Doncaster Open Art Exhibition 2014

I mentioned in my last post that I had put the small market stall painting 'Bargain Hunters' into the Doncaster Open Art Exhibition this year, unfortunately it didn't get selected. Never mind though, 2 other small oils did. These are titled 'Industrial Ghosts', and 'Grey Morning'.

As you can see from the pics below, they aren't my usual subjects.

'Industrial Ghosts' 6 x 8 inches oil on board.

This painting was produced from an old photo of mine of Askern colliery head gear, and as the pit is no longer there, also from recollections of night shift noise, lights, shadows, silhouettes of large red brick workshops, steam and smoke.

Of course, as with all of the pit villages of South Yorkshire, the skyline was dominated by the head gear rising above the rows and rows of miners homes. These iron giants are what most people remember - ghosts from an industrial past.

'Grey Morning'  6 x 8 inches, oil on board.  

Very different to my usual landscapes! 'Grey Morning' represents a lone man walking his dog early one morning. We wonder what he might be thinking, shoulders slightly haunched against the grey sky, he walks out of the picture, seemingly too lost in his own thoughts to notice the (abstracted) sunrise behind him.

Both these paintings can be seen at the Doncaster Open Art Exhibition, at Doncaster Museum and Art Gallery, 18th October until 13th December.