Picture perfect, Roadside

Click on picture to see full size version.

This picture speaks for itself. It was taken by the roadside behind the Montrose Basin which is a large inlet of water in Montrose, Angus, Scotland, where geese and other wild birds nest, breed and stay over winter. It was taken winter 2007 and is shown here exactly as it was taken, not edited in any way. The sky really did look that way

WHAT IS A HERB?

What is a herb
I know this seems a very strange question but it is one I have been forced to ask my self this last week. I have mentioned before the Eco-School project I am involved in; planting a native wild woodland garden within the grounds of the school. This gardening project is quite large, it covers a fair sized piece of land but now I have been asked to take over a second, much smaller piece of land. This other piece of land lies right next to the main entrance to the school, it’s only about four meters by two meters and the reason I have been asked to deal with it is; well…… no one else seems to want to take responsibility for it. Apparently there used to be bushes and shrubs there but they were deemed a ‘rubbish’ trap and dug up. The gardeners don’t want it grassed because their rather large mower will not fit into such a small space.  I was asked if I could ‘do’ something with it as part of Eco-Schools, well how could  I refuse? I had a bit of a think and because it is part of Eco-Schools I thought we should be a bit more ambitious than an ordinary flower border. This brings me to the point. We have decided this tiny plot will make a lovely herb garden. Hence the question; ‘What is a herb?’ I must admit I didn’t think an answer to such a simple question could be so complex or so variable. It seems as if there could be many answers to the question. At times the term ‘HERB’  has been limited to only a dozen or so of seasoning and a handful of healing plants. Herbs have also been defined as plants of wisdom; plants that could help, assist and lead you along the path of life whether it be by healing or by an experience of becoming unwell and learning from it
To the botanist a herb is a shortening of the word herbaceous and describes a non-woody plant, which dies back down to the ground annually. Botanically the term is chiefly applied to perennials, although it can be applied to annuals as well as biennials. The primary definition given by dictionaries is "a seed-producing annual, biennial, or perennial that does not develop persistent woody tissue but dies down at the end of a growing season." But; these botanical definitions eliminate many plants that are traditionally regarded and used as herbs. There are many definitions, but the one that appeals to me is direct and to the point, it is A useful plant’ . If any part of a plant; flower, leaf, or stem is useful, or has efficacious properties, as an ingredient for health, flavour, or fragrance then, according to this definition, it is a herb. Using this definition herbs can include trees, annuals, perennials, seaweed and even funghi! Herbs can be used medicinally, culinarily, as pest repellents, dyes or as aromatics. They can be used to make teas, perk up food or to add flavour to vinegars, butters, dips, confectionary and mustards. Many herbs are grown for their fragrance and are used in potpourris or to scent bathwater, candles, oils or perfumes. The scientific / biochemical study of plants as medicine has its own terminology Phytomedicine, Phytotherapy and Phytopharmacology, to name but a few, but this is not of interest in this context.

If we take the definition of ‘A useful plant’, herbs have a variety of uses including culinary, medicinal, or in some cases even spiritual usage. The green, leafy part of the plant is often used, but herbal medicine makes use of the roots, flowers, seeds, root bark, inner bark (cambium), berries and sometimes the pericarp or other portions. General usage differs between culinary herbs and medicinal herbs. A medicinal herb may be a shrub or other woody plant, whereas a culinary herb is a non-woody plant, typically using the leaves. Any of the parts of the plant, as well as any edible fruits or vegetables, might be considered "herbs" in medicinal or spiritual use.

Culinary use of the term "herb" is much more specific and narrow. Culinary use typically distinguishes between herbs, the leafy green parts of the plant, and spices, all the other parts of the plant, including seeds, berries, bark, root, fruit, and even occasionally leaves. Culinary herbs are distinguished from vegetables in that they are used in small amounts and provide flavor (similar to spices) rather than substance to food.

Any plant contains numerous phytochemicals that have varying effects on the body. Even when consumed in the small levels that typify culinary "spicing", there may be some effects, and some herbs are toxic in larger quantities. For instance, some types of herbal extract, such as the extract of Hypericum perforatum (St. John's wort), or the Piper methysticum (kava plant) can be used for medical purposes to relieve depression and stress. But high amounts of these herbs may lead to poisoning, and should be used with caution.

Having found as many definitions as I could ever possibley want my next question is; What herbs shall we plant in our tiny herb garden? Bearing in mind that this plot is small, aproximatly four meters by two meters and it sits right outside the main entrance to the school, what would be the best herbs to plant there?

