Industry

Posted on September 9, 2022September 9, 2022 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Acrylic on canvas, History, Ideas, Industrial archaeology, Industrial heritage, Jessie Shirley's bone and flint mill, PaintingLeave a comment

Etruria Industrial Museum is open this weekend. This is a museum that houses Jessy Shirleys Mill. It houses a steam engine that was used to grind bone and flint to be added to clay to make fine bone china. I want to take some photos so I can do some paintings if the machinery. The mill is ‘steamed’ once a month in the summer. They usually have events running alongside the steaming. I am not sure but they might have classic cars this weekend?

Etruria is a part of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire and is named for Etruscan pottery which copied the Italian style. It was made by Josiah Wedgwood.

What day is it?

Posted on September 9, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged BBC, Elizabeth II, endless reports, History, Obsessive, posterity, rolling news, Sad, Sadness, the QueenLeave a comment

It was yesterday? That our queen died. Prince Charles is now King Charles III.

The BBC has been showing wall to wall reports about everything that is happening. I understand why, its TV channels are the face of the establishment. They have to show what’s happening for the sake of history and posterity. But for goodness sake! The same report about the Queen’s life has been shown on the hour at least six times. Rolling news at its worst? I feel sad that she has died, but being reminded constantly is too much, at least try and vary the content. For instance another channel had stories about artists who had created portraits of her, and had interesting anecdotes. The TV stations knew this was inevitable. Stop making a meal of it. How many days will it be before the obsession stops?

Cowboy films

Posted on September 5, 2022September 6, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged History, Hubby, Bored, Why?, violence, Hollywood, Gunfight, cowboy, cowboy films, shooting, westernsLeave a comment

Just lately my hubby has started watching a lot of cowboy films that I really do not enjoy very much. Yes there are occasions when something comes on the TV which I think is interesting (like Dances with Wolves), but mainly I get bored with them. The old ones are very formulaic and modern ones are very violent and brutal. What’s the point of watching them. They are not my history, and yet there are so many of them. I’d like to watch a decent film about British history occasionally. I do realise that Hollywood has a huge influence over the world. But the constant pushing of gun slinging, murdering, bandits and corrupt government officials just bores and depresses me. Guns are not a solution, they are weapons that should be locked away. Gunfight films just perpetuate the dangers of them.

Stairs

Posted on September 4, 2022September 4, 2022 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged #bandofsketchers, 199 steps, Bay, Bram Stoker, Dracula, harbour, History, Life, North Yorkshire, Steps, View, Whitby, Whitby AbbeyLeave a comment

Look up Whitby steps on the Internet and you find out there are 199 steps from the town up to Whitby Abbey at the top. Dracula by Bram Stoker was set there. The town has many tourists visiting because of this. There is also a history of jewellery making in the town because it is the home of Whitby Jet. This is a black, fossilised substance that was originally ancient monkey puzzle trees. The steps or stairs offer a spectacular view down over the harbour and bay.

For #bandofsketchers prompt today ‘stairs’

I love steam

Posted on August 11, 2022 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Acrylic on canvas, Art, Fine Art, History, Industrial archaeology, Metallic, regulator?, Steam engine2 Comments

Small painting from 2018 that was on display at Etruria Industrial Museum. I used an image off the Internet to work on. I think it was from a photo of a pumping station in Derbyshire? I loved trying to get the metallic reflections. I looked at the price and I wad only selling it for £25! The amount of work I put in means I constantly undersell myself, but people just don’t seem to have money for art these days. As to what it is I think it’s a regulator? Ith weights hold the arms down if it starts to spin too fast?

Umbrellas

Posted on August 11, 2022 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Art, Burslem, History, Leopard Hotel, Life, Memories, Mural, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent, Time2 Comments

Memory from 2017 of a mural I painted in 2007. This was at the Leopard Hotel in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent. I have a strong connection with Burslem from doing a series of murals in the hotel. Who knows whether I will do anymore?

I would love to do a bit more mural painting, or scenery, or large paintings. I’m hoping if I can get my shaking arm under control I might be able to do it.

Memories are a great thing, but also they can be tinged with sadness when you think of all the things you could have done. I do wonder about the pandemic times. Could I have done more to keep my art business going? What things can I do to actually sell my work? I’m not a sales person, I’m an artist…. I don’t think I’ll ever have a USP!

Bull?

Posted on August 9, 2022August 9, 2022 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Bull, Burslem School of Art, head of art, History, Life, painted window, Stained glass window, studentsLeave a comment

Stained glass window in Burslem School of art. Its on the stairs, halfway up between the main floor and the upper floor. It has a history, but again I was in a rush and didn’t get the details. But it was created by the head of art there and his students. Its mainly painted on the glass and does not have a lot of lead segments like church windows. I think it’s beautiful and poignant, and a great memory to cherish.

Light and shade

Posted on August 9, 2022 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Burslem School of Art, History, Life, Life drawing, Memory, parquet floor, Photo, Poem, Poetry, Thought1 Comment

Parquet floor in sunshine

Memory of a life drawing class

So many years ago

In my mind I’m back

Sitting on a donkey?

A wooden bench

Which was also an easle.

Drawing a figure

Bathed in light

Shadows cast

Shining parquet floor

I wish I could

Return to those days.

To a new home

Posted on August 1, 2022August 2, 2022 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Acrylic on canvas, ancient civilisations, Art, dinosaurs, Dragon, dragon painting, History2 Comments

My little dragon painting has gone to a new home tonight. The new owner is really pleased with my quirky painting that I created while studying illustration. My final major project was about varieties of dragons and how they have been depicted from the earliest times across the globe. The idea could have been based on dinosaur fossils that ancient civilisations may have found. They would not have had any way to date the bones and may have seen them as contemporary to them or living within their recent history.

Fire?

Posted on July 15, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged arson, Falcon works, Fire, heritage, History, Life, Pottery, Stoke, Stoke-on trentLeave a comment

I don’t know what happened but there was a fire last week on the old Falcon Works pottery site near us. We saw a column of smoke rising from behind the Portmeirion pottery that is across the road from us. Then we heard a fire engine heading towards the pottery. The smell was very strange, like burnt rubber. My hubby went for a walk round the back of the works when we got back from Cornwall, he said it just looked the same as normal?

It turns out that the land has recently been sold to developers. Could this be a coincidence? A lot of old derelict industrial sites in the area seem to be hit by suspected arson recently. It is worrying to think of the damage being done to our heritage.

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: History