All artists have a vast list of works they want to create, intending to do ‘next’ but never quite getting around to it. It’s just how life is. Another piece gets in the way, or the urgency of day-to-day living delays it once again. And the list grows ever longer.

Occasionally, however, the gods of art bless you. This double view of the Glastonbury Festival is just such a case.

You may or may not know that I live in Pilton, the village where the world-famous Glastonbury Festival is held. Once a year, this parish of just over 900 souls swells to over 200,000 for a week in June.

It is a city that seemingly springs up from nowhere in the heart of the Somerset countryside, offering music and entertainment around the clock. Once the event concludes, it transforms back into the serene, rolling hills of pastoral rural England.

Most people will only ever see the site amidst the crowd of 199,999 fellow festival-goers, missing its usual peaceful state. Ever since I moved here, I’ve wanted to create a double painting of the same view: one capturing the mayhem of the festival and the other depicting its serene, natural state.

It was one of those paintings ‘never to be painted’ until I got a call from a client requesting exactly that. Even better, the request was for exactly the spot I wanted to paint from: the Crow’s Nest at The Park Stage.

Painting the View of The Glastonbury Festival

The non-festival painting was the one to tackle first. Once completed, it formed the framework of the second, far more complex piece.

I do not create fully photo-accurate representations of the scene in front of me; I enhance features of interest. I call it a ‘painting of memory’—otherwise, you might as well just trace a photograph. As the site was taking shape in late May, my client and I climbed the still-empty hillside, where I began roughly marking in the trees and surrounding hills on paper. Once this was done and tidied up in the studio, all I had to do was wait for the festival to begin.

Drawing at the Festival

A few weeks later, the transformation was complete, and I walked once again to the top of the Park Stage area to take in the view. At first sight, the two views have nothing in common. They might as well be different planets. Where there were once fields, there was now a stage, 20,000 tents, and a seaside pier! Yes, a seaside pier.

After a while, however, I could pick out the features of the hills on the far side of the site and slowly discern the field boundaries in between. I took with me a print of my initial drawing and began to fill in the new view in approximately the correct positions. It was a bit of a struggle, even though I love jobs like this.

The final paintings

Along with the drawings, I took plenty of photos to note the shadow directions and what goes where. After that, I tidied up my drawings, moving things here and there to create the kind of harmonious chaos that is the Glastonbury Festival.

As with the initial drawing, I began the painting without the festival first. I was careful to preserve the hills in the background. They have a unique and instantly recognisable shape. My client also asked me to include a bleached, dead tree in the middle ground.

Again, with the festival painting, the first painting gave me a good head start. Obviously, this was much more of a challenge, and I had to mark off areas, finish those, and then move on to the next section. This is a trick I learned from Stanley Spencer. In addition, I had to ensure that my rather idiosyncratic characters were more or less in scale as they slipped into the distance.

And Finally

After a very long and enjoyable journey, I eventually completed both paintings. I was pleased that they both worked well together, and the initial idea of the contrasting scenes played out until the end.

It was most gratifying that my client was also very pleased!

 

A quick portfolio of other Glastonbury Festival paintings

Painting of a vintage Mercury car at Car Henge, Glastonbury Festival

You can buy this painting here

Painting of a vintage Cadillac car at Car Henge, Glastonbury Festival

You can buy this painting here

The Glastonbury On Sea Pier

You can buy this painting as a limited edition print here

The Park Stage at The Glastonbury Festival

You can buy this painting as a limited edition print here

The Cinema Tent at The Glastonbury Festival

You can buy this painting as a limited edition print here

The Glastonbury Festival market

You can buy this painting here