I have in mind herbs that give off a strong aromatic smell, something that the visitor would notice as she passes through the doors and into the school. Something that would activly welcome a visitor, that would make a pleasant and lasting impression on anyone who passes through our front doors. I think they would also have to fairly hardy plants, no good having something too fragile in such a busy place, especially a place peopled mostly buy boistrous teenagers. And my final thoughts on the subject was to find herbs that have been  traditionally used to encourage and stimulate the intellect and facilitate learning. If there are herbs out there that can create a tranquil oasis of peace and harmony, a place where learning is valued and sought after, well those are the herbs I want. Now I know this is a bit of a tall order but any suggestions greatfully received. 

St Nicholas church Rhodes

a tiny byzantine church on the slopes of Mt Profitis Ilias, Rhodes

ART SUNDAY; THE UNEXPECTED

ART SUNDAY; THE UNEXPECTED

This is in every way unexpected. I am quite sure anyone who has visited these pages before will come here expecting something from Scotland, well not so, not today. Today is a celebration of the unexpected and I am most defiantly out of my comfort zone, away from Scotland and presenting the unexpected.

This is a very small, little know church in Rhodes which sits on the slopes of Mt Profitis Illias and is called Church of Agios Nikolas Fountouki (St Nicholas of the Hazelnuts). It is a Byzantine Church built in late 14C/ early 15C and has the most incredible, intact Byzantine wall frescos decorating its entire interior. I found this little church a couple of years ago while on holiday in Rhodes. Every thing about it is unexpected; from the way it appears as if out of no where, while travelling along one of the dusty rural roads, to the wonderful interior art work that comes as such a shock when you enter.  I have scoured the internet to find information to share with you about this little church and could find virtually nothing. I can’t even tell you which method of fresco painting was used. I don’t know the exact date and I have no idea who the artist was.  Finding it in the middle of no where was unexpected, discovering the frescoes inside was unexpected, in fact discovering it was unlocked and open to visitors with no security was unexpected. Going on to discover that this little open, unprotected church, in the middle of no where was not vandalised, not covered in graffiti and even had a full plate of donations inside the door was ultimately unexpected. Can you imagine what state this would be in if it were left open, unprotected and in the middle of no where in the UK?

The next unexpected thing about this is the fact I have edited some of my photographs. I very rarely edit photos but this time I had to in order to show you the frescos. They were taken with my old camera and it was very dark inside the church so the original un-edited versions of the pictures were too dark to see very much.  Also the picture that shows the alter area is not mine; I found it in someone else’s flickr account, so thank you who ever you are. I know these photos are not that good and it is really difficult to see from this how truly stunning the art is; but try to imagine finding this church in the middle of no where and then seeing these wall paintings for the very first time. It was stiflingly hot and dusty outside; everything was so bright you had to shade your eyes from the sun. When you enter the little church the air is cool and dark. As your eyes acclimatise to the dark you begin to pick out shapes on the wall, then the full impact of what you are seeing hits you and you stand there mesmerised. Your gaze slowly travels around the whole room and then over the ceiling, you struggle to take in what you are seeing. I must have looked like a stunned goldfish standing in the middle of this tiny building with my mouth open utterly gob smacked as they say. It is without doubt the most unexpected piece of art I could possibly offer up here.

If anyone sees this and knows more about this church I would love to hear from you.

 

I don't seem to be able to make these pictures enlarge but i have saved them all in my Multiply photos so you can get a better look at them there.

 

http://forgetmenot525.multiply.com/photos/album/51/St_Nicholas_church_Rhodes

 

 

PICTURE PERFECT - BROKEN

Red Castle of Lunan is a ruined fortified tower house on the coast of Angus, Scotland. A tower house is a Scottish, vanacular stone house , built for defensive purposes as well as habitation. Such buildings were built throughout Scotland broadly between the 13^th and the 17th  century. These houses can still be seen all over Scotland, particularly around the Scottish Borders. Some are still intact and inhabited, some are beautifully renovated, some are horribly mutilated and others, like Red Castle  stand as ruined BROKEN shells. Red Castle was built for King William I ("the Lion") in the late twelfth century initially to repel Viking invasions to Lunan Bay. Although William did  take  up residence there on several occasions, he tended to use it a bit of a huntinmg lodge.

William I (Mediaeval Gaelic: Uilliam mac Eanric; Modern Gaelic: Uilleam mac Eanraig), known as the Lion or Garbh, "the Rough", (1142/1143 – December 4, 1214) reigned as King of Scots from 1165 to 1214. His reign was the second longest in Scottish history before the Act of Union with England in 1707, (James VI's was the longest 1567–1625). He became King following his brother Malcolm IV's death on 9 December 1165 and was crowned on 24 December 1165. William was a powerfull , redblooded redheaded,  Scot. An effective monarch whose strong reign was virtually BROKEN by his vastly miscalculated  attempts to regain control of Northumbria from the English. William is credited with founding Arbroath Abbey, the site of the later Declaration of Arbroath. He was not known as "The Lyon" during his own lifetime, the title ‘Lyon’ was given to him because a contemporary of his is know to have called him; "Lion of Justice". William also inherited the title of Earl of Northumbria in 1152. However his right to this title was BROKEN by King Henry II of England in 1157 when William was forced to give up this title and hand it over to the English King, Henry II.

