Stoneway Gallery in Bridgnorth is home to a very talented artist who has decided to turn some of his snowy Bridgnorth and Shropshire paintings into cards, perfect for Christmas coming up. We chat to him about his passion and the difficulty of painting a snow scene.
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00:00So we're here in the lovely Bridge North at Stoneway Gallery and Paul this is your place.
00:05Yeah, yeah. What's your full name sir? Paul? Paul Anthony Hopkins. Paul Anthony Hopkins. So you've
00:10been in Bridge North for a few years now yeah? Yeah, 22 years yeah. And you've got some lovely
00:16paintings and what caught my eye is you've got a lovely range of cards coming out. It's perfect for
00:21the perfect for that winter gift, I want your 10% commission here. But yeah they're all like snowy
00:27scenes of Shropshire aren't they? Yes, yeah. So what are some of the locations that we've got
00:31on the cards Paul? So there's quite a lot around Lowtown, a lot around the river. Yeah. I've also
00:39got, there's some missing from here, but there's some of Hyde Town as well. So there's some of
00:44St Leonard's, there's some of the High Street. I'm trying to think of what else, but mainly around
00:51the river and part of the valley. Yeah and you're getting some more stocking aren't you? You've
00:56done well haven't they? They've sold really quick so I've had to order another lot in, so I've got,
01:01I'll have more in stock next week yeah. It's just nice to have that little personalised card,
01:05you know, it's a Christmas card, it's not just a generic bridge in a generic river, it's Bridge
01:10North, you know, a place that we all kind of love. Even people in the Black Country you know,
01:15we've all got that fondness for. Yeah. So which is your latest one, is it this wedding shop one?
01:21Yeah, it's this one. Yeah, I mean that's just gorgeous isn't it? Well I just think it just,
01:27that scene looks very Dickensian, so I think it just suits the snow scene. Yeah, very true. And
01:33you've even given the lady at the wedding shop a free print I believe haven't you? Yeah. That's
01:37good yeah. And I was wondering, now because this snow, it's beautiful, but like you know, we're
01:43looking out the window and it can kind of come and go within eight hours. So are you out there
01:48with your camera? I mean you can't paint a snowy scene from a picture, it's like, let's say this
01:54wedding shop that we've got here, if that picture was taken in the summer, no snow, I can't rock up
01:59with that and say right, do me a snow version can I? No, but I have done yeah, because it never snows
02:07when I need it to, so a lot of the pictures I've had to actually make up the snow. Well that
02:14sounds like another level impossible to me. I mean that's got to be an art in itself
02:21hasn't it? Because it's all about how the light and the shadows are falling on the snow, and so
02:26there's a lot of creative license I guess you're having to put in there. Yeah, but again it's just
02:30from looking a lot, so every time it's snowed, again I have been out with a camera a lot, and
02:35you just really look at the way the light works, and the shadows yeah. So we've got the wedding
02:41shop that of course people will know, beautiful place. This one down here, this is Dudmaston? That's
02:47Dudmaston yeah, that's the big pool at Dudmaston. Gorgeous, and then we venture down, now I didn't,
02:53I wasn't too sure where this was at first, but this is Bridge North, but that's a slightly different
02:57view isn't it? Oh yes, yeah that's, so if you go all the way down Riverside, it's the bottom
03:03end of Riverside, and then you look back at the bridge, and you actually only see one of the arches
03:07from there. See, and then we've come to, where's this one then? So that's Rattling Hope Hill.
03:13Okay, I've heard of it, not been up there. Lovely, lovely one of the, the Bridge North, and this one's,
03:21this up in the lakes? Yeah, it's Borrowdale, yeah it's called Grange in Borrowdale, yeah.
03:28So what, what is it about a snowy scene that, I mean we all love it don't we? Yes. But is it, you
03:36know, say like this one at Dudmaston? Yeah. So you're obviously, you've got less, there's less
03:41tones, less colour palette to play with? Yeah, yeah, slightly less colours to play with, but you still
03:48have to look at whatever the sky is doing, those are the colours that you see in the snow. So if
03:53there's a blue sky, you get bluey shadows, yeah, and then obviously the sun's low as well, so you get
04:00long shadows. Okay, yeah, and do you find that people, if you have a snowy scene, are people
04:05leaving these up all year, or do they do like a little rotor system on there, on the pictures on
04:09the wall? I think a bit of both, I think some people, if they really love snow, yeah, keep them up all year.
04:15Yeah, but yeah, I know some people that do rotate them, so yeah, winter ones up in the, for Christmas
04:22and then they'll take them down again. That's a great idea isn't it? I love that and it just keeps
04:26it fresh doesn't it, because you're happy to see the one again, you know, yeah, yeah. Well there's
04:30some lovely scenes here, so if people want to find out more, you're venturing more and more into the
04:35world of online, so people can order Bits and Bobs, how do they find you? Yes, I see it on the website, yeah, so it's
04:40Paul Hopkins Art. Paul Hopkins Art, great, so thank you Paul.