Senghenydd

The recent triumph of the rescue of the Chilean miners reminded me of another mining incident. The Universal Colliery Senghenydd Mining Disaster. A powerful gas and coal dust explosion on Friday May 24th, 1901, killed 81 of the 82 men underground at the time.

I was commissioned to paint a scene from the disaster. The painting was for someone who had a relative in the mine. Fortunately they were not underground at the time and survived the disaster.

The painting had to be done from photographs from the time. The Universal Colliery was distinctive in that it had 2 pit heads and I was not able to find a photograph with the two shown together. So it was quite a challenge to do the initial drawing whilst being as accurate as possible. The final painting is shown above.

Today was a bit "pick and mix". We had to take mom to hospital, clear 2 rooms, lift 3 carpets, and do the shopping and then on to decorating.

Actually Alex did the decorating I sat and watched the rugby on tv.