New paintings and regular art updates.
Seen on the side of a canal barge today at Etruria, Stoke on Trent. Not your usual castles and roses, but very nice image. I’ve actually seen a heron on that stretch of the Trent and Mersey canal. I like the waterlilies that have been included, they are not usually found in city canals though and the water is generally not that clean as there is usually some pollution. But I would say canals, are better maintained than in the past.
Every so often I paint one of the iconic bottle ovens from Stoke-on-Trent. These were where pottery was originally fired with coal fires. The city would be covered by a pall of thick smoke, morning noon and night.
They sometimes had metal bands wrapped round them to strengthen them, and the old bricks can shine like gold when there is a lovely sunrise or set. Arthur Berry, famous artist of Stoke-on-Trent used to speak about the beauty of the potteries towns. He painted and drew abstracted views of the six towns. He’s known as the potteries Lowry.
This painting is of a derelict oven, I’ve painted clematis growing up it, rewinding the ancient landscape. The blue area represents the local canals, it’s shape mirrors the bottle oven. The flowers in it represent the abstract canal roses that are found adorning canal barges throughout Britain.
Canal barges at Etruria
Dappled in the tree shade
Sparkling shimmers on the water
White bridge over canal
Snaking rudder stripes
Chimneys and canal roses.
Heat and sunlight.
Pattern by the towpath
Canalside spectacular view.
Blurry photo of a heron chilling out on the canal bank today. It leant forward a few times and looked into the murky brown water but then resumed it’s original position again. I guess it must have seen a fish.
We have previously seen people magnet fishing in the canal, they said they sometimes find things, but nothing valuable. Is a shopping trolley or bike frame worth it? I guess you can weigh things in for scrap. In the meantime I hope the heron got his dinner!
Floating was today’s #bandofsketchers prompt. I have taken this idea of Canada geese floating on the canal from an abstract painting I did in 2020. I moved the geese around in this and left out the greenery from the original. I used felt pens and a silver pen to give a liquid glint.
I’ve previously exhibited these at Arts and Minds in Harper Street, Middleport and I’m having a swap round. So I’ve taken these to Etruria Industrial museum today. (I have more work up at Harper Street.) The lower two photos are my painting of the governor on the Princess beam engine at Etruria. The poppies and wildflowers represent the summer and poppies are hopefully going to grow there as the museum has initiated a wild flower garden to support bees and other pollenating insects. The idea is to stop mowing the grass lawns around the site and reintroduce more of a natural habitat.
One thing that upset me was seeing litter and rubbish in the grounds and in the canal which the museum volunteers deal with by litter picking. They have a long pole with a net and one of the volunteers fished a plastic cup and other litter out of the canal while we watched.
The museum is part of Stoke on Trents heritage and I’m pleased to have my art displayed there. X
When I was out sketching a few weeks ago there were lots of other people drawing. After I finished I took this photo of my friend drawing the same view I’d done. He was working in charcoal and pencil I remember. The day was overcast with patches of blue sky. The ground is covered in concrete, but the way it is breaking up I think there are probably cobblestones underneath. There is a large area of cobbles around the corner where you enter the Middleport pottery complex. In the backdround you can see a small wooden crane which was used to load and unload barges. Forty years ago my hubby worked at another pottery, he actually used one of these to lift packed pottery ware to load onto a lorry. He said you could lift a big weight easily because of the gearing on it. The one he used was cast iron. It had a band brake and a pawl and ratchet to hold the load in place as it was swung over the lorry.
We are not that far away from the past, history is not that long ago. A lot of the old industry in the area was using old machines and equipment, because they had always done things that way and it probably saved a lot in investment. Even now there are lots of pottery molds to be found in the area. Sadly a lot of them get smashed. Losing our heritage. Do we really want to wipe our history out completely?
On our walk today round Westport Lake we incorporated a bit of the Trent and Mersey canal. We saw a few canal barges as we walked along the towpath. It made me think of a song we sing at choir which goes ‘fifteen miles on the Erie canal’. Most of the boats were painted dull blues and greys but there was a more traditionally painted cafe boat in primarily green and red but with yellow and white details too. It made me smile to see it.
Thursdays #bandofsketchers prompt was socks. I don’t know if these exist, so if they don’t this idea is my copyright ©. Canal and bottle oven socks. The ideal present for someone who loves industrial archaeology, is interested in the Trent and Mersey canal and needs to keep their feet warm!
We saw these Canada Geese on the canal today as we went for a walk after handing my painting in for the three counties open. These look like parents and young (some are in full plumage but smaller). I have plans to do a few more in a similar style for the cafe at the Etruria Industrial Museum. They are swapping out the current paintings on display. Apparently my painting of an owl was too expensive, but how can you ever earn anything if people don’t want to pay. BUT I might consider charging less because I just keep having an increasing collection of them and I really, really want them to go to new homes….
Watch out for a few new paintings over the next couple of days /weeks.
Mallaband-Brown