Golden Gate Bridge and Monument Valley Artworks.

 These are a couple of recent artworks I completed recently of a couple of American places to visit, the first artwork is one I did a couple of years ago of the Golden Gate Bridge, the bridge opened in May 1937 and the architect was Irving Morrow. The bridge length is 1.7miles, the longest single span being 0.79miles in length. I have sold 3 copies of this picture since I completed it.

The picture can also be seen on ClickASnap where it is full size, resolution and un-watermarked.

The 2nd artwork I want to show in this post is a sketch of West Mitten Butte, East Mitten Butte and Merrick Butte in Monument Valley, a region of the Colorado Plateau famous for its sandstone buttes. The valley is part of the Navajo Reservation and is considered sacred by the Native American people. It straddles the Arizona - Utah state line.

These picture can also be seen on Clickasnap where there is a full size, resolution and un-watermarked picture to view. Click the image to view in another window.

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Both pictures remain the copyright of Colin Green.

A London River Thames Scene Artwork

Another short post this time featuring, a London City Scene is an artwork by me that shows the River Thames, The Shard nearing the end of its construction, HMS Belfast, London Bridge and London Tower Pier. The artwork is an original by me and I hope you enjoy it.

Clicking the image should open a link in another window to the higher resolution, un-watermarked version on Clickasnap.

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The image remains the copyright of Colin Green.

 

Churn Milk Joan Artwork

 I previously posted the picture Churn Milk Joan in April 2021 and provided the following information alongside it,

Churn Milk Joan is a standing stone upon Midgley Moor overlooking the Calder Valley. Also Known as Churn Milk Peg and Nelmires Stoop it reaches a height of approx 7ft and is thought to have been erected as a boundary marker, having been recorded as early as the 17th Century.

The stone is thought to have been given the name Churn Milk Joan in the early 19th Century, as a tribute to a milkmaid who froze to death whilst crossing the moor from Peckett Well to Luddenden during a heavy snow storm. Some of the legends said about the stone include leaving a penny in the depression on top of the stone is said to bring you good luck, it is also claimed that the stone spins 3 times on New Years Eve when the sound of the St Michaels Church bells, Mytholmroyd can be heard around it, the stone is thought to predate the church by a couple of hundred years.

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Ancient Egyptian Gods

Ancient Egyptian Gods is a recent upload of mine on YouTube featuring 25 cigarette cards released in 1924 by Henly & Watkins LTD of London as part of their Egyptian branded cigarettes. Each card had a description of the god on the back which I wrote up alongside the images as the were featured in the slideshow. Also featured on the back was an offer to exchange a full set of cards for a "Genuine Egyptian Scarab"

Below is a selection of the cards featured in the video, the full set and descriptions of all 25 can only be seen on the video.

AMEN-RA
Amen-Ra became the national god of Egypt after the expulsion of
Hyksos, and because he was believed to have given Thothmes III,
a kingdom in Western Asia, and another in Sudan, he was called
"Lord of the Thrones of the Two Lands" and "King of the Gods".
His Favourite city was Thebes. Amen, or the hidden creative power
throughout the world, was worshiped under the early dynasties.
He was most revered about 2500BC, about 1600BC attributes of Ra
the Sun-god were ascribed to him, and so
he became Amen-Ra.

KHENSU
The Dual God Khensu, or Chonsu, was a very ancient form of
Moon-god as the swift traveller over the heavens, and the
messenger of the gods. Later he was identified with Thoth,
as the computer of times, and the Thebans made him the son
of Amen-Ra. In the picture he was represented with a single human body
having two hawks heads, and standing on the heads of the crocodiles
of the South and North. On his head are the lunar disk and horns. The
two-headed figure includes Khensu Nefer-hetep and Khensu,
the driver away of devils.

BES
Bes was a god probably of Sudan origin, and his cult entered
Egypt under the early dynasties. He is depicted as a dwarf or
pygmy and usually wears the skin of the animal Besa and a
headdress of plumes. He was the god of mirth, music, pleasures and
rejoicings of all kinds, jollity and feasting. He loved children, and
presided over their birth. In later times he was regarded as a form
of Horus, and symbolised the rising sun, new life, birth
and procreation. In one aspect he was a warrior god.

HATHOR
The goddess Het-Her, whom the Greeks called Hathor, became
incarnate in a special kind of cow, which was remarkable for
its beauty and fertility, and worshipped in predynastic times.
In later days she took the form of a most beautiful women,
and symbolised love and fertility, rejoicing and happiness. She
was an ancient Mother-goddess and Horus was her son. Many
of the great goddesses were only forms of her, and in her
seven-fold character, the Seven Hathors, she was the joy of the
gods, the generous friend of the living, and
nourisher of the dead.

