Take Me To The River - a painting of the Upper Thames

"Take Me To The River" is a painting of the Upper Thames west of Oxford. It shows the river Thames from Eynsham, Oxfordshire, with an imagined view towards the Uffington White Horse.

• A2 size signed poster prints are coming in late January 2025. 
• Digital file for you to make a single print at a format and size of your choice.
• The original painting in watercolour, size 378 x 550mm is NOT FOR SALE. I want to hang on to this one!

This view should make loose geographical sense to anyone who knows this section of the river.

Half map, half landscape, I haven't tried to be geographically accurate in "Take Me To The River". There's no need, we have OS maps for that.

And I never worry much about scale. This is my loose interpretation of a length of the river Thames I know well. It's my patch, my children's playground, a place I cherish. The entire river is liquid history, of course, and in most places here it's still wild, unkempt, and alive.

I have tried to express something of the extraordinary richness of Mother Nature here in this apparently quite ordinary landscape. I've even included an extinct species - the mammoth - which roamed free here until 10,000 years ago.

The little train in the painting (the line from Bristol to London) is meant to suggest that we humans are just passing through this ancient and beautiful landscape.

Ancient and modern landscape features

As well as named villages, I've included

• The three towers of Stanton Harcourt
• The Devil's Quoits Neolithic stone circle
• The Uffington White Horse
• Wayland's Smithy
• villages: Eynsham, Stanton Harcourt, Northmoor (church tower), Uffington
• Farmoor reservoir

Bridges and river crossings

From the foot of the painting going up, you'll see six river crossings illustrated:

• Swinford Bridge - the privately owned and tax exempt 18th century bridge just outside Eynsham which still collects tolls.
• Pinkhill Lock and weir 
• Hart's Weir footbridge - known as Rainbow Bridge to the locals
• Newbridge - at the confluence of the Windrush and the Thames
• Tenfoot Bridge - a footbridge above Shifford Lock
• Tadpole Bridge - a graceful arched road bridge built in the 18th century.

Fauna of the Thames

I have included mammals, birds, fish and more on my painting. I have seen all of them in the approximate position on the painting, (except for the otter which my son spotted at Newbridge).

• Brown hare
• Roe deer
• Otter
• Fox
• Sheep
• Greylag geese
• Grey wagtail
• Skylark
• Red kite
• Common frog
• Banded demoiselle
• Hawfinch 
• Heron
• Roe deer
• Starlings
• Barn owl
• Kingfisher
• Tufted duck
• Mallard
• Mute swan
• Coot
• Great crested grebe
• Cuckoo
• Brown trout
• Pike
• Bream 
• Perch