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Blackpool is a hive of activity, selling food to holiday makers along the seafront is a lucrative business. every space is taken up between food and B&Bs and even entertainment.
Original A4 watercolour painting with drawing in ink and posca markers.
I have an insatiable sweet tooth, and custard is one of my favourite things, I could have it with sweet pies, crumbles, strudels, cake, etc or even just on its own. especially Ambrosia custard, you could almost drink it through a straw it is so good. Cold or hot I’m really not bothered just give me custard
Original A5 painting on black card in acrylics.
At the north end of the illuminations, plenty of people stop here grab fish and chips and then walk through the tableaux section of the illuminations or into town and then grab a tram back. It can be a nice way to spend a crisp autumn’s evening, and something I did a few times with friends as a teenager, in the dark of October.
A4 watercolour painting drawn with yellow posca marker and lamy safari fountain pen.
I love the variety of buildings on the Fleetwood High Street, it is also a nice walk that follows the tram tracks through Fleetwood itself.
A4 watercolour painting on paper
The Golden Mile in Blackpool lies between the Pleasure Beach in the South with the South Pier past all the amusements, the Blackpool Tower and finishes at the North Pier. This stretch is Golden because it is where all the foot traffic is and you see crowds in the summer walking along the Golden Mile using businesses as they go.
It was the boom in the town that had my Grandad’s family of blacksmiths move to the coast from Myerscough. The promise of work and trade brought them to this area of the coast in the 19th century near what was the Blackpool Central station. The rest of that family moved to Fleetwood and they worked alongside the boat builders in Fleetwood.
Fleetwood Market Days can get quite busy, though not as busy as they were in the days of the ferries where lorries and coaches would compete for space on dock street. During the Covid 19 Pandemic it has felt very empty in the town at times.
Shelters around the coastline of Britain can range from the Victorian, to mock Tudor to some that are more like post war municipal buildings in the style of what you would expect of a substation and not that of an idyllic spot to rest and shelter from the weather.
But whatever they look like we wouldn’t be without them on a rainy day or when the wind is blowing a gale. Being northern the weather is no excuse. And I used to walk home from the day job some times and the rain would start and I would end up drenched, but I would try and find a place to shelter the worst of it and then move on
Shelters are something that I plan to explore more as they really do mark some of the character of seaside towns.
~Joseph
“Ooh, a storm is threatening my very life today.
If I don’t get some shelter ooh yeah I’m gonna fade away”
The Rolling Stones
I love how blocks of buildings can be so different in Blackpool, all built at different times to different specifications, and some going through a variety of transformations over the years. They don’t fit but that’s what adds to the charm for me. If everything was the same it would just be a massive boring block of Meh.
A3 watercolour drawing with Posca marker and Lamy Safari on white card
My dad is a wargame miniature enthusiast, when I was growing up he collected Napoleonic figures so as we were old enough he started playing Games Workshop games with us like Hero Quest and Space Crusade. I remember as a small child going to the closest Games Workshop which from where we lived was in Fleetwood was in Preston near the Harris Museum, and my brother bought the lead based figures of the Fellowship of the Ring from Lord of the Rings.
As a young child I remember at some point I got my hands on them and painted the boots bright orange, needless to say at some point the boots were painted brown but not by me. Later on the opened a Games Workshop in Birley Street, and I would go with my brother and friends to play various tabletop games.
So how does this story relate to the painting? Well this is a painting of Blackpool’s Warhammer shop on Birley Street. A4 in size painted with watercolour and drawn with a Lamy safari pen and Posca markers
A personal favourite of mine that I have painted in 2021, I just loved the colours and the shapes of all the buildings and how they work together. Especially with the clouds they help pull it all together drawing you back towards the Oyster Bar.
A4 painting, done in my signature style with watercolour, ink and Posca markers
Robert’s Oyster Bar is in Central Blackpool near the Tower and the North Pier overlooking the promenade and the sea front.
Just don’t venture too far from cover with food or the seagulls will make sure that they get their fair share of your food.
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