Charles Dickens wrote the entirety of Oliver Twist in this House at 48 Doughty Street in King's Cross, London in 1838. It's now a museum. Whenever I hear "Please, sir, I want some more” it reminds me of Pink Floyd's lyrics "If you don't eat your meat, you can't have any pudding" both symbolic bringing awareness to how children are treated. Dickens ended up having to work as a child leaving school at age 12 working in a book-blacking factory. "Bah! Humbug!" He wrote the story about Scrooge later in life, and that changed my life. I might have only been slightly older than a toddler and our black and white television was showing the 1935 version of the Christmas Carol and those ghosts scared me deeply, to the point where it might have altered my little-kid personality to be a more helpful and giving human. That's what the arts can do... change our lives, whether music or books or paintings, we can grasp a more open perspective.
Sometimes I use a T-square to ensure that the lines are perpendicular. I love distorting perspective. Even though the whole composition has a fish-eye perspective, one of the chimneys is off kilter and that's ok because it highlights the ascending squares. I love adding these little wrought-iron fences and the tree is just like Dr. Seuss and these little mini doors they make me think of Alice in Wonderland.
See this piece of artwork in London with Signet Contemporary Art Gallery during these Spring Art Fairs:
Affordable Art Fair Battersea, London
Dates: March 12 - 16, 2025
Affordable Art Fair Hampstead, London
Dates: May 8 - 11, 2025
Charles Dickens' House Museum
Charles Dickens' House Museum
48 Doughty Street in King's Cross
London, England, UK
Oil Painting Series
2024-2025
9 x 12 inches
22.86 x 30.48 cm
Artist Lisa Bisbee
B0690