…. SOLD …. SOLD …. SOLD …
‘Shifts End – How Green Was My Valley’ is a large piece, framed acrylic on canvas, 575mm x 880mm.
I did an upgrade to Shifts End February 2026.
I painted this piece back in November 2025 and being a city boy from Syd-a-ney a lot of the original content was from my imagination (aka artist licence) and what I could gather from reference material (black and white images etc)
Now I have a good learned friend who happens to be a proud welshman and grew up in a mining village of Wales. He spent his working life in and around mines. Me being me (a non smoker) and the age we live in now had all the miners walking downhill from pit all healthy in their ways. None of them had filthy durries or pipes in their mouths.
My friend informed me that up to approximately 80 plus percent of the miners would reach for their smokes as soon as possible after their shift, particularly after having spent 8 to 10 hours ‘in pit’ and unable to partake.
I was very happy with the original completed painting but it niggled me that I had the miners all in what I believed to be Company working coats so I was going to repaint that facet. When I was told of the “smokers” I went all in. “I consented to the rank and file to light up and enjoy”
The ‘original’ piece was in the Members December 2026 Summer Exhibition, Emu Park Gallery.
Shifts End is inspired by the ‘Working Man Song’ and the legendary old Academy Award Winning Movie ‘How Green Was My Valley’
(Scroll down to hear the song)
It’s a working man l am
And I’ve been down under ground
And I swear to God if l ever see the sun
Or for any length of time
I can hold it in my mind
I never again will go down under ground
At the age of sixteen years
Oh, he quarrels with his peers
Who vowed they’d never see another one
In the dark recess of the mines
Where you age before your time
And the coal dust lies heavy on your lungs
The Summer Members Exhibition will be open to the public from Wednesday, December 1st and runs through to Sunday, January 26th.
If you have not visited the Local Emu Park Gallery and Gift Shop then I highly recommend that you do so. Admission is FREE and the Gallery is open from Wednesday to Sunday 10am to 4pm
Hear The Working Man song, performed by the Dubliners.