A few years ago, I was delighted to be asked to paint the facade of one the oldest hotels in Luxor, the Winter Palace. Built in 1886, it was the Egyptian king's Winter palace, but is now run as a hotel owned by the French chain Sofitel. In the 20s it became famous when Lord Carnarvon and Howard Carter stayed there whilst overseeing the digs at Tutankhamun's tomb in the Valley of the Kings, just across the Nile . We have stayed here eight times and the pool area has got to be my favourite in the world. When I took the shots for this and did my pencil sketch for perspective, it was 105 degrees, but I wanted to capture that incredibly bright sun.

The painting is now hanging on the wall near the piano bar among prints by the Victorian artist David Roberts