VISITORS to the newly opened Foley Arms Hotel in Malvern will see two beautiful paintings decorating the walls.

The paintings, one of the Malvern Hills and one of Great Malvern town centre, are instantly recognisable scenes to anyone who knows Malvern and are the work of Malvern landscape artist Antony Bridge.

Antony Bridge, who has painted around 800 views of Malvern on location in the last couple of years, was commissioned by Wetherspoons to provide a painting for the hotel of a local scene.

Knowing the Malvern Hills and surrounding area so well, having painted it so often, he immediately knew the perfect spot.

“I had a short deadline so went up on to the hills to do an initial study and find my chosen view. I then painted the large canvas,” he explained.

Wetherspoons also bought a large painting of the centre of Malvern painted by Antony last year.

Antony said the paintings had been beautifully framed and fitted in well with the hotel’s very English interior.

Anthony is an artist who paints ‘plein air’, out on location, and goes out painting local scenes in all weathers and all seasons. He has been painting virtually a picture a day for three years, uploading them to his website for others to view or purchase. He has recently been painting on a larger scale and has begun drawing daily and posting these on his website.

He has painted with some of the UKs leading ‘plein air’ painters and currently has paintings on show at Malvern Theatres, The Greenstage Gallery, Bevere Gallery and Malvern’s Original Art Work Store.

As an artist, Antony’s aim for 2011 is to paint ‘plein air’ on a larger scale regularly and to produce a series of paintings of the town centre.

To see more of Antony’s work go to www.antonybridge.co.uk or www.pochadegallery.com.