Falcon works

Posted on December 26, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Acrylic on canvas, Art, Black Country museum, Dudley, Falcon works, Gladstone pottery museum, Longport, Painting, portmeirion, Pottery, Staffordshire, Stoke-on-TrentLeave a comment

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.

Standard Fushias

Posted on December 22, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Cold, Flowers, Fushias, Gardening, Mid december, Outdoor plants, Standard Fushias, Stoke-on-Trent, Weather, WinterLeave a comment

Outside Portmeirion pottery shop in Stoke. Standard Fushias are still in flower on 23.12.20,some of the leaves are looking a bit sad, but it’s testament to how warm it has been over the few months. My hubby found a ladybird on him last night after he had come in out of the garden. I dropped it off in a flowerpot so it would have somewhere to shelter.

The crazy temperatures that global warming is causing mean that things are staying in flower longer, but there are not many insects around to pollenate them. I pray humanity does work to regulate the worlds temperatures.

Tree by river

Posted on December 13, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Cold, December, Flood, Photo, Rain, River, River Trent, Staffordshire, Stoke-on-Trent, Tree, Trees, Walk, Water, WinterLeave a comment

Tree or trees? One limb broken. The grey path reflects the grey sky. Water rushes down the river, brown and muddy. In speight, almost overcoming the banks. The rain is trapped on the pathways, the grass sodden and squelchy. I walked along there this afternoon as part of a long walk. I can feel the wet mud between my toes overtopping my shoes, pulling at their soles. Water is like glue. Stronger than gravity. My feet lift out of the shoes as they lift from the ground. My feet still feel cold and are aching hours afterwards. Perhaps I need a bowl of hot water to soak them in. I wish I’d got some bathsalts! Time to rest.

Bibendum

Posted on December 13, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged 1980's, Bibendum, Coal mines, Factories, Michelin, Northern, Pottery, Staffordshire, Steel, Stoke-on-Trent, Twentieth century, Twenty first centuryLeave a comment

Bibendum is the name of the iconic symbol for Michelin tyres. There was a large factory near us run by Michelin. Sadly the factory has mostly closed now, its mostly a training facility. The one improvement is that the smell of vulcanising rubber no longer hangs over the city. Like many of the factories and manufacturing in Stoke-on-Trent the jobs have gone. Potteries have been badly affected. Steel manufacturers have gone and other jobs like coal mining went in the 1980’s. Northern areas of the United Kingdom have been badly affected over the years of the late twentieth century and twenty first.

At the waiting room gallery

Posted on December 12, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Before virus, BV, Domestic view, Life, Longport, Photo, Picture, Staffordshire, Stoke-on-Trent, Waiting room gallery4 Comments

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.

Which way?

Posted on December 1, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Cauldon canal, Etruria, Industrial museum, Life, Museum, Pathway, Stoke-on-Trent, Trent and mersey canal, WalkingLeave a comment

A slightly confusing sign if you don’t know where the museum is. Turns out both footpaths lead to the same place, just by different routes. I don’t suppose it matters, but I think they should at least put an arrow on it for one way or the other. This is at the Etruria Industrial Museum, at Etruria, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire.

Not a swimming pool

Posted on November 28, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Cauldon canal, Etruria, Etruria Industrial museum, History, Lock, Lock forty, Photo, Picture, Staffordshire, Stoke-on-Trent, Trent and mersey canal, View, WarehouseLeave a comment

Through the door of the warehouse looking out over lock forty of the Trent and Mersey canal. Steps lead up from the depths of the deep lock, picked out in white paint amidst the concrete sides of the canal. Behind me on the other side of the warehouse the Cauldon canal flows. It is higher up than the Trent and Mersey canal until lock forty raises it to the same level. The warehouse is slightly damp inside which may be to do with its position between the two arms of the canal. I like ‘views through’ things, like views into windows and through foliage.

Tree

Posted on November 22, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Cold, Hill, Possible painting, Shade, Snow, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunshine, Traffuc, Tree, Trent Valley, View, Walking6 Comments

This is where we walked today, up the hill, across the valley of the Trent. Part of the city laid out across the view. We are a long but thin city. Countryside all around us. A lot of green spaces despite the terraces. Not huge and grey like Manchester and Birmingham. Yes we get traffic jams and pollution, our infrastructure is poor, with many bottlenecks for cars and lorries, particularly when the nearby motorway gets blocked and all its traffic hits the cities dual carriage ways. Then again we can be completely blocked up by snowfalls. Ah well, that’s life…. The tree looks out over all of that and just ignores it and carries on growing…

Berries

Posted on November 21, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Autumn, Berries, Colours, Environment, Etruria, Life, Nature, Photo, Red, Stoke-on-Trent, WalkLeave a comment

Don’t know what these berries are on but they are beautiful, they were along a track downhill from the canal. There were also pieces of old wood that had bracket fungus growing on them. Autumn is a lovely time of year when strong colours can ping out. Looking at the tangle of branches on the left hand side I might play with it and duplicate the pattern.

Cygnet

Posted on November 21, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Baby swan, Bird, Bird food, Canal, Cygnet, Eating, Etruria, Food, Stoke-on-Trent, Trent and merseyLeave a comment

This cygnet came over to see us while we were by the canal today. Sadly I had nothing to feed it. If I had thought I would have taken some brown bread. You are really supposed to feed them grain, but signs went up a few years ago saying don’t feed birds bread and some birds starved in the winter. I think the important thing is to give birds small bits of bread, if it’s big lums it can swell up in their crops and clog them up, also I guess it might be better if it’s a bit wet? Not sure, but as long as its not mouldy….Next time we visit I will take some bread x

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Stoke-on-Trent