Art at the Villas

Posted on June 22, 2019June 22, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Art at the Villas, Ceramics, Drawing, Life, Oakhill, Painting, Pottery, Print, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent, Textiles, The Villas, Urban Sketchers, Urban sketchingLeave a comment

I was going to get up early today and going on a community walk along the local canal, but I got up late. I also considered going to an Urban Sketchers event at the Chatterley Whitfield nature reserve. But again I was too late. In the end we went to the Villas which is just down the road. There was an event called art at the Villas. The show was almost at the top of the road on the right hand side. The road is unadopted so go carefully driving up there. We parked at the bottom and walked.

The house we went in and its garden were full of interesting art. There were prints, original tee shirts, paintings, ceramics and a warm welcome. They were also accepting donations for charity. If you feel like visiting its in the Villas up the hill on the right off London Road, Oakhill , Stoke-on-Trent.

Since I was there and had missed other sketching opportunities I did a quick drawing of the garden and summerhouse in the distance.

Minton tiles

Posted on June 20, 2019June 20, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Ceramics, Life, making, Minton, Minton tiles, Potteries, Staffordshire, Stoke your gratitude, Stoke-on trent, TilesLeave a comment

One thing I have got to do is paint some images of minton tiles. These were made in their millions over many years and can often be found in the hallways of town houses especially in Stoke-on-Trent. People are enthusiastic about them even now and get excited about them when they find them in old houses.

There were apparently 12 original designs which are documented in a little book called touching history by Hans van Lemmen and Bret Shah. This is available through StokeYourGratitude.org.uk #StokeYourGratitude

In the paper!

Posted on June 6, 2019June 6, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Burslem, Chartists riot 1842, Life, Murals, Not enough memory, Painting, Photo in the sentinel 5.6.19, Riot act, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent, The Leopard Hotel2 Comments

I can’t use the actual painting in this blog because I don’t have the memory on my plan. But imagine this is a mural of the Burslem Chartists riot of 1842 that I painted in the Leopard Hotel, Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent in about 2007.

The mural includes the hotel, the original town hall in Burslem and Josiah Wedgewood House.

The painting included police and members of the Staffordshire troop taking on rioters in Burslem. The rioters were Chartists and were fighting for the rughr to vote. One of them was killed, his name was Josiah Heapy and he now has a memorial in Swan Square, Burslem.

My mural included local people from 2007 depicted as rioters. These include local historians Fred Hughes and Mervyn Edwards and the then owners of the pub, Neil Crisp and Neil Cox. Other members of the hotel staff are included. I really wish I could show it you. If I sort things out I will post photos.

Mirror rorriM

Posted on June 3, 2019June 3, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Design, Etruria, Etruria Industrial museum, Life, Mirror, Photo, Sculpted Steel, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent, The ForgeLeave a comment

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Mirror, mirror on the wall

Who is the sweetest of them all?

This is a mirror and surround made by Sculpted Steel at the Forge at Etruria Industrial museum. The actual mirror is a quarter of this but I was playing with duplicating photos again.

The blacksmith, Charis is very talented and has had work exhibited at Tatton Park, I think at one of the garden shows.

Part of paradise

Posted on June 2, 2019June 2, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Etruria, Etruria festival, Garden, Ladybird Su, Life, Paradise, Pop up garden, Potteries, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trentLeave a comment

My friend Su (ladybirdsu) has a op up garden at the Etruria festival. Blue boxes are laced in a geometric grid which is based on Islamic tiles. The whole effect is calming with a small solar powered fountain at the centre. Set on slightly sloping ground the whole piece sits on an unused part of the grounds between the Trent and Mersey Canal and the Cauldon canal. It is by lock 39 of the Trent and Mersey if you are looking for a specific location. It’s good to see art and history coming together in an effort to integrate the two.

Other projects in the area include greening Stoke, where areas of the town have had wild flowers planted and Spode Rose garden which has been more formally planted. In an age if climate crisis I think we need more of this work.

I would post other photos but I appear to have reached a limit on WordPress. I will see what I can do.

Penkhull sunset

Posted on May 31, 2019May 31, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Church, Colour, Evening, Light, Penkhull, Photos, Red, Stoke-on trent, SunsetLeave a comment

The sunset reflected on penkhull Church. I’ve altered the exposure on these, increasing the red or changing the background clouds. The top two are closer to the original pictures, but not as bright as I saw. This is because your eyes accommodate to the light levels, letting more light in by opening your iris in your eye, making the pupil wider. The trouble was as I increased the brightness the sky just disappeared into white, so I tried changing the colours in the curves section of my photo editor.

Opening night!

Posted on May 29, 2019 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Art, Artist, Blog, Centre space, Eleanora st, Exhibition, Fine Art, Life, Painting, Spode, Staffordshire, Stoke, Stoke-on trent9 Comments

Thank you to everyone who came to the exhibition. I think people enjoyed it. I will be putting up more photos if I get some. These are quick snaps but I’ve included all the paintings. The people at Centre Space gallery, Darren and Sarah, could not be more helpful. If there was a trip advisor for galleries (maybe there is) I would recommend them.

If you would like to see it it’s on till Sunday from 10.30am to 4.00pm at the Centre Space gallery, at Spode Site, Eleanora street, Stoke, Stoke-on-Trent, ST4 1QQ.

It’s up!

Posted on May 28, 2019May 28, 2019 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Acrylic on canvas, Art, Centre space, Eleanora street, Exhibition, Fun, Life, Painting, Spode, Spode Heritage visitors centre, Stoke, Stoke-on trent5 Comments

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I’m so pleased with my exhibition which opens tomorrow. Darren and Sarah who run the Centre Space couldn’t have been more helpful.

I will post some photos of the paintings tomorrow when they are on show. I was pleased with the way the exhibition looks and the careful way that it was put up. I hope I get a few commissions out of it.

Will people understand my passion for painting green men? Or my love if planets and astronomy? My quirky ideas about earth, air, fire and water and a series of national and international animals and birds?

I hope whatever people like there will be something that will pique their interest. Like a victorian collector of curiosities I enjoy the odd, interesting, and fun.

Winkhill Mill Co

Posted on May 24, 2019May 24, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Cliff Vale, Drawing, Hartshill, Industrial archaeology, Industrial history, Life, Machinery, Stoke, Stoke-on trent, Swan Street, Urban Sketchers, Urban sketching, Winkhill Mill CoLeave a comment

I needed a break today from painting, so I went out with Stoke Urban Sketchers for a couple of hours this afternoon. I’m still a bit in and croaky so I couldn’t manage more than that. Thanks to Danny, Andy (hope I’ve got his name right) and Richard from Winkhill Mill for letting us have access to the building. If you wonder what the machine is I think it’s a dust press for making tiles.

I went to the Mill a few weeks ago to see an exhibition there and I drew one of the tiles, the Fox and the Crow.

Stoke has lots of hidden museums. It’s open on a Friday and I think Saturdays?

More wobbly bricks

Posted on May 23, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Acrylic on canvas, another painting, Art, Bricks, Landscape, Spode, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent, Wobbly bricks6 Comments

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Painting bricks is hard. Especially when the image is tiny. I’m trying to get this finished, but so many bricks, I don’t like drawing them out with straight lines, so each one is a bit wobbly. We shall see….

Also it’s hard to work off a phone. I need to get photos I’m working on printed off.

Plus, I need to leave bits of the painting out. I don’t want metal fencing on the picture, or the striped barrier. But I will add the hanging baskets and flower tubs.

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Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Stoke-on trent