Parliamentary Light – Original Painting

Parliamentary Light – Original Painting

About the Image:

Parliamentary light overlooks the Thames, or should I say parliamentary lights, for there are two.

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.

The picture is painted on watercolour paper. I start off with a detailed pencil drawing. I then draw over the lines with masking fluid before painting it with a watercolour wash which gets covered with clingfilm. Once this is removed the picture is further developed using acrylic inks which are left to dry before the masking is removed to reveal the final picture.

Creation: The image is created using masking fluid, then painted with a watercolour wash and covered with clingfilm. Once this is removed the picture is further developed using acrylic inks and building up layers, which are left to dry before the masking is removed to reveal the final picture.