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InspirationArt & Culture

It's Grim Up North but there's wonderful colour and life found everywhere

Whilst stumbling through a dark and cold Manchester last night, talking with friends about how fed up we all are with February, I suddenly came to a halt outside Castle Galleries where some beautiful paintings on display in the window were conveying exactly the same sentiment.

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A solitary figure in red walks across wet cobblestones towards industrial mill buildings under stormy skies in this moody northern townscape by Bob Barker

Mainly of grey and dreary landscapes of wintry northern towns, the artwork by Yorkshire painter Bob Barker definitely shows how the weather hugely affects life 'up north'. But with beautiful splashes of colour, each masterpiece displays a real love for life in and around the region.

Of course, Bob has been painting since he received a set of oil paints at the age of 12 as a Christmas gift. Back then, he was immediately captivated by what could be achieved with a brush, paint and a few small squares of hardboard.

As a Yorkshire man born and bred, nostalgia spurs him to paint by looking back to childhood memories with adult eyes. Memories of the mill his mother worked at as a weaver form a big influence in the images he paints now, as does the industrial footprint left in the Yorkshire mill towns. Bob has always maintained that where most people see soot-blackened stone and polluted skies, he sees colour - like wet Sienna cobbles and Prussian blue shadows with burnt umber and cadmium skies. Bob views Yorkshire in the subtle blended hues of his paint box, and through his art, he invites the viewer to do the same.

All images by Bob Barker © Washington Green Fine Art

Misty landscape with bare trees framing a wooden gate bridge over water, a cottage with a red flower beyond, and industrial chimneys in the foggy distance
A solitary figure holding red flowers stands on a wet, snow-covered street beneath a dramatic stormy sky, with bare trees and a streetlamp flanking the empty road
Children in red coats play with balloons outside a grey stone building in a wintry northern street scene by Bob Barker
Children playing football in a wet cobbled street lined with terraced houses under a grey sky with smoking chimneys, by Bob Barker
A couple with red umbrellas walks along a wet riverside promenade at dusk under an old street lamp, with misty buildings reflected in still water beyond
A figure in a bright yellow jacket stands on a crumbling stone wall beside industrial brick buildings under a dramatic stormy sky
Moody street scene with Victorian buildings lit by dramatic sky, figures in red clothing gathered near an iron fence under stormy clouds
Child in red jacket walking down wet cobbled street lined with stone buildings under stormy sky, with figure in distance and street lamp glowing above
Grey industrial street scene with Victorian terraced buildings under stormy clouds, wet cobbled road and figures in red clothing
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