David Carpininis painting of three youths in a typical valleys street holding a racing pigeon, was the inspiration for these two pages of Pauline’s sketchbook. Pigeon keeping and racing was widespread in the valleys and was a pastime of many mining folk. The original painting was chosen by members of the Dowlais Visual art group to accompany their Valley’s Re-told Exhibition at the Dowlais Engine House in August 2023.
Pauline used sketching pencils to draw the three youths. She also used a photograph of her three grandchildren, Ethan, Lily and Reuben Evans as a reference for another sketch, using the same circular shape that was used to mount the original. Instead of a terraced street backdrop she drew the children in one of their favourite places, Garwnant forest with her pet French bulldog Hugo.