more murals in preparation for  Stir-up Sunday & Advent...

I guess these murals have all been painted by Banksy... I came across them on the internet...

the one above has just disappeared....sorry !

Tomorrow is “Stir - up Sunday “

Whenever I begin preparing food for Christmas I tend to think of “stir - up’ Sunday, because when I was a child we always looked forward to making the Christmas cake

on that day... as it got colder during November, we were told to look out for the prayer on the Sunday when the priest prayed “Stir up, O Lord, we beseech thee, the hearts of thy faithful people...” So you can just imagine 3 small children excitedly clamouring for our mother’s attention after the service...”Mum, mum, did you hear it, mum ?  Its stir up Sunday today...Can we make the cake when we get home ?.... :)  

This Banksy mural of the girl with her balloons ... the wish that Palestinians could fly over the walls that are destroying their lives... somehow reminds me of Stir up Sunday... the wish that things could be stirred up and be changed...& yet the sad reality of the young woman walking along beside the wall...

Many years later I painted this depiction below...a large canvas...as a prayer- painting... a visual prayer for many situations around the world where people are suffering pain and injustice... that these might be changed...  I Wonder... what would you have included in this visual prayer ? ... is it possible for you to use these 2 visuals as your prayer as we prepare for Christmas... ?    “Stir up, O Lord, the hearts of your faithful people...”

 

It was surprising to see two or three passion flowers, alongside several buds & a few fruit...all hanging high up in the branches of a tree... in mid-November instead of late spring / early summer ? A beautiful surprise... what will you see today...

sunset,houses of parliament, after Monet: Janet Driver 

Why did I ever attempt these paintings of sunset, so similar to those of Monet ? Well, I have always been drawn towards paintings by Monet... & I love sunsets... Then some years ago there was an exhibition of Monet’s paintings which included his London bridges and some of his beautiful sunset paintings...I was fascinated by the way Monet used colour in small dashes and dabs interwoven in such a way as to give the impression of vibrating light, either shimmering on water or shining through mist or fog...there was so much joy here !  and  I just longed to have a go at painting my own sunsets, using what I had learned from spending time with these paintings...knowing that if I first used these as a reference point, then I might be able to paint my own sunsets thereafter...   

This oil painting,above, is my first attempt...to understand how the water might appear to shimmer...and also how the misty effects could work as a foil for the light... It was, of course, incredibly difficult...and I cannot recall how many times I gave up in despair, and then came back again, determined to keep on trying, until it finally began to work...and at that point time began to fly as the painting took on a life of its own !

Several months later, I happened to see a very dramatic sunset behind the houses of parliament... by then we were living in Lambeth, not so far from the Thames and I sometimes walked our baby in a pram down by the river... there had been a heavy thunderstorm earlier that afternoon and the heavy clouds were still overhead even though the sun shone brightly, making for a really warm afternoon... and then a sunset that was brilliant in deep red against the heavy purple clouds that seemed to hang really low in the sky...and so I finally painted my own version... it felt symbolic at the time...just after the financial crisis began to unfold...and then those ten awful years of austerity and cuts...to say nothing of the dreaded Brexit vote, with so many difficulties ahead for MP’s:storm clouds indeed over the houses of parliament...But even though the tower seems to be caught in the storm, the bright sunset light holds the hope of another day...a new way forward after the covid pandemic...as the river flows swiftly on its way...

                                               Stormy Sunset,houses of parliament : Janet Driver

                                                            Sunset, Houses of Parliament:oil on canvas, Janet Driver 

                                                             (after Monet )
 

 Sorry, I was unable to put up a daily painting yesterday... I was searching for pictures of Diwali to share with you... I did eventually find some on Pinterest... but for some reason they did not download... so I am now looking for something quite different...

                                                                  East window, York Minster, Cathedral

I have chosen this window not so much because of the glass, but for the beautiful pattern of the stonework at the top of the window...

This is the East window fromRipon Cathedral... which do you prefer ?

 

                                                     oil painting : Vincent van Gogh