wash or oil.  Sometimes an image demands to be painted and battles a path via sketches and photographs to be released from just an idea to become a finished piece of work.

Tom has always been fascinated by our impact on the landscape and started sketching the urban environment of cafes, railway stations and airports while travelling for work.  Now Tom can often be found sketching and painting in and around Derby and enjoys chatting to onlookers about art techniques, the history of local buildings or where to find the best coffee and cake.