Roadscapes by a welsh artist

I would like to introduce a contemporary welsh artist who paints what he calls ‘’roadscapes’’. These are very different to the type of art usually shown but I find his work nostalgic and honest. This is his website

http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/mid/sites/arts/pages/roadscapes.

Art Sunday Transport and a Welsh Artist

ART SUNDAY; TRANSPORT AND A WELSH ARTIST.

This weekend I seen to have got a bit ‘stuck’ on the transport theme. This first painting is so well known it doesn’t really need an introduction. I start here because this because this is a place I have thought about visiting. To get there I will need transport, I rather like the idea of taking a train and enjoying the changing scenery along the way.

 This café was renovated a couple of years ago and, as far as possible, returned to the way it was when Van Gogh painted it. If I ever get there this place will remind me very much of all the art we have shared here.

VAN GOGH TERACE CAFÉ AT NIGHT 1888.
Cafe Terrace at Night: This exterior of a café on the Place du Forum in Arles was painted after Van Gogh moved to the south of France in 1888. Vincent van Gogh was excited by the colours and light he found in the south. He was eager to experiment and tried to show the range of colours seen at night.

In a letter from Van Gogh to his sister, he describes the painting of the night cafe "... here there is a night picture without any black, nothing but beautiful blue and violet and green, and in those surroundings the lighted square is coloured sulphur yellow and limey green."

The next two paintings are by different artists and from different times and places but both show transport over the water.

VAN GOYEN VIEW OF THE DORDRECHT 1644.
Van Goyen frequently painted the distinctive view of the Dutch town of Dordrecht. The bold bulk of its main church, the Groote Kerk, with its unfinished spire, dominates the view across junction of the busy river Maas. He painted it over twenty times from varying distances and in different weather conditions. Here blustery winds push a ferry-boat's sails and whip up the choppy waves which rock the fishermen's boat. Despite being one of Holland's most prolific landscape artists van Goyen died in debt, having lost a lot of money speculating on the price of tulips in 1637.


Ford Maddox Brown
The last of England 1855

This image reveals the mixed emotions of the emigrants as they travel from the English shore in the small boat to the ship. Clippers were ships powered by sails with three or four tall masts and were totally dependant on the wind.


And to conclude I would like to introduce a contemporary Welsh artist who paints what he describes as ''Roadscapes''

http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/mid/sites/arts/pages/roadscapes.




Artist Profile - Alan Spillett, this is how he describes himself

At my home in Aberaeron. I've been based in Aberaeron for the past 20 years. I knew the area from trips I used to make as a lorry driver. I also knew that there was interest in my kind of work in this part of the country after meeting a bus load of West Walians years ago at the Leyland Museum in Lancashire. I picked up 15 commissions in one day!


‘’am a self-taught artist. I did Art 'A' Level with a view to studying Fine Art. My parents didn't rate Art as a serious job. After I left school, I worked as a long distance lorry driver, away for the week. During this time, I would take books away with me - 20th century art, Monet etc - and study how different artists put colours together. I went back to painting in the early 1980s and entered a local art exhibition with a lorry painting. It was well received so I started to work full-time as an artist in 1984.’’

I like this mans honesty, he paints what he knows and what he is fond of. His work is unpretentious; it is what it is and claims to be nothing more. This is a working class man who is mostly self taught and who simply loves to paint. I am about to post more of his work in an album, just wish I could have got bigger pictures.

Winter Sunset over the sea

On Friday (28/11/08) I finished my work a coupler of hours early. The weather was bitterly cold but dry and without wind. For the first time in months I managed to take one of my favourite walks along the cliff top. I didn't walk too far, just in case the weather changed the sea mists (or the haar as it is called here) came swirling in. The haar comes in very quickly and without warning and makes the cliff top walk treacherous. I was also mindful of the time, the afternoons are short here at this time of year and the sun was very low by 3.00pm. The pink light reflects on every thing, it is just as beautiful here this time of year as it is in the summer, a different kind of beauty.

