Dark grey Lino Print specially created for the Swansea Print Workshop ‘Miners Imprint’ Project in partnership with South Wales Miners Library.

Dimensions: 33 x 33cm

Ink: Hand mixed Cranfield black & white Ink

Paper: Hereford book 145gsm paper.

Edition: Edition of 30

Price: Unframed from £240 - enquire to purchase

This piece is the second in the Miners’ Prints series, following Sweet and Bitter, which is held in the National Library of Wales.

In 1916, my grandfather Jack (John Stanley Daniels) lost his mother at just one years of age and was sent to live with his grandmother, Jane Daniels, in Corwen, north Wales. The town was surrounded by the great slate mines of Blaenau Ffestiniog, Penrhyn, and Dinorwig to the west, and the Berwyn and Penarth quarries to the east.

Inspired by my family history and by Jack’s love of Alexander Cordell’s novels of Wales, I wanted to capture both the landscape and the harsh reality of life for slate dressers and rock men who faced danger daily as they shaped and split the rock. In contrast, my great-great-grandmother sits quietly observing: watching the workers, the quarry lakes, and the birds flying freely above the miners' cottages.

This print is intentionally rendered in a dark grey tone, reflecting the colour and character of slate itself, and the landscape it defines.