Can You Handle It

Acrylic on Canvas 30 x 30.2 cm

This is one of the later Bridgwater Circle series of paintings image captured at the main Bridgwater church on the side door. No doubt it’s been here since the church was built. St Mary’s has a very tall spire and the old wooden ladders were kept in Bridgy Gallery, a former coach house for St. Saviours House. The steeple jacks would walk down St Mary’s Street to fetch them and carry them off to scale the steeple.
The handle, a simple example of hand-made wrought iron work. Many hands have turned this handle over the centuries. No matter how many times it has been painted, it’s three bolts, so utilitarian, are still functioning. In regular use, age worn, so tactile. It was a pleasure to paint and admire the colours, the blue shadows. The title asks provocatively – Can you handle it?

Original Photograph taken 02 ‎April ‎2019, ‏‎13:12:13