Award-winning Bristol based artist Tom Hughes is offering visitors to the Clifton Suspension Bridge a chance to win an original framed oil painting of the Avon Gorge valued at £450. “Sunbeam in the Gorge, November” was painted in 2018 and will feature in a show of ten new oil paintings celebrating the Clifton Suspension Bridge and the Avon Gorge on display at the Suspension Bridge Visitor Centre from Saturday 29th September to Sunday 7th October. All pieces featured in the exhibition will be available for sale. ‘Painting the Bridge’ will focus on Hughes’ favourite views of the Gorge, where the light, weather and changing seasons generate a never-ending supply of images that deserve capturing in oil paint. Hughes notes “I’ve painted the bridge and gorge a hundred times, but these pieces are a love letter to my favourite views and times of year.” Hughes, self-taught in oil painting, has painted all over the South West, Dorset Coast and London but keeps returning to his roots in Bristol. It was after completing a degree in illustration and seven years as an illustrator, he yearned to work with oils and began painting the Bridge and the Gorge. By producing small scale pieces on location, immersed in the elements and larger works in the studio, Hughes says he is able to capture the magic of the gorge at the most dynamic times of the day. Hughes has won multiple awards for his work. He was selected three times for the Royal Academy Summer Show as well as the Lynne Painter Stainers’ Prize and the NEAC critics Prize. Chris Booy, Chairman of the Clifton Suspension Bridge Trust said, “This is the first time that the Clifton Suspension Bridge has hosted a solo exhibition by such a prestigious and well-respected artist. To have someone who incorporates the bridge into their everyday work in such a unique way is certainly very special to us and the prize draw offers art lovers a very special opportunity to own an exclusive piece by one of Bristol’s own creative talents. It’s a real celebration of the city.”