Nostalgia and Sadness

My Miners exhibition at Rotherham runs for 2 months ending on 28th November, so another trip up on that day is called for,we did not see much of the town but like most towns and cities the centres are becoming full of empty shops,and strangely enough there was programme on TV last night which featured Rotherham and it seems that like Sheffield the shops have suffered from the building of meadowhall ,and to a lesser extent a smaller retail complex at parkgate,one of the problems is parking charges in town centres but free to park at the malls.
I looked at Brinsworth on google, my home village and it was a very small community until the Rotherham Main Colliery opened and boosted the population with an influx of people from all parts of Britain, google Rotherham Main Colliery and you will see a photo in the background behind the smoke and pithead gear you can just make out the houses where I was born and spent my early life.
The sight of any pit headgear has the effect of reminding me of my childhood and is in itself a stark but strangely beautiful and nostalgic sight to me, as kids we spent much time in summer on the water meadows at Whiston the next village , the pit ponies were given a two week escape from underground at that that time,and put out to grass on Whiston meadows, and we would try to ride on them in the fields without success as they were a bit wild and frisky I think as a result of their new found freedom.
Sadly on a more serious note following on from the four Welsh miners who recently lost their lives, another miner 49 year old Gerry Gibson was killed two days ago in Kellingley Colliery Yorkshire, once more emphasising the dangers of the job and the courage of brave men who risk their lives every shift.
It seems there is some concern about safety at Kellingley as Mr Gibson is the third fatality in the mine over the last four years.

Rotherham Show

The very professional and youthfull staff at Rotherham Arts Centre displaying my paintings with no help from me whatsoever ,a good day,rounded off by a visit to my brother Joe who is recovering from a serious illness,and Joseph Saif for advice on online selling methods.

Paintings for Rotherham

I spent this morning packing paintings in the car ready to get off to an early start tomorrow morning,I have arranged to be at the gallery in the town centre at 10.30am so I need to leave here about 8am,I am taking about 20 but will probably only be exhibiting between 8 and 12,but I thought it best to give the exhibition organiser plenty to choose from.

Neslyn Farm

A little diversion from drawing gates,a pen drawing from which I painted the 12"x10" acrylic on canvas, of our neighbours farm from a track on their land looking west toward the wolds,a different technique to the one I use on my paintings of miners,which is more cubistic expressionist,a technique which suits my mining memories and emotional outpourings.

Home town show

I have been asked to provide at short notice(one week) a number of paintings and prints for an exhibition in the entrance foyer of Rotherham art gallery,so I have been busy this morning sorting some stuff out,this is a forerunner to holding an exhibition early next year around April in the new gallery being built near the new Rotherham United stadium .

Gordy

This weeks sad loss of life at the welsh mine was a reminder to me of my brother Gordon's fatal accident in a steel works over 30 years ago on the 18th of September, you leave for work and never come home,one of the perils of working in heavy industry,real men in real jobs.

Gleision Colliery 15th September 2011

Old gate on green lane

This is escapism in the countryside,I am now an old fogey down to drawing rickety old farm gates,though a galeforce wind yesterday made the job difficult ,blowing the sketch pad all over the place,the colours and different plant shapes were interesting and may lead to a painting on a small scale.
I am trying to arrange an exhibition of my mining theme pictures in Rotherham and Barnsley, but exhibition opportunities are thin on the ground,so barring a lottery win and buying my own gallery,I shall have to continue as a "picture stacker", the welsh poet Dylan Thomas's description of painters.
The technical properties are,graphite on cartridge paper 12"x 10" approx.

Bill Tidy

Amusing quote from Bill Tidy the cartoonist(yes he is still alive),"Blatter is not guilty of corruption,I had confirmation in a brown envelope through my letterbox today"

Red Miner

Acrylic on canvas 12 inches x 9 inches final version from a digital study posted in on earlier blog, based on my friend Piero Baral an Italian talc miner in the Italian alps,now retired from mining but active on a number of humanitarian issues.