Buses on Buckingham Palace Road

Oil on Board, 12 x 17 inches

Here's a bit of a hand-brake turn for me, and a very enjoyable one.  I'm identified with painting the British countryside, especially rivers, and this one is about as far as you can get from that motif.  

Whenever I go to London for one of the major art society exhibitions at the Mall Galleries, I go by coach and walk the pleasant 1 mile to the gallery along Buck Palace Road, and this view is just around the corner from Victoria Coach Station.  I always feel a bit like 'Crocodile Dundee' in London and somewhat lost in an alien world - it's great for a change and a day out, but I sigh with relief when I'm back in my beloved countryside.

There's an awful lot going on here, and makes me even more in awe of Pete 'The Street' Brown's urban cityscapes from which he has earned his alias.  I loved the reflections of the surrounding buildings and vehicles both in the glass clad monster on the right and in the coaches on the other side of the road.  And of course, the new red routemaster provided a lovely vivid touch of colour.  There were at least a couple of London Plain trees to paint, just to make me feel a bit more at home!

I entered 3 paintings digitally for the ROI exhibition, leaving me 3 more possible paintings to enter on the official handing-in day, so this might be one, depending on what reaction it gets...