I painted this using an old black and white photograph that was taken around 1900 as my reference material. This was when Romford was a rural area, very different from nowadays. The Golden Lion Hotel dates back to around 1440, the one constant from the distance past that remains in the heart of Romford.

I mixed three sepia colours and used those colours  in differing levels of tone. I used burnt umber, burnt sienna and a chromatic black I mixed with burnt umber and ultramarine blue. To the chromatic mix I adding varying amounts of my other two sepia colours.

I started with the sky and used a light wash of my burnt sienna biased sepia colour, applying the colour with a large brush, using a circular brushstroke.

I then painted in the building shapes, using light washes of the different sepia colours. I then painted the dark window shapes in. I painted the trees using a rigour brush. When the painting had dried I added darker tones for the more definite shapes on the buildings. I painted in the people using my darkest tone of my darkest sepia.

I used a pen for the lettering on the wall sign and finally painted in the railings with a dark tone of sepia and I used a broad brushstroke for the pathway.