William was a key rebel in the Revolt of 1173–1174 against Henry II. In 1174, at the Battle of Alnwick, during a raid in support of the revolt, William is said to have recklessly charged the English troops, shouting, "Now we shall see which of us are good knights!" He was supposedly unhorsed, captured by Henry's troops, taken in chains, a BROKEN man, first  to Newcastle, then Northampton, and then transferred to Falaise in Normandy. Henry then sent an army to Scotland and occupied it, Scotland, a noble and independent country under the rule of William became a BROKEN, enslaved nation. As ransom, and to regain his kingdom, William had to acknowledge Henry as his feudal superior and agree to pay for the cost of the English army's occupation of Scotland by taxing the Scots. This he did by signing the Treaty of Falaise. He was then allowed to return to Scotland but to complete his humiliation in 1175 he swore fealty to Henry II at York Castle. When he returned to Scotland it was to a BROKEN Nation, peopled by those with BROKEN spirits, and his dreams of regaining Northumberland were BROKEN forever

The Treaty of Falaise remained in force for the next fifteen years. Then Richard the Lionheart of England ,who by that time had control over England, needing money to take part in the Third Crusade and agreed to terminate it in return for 10,000 silver marks. Thus the dreaded Treaty of Falaise was at last BROKEN

In 1328 Robert the Bruce gave the castle to the Earl of Ross.  Aodh, Earl of Ross, commonly known as Earl Hugh of Ross, was the third successor of Ferchar mac in tSagairt as Mormaer of Ross (often anglicized and more commonly known as Farquhar MacTaggart). He was also Chief of Clan Ross. Aodh was a big favorite with  Robert the Bruce who showered him with lands and wealth. Aodh even married Robert's sister, Maud, and all because Robert the Bruce took a likeing The Earl of Ross. Favoured though he was, his luck finally ran out. His body, along with many other Scottish nobles, lay BROKEN and dying, at the Battle of Halidon Hill on July 19, 1333. He was succeeded by his son, Uilleam, who took over ownership of red Castle. By this time the building had been officially named  rubeum castrum (Red Castle) in written deeds of 1286. The name referred to its red sandstone, very typical of the area.

Moving on a couple of hundred years to 1579 James; son of Lord Gray, married Lady Elizabeth Beaton, who by that time owned the castle, and he  promptly fell in love with her daughter. James, with a BROKEN heart (to the young daugher) and a BROKEN marriage (to the mother) was truly the victim of a BROKEN home after Lady Beaton threw him out, no suprises there really.  James Gray, with his brother Andrew of Dunninald, laid siege to the castle for over two years, the occupants were finally BROKEN by Grey and his brother by burning the inhabitants out.

From then on the castle slipped into decline, the shell of this once proud building became more and more BROKEN by the forces of nature and the neglect of man. Although it remained partially roofed until 1770 it was never again a residence of nobility. Its last inhabitant was the minister of Inverkeilor, one James Rait. Today only a part of the (fifteenth century) rectangular tower and the six-feet-thick east curtain wall remain, but the castle is still  an eye-catching, if BROKEN,  ruin. The tower  is  in precipitous condition, being perched almost on the edge of the hill overlooking Lunan Bay, just waiting for the day when it will become completley broken and fall right into the sea.

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/forget-me-not5275/879064849/in/set-72157600972041541

 

ART SUNDAY, DO YOU WANT TO KNOW A SECRET??

Art Sunday, Do you want to know a secret??

 

Phoebe Traquair was a truly wonderful Scottish arts and crafts artist, she was multi talented but it is her mural work that I’m looking at today. I may be wrong but I believe her unique murals must be

'one of the best kept secrets of the Scottish Art world,'

not with in Scotland of course but so few people outside of Scotland seem to know who she was or how remarkable her work is.

THE MANSFIELD TRAQUAIR CENTRE; (click on picture to enlarge)

 

 

Phoebe Anna Traquair (1852-1936)

 Phoebe Anna Traquair's place in history is unique. She was the first important professional woman artist of modern Scotland.

To rank as such might be enough to ensure her fame, but Traquair was also a central figure within Scottish Arts and Crafts practice, working prolifically in such diverse fields as embroidery, enamelwork, leather book-cover tooling and, not least, manuscript illumination and mural decoration.

Inspired by a wide range of arts and cultures, she was driven by a quest for ideas and a passion for materials. She considered that the arts should collectively express and celebrate the spiritual depth and wholeness of life. She ignored traditional boundaries of ‘fine’ and ‘applied’ art, and was therefore refused even associate membership of the Royal Scottish Academy in 1900. Only in 1920 was she eventually elected an Honorary Academician.

