2564. Cheltenham 2019 (19)

You just know when you are looking at a really special piece, and this chihuahua howling in the moon by Irony is an absolute blinder from this year’s Cheltenham Paint Festival.

Thankfully I decided to visit the festival on the Friday and the Sunday and so managed to catch Irony while he was putting the finishing touches to the piece. At least this time I knew who he was, having seen him paint his extraordinary ‘self-portrait’ piece in Bristol earlier this year.

When I first saw the mural I thaought it was a wolf, but it just didn’t look right, and I know that Irony is far too good an artist to have muffed it. I knew it was a dog, but I didn’t know what kind until I saw Irony’s Instagram feed.

Before enjoting the rest of the pictures of this masterpiece I feel I should explain why the pictures feel so squeezed and the angles are all wrong. Of course, the row end wall faces onto a narrow back lane and so it is virtually impossible to get a long shot of the piece. The best view would be from a garden opposite (on a ladder or something like that).

The moon is superb and almost feels like it is emmitting light. Without doubt a major triumph of the Cheltenham Paint Festival 2019.