New paintings and regular art updates.
Two paintings I did for a leaflet a couple of years ago. The first was of Middleport pottery, a split image of two areas of the pottery, done to fit the images onto the page. The second, a view of the Trent and Mersey canal showing a lock that barges travel through where the water level changes. Opening the gates allows water to flow through and boats to go up and down the canal.
Acrylic paint on watercolour paper. Used by the canal and river trust on their leaflet.
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Finished off my take on an Easter island head this week by hollowing it out and adding texture to the surface. It now needs to dry out so it can be fired. If the clay is wet the water in it will expand and may cause the pottery to blow up. It may not be an accurate representation of these wonderful statues, but I hope it is not disrespectful to model it?
We have started to meet on Thursday mornings at Etruria rather than in the evenings, this means we are there at the warehouse on the Trent and Mersey canal by summit lock 40. From 10am to 12 noon.
* note, we are meeting on an ad hoc basis at the moment dependant on the weather.
Grey day on the canal,
Leaves float,
Cygnets shelter from the rain.
Boats huddle near the bridge,
Wrapped in old tarpaulins.
Smoke drifts up from stoves
that sit below the water levels.
Tea kettles boil and whistle,
Stained hands make a brew,
wiping off excess oil on grubby teacloths.
Leaves create mosaics of moist greens and browns.
Trees splinter into the sky,
Bursting like fireworks
But wet black,
No sparkle
Just grey, wet, dank…
And beautiful.
I’m not sure why these are inside a building and not outside by the side of the canal to be used? Perhaps they are old and not the correct standard anymore. Maybe they have been stored in case they are needed? Maybe they are for use by the boat club that meets in the warehouse sometimes. Yes that is damp at the bottom of the wall. The building is between the trent and Mersey canal and the Cauldon canal. It is actually lower down than the water on one side, and next to a deep lock on the other side. So water might be slowly seeping in and the building is over a hundred years old.
Back to the life belts, I guess you could grab them and use them if someone falls in the lock….. I might find out about them…
Seeing a family of swans preceding a canal boat this afternoon had me feeling so happy this afternoon. They were a bit like some sort of honour guard flotilla.
Then seeing the shadows on the bridge, it’s a really nice shape. I also admired the sign writing on Echo, so we’ll done.
The willow tree on the bank is still green, not tinged by cold air yet. In fact today was as warm as mid summer.
I must take a sketch book with me tomorrow.
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Canal boat, ‘maria’ travelling through summit lock number 40 on the Trent and Mersey canal at Etruria, Stoke-on-Trent. It was by luck that we were standing on a bridge over the canal as it came through the lock. I asked permission before I took photos. I would like to take a holiday on one perhaps.
Mallaband-Brown