Picture Perfect, Everyday Thanksgiving

If you have seen my ''Song Saturday'' you will have seen this introduction already.
Now I know my mind works in a strange way but I was already thinking about a transport theme this weekend. Like every one else around here I've been surrounded by images, words and thoughts of Thanks Giving. I began to think about all the extra food that's being bought, prepared and eaten and how all this extra food has been shipped around the country before ending on your table. Then I began to think about all the people who are traveling to spend Thanks Giving with friends and family, all that transporting of food and traveling of people adds up to lots of extra activity on the roads. Which is why my own theme for this weekend is Transport.

 
This picture was taken at about 3.30 this afternoon, for me it is an 'everyday' picture, I can see this most days right at the end of my street and it is a scene I am thankful for every day of my life. Today there were quite a few people sat in their cars (the transport element), all of them admiring the beauty of nature just as I was.

Song Saturday; Trucking, Grateful Dead

Heard this on the radio the other day and it has been in my head ever since, another one I still have on vinyl!
Now I know my mind works in a strange way but I was already thinking about a transport theme this weekend. Like every one else around here I've been surrounded by images, words and thoughts of Thanks Giving. I began to think about all the extra food that's being bought, prepared and eaten and how all this extra food has been shipped around the country before ending on your table. Then I began to think about all the people who are traveling to spend Thanks Giving with friends and family, all that transporting of food and traveling of people adds up to lots of extra activity on the roads. Which is why my theme for this weekend is Transport, starting with this; Truckin by Grateful Dead

Truckin got my chips cashed in. keep truckin, like the do-dah man
Together, more or less in line, just keep truckin on.

Arrows of neon and flashing marquees out on main street.
Chicago, new york, detroit and its all on the same street.
Your typical city involved in a typical daydream
Hang it up and see what tomorrow brings.

Dallas, got a soft machine; houston, too close to new orleans;
New yorks got the ways and means; but just wont let you be, oh no.

Most of the cast that you meet on the streets speak of true love,
Most of the time theyre sittin and cryin at home.
One of these days they know they better get goin
Out of the door and down on the streets all alone.

Truckin, like the do-dah man. once told me youve got to play your hand
Sometimes your cards aint worth a dime, if you dont layem down,

Sometimes the lights all shinin on me;
Other times I can barely see.
Lately it occurs to me what a long, strange trip its been.

What in the world ever became of sweet jane?
She lost her sparkle, you know she isnt the same
Livin on reds, vitamin c, and cocaine,
All a friend can say is aint it a shame?

Truckin, up to buffalo. been thinkin, you got to mellow slow
Takes time, you pick a place to go, and just keep truckin on.

Sittin and starin out of the hotel window.
Got a tip theyre gonna kick the door in again
Id like to get some sleep before I travel,
But if you got a warrant, I guess youre gonna come in.

Busted, down on bourbon street, set up, like a bowlin pin.
Knocked down, it gets to wearin thin. they just wont let you be, oh no.

Youre sick of hangin around and youd like to travel;
Get tired of travelin and you want to settle down.
I guess they cant revoke your soul for tryin,
Get out of the door and light out and look all around.

Sometimes the lights all shinin on me;
Other times I can barely see.
Lately it occurs to me what a long, strange trip its been.

Truckin, Im a goin home. whoa whoa baby, back where I belong,
Back home, sit down and patch my bones, and get back truckin on.
Hey now get back truckin home.

Poetry Wednesday; Success

This is an old favourite,
but you can't read this one too often.

What is Success?

To laugh often and much;

To win the respect of intelligent people
and the affection of children;

To earn the appreciation of honest critics
and endure the betrayal of false friends;

To appreciate beauty;
To find the best in others;

To leave the world a bit better, whether by
a healthy child, a garden patch
or a redeemed social condition;

To know even one life has breathed
easier because you have lived;

This is to have succeeded.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Poetry wednesday, Count that day lost

Todays poem is;
 Count that day Lost by George Elliot.

