It does seem a little bit crazy doesn’t it, the idea of undertaking a painting every day for a year.

Well, artist Guy Manning (pictured) has done just this, and today (Tuesday, August 15), he completes his final painting of this mammoth undertaking which has seen him tackle views ranging from Carew Mill, Tenby South Beach, Amroth, St. Nons, Freshwater West and Strumble Head to still life depictions of feathers, a pair of potter’s boots, grapes and cheese and duck eggs. The list of subjects tackles is truly expansive and encompasses so much of the daily life of Pembrokeshire. On Friday, Guy gave a talk on the process at Tenby Museum and Art Gallery.

Guy entitled the undertaking Postcards from Pembrokeshire: 365 days in paint, a painting a day for a year. His talk detailed the process, which saw him not just complete a picture a day but also provide an online blog (www.postcardsfrompembrokeshire.com). His inspiration for his works was largely drawn whilst on walks through the countryside with his dog, Watson.

Guy recalled when he moved to Narberth and went walking with his grandfather who encouraged him to look at ‘stuff’ - at the flora and fauna, the landscapes, things that often get overlooked and when they returned home Guy remembered his grandfather saying: “We will now draw what we have seen.” The postcard venture was an extension of this memory.

The postcards are 6x4 pieces of 6mm ply with un-primed canvas glued onto the framework. This allowed him to truly stamp his authority upon the material and Guy made his own ‘ground colour’ using soils from the county, with each soil giving a different hue; the soil from Trefloyne Lane gave a colour like burnt sienna. After crushing and sieving, using a kitchen sieve that is no linger used in the kitchen!, the powder was mixed with an acrylic medium. Guy then detailed many of his postcards to the audience.

Questions were encouraged and answered: the reason he has not painted St. David’s Cathedral is because it is too big; each postcard took two-three hours to complete and the process involved sketches in the field, accompanied by photographs to work on in the studio.

Museum trustee Kathy Talbot thanked Guy for a fascinating and insightful talk into this wonderful undertaking.