If you have submitted your email to receive automatic updates / emails whenever I post a new blogpage, then I understand that you should still be receiving these as usual until the end of June... then this service from blogger will be discontinued...you do not need to do anything about this yourself... I am trying to see if there is another provider, and will let you know if I am successful...

                                           

The Transfiguration : St Luke 9 v 28 - 36

The Transfiguration : c. T.A.Thomas

This Indian painting conveys a strong sense of stillness, awe  and wonder, whereas the Cameroonian one below reminds me of disappearing into mist and cloud rolling down the mountain in Snowdonia...or Kilimanjaro in East Africa with its summit often surrounded by cloud.

How do you imagine this scene ?

Luke’s Gospel recounts many times when Jesus went up into the hills alone to pray, and I can well imagine the silence and solitude... walking alone... gaining perspective away from the crowds... and taking his inner group of followers up the mountainside would immediately remind them of Moses and Elijah seeking God in mountain silence & solitude.

The Indian painting reminds me of depictions of the Buddha in the Sri Lankan Dambulla  Caves, where his Enlightenment is portrayed by a rainbow of coloured light surrounding him as he sits in meditation. This Indian artist has shown Christ as an Indian Holy Man, surrounded by colourful light which both comes down upon him and shines out from within him...

The Transfiguration : c. Jesusmafa

Saturday

oil on canvas detail:reflection: c. janet driver

Sunday

Wednesday

early morning mist : c. janet driver (oil on canvas )

oil on canvas : c. janet driver

Monday 1st June

Friday 22nd May

Monday : daily picture

oil on canvas, Janet Driver

Some years ago I sat down for a moment in a tropical butterfly greenhouse.
My entrance had clearly disturbed the butterflies who were flitting all around me...
...so I sat very still, allowing us all to calm down...

then

... I saw this small flower,

hanging
 way above me,

 turning slowly in the humid air...

beckoning me

...as I began to sketch these beautiful, simple shapes...

towards

“...the still point of the turning world... “

... a memory of T.S.Eliot’s Four Quartets

Candlemass

This painting in a small side-chapel seemed to jump out at me... but who was this elderly man looking so lovingly down at the baby ?

At first I thought the artist was following the tradition that Joseph was quite elderly...but then its more ususal to have a “Madonna & Child” painting, rather than “Joseph & child “... 

Who was this loving father/ grandfather?

But as I allowed myself to be quietly absorbed into the painting that question faded away...

the artist had something far more profound and timeless to communicate...

before leavingthe chapel, some timelater, my curiosity returned...tiny print on the frame revealed this was Simeon recognising Jesus as the Messiah...painted here in the Cameroon, with Simeon, Anna, Mary & Joseph...each in their own way regarding Jesus with awe.

St Luke 2 v 21- 38