Big Ben at Dusk Oil

Mel Davies catches London just after the rain, when Westminster Bridge turns into a mirror.
This impressionist oil is built around light, not architecture. The Elizabeth Tower, still called Big Ben by most of us, rises in the centre in a wash of warm ochre and burnt gold. Davies doesn't paint the stonework brick by brick. He suggests it with broad, loaded brushstrokes that let the underpainting show through, so the tower seems to glow from within against a bruised dusk sky of soft grey, lavender and pale turquoise.
The real drama is down below. The wet pavement of the bridge is rendered in long, vertical pulls of Payne's grey, cobalt and silver, broken by the reflected amber of streetlamps, the buttery yellow of the clock face, and those quick dabs of red from coats and the double-decker bus pushing through the middle distance. The crowd is a river of dark silhouettes, no faces, just movement, which is classic Davies. He gives you the feeling of a busy evening without pinning anyone down. The painting comes with signed certificate of authenticity, This piece is on canvas board, so it's easy to frame.