East end girls and north end boys paint their London Lives

Titled London Lives, the artworks were produced in response to a recent competition for artists to capture the spirit of our capital city. Participants were asked to define what London meant to them through their art. Some chose to look to The River Thames and other iconic London images for inspiration while others depicted scenes closer to home.

Several of the top 100 entrants were not born in London but are Londoners by choice. Between them they represent a broad section of london life from Tottenham to Hampstead and Southgate to New Barnet. The overall winner, Akash Bhatt hails from Wembley. His winning painting shows a towerblock on a grey day with people rushing home through the gloom. It will be reproduced on a large-scale for display on a hoarding alongside Blackfriars Bridge.

London Lives runs until 19 September at Bankside Gallery, 48 Hopton Street, London, SE1 9JH. The gallery is open daily from 11am to 6pm during exhibitions. Admission is free. Details: 020 7928 7521, www.banksidegallery.com

Here some of the artists' thoughts about London:

Akash Bhatt – Wembley

pic: Life

“I like the decay to be found in buildings and places, it resembles the lives of the people that interest me. My interests lie in people, their environment and what mark they leave on their surroundings. I do a lot of drawing and Life depicts people I saw over a period of several days coming home from work near where I live. I don’t paint flowers, says Akash, “I am more interested in the characters I see in everyday, but stirring settings.”

Renos Lavithis – New Barnet

pic: View from St. Paul’s, ink drawing

“In general, as an artist, I have a great passion for preserving and exploring our natural surroundings, anything that relates to life, human activity and the beauty under the heavens with all their glory of form, colour and light; these find their way onto my canvases or paper. I’ve lived in Barnet for 23 years and exhibit with the Barnet Collection and Barnet Guild of Artists. I studied graphic design at Ealing School of Art with Freddie Mercury and went on to study typographical design and an art foundation degree at the London College of Printing. I worked as an artist for the Daily Mail for 30 years. A year ago, I went back to Fleet Street to the pubs and places I used to frequent and was inspired to record them in my drawings. For this picture, I went right up to the top of St Paul’s for an aerial view of The River Thames.”

Edward Ofosu – Tottenham

pic: Life in London, acrylic on canvas

“I decided to do something that will come randomly to me instead of planning or relying on my mind. I went to the city and started taking ramdom pictures around Trafalgar Square. On my way home, I continued taking pictures of anything that called for my attention. At home, I unloaded the pictures onto my laptop, mounted a canvas on my easel and started painting some of the pictures on the canvas in no particular order. After ignoring my rational mind for about three hours I realized a new scene had been formed which is different to the static scenery you’d see if you were to visit Trafalgar Square.”

Anna Pieniazek – Haringey

pic: River Thames, oil on canvas

"I arrived to London in pursue of my big dream to become a well-known artist. Soon I realized how influencing, colourful and inspiring London is. This is so unbelieveable how this town has changed me, even my painting has changed and my palette become more colourful. I have attended many art courses, this is where I’ve learned the basics, but most of my knowledge comes from books, illustrated albums and countless hours spent in museums and galleries staring at paintings with exaltation. Creating art is a joy of my life. It is the most satisfying activity I can really imagine.”

David Questa – Crouch End

pic: Embankment, charcoal and coloured ink

“My work derives from observations of the urban landscape, often from an elevated viewpoint. I aim to capture the essence of a particular place, recording its topography as well as its transient and ever-changing aspects. The Embankment piece was produced from life, kneeling on Hungerford Bridge above Victoria Embankment. I made a few visits to the spot, making a series of small sketches before working on the larger piece. I used charcoal and coloured inks, although usually I work in oils on canvas in the studio.”

Martin Hoare – Haringey

pic: West One - Return, pencil, pen and ink and markers

“My interpretation of the theme London Lives, centres around the way the people of London interact with each other and the urban environment; that’s what really interests me. My drawings focus on the everyday aspects of London and the people who live and work here. I bring observation, location drawings, sketches and photographs together to create a composition, which I work up into a finished drawing, starting with pencil and finished with pen and ink and markers.”

Claire Hynds – Southgate

pic: Transient Vista

“Transient Vista explores the changing aspects and views one experiences when moving through an urban space. Inspired by the brute concrete architecture of famous London landmarks such as the Barbican and South Bank Centre, a multitude of images have been brought together to impart the surfaces, textures and angles experienced when observing such buildings. The result is a construction of an abstract horizon that relays a sense of encounter and transition."

Mychael Barratt – Highgate

pic: Monopoly 1, etching and aquatint

“I was not born in London but have an immigrant’s zeal for my much loved, adopted home. Much of my work is based on London either directly or as the backdrop for narrative scenes which play themselves out in the foreground. Monopoly feels a bit like a magnum opus as it combines so many different interpretations of London's people and vistas. Once I had the idea to do a piece based on the Monopoly board, I walked and cycled around all of the locations in each case hoping to find the most apposite reference for each specific locations. In many cases it was obvious: Liberty for Marlborough Street; Nelson's Column for Trafalgar Square. Coventry Street is a street which although I've walked down it a thousand times, I had no memory of anything about it. When I went there the first thing I saw was the Prince of Wales Theatre which is showing Mamma Mia - what a gift! Stanley Green, the Protein Man, who walked up and down Oxford Street preaching about the perils of protein was one of the first drawings I did as he has always been one of my favourite London eccentrics. I was also quite certain that I wanted to include Harry Potter in the flying Ford Anglia above King's Cross Station. Every location on the board was explored and my only apology is Vine Street where I was so completely unable to find anything iconic or noteworthy about the street that I just included the street sign.”

Ellen Gilbert – Hampstead

pic: Can you see the Eye?, Watercolour and digital

“London is everything I was looking for in the city and it’s a gentle place as well. I grew up in Manhatten, a city where you could not walk alone as a woman, but in London you can. I live in Hampstead Garden Suburb and behind where I live there used to be tennis court which is now just fields. There are parrots there, a greenheaded woodpecker and red squirrels. What a dream. I draw a line a day. I had to make a decision in my life; my choice was do I pursue art or music. I chose art but I’ve just joined the synagogue choir. They tell me it takes five years to learn how to sing in the choir but it’s a wonderful opportunity to sing really loud and not upset anybody else. For a long while I worked at Greenwich Printmakers Gallery on the other side of London and I tried all sorts of modes of transport to get there such as by river boat, train or by car. My picture is from the top of Primrose Hill with people walking dogs and pushing prams. There’s also this big aviary and in the sky is a hot air balloon and in distance you can see the London Eye. I did a series of paintings of that ilk using watercolour and digital work. I love my watercolours. I have been a printmaker for years and years but the chemicals are so carcinogenic and nasty. So now I use my computer and I love the control; how I can go back into the image and get it to be better.”