Staines in September

September on the Thames — the trees just beginning to turn, the river quiet enough to mirror them. The cottage’s gabled roof against all that softening green and ochre; the boat giving the whole thing a heartbeat.

An original watercolour of a Thames-side cottage at Staines in early autumn, on 100% cellulose paper. The river runs slow through Surrey here — past Runnymede, Penton Hook, the lock at Bell Weir — and gabled riverside houses with private moorings line the towpath. A single red-and-white motorboat passing in the foreground, the trees softening into ochre: the gentlest of September scenes.