“Pentregethin Road” (2021)
Oil paint on stretched canvas.
Size: 39.5cm x 39.5cm

Price on application £POA

History

I would spend time waiting to pick my son up from school on a street in Swansea called Pentregethin Road. There was a parking space that was at the bottom of a small lane that lead from the school that my son could safely navigate to the car.

One wintry afternoon in October I was parked and it started to rain. Here in Wales winter brings the night early and the street lights were on, the dreich weather and gloomy day meant that most of the vehicles on the road also had their headlights on. Sat in the car I watched the lights from the cars refract through the raindrops on the windscreen and across the now rain slick road. I decided to take a photo of the scene as I liked how the light through the raindrops looked and as I brought my camera up a bus rolled down the street. That was it, that was the image.

Process

The original photograph I took was cropped to a square format to fit the canvas I was intending to paint on. I sketched out the composition and then blocked in the main shapes before adding in the details. The most challenging aspect was capturing the light through the rain drops and especially the distortions on the windscreen.

Once the painting was completed and dried using Michael Harding Handmade Oil paints and Winsor and Newton Artists’ oils it was protected with a layer of Winsor and Newton Artists’ UV protective varnish.

Exhibitions

This painting was on display at the Glynn Vivian art gallery in Swansea for the Open Art Exhibition 2023 between 28th January and 16th April 2023.