Tag: Stoke-on trent

Phantasms

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Phantasmagoria….

I looked up the definition, it says it is a “shifting medley of real or imagined figures, as in a dream”….. noun.

I had not really thought about the word Phantasm until I saw it on a programme earlier today. It makes me think of ghostly figures and ectoplasm.

I don’t know if I believe in them, but there are people that do. A local pub which used to be a hotel is supposed to be one of the most haunted pubs in the country. The Leopard in Burslem, Stoke on Trent, is know for its spooky atmosphere. Several TV shows have been filmed there to explore the ghostly emanations. There is a story that there are phantoms in the cellar, and ghost hunts regularly take place there.

I can imagine figures walking through the public bar, or in the back room. Floating above the ground, disappearing behind curtains or into walls. Spirits caught between the past and the present. The stairs that lead downstairs feel particularly eerie. There us a geological fault in Burslem and the building has a strong lean to one side. If  you drop a ball on the floor it will roll to the other side of the room. The Leopard has a long history and is very interesting to visit.

I have not seen anything myself, but some of the staff and customers say they have. Whether there is such a thing a Phantasms is not something I can prove or disprove. I think I will keep an open mind.

2013 scenery

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Looking on Facebook, memories pop up from years ago. These pictures were taken in July 2013. I’m not sure if I did all of them that year. I may have painted over an old one from a year or two before.

As on other occasions harvest was one of the themes. Also the industrialisation of Stoke on Trent, when canals were dug out and bottle ovens and kilns were built. I even had to paint a public house. (With working door!)

I’m not sure how many years I have done this for and its always a bit of a rush job, or my health hasn’t been good. But I feel so much part if my community that I won’t say no.

I would love to do more, make the flats more intricate, more like murals. But at the end of the day they are only on display for a few hours, one day in a year. Just as long as the scenery helps tell the story…..that’s what they are there for.

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Play Day

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Penkhull Mystery play day was hot and sunny. I missed the music morning in the church, but managed to watch the flag raised on the village green. The flag was chosen from a competition that was whittled down to 4 combined designs. The flag that won had the cockerel from the weather vane on the church on it, then an oval to to represent the roads up to the  green and around it.

Next came Penkhull village brass bands playing popular and beautiful music to the crowd sitting on the green in front of the church.

There was also Morris dancing by Black Dog Molly, and  a Hurdy Gurdy man playing ancient tunes, and a bower of song where anyone could come along and sing or play music.

It was time to get changed and ready for the play. I snapped a shot of the scenery I have been painting, but couldn’t get photo’s of the mystery play as I was in it!  It went well and we had fun singing and dancing for the entertainment of the crowd. In 20 minutes a group of children were transported back in time, became farmers, were involved in Waterloo, were injured. Had a child,  were evicted and had to live in a hole in the ground. Went through the first world war, then became Suffragettes, and eventually returned to the present.

Once the play was over there was time to get changed and listen to the Penkhull ukulele band, and watch the tug of war competition (only two teams entered from the same place as the other teams were too busy watching England play in the world cup.)

Finally I saw some short playlettes written for Harper’s Titchy theatre. This was performed as readings for two or more voices. It was very entertaining  apart from being drowned out by loud musuc from the pub. (Half time at the England game).

It is a great credit to the people of Penkhull to do this so well each year. I heard up to 400 people help organise and volunteer for this community arts event .

It’s no wonder everyone is so busy at this time of year in Penkhull!

This years mystery

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This afternoon (Saturday 7th July) I will be in the Mystery Play. This is the scenery that I have painted for it. The last photo is the two boards joined, the grey bars of cloud is not the finished effect because I decided to change them to flatter clouds. Unfortunately I could not take another picture because my phone went flat.

I have lost the book I was working from so I just tried painting cumulus and stratus clouds.

I think the looming clouds make it feel more oppressive. The play is about war, family, and woman’s equality. I hope it does work on the day.

Our play starts at 2 pm and only runs for 20 minutes, I think it will be good.

I am still here!

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Just busy at the moment. I’m painting some of the scenery for our local mystery play next Saturday. The theme is the Tittensor Evictions by the Duke of Sutherland, and including two wars and the suffragette movement all in twenty minutes.

The scenery is based on a painting by Corot. I think it’s a landscape in the south of France. I’ve added a thatched cottage and there will be figures in the foreground. This is half of the panel (or flat as they call it in the theatre) its 8ft by 4ft. There will be another panel of the same size attached above it which of sky. I’m also going to add the hall where the Duke lived to this panel.

I’m painting with acrylics and emulsion on hard board. This took me about two hours to paint. I also have a sign to do…. so I will be very busy again!

