Mastodawn

My years in the regeneration industry, creating routes back into employment for 2nd and 3rd generation unemployed workers as economic development swapped mining, steel and engineering jobs for call centres. We are but factory fodder for the latest easy return. #Art #Painting #contemporaryart

https://jlpaw.wordpress.com/2026/05/12/a-sense-of-ancient-stories-13/

A sense of ancient stories 13

Northern Powerhouse We scrabble for new heights, against a tide of entropy. Our strength is in our people. Tower blocks like capacitors, plugged in to power another growth. Drained, and discarded.

Rambling through an abstract landscape

John Wilkinson May 9

{title} Post 12 of my wander through a narrative exhibition

{excerpt}A sense of ancient stories was my 2018 show, and built upon my exploration as the exhibition as narrative. I recommend beginning at the start, just go to my ;Nes and ramblings page to start the sequence #art #storytelling

{url}

https://jlpaw.wordpress.com/2026/05/09/a-sense-of-ancient-stories-12/

A sense of ancient stories 12

Looking Forward Looking Back The world I was born into has vanished for me now, still grieving for long lost certainties. All is under glass, redemption in the distance, but no route to that bright…

Rambling through an abstract landscape

John Wilkinson May 6

Day 11 of 'A sense of ancient stories' #art #narrativeart #painting #contemporaryart #contemporarylandscape

https://jlpaw.wordpress.com/2026/05/06/a-sense-of-ancient-stories-11/

A sense of ancient stories 11

Easy Terms Available The walls crash down, reverberations felt far from the point of impact. Dodgy geezers sell tanks on the side of the road to keep the soldiers fed. We asked for freedom and got …

Rambling through an abstract landscape

John Wilkinson Apr 30

Much of South Yorkshire was swept away by de-industrialisation - this in Rotherham and the back of the Guest & Chrimes factory that made the famous New York Fire Hydrants.

https://jlpaw.wordpress.com/2026/04/30/a-sense-of-ancient-stories-10/

A sense of ancient stories 10

Reflections on a memory – in private collection In the City I feel the same, the destruction too recent for the stories to have fled, memories raw and reinforced. I read history on the walls …

Rambling through an abstract landscape

John Wilkinson Apr 28

Page 9 of 'A sense of ancient stories. If you've not yet, I recommend you start on page 1, in News and Ramblings on my website.

https://jlpaw.wordpress.com/2026/04/28/a-sense-of-ancient-stories-9/

A sense of ancient stories 9

Discarded Gods Through woods I walk, pass discarded Gods tumbled into streams that pour from the cold ghosts of more recent endeavour, our marks slowly succumbing to more persistent forces.

Rambling through an abstract landscape

John Wilkinson Apr 26

My first years in Sheffield were eventful, and the dark peaks had a profound effect on me.

https://jlpaw.wordpress.com/2026/04/26/a-sense-of-ancient-stories-8/

A sense of ancient stories 8

A sense of ancient stories – in private collection Up North I feel history beneath my feet, walking the Peaks through tiny reminders that it is we who have shaped this land. Treading through …

Rambling through an abstract landscape

John Wilkinson Apr 24

The story reaches the early 90's.

https://jlpaw.wordpress.com/2026/04/24/a-sense-of-ancient-stories-7/

A sense of ancient stories 7

Post Industrial Party People – in private collection. In the abandoned warehouses and factories we danced, for what else could we do? Bass boom and flashing lights mimic the spark of the furn…

Rambling through an abstract landscape

John Wilkinson Apr 22

The sixth in the evolving story told through my narrative exhibition - A sense of ancient stories.

https://jlpaw.wordpress.com/2026/04/22/a-sense-of-ancient-stories-6/

A sense of ancient stories 6

Collateral Damage Up North the pits are closing, and there’s more than battered workboots left mouldering on broken windowsills, as life stops or flees South for work. Thriving towns left with no p…

Rambling through an abstract landscape

John Wilkinson Apr 14

The story moves on. The seventies and early 80's were times of huge change, and the landscape bore the marks.

https://jlpaw.wordpress.com/2026/04/14/a-sense-of-ancient-stories-4/

A sense of ancient stories 4

Lost Motion Down dusty paths I wandered, the remains of antediluvian beastslost in the scrapyards that draw me like the rusty wrecks on thecanal towpath – abandoned and decayed. Motionless as…

Rambling through an abstract landscape

John Wilkinson Apr 11

The third of my 'Sense of ancient stories' paintings, drawn from my memories of the basement flat I grew up in.

https://jlpaw.wordpress.com/2026/04/11/a-sense-of-ancient-stories-3/

A sense of ancient stories 3

Domestic: The home front What marks the edge of your domain?The boundary cross which no intruder can stepDefended, barbed wire and machine gun postLest defences pierced you are revealed to yourself…

Rambling through an abstract landscape

Sheffield based artist, referencing social and industrial history to explore the marks we have left on the world.
Website jlpaw.wordpress.com