Back to my old art school sketch books for a print whose subject is the long disappeared Ironstone mining district in Cleveland in North Yorkshire. There were still the odd few mines working in the late 1960’s but by the change of the decade they were all closed and the iron ore was being brought into the River Tees in huge bulk carriers weighing tens of thousands of tons. This print is based on a view of a mine that supported a small village, an area that was about to feel the cruel wind of change as one hundred and fifty years or more of mining came to an end. The price of progress.
The light side of the moon. Linocut in eight colours printed on 300gsm Fabriano Artistico Extra White HP in an edition of ten. Image size 210mm x 270mm. £110.00
John Richardson Lino Prints 
Very intriguing, John; beautiful and mysterious; another bewitching piece our landscape. Funnily enough, I just ordered a postcard picture of my grandfather’s old colliery down this way. Not an iron-works but this reminded me a lot of it, and the kind of environment that mines are usually placed. There is a romance to the whole thing. In Betteshanger Colliery’s case, I’m glad it’s gone… But this doesn’t dim my fascination of what went before- nor stop me gawping at old old photos of the colliery… And fishing its lingering settling pools!- God Bless, Gazza
LikeLike
Thanks Gareth, I’m still trying to get the hang of WordPress so I hope that this gets through the electric mist. Some of those pits in the Northeast are just a capped shaft with a commemorative plate on top now. sue and drove down through County Durham a few years ago and some villages were like ghost towns. I doubt they’ll ever revive, they’re quite spooky really. All the best, John
LikeLike