The Mystery play has been happening for over 10 years now at Penkhull. It started out being purely religious but has taken on different themes over recent years, including one about the river Trent. Apparently it’s the largest community arts event in Stoke-on-Trent and there were 400 people participating in putting it on last year.

It’s on 7th July if you feel like coming along…

 

Missing Cat

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Seamus our boy cat has gone missing. We think he sneaked out while the builder had the bathroom window open.

I know its a long shot, but for anyone living in Stoke or Penkhull who is not on Facebook please can you let me know if you find him. He has a dark blue collar with diamond sparkly bits. He has a name tag with his address and our landline number. He has been microchipped .

He is timid and is probably hiding somewhere.  He does not like cars.  If he went to the front door and a car drove past he would run away from the noise of it. Unfortunately there are a lot of quiet roads and gardens behind us so he could have got a long way by now.

He has odd pupils to his eyes, one is slightly higher than the other so it looks like he is looking in slightly different directions. He has a heart murmer and may be affected by the heat.

Please let me know if you see or hear him. ..

He is now home having a wash lying on my foot! I whistled and shouted for two hours outside the back door. He always comes to me in the house when I whistle… also left his cat litter outside….

Hotel

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I had a nice surprise this morning. A friend messaged me to say there was an article about the hotel she works at on the Spode site in Stoke on Trent.

When I looked at it I noticed one of my paintings in the photo of one of the bedrooms! I had wondered where it had gone to because it was not downstairs in the Works canteen cafe we go to at the hotel.

I wish it wasn’t such a tiny photo, because its hard to see much detail, but I’m going to be painting a few more pictures that will be for sale in the hotel.

The buildings around Spode are very inspiring because of the industrial architecture and archaelogy on the site.

So, that was good news. Hope to have more soon.

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Portrait session

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We had a lovely sitter tonight called Debbie McAndrew. She is an author and play write and also sometimes acts. She wrote a brilliant play called “dirty laundry” that was on last year . It was set in the past and was about the history of the potteries.

We had an entertaining session drawing her and discussing all sorts of things, including how she got into the theatre and acting and how the group got into drawing and painting.

I really enjoyed the session and think that I got some relatively accurate portraits from it.

I used pencil, charcoal pencil and black ink to do the drawings.  The sketches are in a small sketch book with good thickness cartridge paper.

I like drawing in these books. There is enough room to fit the drawings in, and they are small enough to hold so that it is not a struggle to hold the book. Other people were using A1 or A2 sheets to draw or paint on but I prefer the smaller size. About A5.

Anyway I shall just leave you to decide if you like them…

Grey cat

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Grey Cat, you sit and wait, for Mum or Dad or daughter Dotty.

But none come, they are gone….

Did you leave them, or they you? No one knows,

abandoned or lost, you have no home, but a brick shell, dilapidated, fusty, dirty, roof gone, open to frost.

Grey Cat, you are friendly, dusty, big head, thin….

You are white that is grey, and grey that is dark grey.

Your human Mum and Dad may miss you, but have already grieved, your loss tore apart a family.

Grey Cat, you have a territory, but bulldozers encroach.

Are you a Dad, are your kittens with their Mum. Do they rest their paws on dirt, or on old willow pattern tiles?

Grey Cat, I wish you well, may your days be long and loved.

Fare you well…….

New views of Spode. ..

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Things are changing at the old Spode factory site.

Old buildings that don’t have much historical merit are being demolished and older buildings , or more architecturally important ones are being released from their imprisonment in brick, mortar, chip board, steel and concrete.

Like an archaeological dig tipped 90 degrees, new surfaces and entrances are being uncovered. Courtyards with windows newly on view. Stacks of saggars piled on shelves up at those windows, small or large,  flat or square ….the weight of the saggars must be tremendous. I wondered if the shelves are rotting and if they could collapse .

I remember seeing a film called “solarus” or “solaris” once years ago. By Tarcovski? A Russian film maker. The character’s moved through a post industrial nightmare, and I can’t help thinking Spode uncovered would make a brilliant film set.

A recent film called “jawbone” was filmed at Spode. They recreated a boxing gym in the China halls there. So many new views. ….

walking along the new pathway to the studios there, I wonder at the air we are breathing in, dust everywhere…how do we know there is no asbestos or other contaminants?

The feral cats of Spode can be friendly.  A grey and white Tom cat was hanging about next to the Hulton art pottery. We were told that someone is thinking of rehoming him. He had water and food….my partner wanted to take him home. But we already have two of our own cats. I think he will be OK. I have nicknamed him Maurice. ….