Born Phoebe Anna Moss, near Dublin, she was inspired from childhood by ‘The Book of Kells’. Following marriage in 1873 to Scots palaeontologist Dr Ramsay Heatley Traquair (1840-1912), she moved with him to Edinburgh. She provided detailed illustrations for his research papers until his retirement in 1906 from the Museum of Science and Art (today the Royal Museum). Such detailed drawing of fossils prepared her for the closeness of manuscript work, but the latter gave new scope for the imagination.

Traquair exhibited her crafts internationally from 1893 and painted the interiors of no fewer than four Edinburgh buildings between 1885 and 1901, including the chapels of the Royal Hospital for Sick Children (1885-1886 and 1896-1898) and the Song School of St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral (1888-1892). The best known is the vast former Catholic Apostolic Church (1893-1901) in East London Street which has been called ‘Edinburgh’s Sistine Chapel’ and was decorated in parallel with her manuscripts of the ‘Sonnets from the Portuguese’ and ‘The House of Life’.

Traquair’s reading of poetry and related work in manuscript illumination was initially inspired by her close friendship with John Miller Gray (1850-94), first curator of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. Gray admired the poetry of Garth Wilkinson and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, encouraging Traquair to produce modern manuscripts of their work. In 1887 she wrote to the critic John Ruskin for advice, and received in return the loan of French manuscripts to copy and understand.

From 1890 Traquair leased dedicated studio space in the Dean Studio, a disused church (a gap site since the 1950s) next to Drumsheugh Swimming Baths in Lynedoch Place, where her major manuscripts, including ‘Sonnets from the Portuguese’ and ‘The House of Life’, were illuminated. Her first major multi-page manuscript was of Alfred Lord Tennyson’s ‘In Memoriam’ (1890-1892) for Sir Henry Hardinge Cunynghame. It was immediately followed by ‘Sonnets from the Portuguese’.

While working on her ‘Sonnets’, Traquair also illuminated Robert Browning’s ‘Saul’ (1893-1894), William Morris’s ‘Defence of Guinevere’ and ‘The Song of Solomon’ (both 1897). Her last great manuscripts were of Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s ‘The Blessed Damozel’ (1897-1898), Sir Thomas Browne’s ‘Religio Medici’, Rossetti’s ‘The House of Life’ and Dante’s ‘La Vita Nuova’ (1899-1902). Several of these manuscripts, including ‘Sonnets from the Portuguese’, were published on completion by William Hay of Edinburgh.

In the 1900s Traquair changed direction. She took up enamelling, to be set as jewellery and formal display pieces such as triptyches and caskets. From this time watercolour paintings for reproduction as commercial book illustrations replaced illumination.

 THE WEST WALL OF THE MANSFIELD TRAQUAIR CENTRE,

 (click on picture to enlarge)

 

As I said, she was remarkable in that she produced work in all areas of the arts and crafts movement. From the 1880s to the 1920s she worked in a wide range of media, including easel painting, embroidery, manuscript illumination, book cover tooling, enamelling, as well as mural decoration. She exhibited in Chicago, London, Turin and St Louis in the 1890s and 1900s. The decoration of the Mansfield Place Church helped to confirm this international recognition.

The third daughter of a Dublin physician, Phoebe Anna Moss attended the art school of the Royal Dublin Society and moved to Edinburgh following marriage to the Scottish palaeontologist Ramsay Heatley Traquair (1840-1912). The eldest of their three children, also Ramsay Traquair, became Professor and Director of the School of Architecture at McGill University, Montreal, in 1913.

 

The Mansfield Traquair Centre

 The Mansfield Traquair Centre is a former Catholic Apostolic Church building at Mansfield Place, beside the roundabout at the foot of Broughton Street.

It is now the national headquarters of the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations.The church was designed by Sir Robert Rowand Anderson and built between 1873 and 1885.  It has stained glass by  Ballantine but is best known for its large murals painted in the 1890s by Phoebe Anna Traquair.

The Catholic Apostolic Church was established in 1835, set up under apostolic rule, anticipating the imminent Second Coming of Christ.  The church gradually became extinct during the 20th century. Its last priest died in 1971. The Mansfield Traquair Trust was established in 1993 to preserve the  Mansfield Traquair church and its murals. Renovation of the building was completed in 2002 and the restoration of the murals was completed in 2005. The Friends of the Mansfield Traquair Centre provide tours of the building and its murals, once a month on Sunday afternoons, throughout the year, and more frequently during the Edinburgh Festival each August.

 

(click on picture to enlarge)About the Architect

 The Catholic Apostolic Church in Edinburgh was the first of a series of major commissions in the 1870s that were to transform Robert Rowand Anderson's career. The Catholic Apostolic Church was an important step in Anderson's career and it remained the most ambitious of his churches.

