New paintings and regular art updates.
A tryptich I did a couple of years ago. It’s for sale at the Waiting room gallery in Longport, Stoke-on-Trent. Based on one of the photos from the Juno mission to Jupiter a few years ago. It shows the bands of Jupiter viewed from above one of the poles of the planet. I also did a large blue painting of one of Jupiter’s poles too. It was very difficult to capture the swirls and vortices that make up it’s atmosphere. These are acrylic on canvas.
We visited again today to see how things are going at the Waiting room gallery. Things are happening, there are new people helping to organise the gallery spaces and it looks like they are going to have a sales /shop area and seperate exhibition space both downstairs and upstairs. The Gallery is still linked with the work going on at Longport Station to restore it. I hope that it all happens soon and without delays to their plans. I will write more as I find out what is happening.
Longport Station isn’t open to the public at the moment but it is a small station between Stoke and Manchester. It was once part of the LMS line (London Manchester and Scottish line).
A joy of Coots
Baby chicks
Cheeping and calling
Rushing across a pool
Blue footed parents
White shield on their heads
Dark chicks
Scattered yellow feathers
Round their heads
And red beaks.
How do they morph
From chick to Coot?
Finally had a short walk today! We went to Cherished Chimneys which is a shop that sells chimneys and pottery at Longport, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire. and the Waiting Room gallery across the road in the same place. Then we walked round Westport lake, which is just half a mile away along the canal. We saw blossom and bluebells along the canal and round the lake. We avoided heavy clouds as we walked. I think it had rained heavily in Stoke as the path was soaking wet when we got home.
Shaggy giants with delicate fronds of leaves hanging down and blowing in the cold wind. I’ve sat underneath a willow tree, back against its trunk, hidden behind the curtain of leaves. I was only young and it was like sitting in a fairytale. I remember the sunlight sparkling and dancing through the lace like leaves.
Dry ground, roots, scuffed by ducks and geese. Memories of the 1960’s. So long ago, but we’ll remembered.
As we arrived at Westport Lake today it started to snow. It didn’t stick, but children were running screaming as it came down thick and fast. We sat and waited in the car till it stopped. I didn’t take a photo of it because my phone was stuck in my pocket trapped between me and the car door.
Then out, a quick visit to the icecream van for a treat and round the latge lake once and the small one twice. No where near as far as I would normally do, but I managed to get enough steps and heart points in to meet my daily challenge. I’m shattered but happy!
On Westport lake yesterday. The water was as still as a millpond one minute, then blustery gusts of wind rippled the surface and blurred the reflections.
Seeing a row of geese standing on one leg was an amusing picture. The water was very shallow at the edge, but these are old pit workings I think and there are deep sections. People have drowned in them two lakes, caught up in the weeds that spread inwards from the sides. This is more of a nature reserve than a leasure area and now it is being run by Staffordshire Wildlife Trust you can see how much it has improved. The one fly in the ointment is that the local council is thinking of introducing parking charges. There is a petition against this. A lot of people using the site don’t have the means to pay high prices, and it would probably impact on the cafe when it reopens.. I signed the petition against it…
In the snow. Someone is burning rubbish there and the structure isnt safe enough for that. I took the image off the Internet and added texture because I didn’t want to use someone else’s picture but they look amazing in the snow. The caravan at the side may be where the man looking after the site is living.
A couple of paintings I did two years ago? They were on display in the waiting room gallery at Longport. These are paintings of the Falcon Works behind Portmeirion pottery in Stoke-on-Trent. A lot of these buildings are either falling down or just sitting empty. I wish some of them could be restored. There is a wonderful place called the Black Country Museum in Dudley I think in Central England. They have rebuilt many old buildings on the site so you can visit and see the history of industry and businesses in England. There are some museums in Stoke-on-Trent which are smaller versions. For example the Gladstone pottery museum. It’s a real shame that so many old buildings are being allowed to fall into rack and ruin.
Photo taken by a friend at the waiting room gallery a few months ago BV, (before virus). He’s reading, I’m tapping away on my phone. The surroundings makes it look like an old painting. Although it’s in a gallery I think it looks like a domestic scene. I love the atmospheric look of it.
Mallaband-Brown