Big Butterfly Count begins today

will you spend about 15 mins a day to sit and watch out for butterflies ?? Ive been doing this each July for several years now, and I find it verfy peaceful sitting quietly in the garden looking out for butterflies fluttering by and recording how many Ive seen on the website...sadly, like the bees around here, there are fewer each year... but I usually see one or two that are new to me, and that makes it so worthwhile, as well as the joy of seeing familiar beauties fluttering by... This year Ive decided to download the Big Butterfly Count App, and it looks so much easier to record the butterflies. Do download it and see for yourself :) I have been trying to add / upload a photo onto this blog, but there must be some mistake as no link is available... usually I can search here for one of my photos... but all I get this morning is a blank page coming up on the screen : so sorry !

Refugee Week _ 17th to 23rd June

This painting:Indigo Crucifixion was painted a few years ago when IS was in the news and their flags [top left of the painting ] were a common feature in the media together with photos of crowds of refugees having to flee their homes and seeking asylum in Europe and wherever they felt they might find a safe haven. [follow the painting down the left hand side...] 

You may remember the panic as small boats began crossing the Mediterranean, and later on, the Channel, as refugees began arriving in what felt like a never-ending stream... This reminded me of the "White Crucifixion" painted about 75 years ago by Chagall as Jewish refugees were fleeing during the Holocaust. Chagall had painted the figure of Christ on the cross wearing a Jewish Prayer-shawl to identify him with those fleeing as synagogues were being plundered of sacred scrolls and homes destroyed whilst some fortunate refugees had managed to board a boat, probably bound for Palestine... 

My father (who was in the Royal Navy during World War II)  had told me, as a young child, how he had been on board a ship sent in convoy to protect these refugees... but as the Luftwaffe bombs hurtled down, both his ship and the refugee ship were hit. He told me how he had been trying to swim to safety, dodging the burning debris ! / hardly a good bedtime story for a young girl... but he suffered terribly form flashbacks... and I also picked up his nightmares ! [my poor mother had to cope with two traumatised members of the family] 

 These memories never left me, and returned with full force when I saw Chagall's painting together with all the photos of fleeing refugees 75 years later. I found myself walking along the Estuary at Brightlingsea, and watching a small ferryboat struggling against the waves as it battled the wind and currents both going against it as it made its way towards shore... 

I began to wonder "what if... 

what if that little boat were bringing a small group of refugees here, and instead of landing in Dover, they had lost their way and were landing up here in Brightlingsea... ? 

How would we welcome them ?? ... 

 That became the inspiration for my painting : Indigo Crucifixion... 

How did we treat Jewish refugees? ... and now ? 75 years later, how are we treating Assylum Seekers today ??

Art Trail and Open Gardens

On the recent Wivenhoe Art Trail I visited the garden of Artist Sheena Clover...no I didnt go to an Open Gardens site by mistake! Both events were on the same Mid May weekend, which was a lovely coincidence... Sheena's paintings were a real surprise... after walking down into her back garden along a passagewaythat was fortunately wide enough for my mobility wheely-walker :) I discovered this vista of paintings around in a circle of her garden...such a lovely surprise that I just couldnt help telling anyone I met that she was well worth a visit and just hope several people responded by going to have a look for themselves !

Trinity Sunday

I wonder what pictures or symbols you have seen that relate to the mystery of our belief in the Trinity ? Fron a simple shape like a triangle within a circle to Rublev's icon of three people sitting around the same table (representing their unity and sense of interrelating together ), there have been varioous attempts over the centuries to portray the Trinity... I recently came accross a very modern version of Rublev's Icon which I would like to share with you...

(apologies : artist unknown )

Our Beautiful Cat

These photos were all taken after we retired and moved to Wivenhoe... our cat loved it here as much as we did ! She would often come and sit just inside the door of my studio down the garden, as she loved indoor sunbathing, finding her place in the sunshine and out of the wind. I always thought she enjoyed the quiet atmosphere near me while I was painting... by then she was very happy to be near people, but it had taken many years for her to be happy alongside humans... We had gone to Battersea Dogs (and cats) home as my father-in-law had always supported their work with abandoned or mistreated dogs and heard they had extended to include cats and kittens, and we particularly wanted to find a kitten to replace our "vicarage cat" who had sadly died after his kidneys packed in... We were almost spoilt for choice : so many kittens, all looking as though they would love to be stroked and adopted...but John found a room where there were some kittens who had been rescued by the police from a gang of young lads who were mistreating them: he was told they would need very careful owners who had a garden, but no young children...well, we fitted both criteria, so were invited to choose one of these kittens...John immediately fell for this little mongrel kitten that was clearly very frightened as she sat shivvering in our hands. I had grown up next to a farm where cats were encouraged to live in the barns to keep down the mice, and often cats and their kittens would come into our garden and play with us... so I was very used to kittens, but I had never seen one who was so frightened of humans,skittering across the floor to hide under the furniture, until one morning I tiptoed downstairs very early while she was still fast asleep and managed to sit beside her 'bed'and then picked her up as her mother might do(gently by the scruff of her neck)and suddenly this little ball of furr began to nuzzle into my tummy, settle down and purr against me...

Beautiful Spring Blossoms