My dream destination, where is it??

This is a cheap and not particularly good print on canvas of a photograph. I bought it in the supermarket with my groceries and it only cost £2.00 ( less than $5). I've noticed it sitting in a wire basket with a whole load of other cheap prints for the last couple of weeks. Every time I saw it I thought. ''yeah I want to be there''. This week it still sat in the basket but this time it was all on its own, so I bought it. I guess it's a bit of a dream for me, I'm pretty sure its one of the Greek Islands but I don't know which one, where ever it is...............it's where I want to be.

It looks a bit like Lindos, but its not, I've been to Lindos. Where is it?? I know someone will know, and then I can put a name to my dream destination.

Halloween Art Sunday; Goya.

For Halloween Art Sunday,

no one does it better than Goya.

‘’Francisco De Goya y Lucientes (b. March 30, 1746, Fuendetodos, Spain--d. April 16, 1828, Bordeaux, Fr.), consummately Spanish artist whose multifarious paintings, drawings, and engravings reflected contemporary historical upheavals and influenced important 19th- and 20th-century painters.

Like Velazquez, Goya was a Spanish court painter whose best work was done apart from his official duties. He is known for his scenes of violence, especially those prompted by the French invasion of Spain.

The series of etchings Los desastres de la guerra ("The Disasters of War", 1810-14) records the horrors of the Napoleonic invasion.

His masterpieces in painting include The Naked Maja and The Clothed Maja (c. 1800-05). He also painted charming portraits such as Senora Sabasa Garcia.’’

 more information

and the complete collection of Goya paintings go here.

http://www.franciscodegoya.net/

 

 

Song Saturday; Rod Stewart, Amy Belle and Chrissie Hynde

Rod Stewart, Amy Belle and Chrissie Hynde

Rod Stewart in his 'American Songbook' phase.  Amy Belle earned a living busking on the streets of Glasgow before she was spotted by a friend of Rod Stewart, and here she is performing live on stage with the man himself.

She was spotted by a friend of Rod Stewart's busking outside an underground station in Glasgow and within five days she was working alongside Rod and had been invited to appear at a special concert for the Prince's Trust.

The second video is Rod Stewart live on stage with his old friend  Chrissie Hynde

 

Beatles; Baby you're a rich man

Just about ready for my bed, it's very late, and this comes on the radio. OMG...........I think I was still at school when this was released ( recorded by The Beatles on 11 May 1967 at Olympic Sound Studios) and somehow all those years melt away and I'm right back there. Just had to share before going to bed :-)

 

Elton John and Leon Russell

Needs no introduction, this mans voice doesn't change over the years. So good to see these two guys together again after so long.

Art Sunday; Philippa Threlfall, public art.

The ceramic relief murals of
PHILIPPA THRELFALL

There is so much on this site its well worth a visit. I’m very lucky because I’ve visited a few local art exhibitions recently which set me thinking about how little art the average member of the public is exposed too.

For this reason I’ve always had a particular fondness for public art, commissioned public art is the only art many people get to see.

The public art of Philippa Threlfall is a particularly good example of art that is accessible to every one and it’s good to see that art of this quality is available to every one, all you need do to view it is to walk down the right street, work in the right office or go to the right school. I wish more public art was commissioned. 
All information and photographs taken from here.

http://www.philippathrelfall.com/

Philippa Threlfall has been making relief murals in ceramic since the 1960s. Together with her husband and partner Kennedy Collings she has completed over one hundred major works on sites all over the United Kingdom and overseas.

Some of these were made for private clients, but most were commissioned for display in public situations - shopping precincts, banks, building societies, an airport, hospital and office developments.

They lived and worked in Wells, Somerset, where they had a medieval cottage within the Liberty of Wells Cathedral. The property had been a cider house called Ye Blacke Dogge in the early seventeenth century, and Philippa and Kennedy named their business Black Dog after this medieval name.

The medium has always been terracotta and buff clays imprinted and textured and modelled in low relief.

