Wakefield Museums and Castles: On Our Doorstep

Whilst our doors are sadly closed, we don’t want you to miss out on our current exhibition so we have brought the wonderful paintings of Geoff Leathley online until we can welcome you back to Pontefract Museum.

On Our Doorstep: Paintings by Geoff Leathley

Wednesday market

The works in this exhibition are of Pontefract and Castleford and were painted between June 2017 and June 2018, although I have sketched and painted in each town for over 30 years.

There is a great choice of subjects: a castle, churches, a canal and a wonderful riverside mill. The heart of both towns remains the market, so it is not surprising that here I found lots of subjects and without doubt the most challenging. I decided upon a straightforward style without embellishments or exaggerations of form or colour, although I had to rearrange figures and place them in such a way as to balance the picture.

I found the whole project exciting and enjoyed every minute.

Geoff Leathley

$All Saints Church, Pontefract$

I always carry a pocket-sized sketch book. Most drawings are done for pleasure and are taken no further. A few of these can be taken to the next stage and become studies.

$Figures, Pontefract$
$Flying Horse Yard, Pontefract$

Studies are worked up from a number of sketches, on which I make colour notes. The setting from one sketch, the figures from several individual sketches. They can be reproduced in oil or watercolour. All the problems are worked out at this stage. There can be many alterations. Some will remain as studies; others will be worked up into a larger format.