New paintings and regular art updates.
Narrow boat painted on the car park of Westend village in Stoke. It’s on the route of the Newcastle branch of the Trent and Mersey canal that used to run alongside London Road. This photo was taken from the hump in the road in Corporation Street that used to be a canal bridge. I hope they repaint it! It’s much more faded than this but I’ve upped the contrast and saturation because it’s really dull and the paint has peeled off.
Seen on the side of a canal barge today at Etruria, Stoke on Trent. Not your usual castles and roses, but very nice image. I’ve actually seen a heron on that stretch of the Trent and Mersey canal. I like the waterlilies that have been included, they are not usually found in city canals though and the water is generally not that clean as there is usually some pollution. But I would say canals, are better maintained than in the past.
Blurry photo of a heron chilling out on the canal bank today. It leant forward a few times and looked into the murky brown water but then resumed it’s original position again. I guess it must have seen a fish.
We have previously seen people magnet fishing in the canal, they said they sometimes find things, but nothing valuable. Is a shopping trolley or bike frame worth it? I guess you can weigh things in for scrap. In the meantime I hope the heron got his dinner!
Trent and Mersey canal with a thin metal bench. It’s not the most picturesque view I’m afraid, but I’m a member of a bench appreciation group, so I keep an eye out for them. It’s sometimes nice to find a beautiful place with a comfortable bench, but more than likely it’s a seat in not a nice place.
A barge called Lothlorien
Holiday or daily living, canal barges offer accommodation ‘off the grid’. A friend of ours had one for about five years while he was living on his own. It was an old wooden boat, about seventy two foot long, and had a massive lifeboat engine powering it that was started with a huge starting handle like on an old car! It took many turns of the handle to fire up the engine.
His barge was a wooden Hull, so every year he took it into dry dock to recaulk the gaps between the wooden boards. If he didn’t the boats planks would let in water. It was lovely in the summer, but cold and damp in the winter, especially on foggy days.
The photo of a metal hulled boat was taken today on the Trent and Mersey canal.
On our walk today round Westport Lake we incorporated a bit of the Trent and Mersey canal. We saw a few canal barges as we walked along the towpath. It made me think of a song we sing at choir which goes ‘fifteen miles on the Erie canal’. Most of the boats were painted dull blues and greys but there was a more traditionally painted cafe boat in primarily green and red but with yellow and white details too. It made me smile to see it.
Here is another one of my murals from the Leopard Hotel in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire. It shows the four creators of the Trent and Mersey canal. I remember two of them are James Brindley , standing, and Josiah Wedgwood, seated on the right. It’s a long time since I painted it, so I can’t remember the names of the other two. It was painted in 2007? I think. This popped up on my Facebook memories today. Sadly it and all the others I painted were destroyed in a fire when the Leopard burnt down early last year.
I drew the horizon a few days ago walking over this bridge but I decided to show it from the side too. This is on the opposite side of the canal from the Industrial Museum at Etruria. Facing away from Hanley in Stoke on Trent. Taken on a sunny but breezy day. The ducks were out enjoying the sunshine. This coming weekend it will be having a steaming weekend. I will try and find out the details.
A large tree has fallen on the far bank of the Trent and Mersey canal opposite Westport Lake. Luckily it seems to have fallen sideways instead of across the canal. It doesn’t appear to have damaged any canal barges or cars on the access road behind it, although some of its branches are trailing in the canal. Seen on a walk today.
Sitting in the Waiting room gallery, looking out on a blustery day. The road in front runs down past the gallery on the left of where I was seated then on behind me to the Longport station building where trains regularly stop. That is why the gallery is called :the Waiting room’. The gallery is linked with the station and is a community space that is run by the volunteers who have worked on maintaining the station building. I don’t know the full details but it’s good the station is still in use. Its just a short walk from there to the Trent and Mersey canal and along it to the Middleport pottery. It was a bleak, wet and windy day, but we were warm and snug at the gallery with a cup of coffee and a scone too!
Mallaband-Brown