The ceramic is fired right up at the top of the earthenware spectrum (over 1100°) with selectively applied glazes. Philippa always mixed her own glazes, using natural oxides producing soft rich colours which sink into the textured surface adding richness and detail. As well as ceramic, the murals often included natural stone, aggregate, pebbles and slate as in the detail shown here from Exploration Obelisk at Redcliffe Quay in Bristol.

The combination of stone and ceramic proved a vandal-proof surface, and the accessible subject matter and tactile qualities of the works has always seemed to attract a wide cross-section of people.

 

The Axe falls over Britain........cuts in public spending.

Does any one actually care what is happening in this country today??
Has anyone thought about the effect these spending cuts will have on the poorest people? Seems not, most people are too busy moralising about the ‘scroungers’ and benefit fraud and congratulating themselves on electing a government who is going to ‘crack down on cheats’.

Well here’s another way of looking at it, think about these statistics taken from the governments own statistics website;

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/

01% population own 21% of wealth 
05% population own 40% of wealth
10% population own 53% of wealth
25% population own 72% of wealth
50% population own 93% of wealth.

And then consider this;
THE POOREST 50% OF POPULATION SHARE ONLY 7% OF THE WEALTH
AND IT’S THOSE 50% OF POPULATION WHO OWN ONLY 7% OF THE WEALTH WHO ARE BEING TARGETED BY THE MASSIVE PUBLIC SPENDING CUTS.
Undoubtedly some of 50% of the population (who own only 7% of the wealth) ARE actually defrauding the system. BUT………….what they gain still doesn’t take them out of the poorest wealth owning group. The amounts they are defrauding the system is PEANUTS compared to the vast wealth held in the hands of the few. One of the worse aspects of this whole scenario is the determination of our government to return to the Victorian distinctions between the  ‘deserving poor’ and the ‘undeserving poor’, our society left these attitudes behind 150 years ago and now we are being driven back there.

SO………..my question to our government and to those who support them is. Alongside these savage cuts, what are you going to do to ensure a more egalitarian society and a better distribution of wealth? AND………if the poor are going to have to sacrifice so much, where are the plans to claw back some of the deficit from the rich?

The government is not targeting the rich; they are targeting, specifically, the disabled;

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/politics/postcards-from-the-edge-1.1062035##

Analysis: Tom Gordon,

Scottish Political Editor
17 Oct 2010
After months of speculation, the Chancellor will finally rise in the Commons this week to announce the Coalition’s Spending Review, lifting the lid on a Pandora’s box of brutal cuts unlike any seen in Britain since the 1920s…………………………………….
Already we know some £66bn will be cut from public services by 2016, and around £20bn extra raised in tax. It will be an unprecedented upheaval that will leave few untouched.
The recent furore over changes to child benefit revolved around savings of just £1bn. To find the other £65bn, Osborne will need to bulldoze the public sector landscape.
Swathes of benefits will be cut, new charges such as tuition fees imposed, quangos ignited, funding for beloved institutions slashed, the military shrunk, and thousands of public-sector jobs lost, with inevitable knock-on effects for the rest of the economy.

 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/8068568/Spending-review-To-cut-with-principle-is-the-right-approach.html

Some of the biggest cuts are going to be to the welfare budget. It has already been announced that child benefit will cease to be universal. The benefit will no longer be paid for any child over 16. There will be a radical shake-up of social housing, including an end to the right to stay in the same council house for life.
The guiding principle behind them seems to be the reintroduction of the distinction between the “deserving” and the “undeserving” poor.
The Coalition is going to target Disability Allowance: the aim is to force 400,000 of those claiming that benefit back into paid employment.

