I took a week off blogging and I have been sitting for the past few days trying to figure out exactly what painting I should be doing over the summer holidays.  Actually, I have been trying to write this post for a couple of days. I want to challenge myself, do something that I don’t normally try, push myself out of my comfort zone. I’ve been looking at images by John Bellany, whose work I’ve fallen in love with.  Bellany is a Scottish artist, famous for painting life where he grew up in a small fishing village in Port Seton.   His paintings have a raw and highly emotive quality, in part due to his growing up in a fishing community, where life was very hard, and where he grew up with strongly Calvinist values. Death was a constant part of life and it has largely featured in his work. However, humanity also plays a huge part. He portrays life as it was: hard, cruel, yet bursting with life and even humour, and it is this that made me think of my own heritage.

Male and Female Figures Chained by John Bellany

Star of Bethlehem by John Bellany

Self Portrait with Accordion by John Bellany

You can see more of Bellany’s work at his website Bellany.com

I grew up in an area where shipbuilding had been at the heart of the community for hundreds of years.  The whole area was linked to the shipyards and was almost completely destroyed by the late 1970s and early 1980s.  Remnants of the industry are still there, but it is an extremely poor relation to what went on before. I remember as a child hearing the sirens from the yards at particular points of the day, meaning it was time to change shifts.  You used to see everyone spilling out of the huge yard doors with their sandwich boxes in their hands, and the men completely blackened.  That came to and end when I was still a child.  Everything in the area closed down and Port Glasgow and Greenock became amongst the most deprived areas in Europe.

It was a very poor area, and life was hard for the ordinary people. My mum and her family had grown up very poor, like most people in the area, but everyone had jobs. My dad told me that when you finished high school, you came out the door and walked straight into the yards.  If you didn’t like the job, you walked out and straight into the next door.  Housing standards were pretty poor, although people were very proud and kept their houses spotless.  The health of the population was also poor.  My granda had TB, which was a common disease, due to the proximity in which people lived to each other, and because of the pollution and conditions in which people lived and worked.  The infant mortality rate was 30% higher in the area than the rest of the UK up until the 1930s when it started to narrow. Alcoholism was rife, and it left a lot of people pretty messed up.  The rate of alcohol related deaths today are almost 4 times higher than the UK average with the exception of just two other places, both of which are in Glasgow, and the Port Glasgow/Greenock area has the second lowest male life expectancy in the UK, with the city of Glasgow coming lowest.   The area was also badly affected by drugs in the late early 1990s onward, claiming the lives of many people I grew up with, including my young cousin and several friends.

And yet, even given how tough life was, the community was strong as was the sense of local identity. You knew everyone on your street. You could just shout in someone’s door and walk in, and you could go wherever you wanted as a child.  The people were very proud, but knew that in times of real trouble someone would always be on hand to help out. People would sit by their windows or lean out of them and talk to everyone who passed by. I remember people congregating round my nanny’s window on a daily basis to talk to her, as she was infirm and that was her real means of connecting with the outside world.  It wasn’t a carefree time.  Certainly not from my own point of view – it was very tough. Yet, I have lots of great memories of my childhood, and as much as it has its problems, it’s my home and I can think of no better place to be. There is so much that is great about Port Glasgow:  it’s proud shipping heritage, the ingenuity of the people and their spirit.

The sense of humour is very sarcastic and deadpan – a result of being brought up in a harsh environment – which extends up the whole of the Clyde as conditions and life were pretty much the same throughout. You never know if someone is being serious or not. The people are very tough and hardy.  They are also very forward and tell it exactly as it is.  A spade’s a spade, and if you don’t like it then so be it.  However, they are the most welcoming, friendly, and outgoing people I know. It is this essence that I wish to capture.

My mum’s birthday is coming up in a few weeks and I want to paint something special.  This pushed me in the direction of doing something from home.  She loves reminders of home, since she can’t visit as often as she would like.  Now, I’m not sure how good I will be at doing this as it will be a first for me – I’ve never done any kind of social commentary – but I really hope that I can do something good.  I found some old photographs online from the old town, although I haven’t been able to find any of the street she grew up in.  However, even if I can capture the essence of life in the area, I know she’ll love it.  I wanted to show some of the photos I found, so you can get an idea for yourselves. Most are from my grandparents era, around the ’20s and ’30s, but it hadn’t changed much by the time my parents came along. There are still so many recognisable places today. I tried to get images from the ’50s and ’60s but that has proved almost impossible for me. I will add more modern photographs later.

If you click on the i at the top right hand side of the gallery you will find some information on each photograph.

For anyone wishing more information on the Port, you can visit:

Port Glasgow 4 U

Maclean Museum and Art Gallery.

You can also download this pdf:

People’s History of Port Glasgow

which I obtained from 7½, the Trust Regeneration Centre at 7½ John Wood Street.

I would like to point out that the area is going through major regeneration and many projects have been completed, whilst others are ongoing. It is hard to recognise some parts, but it is a great sight to see the area starting to prosper again.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on the subject.  Meanwhile, I can now go and start doing preliminary sketches and colour studies!

NB. All photographs were obtained from Port Glasgow 4 U, Maclean Museum and Art Gallery.