Description

Canalside Carole is a nostalgic Northern narrative painting inspired by the industrial mill buildings lining the Rochdale Canal and the women whose lives unfolded alongside them.

The painting features the once-derelict Woodhouse Mill, a building with a turbulent industrial past marked by explosions, hardship and decades of working mill life before falling into decline and later being transformed into modern apartments. Sue Dewhurst first encountered the building during the 1990s when it still stood weathered and forgotten beside the canal, rich with atmosphere and memory.

Part of the acclaimed Owd Lasses series, the painting follows Carole on her familiar journey to the bingo hall, quietly reliving memories of youth, courtship and factory life. Beneath the humour and warmth lies a deeper meditation on changing Northern communities, regeneration and the passing of traditional working-class culture.

Rendered in moody industrial tones with expressive brushwork, the painting combines social history, nostalgia and storytelling into a striking contemporary British artwork.

Ideal for collectors of Northern art, industrial heritage paintings and narrative figurative artwork rooted in working-class memory.

Sue Dewhurst is a contemporary British artist based in West Wales whose work explores humour, nostalgia and working-class identity through narrative painting. Influenced by years spent living across Northern England and Wales, her paintings celebrate overlooked communities, industrial history and the emotional resonance of everyday life.

Her Owd Lasses series has become known for blending cinematic storytelling with social observation, creating contemporary British artworks rooted in regional culture and memory.

Click Here for more in this series Owd Lasses

• Original contemporary narrative painting by British artist Sue Dewhurst
• Part of the acclaimed Owd Lasses storytelling series
• Inspired by Woodhouse Mill and the Rochdale Canal industrial landscape
• Explores Northern industrial heritage, nostalgia and working-class memory
• Features Sue Dewhurst’s signature blend of humour and social observation
• Professionally presented in a hand-painted wooden shadow frame
• Includes original typed character caption mounted on the frame
• Accompanied by Carol’s printed back story card
• A unique conversation piece for lovers of Northern art and industrial history
• Ideal for collectors of figurative painting, canal heritage and British narrative art
• Ready to hang immediately