http://www.egovmonitor.com/node/38941

The Government’s proposed welfare reforms will see 3.5 million disabled people lose over £9.2 billion of critical support by 2015 pushing them further into poverty and closer to the fringes of society, according to "Destination Unknown" - a new report published by the think tank Demos.
Plans to move disabled people onto Job Seekers Allowance will account for half (£4.87 billion) of these losses.
Although actual spending cut details would only be available after the government publishes its spending review later on this month, based on government announcements until now, Demos has calculated that:
• Families with disabled children to lose over £3,000 each by 2015
* Couples where one partner acts as a carer to their disabled partner will lose more than £3,000 as a couple each by 2015
* Individuals moved from Incapacity Benefit to Job Seekers Allowance will lose nearly £9,000 each by 2015

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4e7946a2-d2ff-11df-9ae9-00144feabdc0.html

People with disabilities will have lost a total of more than £9bn in income by the end of this parliament, even ahead of any further benefit cuts in the spending review, according to Demos, the think-tank, and Scope, the disabled people’s charity.
The loss of income – which adds up to more than £3,000 by 2015 for some families – is the result of the benefit cuts already made in the Budget, plus plans to move existing claimants on incapacity benefit to either the new employment and support allowance, or jobseeker’s allowance, which requires them to look for work.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/oct/17/george-osborne-spending-review-cuts

Osborne is expected to outline £83bn of cuts, the most drastic reductions in state spending since the second world war. The detailed impact of the cuts became clearer today as the Observer revealed reductions of around 30% to the justice system, involving cuts to the legal aid budget and the closure of 150 courts.

 

 

Weekend music, Rolling Stones, She's like a Rainbow.

I heard this on the radio and it took me back.
This used to be one of my favourite songs and I havn't heard it for ages, I think its one of those songs that is so .. much of that time

art Sunday; Dan Colcer, Romanian artist in America.

DAN COLCER

Romanian artist, born in Hunedoara, Transylvania in 1976 and established in United States in since 2006.
1999-2000 - Cairo University, Department of Archaeology, Cairo - Egypt.
1994-1999 - University of Arts, Department of Ceramics, Cluj-Napoca - Romania.
He has exhibited in many  group shows in Romania, America and many other countries.
Exhibited in  Art Festivals, Art Camps around the world.
A Member of Romanian Artists Union since 2000
Work is hung in  museums and private collections in Sweden, Holland, Hungary, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Romania, France, United States...
This man is a prolific worker, he produces photography, ceramics, graphic arts, graphic design, web design, experience-performance arts, installation, murals, and of course PAINTINGS..............as shown here. These paintings are almost, but not quite, cartoonish, or have a comic book look about them. On the surface many of them seem bright, colourful and pleasing to they eye. On closer inspection they feel dark and brutal. I think this man is talented and produces work that is not easily defined.

See more of his collection of paintings, ceramics and photographs here
http://www.dancolcer.ro/


 

I've just found my oldest and biggest fish dead on the ground about 6 mts away from the pond. It looks as if something has had a bit of a nibble around the poor fishes mouth. What does this? Is it birds, we have lots of gulls around here,or is it cats? I thought if an animal caught the fish to eat all of it would have been eaten. This is the seond time this has happened, if you remember I found the white fish with the gold head dead on the grass back in the summer. I don't qiuite know what to do about this problem. Down to three fish for over wintering now. :-((

Seaton Cliffs October 2010

More reasons never to move away from the sea.

Rough Seas

I just happened to be out walking one day last week when I came upon this scene with the waves breaking over the road. It was unexpected, the weather was not particularly windy or cold and I didn't realise that it was time for one of the highest tides of the year. I love the sea, especially when it looks like this and I really don't think I could bear to live inland....EVER!!!

Art Sunday; Harris Tweed.

I have been out and about this weekend; I went to a small art exhibition of local artists and stopped by a couple of craft shops selling local hand made goods. While at the art exhibition I found myself in conversation with a couple who were on holiday in the area but had lived all their lives in the small Hebridian Island of Harris.

As we talked, the conversation turned to the remarkable success of the islands best known export, Harris Tweed. When you think of Harris Tweed you aromatically conjure up images of men in hunting jackets out amongst the heather shooting pheasant, well I have to tell you, the product has changed.

