Rhodes 2005, my inspiration for the blue and white

These are just a couple of the photographs I took while in Rhodes a few years ago. I decided to post these now because this really was the inspiration for all the blue and white in my garden. I am slowly sorting through the rest of my Rhodes pictures and will post them soon.

What a nice day this has been. The weather was warm and sunny, no rain, I did loads in the garden, I've even managed to post a song and, some poetry and some art. AND NOW..... I think I'm heading for bed. Thanks for all your nice comments and little conversations throughout the day, will do my visiting tomorrow.............big yawns ... its been a long day, good night every one.

Art and Poetry for the weekend

This week I didn’t post any Poetry or Art, I’ve been a wee bit tied up in the garden. However; the garden is progressing nicely so here is some Poetry and Art for the weekend.

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (1892-1973)
 Tolkein was a Professor of literature and English, who became famous with his novel THE LORD OF THE RINGS (1954-55). From the about the mid-1960s his work seemed to take on a life of its own and his popularity spread worldwide. It developed almost a ‘cult’  following especially amongst younger people (of course we’ve all grown up now ) He was great friends with fellow Oxford Graduate and fantasy writer C.S. Lewis whose most famous for the Narnia series.

 Tolkien was born of British parents in South Africa, but moved with his mother to England when he was only three. He was orphaned while still young; he and his brother then went to live with his aunt in Birmingham. He turned out to be a very clever chappie and earned himself a first class honours degree in English language and English literature from Oxford. Tolkien saw action on the Somme during WW1 and returned home suffering from shell shock. It was while convalescing that he started to study early forms of language and work on SILMARILLION (published 1977). He spent the rest of his life expanded the mythology of his fantasy worlds.

In 1918 Tolkien joined the staff of New English Dictionary.
 In 1919 he was a freelance tutor in Oxford.
He worked as a teacher and professor at the University of Leeds.
In 1925 he became Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford
He was appointed Merton Professor of English at Oxford in 1945.
He retired in 1959.
His academic works included studies on Chaucher (1934)
And Beowulf (1937).

He developed a great interest in the Finnish national epos Kalevala, here he found ideas for his imaginary language Quenya and inspiration for several of his stories. The tragic figure of Kullervo from Kalevala partly inspired Tolkien's posthumously published work, Children of Húrin (2007). Most of the inhabitants of Tolkien's imaginary Middle-Earth were derived from English folklore and mythology, or from an idealized Anglo-Saxon past.

I Sit and Think

I sit beside the fire and think
of all that I have seen,
of meadow-flowers and butterflies
in summers that have been;

Of yellow leaves and gossamer
in autumns that there were,
with morning mist and silver sun
and wind upon my hair.

I sit beside the fire and think
of how the world will be
when winter comes without a spring
that I shall never see.

For still there are so many things
that I have never seen:
in every wood in every spring
there is a different green.

I sit beside the fire and think
of people long ago,
and people who will see a world
that I shall never know.

But all the while I sit and think
of times there were before,
I listen for returning feet
and voices at the door.
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien

To compliment Tolkien I have chosen a little known Australian artist Kim Nelson who produces fantasy type paintings.

I’m sure I have said before, fantasy art is not really my ‘thing’ but in this case I’ll make an exception. I can’t think of any thing else more suited to Tolkien than Fantasy art, and some of these I actually quite like.

He is a relative newcomer to the art world, he only began his  career in fine art in 1996.
Nelson was born in the Australian east coast town of Kiama, the fifth child of farming parents. He has literally drawn from the moment he could hold a pencil. His uncle is the Australian landscape artist Leonard Long.

After finishing  high school he attended live drawing classes for twelve months at the Julian Ashton Art School in Sydney, a studio with a reputation for its application to drawing.
Nelson started a ten year career in graphic design and advertising followed by another eight years as a manager/curator of museums and galleries, primarily for the National Trust of Australia. It was in1996 that he realizes his dream of becoming a full time practicing artist.

 

Song Saturday, Let the Sunshine in

Let the Sunshine In - Hair

Just found this, it’s not the best recording or piece of film, but these guys look like they are having so much fun, and there was a whole lot of sunshine about today.

