49 Shades of Grey

Barbara Cope(left) of Macclesfield Art Group accepts the donation from Emma Lawson at The Park Tavern supervised by landlord Tim Jones

Members of Macclesfield Art Group had withdrawal symptoms since there was no Barnaby Festival Art Trail this year. So they hit on the idea of reproducing a famous local painting in a novel way. 
The picture selected was “The Cattle Market, Waters Green Cheshire”, circa 1935 painted by Charles Frederick Tunnicliffe RA, RE, ARCA. (1901-1979).  The original painting forms part of the Silk Heritage Trust collection at West Park Museum, Cheshire.

The novel twist was to make a black and white print of the picture and to mark out a grid of 49 squares. Members of the art group were given a small piece (5 x 3.5cm) of the print to independently paint a postcard size canvas in black and white acrylic paint with many shades of grey. The 49 canvasses were then united and framed to produce an interesting painting. 
Barbara Cope of Macclesfield Art Group coordinated the project and asked Tim Jones at The Park Tavern on Park Lane if the picture could be displayed there.
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Tim agreed and the painting went on display………. and was often referred to as “49 shades of grey”.
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Emma Lawson and partner Daniel Higginbotham, customers at The Park Tavern were impressed by the painting and contacted the Art Group via the group’s website (www.macclesfieldartgroup.co.uk) with a view to purchasing the picture.
The Group had originally intended to raffle the painting and donate the proceeds to East Cheshire Hospice, but Emma was determined to buy the picture outright .
The sale was agreed and the purchase took place last week at The Park Tavern. The proceeds will be forwarded to East Cheshire Hospice by Macclesfield Art Group after their annual exhibition which will be held in Macclesfield Library between 15th and 24th October