Coal paintings

Almonry Ore 150-50cm, Oils and Coal on a Steel Plate 2025

Part of the Coal collection which reflects the rich heritage that surrounds the Coal Industry in Britain and in the Midlands in particular the town of Radcliffe on Soar which is just on the outskirts of the town and has the last coal fired (or had until decommissioning) in Britain and is now it’s future changed. The painting is to reflect on the industry of the East Midlands and is part of a larger collection made as a one off project for the George Thornton Gallery. The Coal in the artwork was heated down to fine dust and added into the paint to help create the texture. The Steel plate that it sits on has been buried in Clay for a year to reflect on the decline in the Coal industry in Britain, similar to how steel degenerates

Haze Light Ore 150-100cm Oils and Coal on Steel 2025

One of the main talking points surrounding this collection was how the colours reflected industry, this was a hard concept to reimagine into the work. I had taken some imagery of Radcliffe on Soar and the powerplants from distance and observed some of the area which had industrial colours on display surrounding the area. I had wanted to use a mix of the colours in the painting, but realised that I was still making art and didn’t want to veer towards the route of it being solely about Radcliffe.

The colours for each paintings were picked on what worked well together. I really wanted a washed out industrial look to occupy the artwork and having buried the steel for n amount of time helped me to achieve this.

Portland Ore 35-35cm Oils and Coal on Steel 2025

This was one of the first pieces created for the collection, more of an ideas board of where I wanted the collection to grow towards. The bolts were added to give the work a more 3D look and set the trend off in a new direction incorporating the industrial feel into the mix. I had looked over a range of bolts to bring into the mix artistically and had sourced them directly from scrap dealerships and antique dealers as I thought it was important to retain that with the process.

Description to follow…

Coal paintings

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