Heavy Industry

Working on the James Watt mural again today. This is another detail from it.
It's a good example of a small part of a painting becoming the focus as we prepare the educational resources for schools taking part.

In talking to James Watt, he was explaining how the eye has to be led to details, how paintings have to be read, and pupils taught how to read them.

It's fascinating listening to the stories behind these paintings.

As mentioned yesterday, the inclusion of people in the mural is unusual for Watt, but, like the pupils who'll be taking part, I'm new to his artwork and this seems like a good place to start. I'm getting to know the people who were there a little before I explore the Clyde they knew.

Colour, is important, with earlier work much darker, reflecting the waterfront as it was then. I took a shot without the orange in the foreground and it's amazing how dark that looks. Even just a little orange seems to lighten the heavy hull, even a little.

Alf Young, who also comes from Inverclyde, recently reflected on Watt's paintings... "The darker palette. The battered rust-encrusted puffers. The sometimes louring skies. The impressionistic treatment of detail. All spoke to me of a world of painfully hard graft."

There's going to be a lot to learn on this one, a lot of research, a lot of thinking for us, as well as the pupils.