The Author
George Elliot was in fact Mary Ann Evans, born in 1819 at South Farm on the Arbury Estate, near Coventry, England.
She had an elder sister Chrissey and it's become a bit of a folk legend that Chrissey was the ‘pretty one’ and Mary was the ‘clever one’, the relevance or truth of this is not known. She also had an older brother Isaac who she was very close too.  The lived in the Coventry area of England and all enjoyed a relatively good education and comfortable middle class upbringing. In Coventry Mary Ann made friends with Charles and Cara Bray, owners of a local newspaper and friends of many of the contemporary ‘up and coming’ figures of the literary world. She apparently became part of this bohemian literary circle, lost her faith, stopped going to church and eventually moved away from Coventry and settled in London. Here she met even more eccentric people and gained quite a name for herself as an intellectual.  After her father died she needed an income and considered a career in writing. By this time she had started calling herself Marian Edwards, had a scandalous affair with a married man and managed to meet just about every famous author, thinker and philosopher of the time. These acquaintances included Dickens, Thackery, Robert Browning, and Philosopher Herbert Spencer. Those who thought she couldn’t do any thing more shocking in Victorian England were mistaken, she set up home with a married man, George Lewes, and began to call herself Mrs Lewes. Needless to say society was scandalized. This led to her being completely cut off from her family, her brother whom she had idolized as a child refused to speak to her. At this point she began writing seriously, she wrote novels and poetry and became a hugely successful, best selling  author.  No longer wishing to advertise her unconventional relationship with Lewes she chose a pen name – George Eliot. All of her books, with the exception of ‘Romola’, were published by William Blackwood and Sons in Edinburgh. She and Lewes lived happily as man and mistress for over 25 years.


To my mind the most remarkable thing this woman did was to translate, from the original, Spinoza’s ‘’Tractatus theologico-politicus’’, and ‘’The Ethics’’. Wow………….that is some achievement, have you read Spinoza??? , to read this in the original and then translate proves the reputation as an intellectual was very well deserved.


Todays Artwork is by Joseph Noel Paton.
The Artist
Sir Joseph Noel Paton, Scottish Artist, 13 December 1821 – 26 December 1901, born in Wooer's Alley, Dunfermline, Fife.

He was born to a family of weavers who worked with damask, he continued in the family business for a while before leaving Scotland to study at the Royal Academy, London in 1843. He is one of the few Scottish painter s to adopt the Pre-Raphaelite style which was more popular in England. He soon established a reputation as quite an exceptional painter of historical, fairy, allegorical and religious subjects. It didn’t take him long to start picking up awards for his work. his first picture to be shown to the public was 'Ruth Gleaning' which was shown at the Royal Scottish Academy in 1844. He won a number of prizes for his work including for two of his most famous works The Quarrel of Oberon and Titania (1846 - exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy) and The Reconciliation of Oberon and Titania (1847 - Westminster Hall). In 1865, he was appointed Queen's Limner for Scotland.
As well as being a talented artist this man also published two volumes of poetry and produced a number of sculptures, he was a truly multi talented individual.  He also gained a knighthood and was a famous collector of antique arms and armory. He died in Edinburgh on the 26th of December 1901.



The Poem
Count That Day Lost
      
      If you sit down at set of sun
And count the acts that you have done,
And, counting, find
One self-denying deed, one word
That eased the heart of him who heard,
One glance most kind
That fell like sunshine where it went --
Then you may count that day well spent.

But if, through all the livelong day,
You've cheered no heart, by yea or nay --
If, through it all
You've nothing done that you can trace
That brought the sunshine to one face--
No act most small
That helped some soul and nothing cost --
Then count that day as worse than lost.

The Paintings of Joseph Noel Paton

Winter gardening, indoor and out

The new Poinsettia, just hope I can keep this one alive.

During the winter months I concentrate on the indoor gardening. At least the first snowfall has made the garden look nicer.

More Indoor Gardening, just bought a Poinsettia.

Now I know winter is here, I have added a Poinsettia to my collection. I haven't had one of these for a few years because I'm not that good at keeping them past Christmas..............advice always welcome, maybe with a few pointers this one may survive into February.

Unlike the Poinsettia my Bamboo has exceeded all expectations. These started life as a few green shoots about 2 inches tall growing in water in an ornamental tub given to me for Mothers day this year.............yep thats right.........this year!! Don't ask me how they grew so big in such a short time 'cos I have no idea. They outgrew the pot they came in so I thought I should plant them up in compost and this is the result.

The one in the green and yellow pot, that is some sort of miniature orange plant. This one I rescued from 'friend' who I branded a plant abuser, the poor thing was almost dead (plant not friend) but I think it's doing OK now.

