What attracted me to paint this subject was the dominant shape in the foreground, giving the illusion that you are cruising along the open road.

This exercise involves making an object look shiny, making an object look like it is moving and perspective.

I draw the motorbike first to give me insight into the horizon line and where all the road markings would meet to form a one point perspective.

I painted in the sky first, cerulean blue and then the hills either side of the road. I used a wide range of colours, from an old palette, to achieve all the colours on the landscape. I used a flesh tine for the road colour and a lemon yellow for the road marking. I left the paper white for the white road marking.

I worked on the motorbike from light to dark, and I also left some of the paper white. The technique you need to employ with a shiny object is to put your work on the easel, stand at least three feet back and assess what you have done thus far. I liked the reflection in the mirror of what lays behind, and believe it makes a good secondary focal point. The colour of the motorbike: I mixed a chromatic black (ultramarine and burnt umber).

This painting and drawing took four hours to complete.