A sequence of photos of the River Lea and nearby landscapes - Coppermill Fields and Horseshoe Thicket

Are these photos too 'pretty' to be used as inspiration for paintings? Risking results that lean towards the kitsch from the absence of a dark undertow or intellectual challenge? Or should a direct response to nature, to ecology be basis enough for visual art in itself?

A question surely following on the heels of the last,what does this interest in a 'dark undertow' say about my interests? Another thought.

I have a friend and when she lived in Seven Sisters nearby, she considered this areas as rather louche, even off-limits and did not go there, but perhaps it has changed in recent years, and the River Lea seems classically picturesque, the aesthetics being readily pleasing to the eye are perhaps not as challenging or provocative as other subject matters.

Source material in terms of London environments?

I live here and am without intention or resources to travel far and wide; moreover winter approaches so I prefer my 'stamping ground' to be within reach of my living room. Edgy, 'exciting' areas? Oh but I don't want to get killed. Should we be anxious about moped crime which run into an average of fifty-five per day?

The River Lea. Safe, predictable landscapes of river life, or a fascinating window into a place that not everyone has seen? Aesthetically pleasing to the eye, only that, or embedded with imagery pertinent to a lifestyle less atomised perhaps than street living, and integrating lifestyle with an ecology that makes its presence felt?

Is there perhaps also a story here? A flight from home? Or a double flight? What happened immediately before I struck out to walk these riverbanks and fields? What maybe happened after these small glimpses, that press the pause button on time? If it is more about narrative then must I make a film? Or a series of paintings perhaps.

Response to the visual is multiple, and therefore a tension is perhaps set up between the diverse readings possible. Would I have taken the pictures if I thought that they were nothing more than 'pretty'? Not that I knew anything at the outset.

And is the dark undertow perhaps the proximity of the water? The bridge and fields imply its crossing, but there it lurks, a silk glove that could take someone down.