Anderson left the office of George Gilbert Scott in 1859 and set up his own practice in Edinburgh in 1860. During the 1860s his main work was small churches in the 'first pointed' style that is characteristic of Scott's former assistants. By 1880 (after the Catholic Apostolic Church) his practice was designing the most prestigious public and private buildings in Scotland: the University of Edinburgh Medical School and the McEwan Hall, The Scottish National Portrait Gallery, and Mount Stuart for the Marquess of Bute. These buildings demonstrate two notable qualities in Anderson's work: his ability to revive any of a variety of historical styles intelligently and his preference for massive, imposing forms.

THE MURAL IN THE SOUTH CHAPEL

 

And that my friends is my Art Sunday Secret, the secret of Phoebe Traquair's little known murals.

Saturday Song, Summertime

This weeks 'Picture Perfect, Summertime Fun'; just seemed soooooo popular and so much enjoyed by every one, I thought we should have the song to go with it. So here it is, the absolute all time favourite....'SUMMERTIME', sung by the one and only Ella Fitzgerald in Berlin, 1968. Can't you just feel that humid sultry heat  

 

 

 

PICTURE PERFECT, SUMMERTIME FUN

This is Erin my eldest grandchild. The picture was taken on July 8th 2005. Erin was spending the week with me while her parents went to Spain and had 'together time'. Erin and I had a great time, we were lucky, the weather was amazing and we were out and about every day. This was taken by the paddling pool on ArbroathSeafront. She was only 4 at the time but of course that was couple of years ago and she is a much older 7 now. That whole week was summertime fun.

Walking the dog, a spring morning in April

Woodland area just off the main road between Arbroath and Montrose. Walking the dog on a fine April spring morning.

Art Sunday, Feasts and Celebrations,The Penny Wedding, 1818, David Wilkie

    The Penny Wedding 1818

My chosen painting for today is ‘The Penny Wedding’,  1818, by David Wilkie. This is realistic portrayal of wedding celebration held in a rapidly changing Scotland at the end of the eighteenth century. David Wilkie (1785 -1841 ), was one of the great Scottish painters who is perhaps not as well known as he should be outside of Scotland. Wilkie was born in Fife, Scotland, he studied at The Trustees’ Academy in Edinburgh and later at the Royal Academy in London. He is recognised as a Scottish portrait painter but also as a great interpreter of Scottish history. To appreciate the significance of this painting it’s necessary to understand a little of the history and social context in which it was painted and so, I hope you will bear with me while I do my best to explain.

Change is the key word of the late eighteenth early/nineteenth century Scottish society, its people were experiencing social and political change on all levels. This period falls between the enlightenment and early industrialisation, Enlightenment ideas, new thinking, radical philosophical writings, discoveries in science and a better understanding of the world had, influenced peoples lives; then came industrialisation and the move towards urbanisation. For the majority of people things would probably not have changed for the better. For the most part the excitement of the enlightenment was reserved for the elite and many of the changes caused by industrialisation had a detrimental effect on ordinary people. Scotland was subjected to the Union at the beginning of the century, the revolts and revolutions during the first half of the century, then the suffering imposed by land reforms and de-skilling of traditional trades. There were changes within the church, bedrock of Scottish society, which caused more dissidence by the increasingly alienated people. The people resented having their Church Minister chosen and foisted upon them by the local landowner.  Those who had lost land could not always find their rent, their hand-to-mouth existence was dependent on both the surplus they were accustomed too as agricultural workers, and the cheap supply of locally produced goods available from the markets. Their surplus disappeared with their land and the market suppliers began to favour other outlets offering better prices for their produce. For the highlanders, the loss of traditional dress was despised (it was banned by the governing English), viewed as another change eating into their fast disappearing lifestyle. The loss of this must have been exacerbated when, just a short time later a sanitised version of their cultural identity was to be found adorning the landowners and their entourage. Changes from above even affected the people’s leisure activities, land that had been used for recreation and celebration could, at the whim of the landowner, be out of bounds to ordinary people. Community activities within small towns and villages could be curtailed by the more powerful. The one element of Scottish life that displayed continuity is the affinity with dance and music of the people. Dance and music could even, on occasions; break free of the restraints of class and status that dominated other aspects of Scottish life.

And, in Scottish painting of this period, all of the above is portrayed. Sometimes these paintings of ordinary life were painted by the artists who were paid handsomely to deliver quite another type of social statement; portraits of the elite, their families, their houses, their lands and even their family pets.  The wealth and opulence portrayed in the one would have been paid for by the fading fortunes of the other. Images from both sides of life in Scotland now hang side by side in our galleries, a testament to the different experiences of different sections of Scottish society all within one short period.

