Introducing the Charcoal Burner from ‘Shades of the Countryside’, a work which hints at both the multitudinous tones of the rural landscape and, more interestingly, at the traces of lives once lived in its nooks and corners.
His cameo is set against a backdrop of broadleaf woodland. On a hillock sits his kiln, sending plumes of smoke into the canopy. The very essence of a cameo - a silhouetted face - is, in this instance, rather appropriate. Due to the dirty nature of the work, a burner was always caked in sooty grime! Occasionally, even their names befit their swarthy appearance - there was a Jim Shady (a Wyre Forest burner who lived entirely on tea), a Humphrey Crow and a John Rook.
This cameo, drawn by Cameron Short and reproduced by master printers, floats within a simple wooden box frame, stained grey. The print’s graphite tones have a hint of mauve; this is echoed in the pigment chosen for the frame’s interior. The print sits behind UV resistant, non-reflective glass. Its dimensions are - Width: 40.5cm Height: 41.5cm Depth: 3cm
