White Poppies for Remembrance....of all victims of war...

 

you can buy white poppies from ppu.org.uk

When we first came to live in Wivenhoe,  one of my earliest memories is of meeting a lady standing near the bookshop with white poppies & a donation tin... & it was pouring with rain !  [typical November ]

I still dream of a waterfall of white poppies.... for a future of peace...

 

autumnal colours

brilliant sunshine enabled me to catch these beautiful bronze leaves and then the darker flowering Sedum...what you might well expect during autumn...

but then I found some surprises...

...this Passion Flower I would expect to see in Spring or early summer...

Don’t forget to add your email on the top right hand side, then click submit... I will not see your email... but you will receive an automatic notification whenever I add a new blog-post... & during the lockdown again this time I hope to find you a picture a day... & when we get to Advent, I will have a variety of paintings by artists around the world to share with you in preparation for Christmas...take care of yourself & keep others safe during this difficult time...

JMW Turner: Rain,steam and speed...celebrating a new form of locomotion...

exhibition until March 2021   : Turner’s Modern World    details :  https://www.tate.org.uk

Sadly I only just read about this exhibition as the Tate is about to close on 5th November due to the Covid Lockdown... but click on the link above, to the tate website,  for details & re-opening...meanwhile enjoy some of Turner’s atmospheric sunset paintings which I have found via Pinterest :

JMW  Turner : the fighting temeraire...with detail above

During this 2nd Lockdown : 5th Nov - 2nd Dec 2020 I will begin to put a picture a day on this blog, as I did before, from March...

Celebrating St Luke, this Sunday

 

According to early tradition St Luke was a physician,and, if so, he probably would have understood the plight of the poor woman who is desperate to reach out to Jesus in the crowd to receive healing after so many years of searching in vain for a medical cure... In these two paintings by Yungsung Kim I feel a sense of “before” and “after”... this one below seems to show, through the darkness on the right, the pain of this woman trying to reach out her hand through the crowd and just being able to reach the hem of Jesus’ garment, and the feeling that everything was for her in flux and chaos that flows across the whole painting... then in the second painting... how do you see that one ?...?

artist: Yungsung Kim

here, I feel, the colour & lightness of touch give a sense of joyful wholeness...this feels like someone who is  free to continue, fleet-footed to continue the assignment with Jairus whose daughter needs healing...and yet, ...  and yet Jesus still takes the time to stop and assure this woman of her healing...and  gives her the added blessing of realising it is through her faith that she has been healed. She is no longer an outcast but restored to a place within her family and wider community... [ do read Luke 8 v 40f and see if you can just imagine yourself there,  in that crowd,  maybe...]

 

Heron’s Hideaway: up in a tree just above eye level

 as soon as he realises you have seen him... he is off !   

But he stayed around long enough for someone to point him out to me “He seems to like that perch : I often catch sight of him up there “ 

...aand he stayed long enough for me to finish a quick sketch !...painted later at home away from the rain & damp :)

Heron’s Perch : oil on canvas, Janet Driver

Well, here he is, as promised... I just hope he stays around on this blog page long enough for you to see him today :)

Odds & ends...

Guy Taplin : Four Godwits

The Geedon Gallery, Fingringhoe has just opened its exhibition featuring the work of Guy Taplin and several other artists: for details see their website : geedongallery.co.uk

When we had the dry sunny weather earlier on we worked hard for about three weeks painting and repairing the studio...now with this colder wet weather I am really glad we completed that in time. I found myself going through sorting out things I had kept years ago, discovering this cartoon which still, sadly, resonates with us today...how do you feel about it ? [apologies: I do not know who made it &  can no longer decipher the name nor turn it the right way up!]

Another old favourite came to light : my oil painting of a heron which had its hideaway high up in a tree where it could look down over people’s heads towards the lake where he had just been fishing [until he noticed me sketching him, fascinated by his ruff ... & suddenly took off, disappearing into the trees]

sorry... the cartoon & a photo of my painting seem to have become invisible !

I will blog the Heron painting again next week

& hope it stays around long enough for you to see it :)