Artist Neil Richardson finds inspiration in pit's coal dust

Coal dust is being used by an artist to produce pictures that document Yorkshire's mining past.

Neil Richardson, from Barnsley, said he was inspired to use the dust after visiting a coal mining museum in March.

Mr Richardson, 37, said he was also "open to the idea" to mix cremation ashes with paint to produce a portrait.

His dust pictures include a tribute to miner Gerry Gibson who was killed when a roof collapsed underground at Kellingley Colliery in 2011.

More stories from Yorkshire

Mr Richardson said it was a poignant tribute as Mr Gibson "was the last man in the UK to die working the coal seams".

The picture was commissioned by Mr Gibson's eldest son Sean, he said.

Other coal pictures include images from the 1984/85 miners' strike, the picket line at Orgreave and former collieries.

The teaching assistant at a special needs school in South Yorkshire was with pupils at the museum at Caphouse Colliery, near Wakefield, West Yorkshire when he "saw this dust".

"I never switch off from inspiration even down the pit and I had this thought 'people use powder paint and lots of different media for painting - what about dust?'"

His pictures have yet to be exhibited but Mr Richardson, who has been painting since his own school days, said he liked "to capture the essence of the subject".

In time, he hopes cremation ashes could be used to paint a portrait of deceased loved ones or pets.

Mr Richardson said: "It's not strange, we are all made of carbon anyway, ashes are all around us."