My travels around Yorkshire continue, this time to deliver some Herdwick Sheep sculptures near Keighley. On the way I stopped in Bradford to visit Salts Mill, a former textile mill that’s been converted into an art gallery, boutique shopping, and restaurant complex.

Hockney was born in Bradford and the mill is a fabulous setting to house what is one of the largest permanent collections of Hockney’s work, many of them painted when he returned to live in Bridlington, an area that inspired his famous massive canvasses showing scenes from his beloved Yorkshire Wolds.

Much of his work in the 1853 gallery was drawn on his iPad. The five-foot high framed pictures were created during the latter part of the years he lived in Bridlington, when he painted the Yorkshire Wolds and created the massive Bigger Picture exhibition for London’s Royal Academy.

These 33 pictures, to be joined by 16 others later this year, each depict a specific day between January 1 and May 31, 2011. Hockney regards the pictures as part of a single work, each of which encapsulates a moment in time between the changing seasons in East Yorkshire.

If you can’t put up with the crowds and queue’s at The Tate Modern in London to see the current Hockney exhibition then this, although on a much smaller scale is a good alternative – even better, it’s free.

Open Wednesday to Sunday, from 10am to 4.30pm
Salts Mill, Victoria Rd, Saltaire, Bradford BD18 3LA
Telephone: 
01226 242905