A compilation of the all preparatory and finished work our studio artist Rachael Prime produced for 'Draw on Halton'
From Rachael:
This week’s #drawonhalton is Canals and Rivers. I love using people and animals as inspiration, drawing out their characters and stories so I decided to focus on the historic people who using the waterways in Halton. Luckily I came across this great photograph on Picture Halton (a free online resource provided by Halton Libraries ) which shows the men who built the Bridgewater Canal. I created drawings from this image to learn as much as I could about their poses and clothing, and then creating a sketch style embroidered piece of the five men right in the bottom of the canal.
Open Spaces:
Growing up in Halton Village the closest open space was the millennium green on Spark Lane and Halton Castle. Many great memories of family games and playing with my brothers. Looking through Halton Heritage Partnership's great online resource I found this wonderful photos of a lady walking towards Halton Village before the new town was built.
A series of seven images:
Hospital/Doctors: Series of four images
This week I've taken a photograph from Halton Libraries' online Picture Halton website of the Cottage Hospital in Runcorn. I've seen this photo a few time over the years and always loved how the nurses really look like they are not interested in having their photo taken!
Big thank you to all of the Nurses and NHS workers at the moment along with all of the other key workers keeping us all safe. At least PPE isn't as frilly as it used to be!
Railway:
Market:
With this week's #DrawOnHalton theme being Markets I wanted to create a design full of people to celebrate the traditions around the weekly shop, which has sadly changed dramatically over the years and has been forced on hold completely in recent times. I found a great photograph of Runcorn indoor market that I feel shows this weekly experience with bustling shoppers, smiling shop assistants and huge discount signs. Even though sadly Runcorn Market no longer exists the space is still being used to bring people together as Runcorn Library, which for me became a very big part of my working life.
Smell: Initially I thought this would be the toughest prompt for me but in the end I really enjoyed creating this drawing. This piece is inspired by my late father's oil can. The smell of oil always remind me of him and him making things in his garage. He always looked most comfortable in overalls, messy!
Bridge:
“Bridges” after a conversation with my partner, we went to visit a local bridge he remembered from childhood that he knew as Devils Bridge. It feels like it’s is deep within a mystic forest but is in fact at Runcorn Hill and it would have been part of the original quarry train tracks. I’ve played with digital layering this week using the original photograph with layers of my fabric to create the line illustration.
Sport:
Rachael has really enjoyed diving into the archived photograph resources we reference in every prompt ~ this latest piece links heritage with modern teams like Widnes Wild Women's Ice Hockey Team highlighting just one of the reasons we created #drawonhalton which is to celebrate all the local talent we have and be proud of our heritage.
Museums:
Since I already had my electronic embroidery machine out I created a bit of a different piece for #drawonhalton this week. This weeks theme is #museums and this piece was inspired by a dinning chair from @nortonpriory. I found the photograph on the great online resource, Halton Heritage Partnership picture library. It has a wonderful motif carved into it which I think creates a wonderful repeat pattern.
So this is work number two for me this week’s #drawonhalton! While looking through Halton Heritage Partnership website I also found a picture of a statue of St Christopher that at Norton Priory. Did it a little differently using white thread on darker fabric not 100% it works but really enjoyed doing it.
Library:
School:
This week’s #drawonhalton prompt has been school. I came across this very happy young chap on his way to school from Norton Priory area from the Halton Heritage Partnership website. After creating an illustration of the photograph digitally and adding my hand painted fabric for back ground I inverted the image to create a #cyanotype print on paper and fabric. I’ve really enjoyed playing with this printing technique I would love to see how my embroidery designs will work on top of the print.
Music:
It’s the last week for #drawonhalton and the theme is music. I have missed the last few weeks but the next month is catch up month so I will definitely be going back to the ones I didn’t managed to do. I found this wonderful picture on Halton Heritage Partnership website which has been a great resource for me over the #drawonhalton challenge.
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