This painting was made for an exhibition, held in Ely Cathedral in the spring of 2022. This year marked 700 years since the central tower collaped, in 1322. This rather dull, squat structure was then replaced by the extraordinary Octagon, which can best be marvelled at from the riverbank. I love it, as do we all.
“A Vegetable Apocalypse” was what the author and archeologist, Francis Pryor exclaimed, when he saw this large painting leaning up against one of the Cathedral’s pillars. He mentioned it in the opening address. I certainly wasn’t going to come up with a better name!
One possible aspect of the anniversary of the tower’s fall was destruction, so I imagined a future event, where Ely is once again an island, surrounded by marshes. In this time, the climate has become tropical, and the abandoned cathedral is taken over by what agressive and destructive plant life. I was thinking of one of the temples of Ankor Wat, in Cambodia.
The painting process
Cary Outis (fellow artist and leader of Ouse Life Artists), encouraged us all to think of making “big works to fill a big space”. He was right, the Cathedral is huge and cavernous.
Using charcoal, I drew an outline of the West Tower on the altar floor of Prickwillow Art Space, as big as I could. It was 4 metres tall and two wide. The biggest 4×4″ wooden posts we could find at the local woodyard were 3.6 metres, hence the eventual height. Cary made the frame and I had my first ever attempt at stretching some very fine brown canvas over it. That’s a fun job!
I then spent a couple of months, often up a very tall ladder in Prickwillow Arts Centre (formerly a Church), painting the tower and breaking bits off it in paint. I flew a heart flag from the top because if God isn’t love, then why bother with them?
This painting is 3.6 metres tall and 2 metres wide!
For me, this entire exhibition project was part of my personal recovery from the Pandemic. We were separated from family, friends and neighbours for the best part of two years. I painted it towards the end of 2021, when we all still felt that shadow.
Not many people know this but I did plan to bring some of the gargoyles back to life, maybe even invite some from other churches, such as Peterborough Cathedral. Another time perhaps, in a close-up picture.
It was displayed just inside the Cathedral doors, leaning against one of the mighty pillars.
After the exhibition, we removed the painting from its stretchers, rolled it up and it now lives under my bed. Not many people have the space for such a huge picture, after all.