The cast of Hair performs Let the Sunshine In at the Marriage Equality Rally in NYC May 17, 2009.

Most of the painting is finished !!!!

Most of the painting is finished !!!!

No rain today, I checked the weather forecast yesterday and it said showers later on in the afternoon, determined to beat the rain I was in my garden at 7am this morning!!!

It’s now 2.30 and the weather is still holding BUT; The painting is virtually finished, just a few odd bits will need touching up once it's dry.

My house looks like a tip, my dishwasher’s not emptied, I’ve not been to the shops, there’s no food in my cupboards, but who cares??? The painting is done!!

If you are not used to houses built this way it must look a bit odd. These houses are built as four flats /apartments to a block, two on the ground floor and two on the first floor (or first and second if you are American).

The block that I am in is on the corner and mine is the upstairs flat, my garden is the corner plot at the front of the building, the land at the rear of the building is communal land used for drying clothes.

The door to my flat is the white door at the top of the little steps. This door leads to my stairway and my flat is at the top of these internal stairs. The other doors are all blue, the blue door furthest right is my shed door, the next blue door is the door out to the communal land at the back, the third blue door facing into the garden is another small shed build under the area occupied by my stairs and the tiny blue door on the wall is to gain access to my electric meter.

Now I have my own little oasis of blue and white on the corner of my street, you can't miss my house now!!! Guess I should go shopping now that's finished.

Intruder in the Garden

Intruder in the Garden

I have been so preoccupied with getting things done in the garden I failed to notice I have an intruder. I can’t remember what I planted in this particular container, but what ever it was, it wasn’t this !!


What ever I planted………..it would have been a herb, mint or coriander or something, failed to thrive and withered away with out a trace. In its place grew this.

I have no idea what it is but I suppose I should go look it up and find out exactly who  my self seeding  intruder is.

Summer make over for the garden.

Remember this?? this is what it looked like at the end of the winter.

A complete pictorial progress report on the state of my garden. I've used lots of these in different blogs about my garden make over but I thought I would try to sort out the photos and get them all into one album, and all in some sort of order..........As progress continues, I will add more.
Just added pictures of the white and blue paint now that it's finished.

Good morning every one. Oh well; here we go again, another day in the garden. Time to start painting the doors blue I think. Hope it doesn't rain again today.

Progress in the garden.

MID JULY AND STILL STRUGGLING WITH THE GARDEN.

I’ve not spent a lot of time here recently; most of my time seems to be taken up trying to get the garden finished. 

The one thing I love about all this rain is the way it’s made the dandelions on my neighbours grass grow and bloom, and of course she’s not managed to cut the grass because of the rain. I keep taking photos of her grass with my mobile because I so love the look of it covered in bright yellow dandelions, and I know she will be out there mowing it all away soon.

My struggle with the white masonry paint continues and it’s developed into constant battle against the rain. It seems as soon as I manage to get a coat of paint on the walls the rain pours down and washes it all away before it has a chance to dry.  I am left with a big mess and as soon as the sun comes out………….I start all over again. I suppose some bits are beginning to look ok but ohhhh this is hard work. It is hard to get the paint to cover those walls, it’s messy, so much goes on the floor, so much goes all over me and it really does take an awful lot of paint. Already I’ve had to buy more paint, I never realised painting masonry is so difficult. BUT; I am beginning to see progress, when I look at some of it, especially the bits where I can see the white walls against the blue fences; I remember what the original vision was. When I stand back and look at the bigger picture the mess hits me all over again. I just have to hold that picture of the finished effect in my head and hang on to the belief that it WILL look the way I planned some day soon.

Just to make a change from wall painting, I did another spot of babysitting, and while I was babysitting’ my youngest grandson put on his joke Harry Potter glasses that squirt water out of the frame via a tube attached to a small pump in his hand. He thought this was joke of the century. I thought it was quite funny the first time, and the second time was ok…………..but after 20 or 30 times of being soaked from squirty Harry Potter glasses, well I guess I became grumpy old granny and lost my sense of humour.