The three in the window are the 'babies' I told you about from the big Money Plant that sits in my kitchen window.

My outdoor garden remains out of bounds but at least it looks better now that is has a soft covering of snow; and until it is more accessible I can happily play with my indoor garden.

The First Snowfall came this Weekend.

My determination to have all the autumn planting finished last week because of forecast snow and ground frost has paid off. I am so glad I made that extra effort last week in the school and got the kids out there planting our hedgerow and our bluebell bulbs.
Saturday, a small amount of snow.

The forecast was spot on, exactly as predicted, we had the first flutter of snowflakes on Saturday and a slightly heavier fall today.
Sunday, the snow begins to lie.

Tonight as I'm about to go to bed it is snowing again and the last time I looked it was laying and looking rather pretty, cold but attractive.
A few smowflakes became a fluffy
And then it really started to lie, but despite the snow, I managed to make my way to my composter with the potato peelings.

Garden recycling continues.

It may be winter, there may be snow on the ground, but still I recycle in my garden. The composter remains in the corner and is fed with veggie peelings, coffee grounds and used herbal tea bags. The unwanted CD rack, which has been cluttering up my hallway for weeks, has found a new home nestling in between the Jasmin.

This can now be used as a frame to fix winter protection for these fragile plants and as an anchor for the trailing shoots as they grow in the spring. 

Silly me.............I have been conned!!

Oh dear me.............how silly am I?? I have been conned by ....... well actually I have no idea who this person really is , yep I know I am old enough to know better but conned I was!! Needless to say this person is now removed from my list of contacts.

http://elizelizeliz.multiply.com/

For weeks now, months maybe, who ever it is has been telling me they have very poor English and, in different ways, asking for sympathy and understanding.  I always thought there was a possibility it was a con because the understanding of English and the vocabulary used was far too good for her to genuinely be the person she claimed to be. This is how she wrote to me;
Thankin u. Tis is avri kint ting u sayin. I am noin u corekto becous tis vat is sayin my intelkt. My emosyon is b difrans. I am find hud 4 makin tis 2 ting becom esam. U r herein mayve tis esay haow somtim is lik pesson takin graound fram undre ur feats. Tis I tinkin is vat prolblemo 4 me. I no sea tis tink comin & 1 day hapnin & is lik graound gon. Tis hapnin whan I bin in intrenet onli 2 monat & I no tinkin haow pessons can onli pratand b freind becous I naiv than & I no undrestendin y pesson vantin doin tis. 4 som pessons is tis no prolblemo in reyels & in intrenet. 4 me tis reksyon all wey bad in reyels lifs & so all so in intrenet. Is estupid ting. Is frist tim I taklin haow I fillin in 2 jaht becous naow I fillin no so bad lik b 4 & u oni pesson be brava & takl 2 me. U no undrestendin haow mush tis meenin 4 me. I am thankin u agan 4 ur b so goud & karin pesson. I am hopin u havin nise day. I lik redin ur blogo. Is makn me fillin mor goud whan I redin tis ting.
I responded by suggesting she try to improve her written English because it would make it easier to make more friends. This is how she responded

elizelizeliz wrote today at 9:06 AM

My useless English is just a defense against getting too involved with some people and it strangely helps to get things out that I wouldn't otherwise.

The weirdest thing is..............I get the impression 'she' (if it is a she) thinks its ok to do this!!.................oh well takes all sorts I guess

Art Sunday; The Pont Maps of Scotland.

Timothy Pont; the first Scottish Cartographer
c.1560 - 1630


To put this into context; the mapping of Scotland happened within the first couple of years of the reign of James VI, until just a few years prior to this James was a minor and a Regent ruled on his behalf.
                    King James VI of Scotland,
                    King James I of England
Born on June 19, 1566, in Edinburgh Castle, James was the only son of Mary, Queen of Scots. On her forced abdication in 1567, he was proclaimed King of Scotland, a puppet in the hands of regents and politicians until 1581 when he assumed actual rule of Scotland. It was a country divided by religious conflict between Protestants and Roman Catholics, between those favoring an alliance with France and those supporting England.


