Wooden Tower of St Leonard’s – Original Painting

Wooden Tower of St Leonard’s – Original Painting

About the image:

An original painting of St Leonard’s Church, Middleton, Greater Manchester. The Wooden Tower of St Leonard’s by Cathy Read. St Leonards is a  prominent feature my home town of Middleton in Greater Manchester. Some time ago I made a promise to myself to paint it, I’d been meaning to paint the Wooden tower for a long time. The Church dominated my childhood, so it’s a personal perspective. We learnt about it’s history at school. It’s unique wooden clock tower on a medieval church. The secret passageways used during the reformation with tales of ghosts still haunting them. The Sad Cavalier coming from the Ring O Bells Not quite the pristine image of church people like to portray. In short everything that could fire the imagination of a child.

The location of family weddings , it’s quite a traditional subject matter but I’ve given it a new perspective.

The image is created using masking fluid, then painted with a watercolour wash and covered with clingfilm. Once this is removed the picture is further developed using acrylic inks and building up layers, which are left to dry before the masking is removed to reveal the final picture.