AN ARTIST has paid her own unique tribute to key workers by creating portraits of those who have ensured day-to-day life has continued during lockdown.
Madeline Goold, used to teach drawing at Artrix but all that stopped when the Government’s restrictions came in, so she turned her attention to this latest project.
She started off drawing pictures of Bromsgrove’s refuse collectors as she felt they were ‘unsung heroes’ during the pandemic.
She said: “Because of the restrictions they were unable to come and sit for me so I contacted Martin Roache at the council who was great – he would take photographs of them and send them to me digitally.”
Madeline would then create her artwork from the photographs and send them off to the collectors.
When they were happy with them, Madeline got them framed by Stourbridge-based Top Class Gallery for a heavily discounted price and then present the pictures to her subjects.
She added: “Bromsgrove’s bin men have been amazing, they have not missed a week during the lockdown and I hate to think where we would be without them – literally in a mess.”
Madeline is now painting other frontline workers, including nurses and a trainee doctor, and hopes when restrictions have eased further to hold an exhibition of her lockdown collection.
“Because they work right across the district a lot of people will recognise those in the pictures.”
The easing of lockdown has also enabled Madeline to hold socially distanced drawing classes in her garden.
She said: “It’s a large open space and only four people came so we were all spread out.”
