00:00So we're here in the lovely Bridge North at Stoneway Gallery and Paul this is your place.
00:05Yeah, yeah. What's your full name sir? Paul? Paul Anthony Hopkins. Paul Anthony Hopkins. So you've
00:10been in Bridge North for a few years now yeah? Yeah, 22 years yeah. And you've got some lovely
00:16paintings and what caught my eye is you've got a lovely range of cards coming out. It's perfect for
00:21the perfect for that winter gift, I want your 10% commission here. But yeah they're all like snowy
00:27scenes of Shropshire aren't they? Yes, yeah. So what are some of the locations that we've got
00:31on the cards Paul? So there's quite a lot around Lowtown, a lot around the river. Yeah. I've also
00:39got, there's some missing from here, but there's some of Hyde Town as well. So there's some of
00:44St Leonard's, there's some of the High Street. I'm trying to think of what else, but mainly around
00:51the river and part of the valley. Yeah and you're getting some more stocking aren't you? You've
00:56done well haven't they? They've sold really quick so I've had to order another lot in, so I've got,
01:01I'll have more in stock next week yeah. It's just nice to have that little personalised card,
01:05you know, it's a Christmas card, it's not just a generic bridge in a generic river, it's Bridge
01:10North, you know, a place that we all kind of love. Even people in the Black Country you know,
01:15we've all got that fondness for. Yeah. So which is your latest one, is it this wedding shop one?
01:21Yeah, it's this one. Yeah, I mean that's just gorgeous isn't it? Well I just think it just,
01:27that scene looks very Dickensian, so I think it just suits the snow scene. Yeah, very true. And
01:33you've even given the lady at the wedding shop a free print I believe haven't you? Yeah. That's
01:37good yeah. And I was wondering, now because this snow, it's beautiful, but like you know, we're
01:43looking out the window and it can kind of come and go within eight hours. So are you out there
01:48with your camera? I mean you can't paint a snowy scene from a picture, it's like, let's say this
01:54wedding shop that we've got here, if that picture was taken in the summer, no snow, I can't rock up
01:59with that and say right, do me a snow version can I? No, but I have done yeah, because it never snows
02:07when I need it to, so a lot of the pictures I've had to actually make up the snow. Well that
02:14sounds like another level impossible to me. I mean that's got to be an art in itself
02:21hasn't it? Because it's all about how the light and the shadows are falling on the snow, and so
02:26there's a lot of creative license I guess you're having to put in there. Yeah, but again it's just
02:30from looking a lot, so every time it's snowed, again I have been out with a camera a lot, and
02:35you just really look at the way the light works, and the shadows yeah. So we've got the wedding
02:41shop that of course people will know, beautiful place. This one down here, this is Dudmaston? That's
02:47Dudmaston yeah, that's the big pool at Dudmaston. Gorgeous, and then we venture down, now I didn't,
02:53I wasn't too sure where this was at first, but this is Bridge North, but that's a slightly different
02:57view isn't it? Oh yes, yeah that's, so if you go all the way down Riverside, it's the bottom
03:03end of Riverside, and then you look back at the bridge, and you actually only see one of the arches
03:07from there. See, and then we've come to, where's this one then? So that's Rattling Hope Hill.
03:13Okay, I've heard of it, not been up there. Lovely, lovely one of the, the Bridge North, and this one's,
03:21this up in the lakes? Yeah, it's Borrowdale, yeah it's called Grange in Borrowdale, yeah.
03:28So what, what is it about a snowy scene that, I mean we all love it don't we? Yes. But is it, you
03:36know, say like this one at Dudmaston? Yeah. So you're obviously, you've got less, there's less
03:41tones, less colour palette to play with? Yeah, yeah, slightly less colours to play with, but you still
03:48have to look at whatever the sky is doing, those are the colours that you see in the snow. So if
03:53there's a blue sky, you get bluey shadows, yeah, and then obviously the sun's low as well, so you get
04:00long shadows. Okay, yeah, and do you find that people, if you have a snowy scene, are people
04:05leaving these up all year, or do they do like a little rotor system on there, on the pictures on
04:09the wall? I think a bit of both, I think some people, if they really love snow, yeah, keep them up all year.
04:15Yeah, but yeah, I know some people that do rotate them, so yeah, winter ones up in the, for Christmas
04:22and then they'll take them down again. That's a great idea isn't it? I love that and it just keeps
04:26it fresh doesn't it, because you're happy to see the one again, you know, yeah, yeah. Well there's
04:30some lovely scenes here, so if people want to find out more, you're venturing more and more into the
04:35world of online, so people can order Bits and Bobs, how do they find you? Yes, I see it on the website, yeah, so it's
04:40Paul Hopkins Art. Paul Hopkins Art, great, so thank you Paul.
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