Calling this finished, I could keep fighting her but I’m struggling. The face is loosley based on a portrait of a French peasant woman by Theodore Gericault. Now I can have a rest, that was hard work.
Molly painting
Tag: molly leigh
Progress
This is hard work, I don’t shake as much when I’m concentrating but the tremors of Parkinsons make small details difficult. I try and hold my breath and clamp my arm against my body. In fact I’m having to redo sections because I’m not happy with the results, but I will persevere, memory of Molly, work in progress. Acrylic on canvas. Copy of a mural I did at the Leopard Hotel in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent. Difficult to reproduce the same feeling.
Trying
Trying to recreate my Molly Leigh mural as a painting. Work in progress. Acrylic on canvas. It’s a lot smaller, about 12 by 18 inches? There’s a lot of detail to try and get and I’m adding a painting of a Jay. The bird was apparently the pet (or familiar) of Molly who is called the Burslem witch.
My Molly Leigh mural
I painted this mural several years ago on the wall in the Arnold Bennett suite in the Leopard Hotel in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent. The building sadly burnt down on 22nd January 2023 and remains a burned out husk of the former historical hotel.
It represents the Burslem witch Molly Leigh.
Margaret ‘Molly’ Leigh 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. Wikipedia
Born 1685, died 1746.
Her grave is in a Burslem church yard and is set at 90° to the other graves to indicate witchcraft.
My painting shows her old cottage and medicinal plants such as foxgloves. It’s a moonlit night and I painted a ring of icy cloud around the moon to make it more spooky. The ancient woman depicted is actually based on a French peasant woman by Theodore Gericault.
Moonlight bright
Moonlight like ice, glinting frost, I wish we had cold weather. Walking round a frosty graveyard looking at ice crystals on bushes and grasses. Little pawprints trailing across the lawn, glittering as a stray moonbeam passes through wilting leaves.
A gravestone sits sideways to all the other ones. Because it’s occupant was said to be the local witch, wise woman, healer, giving remedies that were beyond the wit of man? Perhaps that moon shone down on her once, on her cottage surrounded by herbs, witch hazel, foxgloves, woody nightshade.
Don’t move, just listen, hear the rustle of bat’s in the belfry, feel the crunch of ice under your hand. Its All Hallows Eve. Perhaps this is a dream about Molly Leigh, the Burslem witch.
Almost midnight
She stands in front of her cottage. Molly Leigh, the Burslem witch. Notorious and buried in the local churchyard at 90° to the other burials. The painting is based on a peasant woman painting by Theodore Gericault.
This was one of my murals in the Leopard Hotel in Burslem. The pub burnt down at the weekend. I am bereft. I am trying to pass on my memories to keep a feeling of what it was. I painted these on the walls. Emulsion on lining paper directly onto the wall. I’ve had a few comments that they could have been taken down. I don’t think people understand what a mural is.
My mural of Molly Leigh
Molly Leigh was said to be the Burslem witch. She lived in a small cottage, a photo of which I based this picture on. There are no photos of her so I tried to find a painting of an elderly woman from about that time and chose a picture of a French peasant by Theodore Gericault as an inspiration. The plants in the background are meant to be foxgloves and different herbs in a garden I imagined to be full of things you could use for remedies. I didn’t find much out about her life, except she is meant to be buried in a local church yard with the grave orientated East West, instead of the normal North South way. We went for a walk and ended up in the graveyard, only to get told off by someone from the church who kept getting people messing about round Mollys grave. When we explained we were on a photo walk of Burslem and we didn’t want to do any strange rituals he was OK. The painting is set on a night of the full moon and I tried to make the sky atmospheric and spooky. I’m sorry people won’t be able to see my murals in the Leopard anymore. No doubt they will be painted over or removed.
This is my painting.
Continuing the point about copyright, this is my painting of the Burslem witch, Molly Leigh.
Our local TV programme, Midlands today used the image of the elderly woman, (I based it on a painting by Theodore Gericault, of an elderly French peasant woman). I emailed them twice to point out it was my mural, but have not had any response back.
Last Friday I was interviewed by the Sentinel newspaper about this and a photo of my Burslem riot painting that the paper had used without crediting me. I don’t know when it’s du to be published, do it might already have come out.
Anyway. I keep painting.
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My painting – on TV!
I was just watching TV and saw this! My mural painting of the witch Molly Leigh who lived in Burslem and who is famous in the city of Stoke-on-Trent. The painting is based on a picture of a French peasant by Theodore Gericault. The cottage in the background is based on photos of her home.
It’s not the first time an image of one of my paintings has appeared in the media. A few months ago my painting of the Burslem riot was used in the sentinel paper, again without letting me know.
What can I do? How can I at least get recognition?
Mallaband-Brown 