Parliamentary Light a Metaphor for Parliamentary Life?
Parliamentary light overlooks the Thames, or should I say parliamentary lights, for there are two. The image is of a light on the terrace by the Houses of Parliament. The main lamp is beautiful, decorative and attractive to behold and demanding of attention. Contrast it to the smaller light bolted on. An afterthought, grubby but functional. Necessary but adding nothing to the attractiveness of the main light.
Yet it has function, it illuminates a specific area. In this case, the landing stage on the Thames.
On the North bank at night, overlooking the River Thames, the Terrace of the Houses of Parliament is illuminated by beautiful, ornate lamp posts. Attached to these are very modern looking and much less impressive lights. One might even call them shabby. The contrast struck me as a metaphor for political intrigue. On one hand there is the leading party, still impressive and flashy as the most recent winner at the Polling. Then there are the opposition, the current underdogs, their light dimmed by their fall from power. In due course, fortunes will be reversed and the underdog will triumph once more. In the meantime they must bide their time.
This is an early architectural painting and I was experimenting with how best to illustrate the glow of the lights. I’d used the concentric, broken white circles on my earlier abstract paintings and I felt they would work to emphasise the light of the lamp. I was relieved to discover that my instincts didn’t fail.
