Small Paintings - Port Talbot

I enjoyed painting the Plaza so much that I did an online search for Port Talbot artists to see if anyone else had tried to paint it. I didn't find any paintings of the Plaza, but I did find some wonderful work on the website of the Port Talbot Historical Society. This is the work of the late Ray Davies, and I think it's absolutely wonderful. You can view his paintings by clicking on this link

http://www.historicalporttalbot.com/ray-davies.html

I could never copy his work, and I wouldn't try, but looking at them I've been inspired to try to paint more of my adopted home town.

So I sketched out a couple of small canvas boards this evening - here's the first: -

Port Talbot's own stately home - Margam Castle

Alright, if I'm honest painting Margam Castle is maybe a little bit obvious, but it's a really stunning example of Victorian High Gothic Architecture, and a lovely place for a day out as well.

This second one is less obvious

The Vivian Park Hotel - Gone now

It is a fact of modern life that buildings go. The Vivian Park Hotel - in which members of my family have actually stayed - lay derelict, as it is in the photo, for quite some time before being finally demolished in 2009. It's not as if Port Talbot is actually blessed with enough stately and impressive buildings that it can afford to let ones of this quality go.