TREMADOG-BASED artist, John Rowlands, is the artist in this week’s episode of Cymru ar Gynfas on S4C.

Each week, Cymry ar Gynfas (The Welsh on Canvas) brings together one Welsh artist and one famous face to create a unique portrait.

This week, John Rowlands, the multi-media artist with a studio in Tremadog, has accepted the challenge of drawing Arfon Haines Davies.

Arfon has been a familiar face on our TV screens since his days presenting HTV in the 70s.

But even though he’s used to being in front of a camera, how comfortable will he be under an artist’s gaze?

As well as the masterpiece that’s unveiled at the end of the programme, we also get an honest and open account of the artist and the celebrity as they discuss their experiences of portraying and being portrayed.

Although he’s mostly retired from painting, the chance to create a portrait of Arfon – an old friend from school – was too good for John to turn down.

The experience was a special one for Arfon too.

“Meeting John again was a very strange experience,” he said.

“I hadn’t seen him for about 40 years.

“He pulled this face, these facial expressions, and those were the exact same expressions he’d pull in Ysgol Gymraeg Aberystwyth when he was seven, eight years old,” Arfon said.

In his work, John likes to experiment between figurative art, abstract art, and semi-abstract art.

However, Arfon admits that, although he enjoys visiting art galleries, he’s not overly fond of abstract art.

“Getting a portrait done by an abstract artist is scaring me a bit,” he said.

“I don’t know if it’ll be a Picasso-esque picture, with my nose sticking out of my cheek, and one eye on my forehead… Maybe it’ll be an improvement, who knows!”

After their reunion in Aberystwyth, reminiscing and revisiting their old school, John returns to his studio to start working on the portrait.

“In creating the picture, what I’ve done is combine the abstract, the semi-abstract, and the figurative stuff,” John said.

“So, I’m making sure that I do my best to get some resemblance.

“But I also wanted to bring in pixilation here, something to do with the TV business, the screen, who’s the Arfon behind the screen – if you want to be poetic about it.”

He added: “I started off with a small smile, but after doing the eyes and the nose, I went back to the picture where his smile was much more open.

“One of his teeth, where I’d rubbed the graphite away, has left a small spark: Arfon Haines Davies, Arfon ‘High-Definition’, bang! That’s the best thing about the picture.”

With the unveiling of the portrait taking place weeks later on the Vale of Rheidol Railway, has John managed to combine abstract artistic elements with that famous smile?

And how will Arfon react to his unique portrait?

Watch Cymry ar Gynfas at 8pm on S4C on Monday, 7 February, to find out.

The first episode with Liz Saville Roberts MP and Lowri Davies is available on S4C Clic.

Commenting on her time on the show, Mrs Saville Roberts said: “‘It was an extraordinary experience to take part in the development of creating artworks with the fantastic artist Lowri Davies.

“Although I was anxious about revealing personal and family history, the actual step-by-step process of designing ceramics and the technology to make pieces of Bone ?China and porcelain is deeply rewarding.”

English subtitles are available for the series.