The Penny Wedding, 1818, by David Wilkie[1] shows the wedding celebrations of an ordinary couple, called ‘penny weddings’ because everyone who attended paid one penny which entitled them partake of the food, drink and merriment. Music and dance were an important part of the celebrations but this event is not portrayed as a drunken brawl, rather as a happy occasion celebrated by ordinary people according to their own traditions. Those traditions may have been adapted to fit the changing circumstances of the people, but the essence of it remained intact.  The people at this wedding are not wealthy and the venue is not grand, but it does seem to be a joyous affair attended by at least three generations and their dogs. They are attired in their ‘Sunday best’, the girls have braids in their hair, the music plays, the people dance, food and drink can be seen on the table, on the floor and even tucked away, almost hidden under a young girls skirts. There is no way of knowing absolutely if this was a realistic portrayal of ordinary people, showing life as fairly pleasant and comfortable or, if the artist was attempting to show life of the lower classes as being better than it really was. 

(The Blind Fiddler 1806)

The clue could lie in some of Wilkies’ other works, Distraining for Rent, 1815 and The Blind Fiddler, 1806, are both by Wilkie and neither balks at the reality of the situation, this indicates that Wilkies reproductions of everyday life were fairly realistic.

(Distraining for Rent 1815)

The fiddler in The Penny Wedding is a posthumous portrayed of, and a tribute to, Neil Gow. Carse, a contemporary of Wilkie exhibited his own version of ‘The Penny Wedding’ in 1818, indicating that this was a popular topic and that some exchange of ideas took place among the contemporary artists of the time.

For me, I think this painting is an excellent, and specifically Scottish example of this weeks theme. I hope you enjoy it

try this for a bigger picture of the Penny Wedding;

http://www.abcgallery.com/W/wilkie/wilkie5.html

and this one for The Blind Fiddler;

http://www.abcgallery.com/W/wilkie/wilkie1.html

And this one for Distraining for Rent;

http://www.abcgallery.com/W/wilkie/wilkie3.html

and for more of his work

http://www.abcgallery.com/W/wilkie/wilkie.html

---

Gossamer Picture Perfect, St Vigeans Nature trail

Gossamer, Picture Perfect
St Vigeans Nature Trail, Arbroath, Scotland
 July 20th 2004


Gentle ripple of the water, dappled sun through leaves, lazy, hazy, dreamy afternoon. Pure gossamer

Song Saturday, the Beatles, today May 8th

May 8th 1970

'Let It Be',

the final album of British group The Beatles, is released in Britain.

May 8th 1956

First performance of John Osborne's controversial play 'Look Back In Anger' at London's Royal Court Theatre.

The first production of John Osborne's Look Back in Anger in 1956 provoked a major controversy. There were those, like the Observer newspaper's influential critic Kenneth Tynan, who saw it as the first totally original play of a new generation. There were others who hated both it and the world that Osborne was showing them. But even these critics acknowledged that the play, written in just one month, marked a new voice on the British stage.

Howard Brenton, writing in the Independent newspaper at the time of Osborne's death in 1994, said, “When somebody breaks the mould so comprehensively it's difficult to describe what it feels like”. In the same paper, Arnold Wesker described Osborne as having “opened the doors of theatres for all the succeeding generations of writers”.

Look Back in Anger came to exemplify a reaction to the affected drawing-room comedies of Noel Coward, Terrence Rattigan and others, which dominated the West End stage in the early 1950s. Coward et al wrote about an affluent bourgeoisie at play in the drawing rooms of their country homes, or sections of the upper middle class comfortable in suburbia. Osborne and the writers who followed him were looking at the working class or the lower middle class, struggling with their existence in bedsits or terraces.

The "kitchen sink" dramatists—as their style of domestic realism became to be known—sought to convey the language of everyday speech, and to shock with its bluntness. Eric Keown, reviewing Look Back in Anger in Punch magazine at the time, wrote that Osborne “draws liberally on the vocabulary of the intestines and laces his tirades with the steamier epithets of the tripe butcher”.

Robert Browning

ALLOW ME TO INTRODUCE  ROBERT BROWNING POET

BORN TODAY, 7TH MAY 1812.

Browning was born in Camberwell, a suburb of London, on  May 7th,1812,His father was reputed to be a man of intellect and character, he worked as a relatively well-paid clerk for the bank of England. Robert grew up surrounded by his father’s library of around 6,000 books, many of them obscure especially in a time when printed books were still not readily available for every one to own. Robert was raised in a family unit that lived a simple life surrounded by literature and the Arts,

As a child he developed a a love of poetry and natural history. By twelve he had written a book of poetry which was later destroyed because no publisher would accept it. He disliked formal education and after being enrolled in several private schools ended up being privately tutored in his own home.

