Old Wharves, Portmadoc, Caernarvonshire.

Macdonald employs soft, diluted pigments to create a luminous, airy effect, privileging overall shape and tonal harmony over fine detail. The mast of the vessel is rendered in a contrasting darker tone, drawing the eye upward. Broad washes define the water’s surface and the hillside, while the fence and architectural outlines are suggested with minimal line work.

Created as part of the Recording Britain project, the watercolour was commissioned by the Pilgrim Trust and supervised by Sir Kenneth Clark. The scheme enlisted artists to document landscapes and urban scenes at risk from wartime damage or post‑war development. Macdonald signed and dated the work in 1942, and it remains within the collection associated with the Recording Britain archive.

During the early 1940s, Britain faced extensive aerial bombing and rapid modernization, prompting concerns that many historic vistas would be lost. The Recording Britain initiative sought to preserve visual records of such places, reinforcing a sense of national identity. Macdonald’s depiction of Porthmadog contributes to this collective visual archive, illustrating a regional port that might otherwise have been overlooked.