This portrait shows James VI of Scotland after he had acceded to the English throne on Queen Elizabeth's death and moved to London. The jewel on his hat, known as the Mirror of Great Britain, was commissioned to commemorate the union of the Scottish and English crowns in 1603. One of the diamonds had been a gift to Mary, Queen of Scots, from her father-in-law, the King of France. This painting is based on an official portrait of the king by John de Critz. James disliked sitting for his picture and there are few portraits of him from life.

Eglinton Castle; drawn by Pont.

Timothy Point remains virtually unknown outside specialist academic circles but; what he achieved was quite remarkable. He single-handedly mapped Scotland. He was the first person to draw reliable, detailed and accurate maps of Scotland. These maps are so intricate they need to be viewed through a magnifying glass to fully appreciate the fine detail. His maps were not published in his lifetime and the greatness of his achievement was not recognized until much more recently. Specific details of his life remain sketchy, he seems to be one of the ‘’Forgotten Scots’’ whose great talent and achievements have never been fully appreciated. 
He is known to have graduated from St. Andrews University in 1583 before embarking on his ambitious project to record the landscape of Scotland. Over the next 12 years, he produced 77 maps. The ones that have survived and been recovered from obscurity are now held by the National Library of Scotland. They are the oldest maps of Scotland based on an original survey. As part of this project Pont mapped the Roman Antonine Wall, he recorded several forts which have since been demolished. In 1601, (map making apparently finished), he became a minister, in the Parish of Dunnet, Caithness.

Pont's maps were not published during his lifetime but, with the help of his friend Robert Gordon (1580 - 1661), they were used to form the basis of Blaeu's Atlas Novus, Scotland’s first atlas published in 1654.
His father Robert Pont (1524 - 1606) was a ecclesiastic and by the 1590s he was a statesman who gave advice on all matters concerning the Kirk. Timothy studied at St. Andrews University, he graduated in about 1583 and was then made financially secure by his influential father. For some reason he turned away from the Church and set out  on his great adventure. It is not known if this was at the request of James VI or the Reformed Church authorities. Either could have needed to record the land and parish settlements made following the reformation. It is know that a young Pont spent the next twelve years or so traveling widely through Scotland recording the land as he saw it. His manuscript drawings are the only surviving record of this unique undertaking.

He must have been what is known today as a risk taker. As far as we know there was very little forward planning. He carried no written directions or permissions, sixteenth century Scottish infrastructure left a whole lot to be desired, he was traveling, asking questions, taking notes and making copious detailed drawings of every thing' all in the midst of post reformation suspicions and unease. He was lucky not to have been imprisoned in one of the many fortified houses he recorded. He traveled by waterway and concentrated on the inhabited areas, towns and buildings. Today his maps are the most reliable source of information concerning the number, position and size of Scotland's castles and large houses. His maps allow us to know how much of our built history we have lost. His tiny drawings of these important buildings hold so much information you can count the number of windows on each and every one of them, and every detail is accurate.


What subsequently happened to these precious drawings is like a detective novel. Before 1629 the whole collection was bought from Pont's heirs by Sir William Balfour of Denmilne, Fife, a historic collector. It’s thought he intended to publish the maps but never did. The Dutch printers, Willem and Joan Blaeu, heard of the manuscripts through Sir John Scot of Scotstarvit, in Fife, and by 1630 they were negotiating for the sale of these maps. Some time after that the originals were sent to Amsterdam to be engraved. Many of the originals turned out to be too fragile to engrave and this meant there are gaps in the coverage of Scotland. Some of Pont's original maps were returned and passed to Robert Gordon of Straloch, Aberdeenshire, who prepared further drafts for Blaeu to print in his "Atlas Novus". Fortunately many original Pont manuscript maps survived their travels in and out of Scotland and are now held in the Map Library of the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh.

It is difficult to see what a great achievement this is with these few examples, if you go to the web site below you can take your time and go through all the surviving maps and magnify them to see the detail. If you click on the maps here they will magnify and you can see some details, the coloured maps are the ones modified and used for the Atlas but the rougher looking ones .........these are the original hand drawn maps by Pont. I do have more of these saved in an album here
http://forgetmenot525.multiply.com/photos/album/210/Pont_maps_of_scotland


http://www.nls.uk/pont/generalnew.html