He was a naturally talented boy who by the age of fourteen was fluent in French, Greek, Italian and Latin as well as his native English. He became a great admirer of the Romantic poets, especially Shelley. Following the precedent of Shelley, Browning became an atheist and vegetarian, both of which he later shed. At age sixteen, he attended University College, London, but left after his first year. His mother’s staunch evangelical faith circumscribed the pursuit of his reading at either Oxford or Cambridge, then both only available to members of the Church of England. He had substantial musical ability and he composed arrangements of various songs.

In 1845, Browning met Elizabeth Barrett and a romance developed between them, leading to their secret marriage in 1846. (The marriage was initially secret because Elizabeth's tyrannical father disapproved of marriage for any of his children.) From the time of their marriage, they lived in Italy, first in Pisa and then, within a year, finding an apartment in Florence which they called Casa Guidi (now a museum to their memory). Their only child, Robert Wiedemann Barrett Browning, nicknamed "Penini" or "Pen", was born in 1849. In these years Browning was fascinated by and learned hugely from the art and atmosphere of Italy. He would, in later life, say that 'Italy was my university', he was like a sponge with a thirst and soaked up the fine Italian culture and renaissance art works. By this time he was drawing his influence both from the English Romantics and from great the Renaissance art works and buildings found in Italy

I have chosen one of his works because despite being in the region of 150 years old it is still known and loved today, thanks to John Lennon who based his ‘Grow old with me’ song on this poem.

John Lennon's song "Grow Old with Me", which was inspired by Browning's poem Rabbi ben Ezra, appears on Lennon's album Milk and Honey.

Robert Browning (1812-1889)

Rabbi Ben Ezra

              1Grow old along with me!

              2The best is yet to be,

              3The last of life, for which the first was made:

              4Our times are in His hand

              5Who saith "A whole I planned,

              6Youth shows but half; trust God: see all, nor be afraid!''

              7Not that, amassing flowers,

              8Youth sighed "Which rose make ours,

              9Which lily leave and then as best recall?"

            10Not that, admiring stars,

            11It yearned "Nor Jove, nor Mars;

            12Mine be some figured flame which blends, transcends them all!"

            13Not for such hopes and fears

            14Annulling youth's brief years,

            15Do I remonstrate: folly wide the mark!

            16Rather I prize the doubt

            17Low kinds exist without,

            18Finished and finite clods, untroubled by a spark.

            19Poor vaunt of life indeed,

            20Were man but formed to feed

            21On joy, to solely seek and find and feast:

            22Such feasting ended, then

            23As sure an end to men;

            24Irks care the crop-full bird? Frets doubt the maw-crammed beast?

            25Rejoice we are allied

            26To That which doth provide

            27And not partake, effect and not receive!

            28A spark disturbs our clod;

            29Nearer we hold of God

            30Who gives, than of His tribes that take, I must believe.

            31Then, welcome each rebuff

            32That turns earth's smoothness rough,

            33Each sting that bids nor sit nor stand but go!

            34Be our joys three-parts pain!

            35Strive, and hold cheap the strain;

            36Learn, nor account the pang; dare, never grudge the throe!

            37For thence,--a paradox

            38Which comforts while it mocks,--

            39Shall life succeed in that it seems to fail:

            40What I aspired to be,

            41And was not, comforts me:

            42A brute I might have been, but would not sink i' the scale.

            43What is he but a brute

            44Whose flesh has soul to suit,

            45Whose spirit works lest arms and legs want play?

            46To man, propose this test--

            47Thy body at its best,

            48How far can that project thy soul on its lone way?

            49Yet gifts should prove their use:

            50I own the Past profuse

            51Of power each side, perfection every turn:

            52Eyes, ears took in their dole,

            53Brain treasured up the whole;

            54Should not the heart beat once "How good to live and learn?"

            55Not once beat "Praise be Thine!

            56I see the whole design,

            57I, who saw power, see now love perfect too:

            58Perfect I call Thy plan:

            59Thanks that I was a man!

            60  Maker, remake, complete,--I trust what Thou shalt do!"

            61For pleasant is this flesh;

            62Our soul, in its rose-mesh

            63Pulled ever to the earth, still yearns for rest;

            64Would we some prize might hold

            65To match those manifold

            66Possessions of the brute,--gain most, as we did best!

            67Let us not always say,

            68"Spite of this flesh to-day

            69I strove, made head, gained ground upon the whole!"

            70As the bird wings and sings,

            71Let us cry "All good things

            72Are ours, nor soul helps flesh more, now, than flesh helps soul!"

            73Therefore I summon age

            74To grant youth's heritage,

            75Life's struggle having so far reached its term:

            76Thence shall I pass, approved

            77A man, for aye removed

            78From the developed brute; a god though in the germ.

