I never pre-plan a painting. I start in the middle and see where it takes me.
The middle of this one is an old man holding a newborn baby. One life is a long way along and the other has barely begun, and there they are, holding on to one another. To me that is the passage of time, and love across the generations, and the compassion that lies at the core of both Bury Hospice and the wider community. I had recently become a great-grandmother when I painted it, and I don’t think it would have come out the same way if I hadn’t.
Everything else in the picture gathers around those two.
Telling a town’s story
I had been asked to make a painting for the foyer of Bury Hospice, and I worked in oils on canvas for a week or two. What I wanted was to tell the story of Bury through my eyes, to capture its essence and say something about its people, its history and its compassion. With every brushstroke I brought to life the spirit of Bury, where heritage and humanity walk hand in hand.
So the market is in there, bustling, with its famous black puddings, because you cannot paint this town without them. Sir Robert Peel stands proud. The East Lancashire Railway is there, and the old cotton mill, because the industrial past deserves as much honour as the vibrant present.
And then there are the flowers, which is where the feeling of it lives. The poppies evoke remembrance and sacrifice. The sunflower shines as a beacon of hope and resilience. The butterfly, the wild poppies and the winding greenery around the hospice itself are healing, and peace, and natural beauty. A sanctuary within the town.
The words underneath
I added some of my own words into the painting as I went, and afterwards I wrote a piece to explain it all, which is displayed underneath. That felt important. A painting should be able to speak for itself, but this one is about people, and people deserve to be told why.
I called it The Heart of Bury, and it hangs now in the foyer at the hospice.
It is my love letter to the people.
As featured in the Bury Times.