Monday 7 April 2014

Colours of Widnes picture completed for my friend Jackie.

This is the finished picture of "Colours of Widnes".......black, all shades of grey, brassy gold........really miserable looking, depicting an abstract image of Widnes, Lancashire, England in the first half of the 20th century.  The main image is an old postcard showing the tall chimneys of the factories belching smoke all over everything and the words "Widnes with the lid off makes the sun hide his face" written across the bottom.  The Runcorn-Widnes transporter bridge is at the top because Jackie's grandfather worked on it. The photos don't show it but the wires supporting the bridge have been embroidered in a very fine Kreinik metallic thread which has a twist of steel blue and black.  Because Jackie is a cat lover, I have included a little gold cat charm, sitting on the railway track at Widnes Station as a steam freight train pulls in on the other line. 

The picture will be framed in a  dull grey frame which at the moment is metallic gold but a few coats of dull, miserable looking, sooty, rainy-day coloured paint will do the trick!!
Abstract Crazy Quilted picture depicting the "Colours of Widnes" in Lancashire, UK



Top half of the picture showing the Runcorn-Widnes Transporter Bridge. A few simple birds fill the void at the top while I tried to keep most of the stitching looking industrial rather than flowery.



Bottom half of the picture which apart from the notice (the original being a brass plaque on Widnes Station) is mostly industrial with cog-wheels and brass metal discs, representing the factories of Widnes in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Sitting on the railway track watching the trains is tiny gold cat because Jackie is a cat lover from way back. Now I just have to keep it a secret until Jackie's birthday..........that will be the hardest part for me!!