Tag: molly leigh

Molly

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Blurry photo

Molly, a portrait of a woman called Molly Leigh who may have been a witch, she lived in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent. It’s the second painting I’m putting in the Brampton museum and art gallery in Newcastle under Lyme. It’s another acrylic on canvas. Included in the front window of the museum with the Orme Art Group Exhibition.

It will be for sale. I need to let my paintings go to new homes. I want them to go where they are appreciated and will be seen. I realise that as I get older I am holding on to a lot of things that could be better elsewhere. I don’t want an empty space but I’m running out of wall space.

Blurred

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Image blurred

I sang in the opera choir and the photos of us singing are now out on the website. People gave permission to be photographed but I don’t have that permission so I have blurred out their images. What a strange world we live in where we can delete or smudge out images if people we don’t want or require? The world changes quickly.

The scene I was in..

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With some of the other actors in the scene.

The character Alice Beech, far right of photo, sings a wonderful mezzo soprano piece about inheriting Molly Leighs cottage, that the villagers and vicar are all gossiping about the two woman’s relationship. And laments the loss of Molly.

Part of her getting the cottage obliged her to make 46 penny loaves every week to look after the “poor, the widows” basically the needy of the parish. Three townsfolk visit her as she sings. One is Winifred who is very nosy and wants to know whether Alice has “seen anything, anything strange?” since she moved in. She is ignored and just handed the loaves. Then Lily, a widow, visits and is given a few extra loaves. Finally a young woman visits for just one penny loaf. She tells Alice she doesn’t have to pretend, she understands. And that she is a friend.

The singing by Alice is lovely and written using the “Devils interval” a discordant chord which is a Tritone (six semitones) it causes an unsettled feeling in the music.

Random photo

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A brass cat

By the cutlery and sugar, sits a brass cat. I liked the look of it so took a random photo. I cropped it a bit but I should have got rid of the cream coloured shelf above the cat. I just didn’t notice until I added it here. I could change it now, but is it worth it? The cat is in the cafe area of BArts in Stoke upon Trent. That’s where we’ve almost finished performing Molly Leigh. You’ll be glad because I won’t be able bore you any more!

Cottage scene

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A bread oven, table, stool, Welsh dresser, herbs and a lamp. If you come to the Molly Leigh opera you will see five stage sets.

Each scene is repeated twice, but you only have time to see three of the scenes. The opera is asking more questions than answers. The woman who was Molly Leigh might have been gossiped about, the story calling her a witch might be lies. She could have been a wise woman, a healer. The tales told about her may have been caused by jealousy. Or on the other hand she might have been evil, spiteful, possessed? That is the question.

Tub of pencil crayons..

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I went to an event planning meeting today at BArts in Stoke. It’s going to be an opera based on the witch (wise woman) from Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, who was alive in the 17th and 18th centuries. She was buried at 90 degrees to the normal North South orientation.

From Wikipedia :

Margaret ‘Molly’ Leigh (1685–March 1748) was an English property owner in the Staffordshire town of Burslem who, in her will, left substantial sums to charity. She was also accused of witchcraft, and, after her death, her grave was disturbed following claims she was haunting the town.

We had a singing session based on some of her life and the treatment she received from her neighbours. We were also invited to create some art based on her life. (hence the tub of pencil crayons. The opera is due to be put on later this summer.

Application unsuccessful

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I’m sad to say that I didn’t get my painting of Molly Leigh the Burslem witch into the three counties open exhibition this year. (Staffordshire, Cheshire and Shropshire).

I know they had over 200 entries and it depends who is selecting the works of art. I also know that the exhibition has to be cohesive and not too eclectic. So will I enter again? Yes, but I will probably choose to do something less specific. But I’m glad I painted this.

The reason why? I painted something similar to this as a mural in the Leopard Hotel in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, several years ago. The building burned down a couple of years ago and I wanted to try and recreate the memory of it. The painting means a lot more to me than getting it in this competition. X

Longest days

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I’ve just spent two days working with BArts and Growthpoint. They were putting on an opera show about Molly Leigh.

There were three scenes today, a church where a vicar was criticising a local woman called Molly Leigh and saying she was a witch, turning milk sour and having a blackbird as a familiar. A pub scene where there were  customers and staff gossiping and talking about Molly saying good and bad things, like she borrowed money and didn’t pay it back, but then gave a family with a sick child several pints of milk so the child recovered. Then the final scene where a community choir came together to sing from her perspective bringing out the various aspects of her life. Each choir member was playing part of Molly as a whole.

The photo is of the cottage interior with a few of my bits of painting included. I have to say it was hard work, tiring, very intense and yet life affirming. I did more in two days than I’ve been able to for a few years and now I’m absolutely shattered.