Blue Diamond Mine Blues

Marilyn Monroe once claimed: "Diamonds are a girl's best friend" but just as "all that glitters is not gold", not everything in connection with diamonds is bright and sparkling...

Diamond mine workers mine valuables worth a whole life's work, and yet get only a few pennies for their troubles. In addition, the possibility of illness and disease is very real, and omni-present.

This is my abstract depiction of a diamond mine worker named Joseph, down in the dusty, dirty old underground "Blue Diamond Mine". Joseph is reflecting upon the occupational hazzards that go along with his line of work; hence the "blues" in the title.

You see, working conditions in mines and quarries can be unusual and sometimes dangerous. Underground mines are damp and dark, and some can be very hot and noisy. At times, several inches of water may cover tunnel floors.

Although underground mines have electric lights, only the lights on miners caps illuminate many areas. In underground mining operations, dangers include the possibility of an explosion or cave-in, electric shock, or exposure to harmful gases.

Although mine health and safety conditions have improved dramatically, dust generated by drilling in mines still places miners at risk of developing either of two serious lung diseases: Pneumoconiosis, also called black lung disease, from coal dust, or silicosis from rock dust.

Joseph is aging, and hasn't been feeling all that well, lately. He is hoping he doesn't fall ill with the "black lung disease" he heard about and that he can live long enough to enjoy his grandchildren.

I created this piece by first covering the entire canvas with texture paste. Then I added rough outlines and "cracks" making the clay earth or stone look aged. Then I added a glaze of ultramarine blue for the center, and then I took some buttermilk or cream colored paint and mixed that with burnt sienna for the "clay-dirt ground" around the canvas edges, adding extra burnt sienna glaze around the edges for depth. I then painted the outline of the man's silhouette. Finally I painted the deep 1.5" sides a burnt sienna (clay- dirt- earth) color. Diane G. Casey