Wales first art hotel, Twr y Felin, in St Davids, has added a collection of portraits by Grahame Hurd-Wood to its displays of over 200 contemporary artworks.

The local artist has worked on the portraits of people living in and around Britain’s smallest city of St Davids for many years. A personal loss prompted the start of the project, and after discussing the idea with his friend, Meredydd Barker, over a Guinness in the local pub, he was motivated to begin. That day, Grahame painted his friend as the first portrait.

To date, Grahame has completed approximately 900 portraits and is collating the artworks into collections. He is currently exhibiting two panels, with 35 portraits in each, at the Senedd in Cardiff, a precursor to a much larger exhibition in 2025.

Emma Bowen, General Manager at Twr y Felin has known Grahame since she worked as the admin and events assistant at Oriel y Parc, the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Visitor Centre in St Davids.

“At the time, he was the artist in residence and his portrait project was gaining national and international attention”, said Emma. “Channel 4 came to the centre to film a news piece and Grahame needed a sitter, which is where I stepped in. He has now kindly included my portrait in one of the panels here at Twr y Felin.

“I hope that some of the people featured will visit to see their portrait at the hotel”, added Emma Bowen.

Free to view, Grahame Hurd-Wood’s city portrait collection is now on display in the Oriel Lounge at Twr y Felin Hotel.  For more details visit www.twryfelinhotel.com or call 01437 725 555.