OSIRIS-UNNEFER
Asar (Osiris) was originally a water-god and personified the Nile, but
after passing through many changes he became the supreme god of the
Underworld and judge of the dead. He took the form of a king and reigned.
He was murdered by Set, but Thoth, Isis, his son Horus and Anubis embalmed
him. He rose from the dead, and as Man-god was able to revivify his
followers in the Kingdom of Tuat. He became the Great Ancestor of
the Egyptians, and as the giver of everlasting life he was called
Unnefer, I.E the Good Being.

I included this image to show what the back of the cards looked
like with the descriptions that I added below the above pictures and alongside
the ones in the video. I also like the added touch at the bottom
to exchange a full set of cards for the Egyptian Scarab.

There are a total of 25 included in the video with descriptions too, they were released in the following order,

1   Horus-Set

2   Sebek-Ra

3   Nekhebit

4   Horus - The Son of Isis

5   Hathor (Het-Her)

6   Sebek-Nit

7   Osiris-Unnefer

8   Thoth

9   Anubis

10   Ta-Urt (Thoueris)

11   Serqet

12   Isis-Sept

13   Bast

14   Amen-Ra Her-Aakhuti

15   Sesheta

16   Bes

17   Her-Shefit

18   Horus - The Son of Isis

19   Khepera

20   Amen Ra - The King of the Gods

21   Sekhot (Sekmit)

22   Aah - The Moon God

23   Khensu - The Dual God

24   Ptah-Sekar-Asar

25   Shu

All these feature with description on the YouTube video.

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The Piece Hall, Halifax, December 2013.

The Piece Hall in Halifax is the last remaining cloth hall in the United Kingdom, built as a place for trading pieces of cloth the hall has seen many changes during it's long history, including a recent multi million pound refurbishment to turn the hall in to a modern multi purpose leisure and shopping destination. And to think in 1972 people on the local authority wanted to demolish the building. Below are a number of pictures i took with my Samsung Galaxy Tablet on December 1 2013. This was prior to the Piece Hall's transformation.

The North Gate, this and the South Gate were the original entrances
to the Hall, the West Gate being added in 1785 and the east Gate during the
hall's recent refurbishment.

The former cobbled courtyard, with the spire of Square Church visible.
The hall has offered a number of concerts since re-opening, the stage in it's 
pre refurbishment history offered token entertainment.

The Piece Hall was opened on the 1st January 1779 as a place for people to trade cloth they had produced. As the cloth industry became larger and more industrialised the hall saw a decline in traders and was purchased by the Halifax Corporation in 1868 with conversion to a wholesale market following soon after. This is how the remained until 1971 when the wholesale market was dispersed and demolition of the hall was considered. Over the following years the hall underwent a refurbishment and was reopened as a tourist destination on the 3rd July 1976 including shops, museum and an art gallery. There was also an open air market added during this era before once again declining visitor numbers had the now Calderdale Council considering the best way forward for the building. A plan was put together with funding from various sources to refurbish the hall and it closed to the public on the 16th January 2014 to undergo a 3 year long refurb. The hall was reopened on the 1st August 2017 (Yorkshire Day) and provides restaurants, bars, shops and live entertainment including music concerts and has been the starting point for the Tour de Yorkshire.

Granted Grade I listed status on the 3rd November 1954, the reasons given for this were as follows

Historic interest
Rarity. It is the only remaining cloth hall in Yorkshire
Architectural interest
Architectural layout.

The hall is overlooked by Beacon Hill and the Square Church spire, which is all that remains of the church damaged by fire and partially demolished in the 1970's. The spire now forms part of the recently opened Halifax Central Library.

The hall also has a couple of supernatural stories linked with it, don't all old buildings. One of the units in the south west corner of the hall is said to be haunted by the ghost of a young girl known as Amy. The TV show Derek Acorah's Ghost Towns also broadcast from the hall in March 2006. In a segment of the show broadcast from the cellars at the hall, he claimed to have made contact with spirits known as Mary and another one known as Joseph. Another story from the hall is of the Hand Prints. Many local legends spring from these, at the westgate entrance to the hall are a pair of hand prints on the wall, sadly although still visible not as much as they once were. A couple of the more popular theories are that a local with was responsible for the prints, or the more well known story is that they were put there by a murderer as he was making his escape.

I took the above from my previous post about the hall dated October 19 2019, below are more pictured from December 2013.

