I was inspired to paint two versions of Heinz Koppel’s Merthyr Blues after discussing the painting with Klara Sroka from the Cardiff Museum as part of a presentation she gave at the Dowlais visual art group. We then went for a private viewing at the Cardiff Museum on a group coach trip. I was drawn to the naive style and colour palette. Also to the mystery behind the artwork as little information was available.
This pair of acrylic paintings were painted for the Valleys Re-told project and were in the Dowlais Visual Art Groups Open day event at Dowlais Library, Merthyr Tydfil. This event was fortunate to have Heinz Koppel’s original painting on display, loaned by Cardiff museum. These paintings were also on display at a second Valley’s Re-told exhibition at the Dowlais House House for two weeks where again the original was on display. The ‘now’ version sold at this event and the ‘then’ version went on to a third Valley’s exhibition at the Cynon Vallery Museum and art gallery in Aberdare. The second one also sold.
Having painted in the style of Koppel’s original ‘Merthyr Blues’ I felt inspired to create a modern day version replacing the central transport building with the brand new bus station in Merthyr Tydfil town centre. The wild dogs have been replaced by trained dogs including my own dog. The dark panel on the right eludes to the present homelessness crisis. The Bothy Creative Hub appears on the left depicting my love of all things creative and where I have taught beginners acrylic classes. The large stone heart sculpture situated in the centre of the town represents the love of local people for their town.