Today, my friend from art Class took me out in the car again. We returned to the little tiny hamlet we found last week called Boddin and went in search of the Lime Kilns. I did some drawing and she did a painting and then we went for a wander. Today I did manage to get a shot of the ruined Salmon Station and the old Bothy with my mobile. The photos are not very good but it is the best I can do with out a proper camera.


I found something quite special on the beach today. It’s just a stone but it is a perfect replica of a large chickens egg!! This stone feels like an egg in your hand, it looks like an egg and it’s exactly the right size and shape. I did wonder if it could be a fossilised egg??


Anyhow……………..that just about concludes my busy schedule over the last week or so. And; the hard work is paying off…….it is looking better in the garden already and I suppose I’ve done the hardest part. It will be so nice to sit here and not think about which job I’m going to tackle next.

Just descovered its bloody hard work painting masonry paint onto a rough rendered wall !!!!! Painting blue fences was a piece of cake compared to this..................Hmmmmmmmm I could be away for a while !!!!!!!!

Art Sunday, Icelandic artist, Arnor G. Bieltvedt

THE INFORMATION / BLOG IS HERE
http://forgetmenot525.multiply.com/journal/item/365/Art_Sunday_Arnor_G._Bieltvedt

Art Sunday; Arnor G. Bieltvedt

Arnor G. Bieltvedt
FIND MORE OF HIS ART HERE

http://forgetmenot525.multiply.com/photos/album/244/Art_Sunday_Icelandic_artist_Arnor_G._Bieltvedt

Arnor G. Bieltvedt is an Icelandic Artist. He grew up in Iceland and  after graduating from high school he moved to Germany. He lived in Munich and Augsburg for three years and received his "Vordiploma" in Economics and Social Sciences, from the University of Augsburg.

He then moved to the United States to continue his studies. He studied at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, R.I., where he received a B.S. degree in Marketing and a M.S. degree in Managerial Technology. At that point, dispite having no formal art training, and after studying for years in other subjects,  Arnor decided to devote his life to art.

His love for art developed slowly and  naturally until Arnor decided his calling in life was to become an artist. He then started his studies all over again, gaining a B.F.A. degree in Painting from the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence and a M.F.A. degree in Painting from Washington University in St. Louis.

After finishing his studies Arnor served for seven years as Art Department Head at Logos School, a school for at risk students, in St. Louis.  The next five years, from 2001 to 2006 Arnor was Art Department Head, Art Instructor and Gallery Director at North Shore Country Day School in Winnetka, IL.


Currently Arnor serves as Visual Arts Department Chair and Gallery Director at Polytechnic School in Pasadena, California.  In the last decade Arnor's work has been shown extensively in the USA and Europe and he has enjoyed representation by many reputable galleries around the world  Arnor's paintings reside in private and public collections in the United States, Europe and Asia.
 Arnor Bielvedt works in a unique, neo-romantic expressionist style.

Emilíana Torrini (born May 16, 1977) is an Icelandic singer,

best known for her 1999 album Love in the Time of Science, and for performing "Gollum's Song", during the ending credits of Peter Jackson's film The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.

After the rain, more fences to paint.

After the rain, more fences to paint.

Yesterday I could not finish painting my fences because it started to rain, and rain, and rain, and rain…………………….

There had been a slight problem with the bath-pond, I had not sealed the overflow outlet properly and consequently, I needed to empty some water out and do some resealing. The good thing is…………..the rain helped fill it back up again.

I noticed my neighbours lawn yesterday…………..it is beautiful, absolutely covered in bright yellow dandelions, I just had to get a photo before she cuts her grass and gets rid of them. I know this is not what a lawn should look like but I think it is lovely, very pretty.

The rain stopped a few hours ago and I guess it could be dry enough for me to start painting fences again. All that rain has filled the bath-pond to the top AND the water is fantastically clear.

If I look at the fences I managed to paint yesterday I realise what a difference it makes, they are looking good.

But turn around and look at what needs doing and you can see why I must leave here and get back out into the garden…….NOW!!!