The halls balcony areas featured a number of shops in 2013, today
there are still a number shops, eateries and bars surrounding the
courtyard. This was the western area of the hall.

Looking across the then cobbled courtyard towards the south
western corner.

The west gate entrance to the hall, this was added in 1785.

The south eastern corner of the hall, the South Gate seen in the
middle of the picture, this is often used as the halls main access
point, the bridge raises up to allow larger vehicle entry.

The balcony area that surrounds the courtyard, this was taken from the
south eastern corner looking west. 

Artwork in one of the halls corner stairwells.

The north western corner of the Piece Hall.

Looking north east across the cobbled courtyard. The north gate
was once considered the halls main entrance, this was changed
in 1785 when the west gate opened.

The halls north gate seen across the courtyard.

The Piece Hall's South Gate, the hall and area around the gate was
recently filmed as part of a Marvel's Secret Invasion production, doubling as an
Eastern European Country

One of the halls corner stairwells.

Thanks for looking and please take a moment to share and follow me on social media.

Clicking any image should open a link in another window to the higher resolution, un-watermarked version on Clickasnap.

All the pictures remain the copyright of Colin Green.

Hebden Bridge, Water and Bridges November 2013

Hebden Bridge is a township in the Calder Valley made up of the townships of Erringden, Heptonstall, Stansfield and Wadsworth. The town is where the River Calder is joined by the Colden and Hebden waters, these waters helping to grow the town with the emergence of the cotton spinning industries. Originally the town was a fording point across Hebden Water, This was replaced by a packhorse bridge in 1510 and is how the town got its name. The Rochdale Canal arrived in the 1790's and the town was included in the new railway which opened in 1841.

Hebden Bridge's cotton spinning industries declined during the 1950's and 60's and the town became known as a hippy town during the 1970's when an influx of artists, writers, photographers, musicians, green, new age types moved in to the area converting many of the unused buildings in to squats. The town has in recent years become a popular tourist destination and become popular with people living there but commuting to work in the nearby cities of Leeds, Manchester and Sheffield.

The pictures below were taken on the 16 November 2013 using a Samsung Galaxy Tablet, they can also be seen on Clickasnap higher resolution and un-watermarked by clicking any image, link should open in another window.

West End Bridge.
Built in 1772 along with the new turnpike as a replacement for the old
packhorse bridge further north. The bridge was widened
in 1835.

Weir on Hebden Water.
The weir will have been used to power the nearby
Cotton Spinning mills.

Hebden Water.
Taken looking south towards West End Bridge from the top of the
Old Packhorse Bridge.

Nutclough Mills.
Built alongside Hebden Water in 1791.

The Old Packhorse Bridge.
Pictured from St George's Bridge along Hebden Water.
The fording point used to be along this stretch that the bridge was built
to replace. This bridge opened in 1510 replaced an earlier timber bridge.
That bridge was somewhere between where I was stood and the 
old Packhorse Bridge.

The Old Packhorse Bridge and White Swan,
The bridge was built in 1510, it is still accessible to pedestrians.
The White Swan opened in the 1770's and was originally known as
Bridge End.

St George's Bridge and Bridge Mill.
Bridge Mill also known as St George's Square was built as a corn mill
in the 14th Century, it is ones of Hebden Bridge's oldest buildings.
Discussions were had in the 1970's about demolishing the mill but
thankfully this came to nothing, it is now home to a number of shops and cafe's.

St George's Bridge and the Shoulder of Mutton.
St George's Bridge opened in 1893 at a cost of £1350, it is
of cast-iron construction, Grade II listed and has been modified
in 1911 and 1961.

The weir at Nutclough.
The weir was most probably built to power Nutclough Mills which
overlook Hebden Water here.

Clicking any image should open a link in another window to the un-watermarked, higher resolution version on Clickasnap.

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All the pictures remain the copyright of Colin Green.

Above the Pyrenees

 Above the Pyrenees is a set of 5 pictures taken in July 2014 whilst on a flight. The Pyrenees are a mountain range that straddle the border between France and Spain, the Principality of Andorra also exist within the mountain range. The area I was over when taking the pictures is known as the Natural Park of Posets-Maladeta which is in the Huesca, Aragon region of Northern Spain.

The pictures were taken on Thursday 17th July 2014 using a Polaroid is2132 bridge camera. They can be seen below and on ClickASnap where they are full size, resolution and un-watermarked.

Thanks for looking and please take a minute to share and follow me on social media via the links in the sidebar.

Clicking any image should open a link in another window to the version displayed on Clickasnap.

All pictures remain the copyright of Colin Green.