Anyone walking across the upper walkway of Tower Bridge this summer might be surprised to come across an artist at work.
Melissa Scott-Miller has been commissioned by the trust that runs the bridge to paint a panoramic view stretching from City Hall and the Shard across the Thames to the skyscrapers of the City.
“It’s a great place, Tower Bridge,” Melissa told the News. “I didn’t realise, although I’ve always admired it. There’s a lot to see, and I’ve found myself getting more and more interested in the history as I’ve been painting.”
Melissa paints a lot outside, and so is used to people coming up to her on the street. But being a kind of public attraction herself is a bit different, she said.
“Once I start to concentrate, it doesn’t really bother me though. Sometimes there’s a school group, and there’s a lot of people. It is really nice constantly getting encouragement all day long. A lot of people have been very admiring and encouraging.
“There was one person who put their finger in the paint and smeared it on the canvas. A couple of kids did that very gently but this was actually an adult. I don’t really know why you’d do that.”
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A former teacher at the Art Academy on Borough High Street, Melissa was born and raised in London and loves painting the city. “I’m very into bricks, I paint a lot of brick houses,” she said. “I just like the contrast between the old and the new.
“I love London light, the fact that it’s always changing. There’s a certain bright light that you get. It’s not too sunny, but you get this amazing light even on a day that it’s cloudy.”
Melissa’s painting will be 150cm by 100cm. She started painting at the beginning of June and she hopes to finish the canvas by mid-July, although she will carry on painting throughout the summer. One possibility is a triptych – three paintings side by side. The final work will be sold in a charity auction by the City of London corporation, which owns the bridge, later this year.
Melissa is also running free workshops for families and children to draw their own view from Tower Bridge, with the next one on July 16. Find out more here.