Going through portfolios yesterday I found this sketch of 'Sid the Boxer'.

sid the boxer 009

When I first moved to London from Wales in the autumn of 2005 I stayed in Barnes, in south west London.

I found a bench in a little park between Barnes and Mortlake, which sits right on the river. It was there, while making some water colour sketches looking up river to Chiswick, that I met Sid the Boxer.

It was a picture perfect morning. Other than some people sitting on a bench on the other side of the park, I was alone. After an hour or so, the group got up and began to walk towards me. All of them, except for one very big man with a can of beer in his hand, walked down to the river bank. The big man came directly towards me and asked, as you do "You wanna paint my portrait"?

Surprising him, much more than he had surprised me, I said, "yes - sit down at the end of the bench I will paint one portrait for you and one for me".

It turned out that Sid the Boxer had spent most of his life in jail, specifically Wandsworth Prison, where, as he put it, he had respect from both the black and white inmates because of his prowess as a boxer. When I met him, he was living in a half way house. When I asked him what he had been in jail for, he said "attempted murder" Apparently, Sid who came across to me as a gentle giant, was also capable of serious outbursts, especially when too much alcahol was involved!

He was in his fifties, had been born into a 'travelling' family and had a daughter, who he hadn't seen or heard of in over thirty years. Clearly at one point he had been a very big, fit young man and a promising boxer. It was also clear, that through the accident of birth, Sid the Boxer's choices and options in life and been very limited.

After I painted the two portraits, Sid asked me if I had gone to a special school to learn to paint. I told him that I had gone to art college in Rochester, Kent. His response was that he had gone to the Borstal youth prison in Rochester! So there we were two people with very different life experiences, sitting on a park bench enjoying one anothers company.

I will always remember and be grateful for meeting Sid the Boxer, and often wonder where the portrait I gave him is hanging today. Maybe it's in Wandsworth Prison, who knows!

The second part of this post is about Tony's hat.

I began a portrait of my friend Tony Morris several months ago, and kept his hat so that I could work on that part of the portrait without him having to sit. Given that winter is just around the corner, it occurred to me yesterday that I should complete the painting of the hat so that Tony can wear it.

Here's where I left off a couple of months ago

tony's hat 008

Here's the painting after working on the hat yesterday.

sid the boxer 008

I still have much work to do in the back ground. I will show again when completed.

Another lovely morning in London, with more seasonal temperatures.

A Bientot