AN artist capturing London on canvas is preparing for a new exhibition of his most recent work.

Nick Botting’s show PRESENCE includes familiar spots from Islington – including these of cafe culture in Clerkenwell, the canal towpath and the iconic Screen on tbe Green cinema.

The collection going on display from May 9 at the Portland Gallery in the West End goes further afield, with striking works of the famous Coach and Horses pub in Soho and the ponds on Hampstead Heath.

Mr Botting said his work was “to reflect the importance of the moment we are always within”, adding: “I try to pull viewers into the pictures by balancing, reducing and ordering what I see to make the world in front of us more accessible as a whole. It is a happy accident that I can liken this process to the fresh interest in live acoustic music, or for the simple engagement of reading from a book.”

He said: “People like to know how things are done and these paintings are done by sitting in front of the subject with a paint box and responding to the day around me. This is no hardship when it’s The Coach and Horses on a Friday afternoon, but perhaps it is more so on the foreshore of the Thames in the first days of January.”

Mr Botting’s past work includes several high profile commissions including the Football Association’s painting of the first FA Cup Final at the new Wembley Stadium.