WIDECOMBE FAIR

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This is an original artwork inspired by the old Devon folksong Widecombe Fair about a man who borrows a horse so he can travel to the fair with his firends. When they don't return by "Friday soon, or Saturday noon" the owner goes looking for them and "he seed his old mare down a-making her will". Although the horse coughs it's clogs and although it's unclear if the men who took her share her fate (I don't fancy Old Uncle Tom Cobbley's much to be honest), they do all appear as ghostly apparitions on the moors towards the end of the song. I decided to keep the faces of the men vague and to light them from the back so as to be ambiguous as to wether they are on their way back before the horse croaks, or the spectral representations many years later.

This was drawn on a Wacom Cintiq using oil as the brush set. It is A3 (11.7" x 16.5" / 297mm x 420mm) and is avaiblable giclée on Hahnemühle German Etching 310gsm - a very high quality paper, and bespoke hand-framed in solid wood and a glass pane with a white black-core mount for £179. The archival rating of the materials is 200 years and the piece is double sealed, both the back boards to the glass and the rear of the frame to prevent any ingress of dust or small insects making sure it stays pristine!

Just let me know if you would be interested in purchasing it - dan@straylite.co.uk

"When the wind whistles cold on the moor of the night.

All along, down along, out along lea.

Tom Pearce's old mare doth appear ghastly white,

With Bill Brewer, Jan Stewer, Peter Gurney,

Peter Davy, Dan'l Whiddon, Harry Hawke,

Old Uncle Tom Cobley and all,

Old Uncle Tom Cobley and all."​​​​​​​