Day out at the Mining Art Gallery

I had one hell of a day on Thursday. ^^ As usual, I went to my weekly art class. It was great to be back after having missed a fortnight due to some work being done in the town hall. Putting a new varnish down on the wooden floor. The pungent smell meant we had to keep away. It still had a little bit of a lingering scent when we were there. It honestly made my nose itch and quite a few of our eyes watered. Trish couldn’t stay inside because the smell made her feel ill.    Otherwise it was tolerable enough for us to continue.

The previous lesson, we’d been instructed to bring in three items to do some life drawing. I picked a few things from around my office: A couple of peacock ore stones, my red Maneki Neko, my silver fox plushie and the silver London snow globe/music box I got for Christmas. 

One of the things a lot of us will do is just get up from our workspace and have a nosey-round to see what everyone else is doing. It’s great to see what everyone else is doing. One of the best things you can do as an artist is to surround yourself with people that are creative and talented. It makes a nice change from always being physically isolated from other artists. When a couple of them came around to see what I was doing, they seemed really impressed. I was only in the sketch stage, which I first do with a blue sketching pencil (like the ones most comic artists use). They seemed much more impressed than I thought they would, especially in this early stage. But since they pointed it out, I guess I was doing well in capturing the angle I could see it from. One woman said I could teach her a few things.  I laughed, thinking she was buttering me up. After all, the people in that class have more years of experience and knowledge behind them. Plus, right now, my forte is in drawing, as opposed to painting. So, I’m still unsure as to how I’ll finish it. I’ve been thinking about how I haven’t gone near acrylics for so many years. I wonder what oil paints are like? 

We always finish up the class at 12, so we agreed that at half past, we’d meet outside the No.42 art gallery at half past. At first I wasn’t sure what to do, since I’m the only one there that doesn’t drive. Luckily, the woman I always chat with and sit next to was kind enough to give me a lift. Even stopping outside my house first, so I could swap my large case full of art supplies that I wheel to the class with my handbag.  While she was getting parked, it allowed me to stroll down Bondage and see what’s happening. The book shop down there, that I just adore, had a sign in it, promoting that they had many mining books for sale. I’m hoping I can have a look in there soon. It’s wonderful to see the town get into the spirit of celebrating our mining history.

Of course, if we were going to meet outside the No.42, we’d be fools to not have a look in to pass the time. I always love having a look in there. One woman who attends our classes, Susana, had some wonderful pieces on display. Both from the fabric art she does and (my personal favourites) the drawings she’d done around the local castles. You can find her work here (www.facebook.com/profile.php?i…) They’ve also got quite a few books on sale about our local art history. Including a book on Spanish art in the Bishop Auckland castle. I took the opportunity to take a couple photos in the No.42, since I knew that going into the Auckland Mining gallery we wouldn’t be able take photos – for obvious reasons. It’s got me thinking about how I would love to submit to these galleries, but I just wonder if a lot of them would take umbridge with mixed/digital mediums. A lot of galleries tend to turn their noses up at those kinds of things. Even though I still really want to get more practice with colouring in traditional mediums. Honestly, knowing the rules of both mediums really help you when drawing with either. It’s kind of like how you can’t do good cartooning without an understanding of anatomy and you can’t really colour that well digitally without looking carefully at how things are lit or observing how it works with painting.

One point of interest is the marvellous curtain of poppies draped over the entrance to the town hall.   The photo doesn’t do it justice (because like an idiot, I’d forgotten my camera and had to use my iPad.)

The Mining gallery itself was incredible. They really put in the effort to make the building atmospheric to support the paintings. The walls being painted dark, ambient sounds of water dripping and shifting stones playing around you and a very particular but inoffensive smell really put you in that mining environment. The paintings on display were stunning. Since I have no pictures to show you, I highly recommend you go down there to check it out. I adored seeing paintings in so many different styles. Even spotting some very graphic, art deco styles. I loved how most of them didn’t shy away from the emotion and humanity of our mining history. It’s certainly what I’m most interested in.

My absolute favourite painting was a large one; “The Hartley Disaster” by H.H. Emmerson. I found myself absolutely hypnotised by it. I adored the colours, the composition, the size, the brush work and mostly of all, the emotion and faces. I have a soft-spot for compelling pictures that capture emotion. I still REALLY wish I could have been able to buy a print piece to frame and hang in my house. Even looking on Google Images doesn’t do it justice, as a lot of the pictures aren’t good quality.

As I walked around, I had my sketchbook in hand. Scribbling down anything I could see or ideas that came to mind. They were never going to be good. I had to do them quickly to get the most important details and basic gestures. That said, I still had a few staff members peek over my shoulder and compliment me on the sketches. It was so nice, but also mildly embarrassing, since I thought they looked awful. XD I was great talking to them, to learn more about what was happening in the paintings and getting more information on the props and genuine mining items on display.

Of course, I was never going to walk away from there empty handed. I bought a few stationary items, a postcard print and a book full of our mining history and pieces called “Shafts of Light”

After we were all done in the museum, we had a look across the street for a bite to eat in a Café. I had myself some nice smoked salmon sandwiches with a side of sweet potato chips and a nice slice of Red velvet cake to go.     Felt like an appropriate way to end off such a good day. I had such a wonderful time just having a bite with those of us left, chatting, having a laugh. The class is one of few occasions where I don’t feel like an odd one out (Despite how much I REALLY look like an odd one out amongst them.) After all, I was viscously bullied and ostracised in my school years. And ever since my gran died, I really have been alone amongst my family. Now that the person I loved, related to and talked to the most was gone forever. Even she said that there were two groups of people in this world – me and her, then everyone else. And of course, with her death, I had to be the support for everyone else. But I didn’t really have much of a shoulder to cry on or able to talk to myself. One family member often telling me how they’d kill themselves if not for me and just having a lot of pressure on my shoulders. But I could go on forever about how things have turned to shit since her passing.
Much to my surprise, when I posted this on Facebook, Trish commented;
“Love the sketches, and the blog! But why would you be the odd one out sitting in the café with us, lol. We are all crackers. Think they were speedily locking up behind us, haha.”

Getting that comment, plus everything I feel and experience during the class is honestly overwhelming.    Despite how I look different to everyone else, am a different age to everyone in the class (everyone else is likely older than my parents, which is fine with me, since I’m a bit of an old soul. Even as a bairn, I found teachers more comprehendible to talk to than my peers), it really feels like I’m welcome and I’m not getting the same judgements on my appearance and everything else, which has become frequent with others around me (mainly family)

With this day out, I’m feeling inspired to draw pieces based on our Mining in the North East. :bademoticon:   If you want to see the images relating to everything I'm talking about, I've made a Facebook gallery here: