The calm before community
Every year, Carshalton Park transforms for the Eco Fair. Stalls line the field, voices fill the air, families gather to celebrate sustainability and community. But in the hour before it all begins — when volunteers are still setting up, when the field is empty and golden under morning clouds — there is a different kind of magic.
That is the moment I wanted to paint.
Anticipation as creative subject
Before the Eco Fair is a study in anticipation. The field waits. The sky holds soft light. Everything is ready but not yet begun. It is the creative equivalent of a deep breath before speaking — that moment of potential energy before action.
I arrived early with my watercolours, drawn by the quality of morning light and the unusual sight of the field so empty. Usually when I visit Carshalton Park, it is alive with people. But that morning, it was just me, the field, and the promise of what was about to unfold.
Community spaces hold dual meanings
What struck me most was how the same space can hold such different feelings. Carshalton Park Field in that pre-event quiet felt vast, serene, contemplative. In a few hours, it would be joyful, bustling, energetic — the same field, transformed by community presence.
Both states are beautiful. Both are worth honouring. And the transition between them — that liminal moment of preparation and anticipation — felt particularly worth preserving in watercolour.
Painting events before they happen
Most event paintings capture the action: the crowds, the energy, the peak moment. I wanted to do the opposite. To paint the before. To honour the stillness that precedes celebration, the emptiness that invites gathering, the potential that waits patiently to be realised.
There is something deeply mindful about painting anticipation. It requires you to slow down, to notice what is not yet happening, to appreciate the space before it fills. For someone navigating ADHD, that kind of intentional pause is both challenging and essential.
The Eco Fair as local symbol
The Carshalton Eco Fair represents everything I value about this community: environmental awareness, local connection, intergenerational gathering, celebration of place. By painting the field before the event, I am not just documenting a moment — I am honouring the values that bring people together.
The empty field is not really empty. It is full of intention, preparation, and communal care. All those invisible things that make community events possible are somehow present in that morning light.
Focus and celebration
Creating Before the Eco Fair taught me something about creative focus and community spirit. Both require preparation. Both benefit from stillness before action. Both are more powerful when we take time to notice what is happening beneath the surface.
The panoramic format felt right for this piece — capturing the sweep of the field, the openness of the space, the breadth of sky that holds both calm and anticipation.
View the painting
You can see Before the Eco Fair in my South London Collection. It captures that particular hush, that moment of readiness, and the golden calm that precedes community celebration.
If you have ever arrived early to a local event, you know this feeling. The quiet before the joy. The stillness before the gathering. It is a fleeting moment, but it is worth remembering.
— Simon Robin Stephens, watercolour artist based in Carshalton, Surrey