            79And I shall thereupon

            80Take rest, ere I be gone

            81Once more on my adventure brave and new:

            82Fearless and unperplexed,

            83When I wage battle next,

            84What weapons to select, what armour to indue.

            85Youth ended, I shall try

            86My gain or loss thereby;

            87Leave the fire ashes, what survives is gold:

            88And I shall weigh the same,

            89Give life its praise or blame:

            90Young, all lay in dispute; I shall know, being old.

            91For note, when evening shuts,

            92A certain moment cuts

            93The deed off, calls the glory from the grey:

            94A whisper from the west

            95Shoots--"Add this to the rest,

            96Take it and try its worth: here dies another day."

            97So, still within this life,

            98Though lifted o'er its strife,

            99Let me discern, compare, pronounce at last,

          100This rage was right i' the main,

          101That acquiescence vain:

          102The Future I may face now I have proved the Past."

          103For more is not reserved

          104To man, with soul just nerved

          105To act to-morrow what he learns to-day:

          106Here, work enough to watch

          107The Master work, and catch

          108Hints of the proper craft, tricks of the tool's true play.

          109As it was better, youth

          110Should strive, through acts uncouth,

          111Toward making, than repose on aught found made:

          112So, better, age, exempt

          113From strife, should know, than tempt

          114Further. Thou waitedst age: wait death nor be afraid!

          115Enough now, if the Right

          116And Good and Infinite

          117Be named here, as thou callest thy hand thine own

          118With knowledge absolute,

          119Subject to no dispute

          120From fools that crowded youth, nor let thee feel alone.

          121Be there, for once and all,

          122Severed great minds from small,

          123Announced to each his station in the Past!

          124Was I, the world arraigned,

          125Were they, my soul disdained,

          126Right? Let age speak the truth and give us peace at last!

          127Now, who shall arbitrate?

          128Ten men love what I hate,

          129Shun what I follow, slight what I receive;

          130Ten, who in ears and eyes

          131Match me: we all surmise,

          132They this thing, and I that: whom shall my soul believe?

          133Not on the vulgar mass

          134Called "work," must sentence pass,

          135Things done, that took the eye and had the price;

          136O'er which, from level stand,

          137The low world laid its hand,

          138Found straightway to its mind, could value in a trice:

          139But all, the world's coarse thumb

          140And finger failed to plumb,

          141So passed in making up the main account;

          142All instincts immature,

          143All purposes unsure,

          144That weighed not as his work, yet swelled the man's amount:

          145Thoughts hardly to be packed

          146Into a narrow act,

          147Fancies that broke through language and escaped;

          148All I could never be,

          149All, men ignored in me,

          150This, I was worth to God, whose wheel the pitcher shaped.

          151Ay, note that Potter's wheel,

          152That metaphor! and feel

          153Why time spins fast, why passive lies our clay,--

          154Thou, to whom fools propound,

          155When the wine makes its round,

          156"Since life fleets, all is change; the Past gone, seize to-day!"

          157Fool! All that is, at all,

          158Lasts ever, past recall;

          159Earth changes, but thy soul and God stand sure:

          160What entered into thee,

          161That was, is, and shall be:

          162Time's wheel runs back or stops: Potter and clay endure.

          163He fixed thee mid this dance

          164Of plastic circumstance,

          165This Present, thou, forsooth, wouldst fain arrest:

          166Machinery just meant

          167To give thy soul its bent,

          168Try thee and turn thee forth, sufficiently impressed.

          169What though the earlier grooves,

          170Which ran the laughing loves

          171Around thy base, no longer pause and press?

          172What though, about thy rim,

          173Skull-things in order grim

          174Grow out, in graver mood, obey the sterner stress?

          175Look not thou down but up!

          176To uses of a cup,

          177The festal board, lamp's flash and trumpet's peal,

          178The new wine's foaming flow,

          179The Master's lips a-glow!

          180Thou, heaven's consummate cup, what need'st thou with earth's wheel?

          181But I need, now as then,

          182Thee, God, who mouldest men;

          183And since, not even while the whirl was worst,

          184Did I,--to the wheel of life

          185With shapes and colours rife,

          186Bound dizzily,--mistake my end, to slake Thy thirst:

          187So, take and use Thy work:

          188Amend what flaws may lurk,

          189What strain o' the stuff, what warpings past the aim!

          190My times be in Thy hand!

          191Perfect the cup as planned!

          192Let age approve of youth, and death complete the same!

Notes

1] Ben Ezra, a Spanish Jew who lived in the twelfth century, was a distinguished scholar. In this poem, however, Browning does not build on historic facts. He simply needed, as the mouthpiece of the ideas of the poem, a theist familiar with the Scriptures. The point of view is the antithesis of that of the Epicurean and Sceptic, the man who lives for the passing moment.

151] The image is biblical; see Isaiah 64: 8.