..Baby at your breast..

"The Dwelling, Hawnby" Original watercolour by Glenn Marshall

One of my favourite watercolour painters is Helen Addingham. She was a Victorian lady who travelled the English countryside recording a  way of life under intense attack from the industrial revolution  It would soon disappear for ever but she left us a remarkable glimpse of what it was like through her wonderful paintings. I know some critics dismiss her work and others like her for coating reality with a 'chocolate box' veneer. Of course it was pretty grim back then for most people but there must have been times when the sun did shine for them, when the pantry was full and the garden full of colourful flowers and abundant herbs. These were the moments she chose to paint for us and why not. Historians do agree now that her paintings of the cottages and dwellings were so detailed that they do form a very true picture of how villages looked in those bygone days before the growth of photography. One of the most noticeable constant features of her paintings are the ladies with young children in their arms but that was how it was - no creches in those days, so baby had to accompany the mother wherever she went.
Hawnby is a beautiful little village nestling in the western fringes of the North Yorkshire Moors. When I first saw this cottage it was in a dreadful state and in need of urgent structural repair. But in my painting I brought it back to life and tried to recreate the cottage how it would have been, complete with mother and child.
Happily, life imitated art!  The last time we passed the cottage was  fully restored to provide home and shelter once again.