All of the quality remains, all of it is still hand made on the Islands but the patterns and designs are not restricted to the traditional mens wear, now you can find soft furnishings, ladies fashion and accessories all made out of Harris Tweed in every colour and pattern imaginable. This is genuinely a local cottage craft practiced by artisans that became a global export industry.

From the website
http://www.harristweedhebrides.com/

Harris Tweed has been described as “the Champagne of fabrics” and;
 is the only fabric in the world governed by  its own Act of Parliament.
This legal status was reached in a 1993 Act of Parliament (before this Harris Tweed was protected by Common Law Trademark Certification) and this legislation underpins the unique status of Harris Tweed.

The law decrees that genuine Harris Tweed must be made from pure virgin wool which has been dyed and spun on the islands and handwoven at the home of the weaver in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. The cloth is then returned to the mill for finishing. Only then can it be given the famous Orb stamp which authenticates it. Each piece of tweed can be traced back to the individual home weaver.

Harris Tweed is about quality and style as well as history and heritage.  It is the fabric of choice for many of the world’s leading designers as well as their most discerning clients.

And while best-known for its role as a fashion fabric, Harris Tweed is also used increasingly by discerning designers for interiors, furnishings and accessories.

In the mid-19th century, the Isle of Harris was owned by the Earl of Dunmore and his wife, Lady Dunmore, who first saw the potential for selling this fabric, produced by the tenants on their looms, to her acquaintances in London.

As its reputation grew, and Harris Tweed was embraced by royalty, the industry had to adapt to commercial production, while maintaining the crucial requirement that it must be handwoven at the home of the weaver.
Success led to imitations and legal protection was sought for the genuine article.

The Harris Tweed Association was formed in 1909 and the adoption, a year later, of the world-famous Orb trade mark, which authenticates genuine Harris Tweed. This provided common law protection as a certification trademark and this provided the basis for The Act of Parliament which was finally passed in 1993.

As Harris Tweed boomed, the Hattersley domestic loom was introduced in the 1930s and could be found in more than 1000 Hebridean homes for the next half century. The industry brought prosperity to the island economy when there was little else to sustain it.

With fashion and lifestyle changes, there was a decline in sales from the 1980s. In response to market demands, a double-width handloom was developed and then introduced in the 1990s, bringing a period of stability to the industry.

However, there was a desperate need for improved marketing and new ideas. The Shawbost mill closed in 2005, was taken over by the new company Harris Tweed Hebrides in 2007 and we now account for over 90 per cent of Harris Tweed production. Like Harris Tweed itself, a great Hebridean success story!

In the mid-19th century, the Isle of Harris was owned by the Earl of Dunmore and his wife, Lady Dunmore, who first saw the potential for selling this fabric, produced by the tenants on their looms, to her acquaintances in London.

As its reputation grew rapidly, and Harris Tweed was embraced by royalty, the industry had to be adapted to commercial production – while still maintaining the crucial requirement that it must be handwoven at the home of the weaver.

Success led to imitations and legal protection was sought for the genuine article. The Harris Tweed Association was formed in 1909 and the adoption, a year later, of the world-famous Orb trade mark, which authenticates genuine Harris Tweed. This provided common law protection as a certification trademark and this provided the basis for The Act of Parliament which was finally passed in 1993.

As Harris Tweed boomed, the Hattersley domestic loom was introduced in the 1930s and could be found in more than 1000 Hebridean homes for the next half century. The industry brought prosperity to the island economy when there was little else to sustain it.

Changing lifestyles led to a decline in sales from the 1980s onwards but the introduction of a double-width handloom was developed and introduced in the 1990s which bought a period of stability to the industry.

There was still a need to update ideas and designs. This resulted in the present company ‘Harris Tweed Hebrides’, which took over 90% of the business in  2007, branching out into accessories, ladies fashions and soft furnishings.