Christmas Lights at Barnsley Town Hall 2019
![Barnsley Town Hall at night with red, purple and blue light installation - our Christmas lights.](https://i0.wp.com/margarethallfineart.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/IMG_20191129_184801-2-1024x855.jpg?resize=525%2C438)
![*The silhouette of the Unknown Soldier against the red and blue light installation.](https://i0.wp.com/margarethallfineart.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/IMG_20191129_184834-2-1024x511.jpg?resize=525%2C262)
I went to Barnsley Bright Nights Festival at the weekend . The Christmas lights were very spectacular – there were lots of installations around the Town Hall area. Barnsley Town Hall itself was used for a stunning laser light display, focusing on the windows in this splendid building. My photos don’t really capture the beauty of the changing colours but, even so, they gave me some inspiration for Abstract Art compositions. The two photos above made me want to create a painting based on the idea of extra bright blocks of colour against a jet black background. ( Keep an eye on the Abstract section of my Gallery – you never know what might turn up ! )
![The Unknown Soldier against the blood red light](https://i0.wp.com/margarethallfineart.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/IMG_20191129_183954-2-907x1024.jpg?resize=525%2C593)
![The tower of the Town Hall in silver and the Christmas tree in blue at Barnsley Bright Nights .](https://i0.wp.com/margarethallfineart.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/IMG_20191129_193933-919x1024.jpg?resize=525%2C585)
The floodlighting of the building in a deep red was particularly effective. The idea of blood dripping down over the scene was quite moving. Especially so as the First World War monument, showing the Unknown Soldier on a tall plinth, was silhouetted against the red.
I think I might combine some of the elements of both of the photos above into one painting. So many ideas, so little time ! But I really ought to get a painting of Bright Nights down on canvas .
The Gaia Installation at Barnsley Bright Nights
![A photo of the Earth in the Gaia installation at Barnsley college , taken from the balcony above it. Part of Barnsley Bright Nights .](https://i0.wp.com/margarethallfineart.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/IMG_20191129_193748-768x1024.jpg?resize=525%2C700)
The Gaia installation in the Barnsley College was ‘out of this world ‘ if you know what I mean. In fact ,it was suspended in space from the top of the huge atrium. As we walked up the winding staircase, we could see it from all angles. And if that doesn’t convince people of the urgency of our situation, I don’t know what would.
But quite apart from climate change worries, I started thinking about painting an abstract , I was inspired by the beautiful globe of green, blue and quite a lot of brown ( taken from NASA photos ) . I imagined a composition of swirling shapes, wispy clouds and the Deep Blue. Quite a lot of inspiration for one day.