3180. Cheltenham 2019 (34)

The thing about returning to an annual festival such as the one in Cheltenham is that a year later you get to see the pieces that weren’t completed on the visit a year ago. The next three pieces on Natural Adventures were all painted at Cheltenham Paint Festival in 2019, but photographed this year.

This astonishing anamorphic piece, or trompe l’oeil as I would prefer to describe it, is a tribute to Mobius (the mathematician) who invented the Möbius strip – remember that from O Level mathematics? It is painted by WD, an artist I know little about but who has a rather nice website that is worth a look at.

This really is a breathtaking piece and didn’t get painted until after last year’s festival had ended, so many visitors never got to see it which is a shame. One can only look at a piece like this and be filled with awe. It is not only clever, but it is also expertly painted. I love the incorporation of the chimney stack into the hat.

I parked down a little side street to get these pictures and the last one is from a little distance away, but gives you a feel for the local impact of something so grand. Worth a trip to Cheltenham on its own.