British artist creates hyper-realistic paintings of famous landmarks reflected in the lenses of tourists\' sunglasses

An artist has created a set of hyper-realistic paintings of famous landmarks around the world which appear to be reflected in the lenses of a pair of sunglasses, The Daily Mail reported.

The pictures by Simon Hennessey are so lifelike they have often been mistaken for photography.


Over the last five years he has painted the Eiffel Tower, Big Ben, Tower Bridge, the Guggeneheim museum in New York, the New York City skyline, the seaside at Skegness and Hyde Park.

To create the lifelike compositions, he takes pictures of the locations and a model wearing sunglasses, before he gets to work on a canvas with an airbrush and acrylic paint.

His pieces range in size from 11 by 8 inches to 5ft by 6.5 ft and can take from two weeks to seven months to complete.
They range in price from £3,000 to £22,000.

Simon, 40, from Birmingham, said: 'In 2008 I made a painting where a model was wearing sunglasses.


"I realised then that using the reflection of the sunglasses permitted me to explore the spatial and environmental surroundings in a distorted and warped miniature fashion.


'All my paintings are based and sourced using the camera, which I use the only to assist me with gathering information.