Remember These?

 Do you recognize  these from your childhood?

Then you probably grew up in the U.K before 1960

Summer Staycation Art

 Summer in England is going to be controlled by the pandemic.

 Boris has messed up again by failing to close the borders allowing a dangerous Indian  covid mutation to enter the UK and spread. 

 This year we have arranged to go on vacation in England. A couple of hours in the car to a nice hotel in Aldeburgh in Suffolk

 No manic airport, no testing , no worries about that group coughing in the swimming pool or putting their unwashed hands into the dinner buffet.

A room with a sea view, six delicious dinners and breakfasts, nice little shops and cafes and a trip to one of the other nearby villages.

The Way We Were

  Here are some of my favourite paintings of summertime in England with reminders of how holidays used to be.

                                              

                                         

Two Women in a Garden by Eric Ravilious


This reminds of the days before frozen peas when sitting in the garden shelling home grown peas was a job usually given to me. I hated finding maggoty ones.

                                              

                                             

Sea Shore by Mary Fedden

 Family holidays spent on the east coast included my Dad buying us shrimping nets like these along with buckets and spades. Catching little crabs in the rocks was a great excitement.

                                                   

                             

Dandelions by William Nicholson


Picnics in the Cotswolds were popular with my family ,cheaper than cafes which were few and far between. Sandwiches, boiled eggs, home made cake and flasks of tea would be eaten sitting on a rug in a field like this. Blowing dandelion clocks were part of the fun.

                                                

Cambridge, St John's Bridge by Gwen Raverat, an LNER poster design

                               This is very close to where I live now.

Many people travelled by train to holiday destinations in the U.K. encouraged by posters of attractive places

                                             

 

I do not know who this painting is by  but it reminds me of my grandmother preparing to cook fish.

                                                                      

           

                                     Roses by Diana Armfield.

This artist is 100 years old this year. Her paintings of flowers and the country side are exquisite examples of a loose style of of art work. Reminders of the jugs of flowers from the garden my mother would have around the house in the summer.

Swimming by Janet Cockerill
Warmer days would offer opportunities to swim either in the sea or at a local lido.

       

                           

Green Fields by Joan Eardley



A Scottish painters work. Cliff top walks were a bracing afternoon activity by the sea.

                                                                       

Heat Wave, Janet Cockerill


Where ever you are going let us hope for a heat wave so we can all get our feet into the sea. 

Travelling Home for Christmas

 

Most of us will not travelling anywhere this Christmas while the Covid 19 pandemic is still with us. Some sentimental illustrations for you dear readers to remind you of the way we were.

Home for the Holidays, Norman Rockwell

                         

                     

Murder on The Orient Express,Book Cover

                          

                                                 

Cambridge Market, Janet Cockerill

                                            

                                                    
                                                

The Toy Shop by Timoleon Marie Lobrichon

                                            

                                            

                     

Coach Ride, Anton Pieck

                                  

                                        

 

Westminster Bridge,London

Burlington Arcade, Piccadilly, London

                          

                           

                                         

Evening Sleigh Ride, Beinke Fritz

                          

                         

The Spirit of Christmas, Regent Street, William Heath Robinson

                   

                   

Going to School, Janet Cockerill

                                      

                           

                        

Piccadilly Snow

                            

                                                       

A Good Cause, Janet Cockerill

                 

After a Hard Day, Janet Cockerill

Frozen, Janet Cockerill

Blizzard in New York, Janet Cockerill

Wherever you are and however you are getting there I wish you all  Happy Holidays with your loved ones. This piece of music is an old favourite ,Sleigh Ride by Leroy Anderson.This must be viewed on the web version if you looking at this blog on your phone.

                                                               

Destitution and Poverty?After Covid 19

 This morning a commentator suggested that a result of the loss of incomes and closure of work places  will result in destitution and poverty for many people.

In case you have never seen these scourges this is how some artists have drawn them

                                                     

                                                                        

                                            The Stone Breakers ,Courbet

                                                     

                                        

                                     Beggars At The Door, Rembrandt

                                                                          

                                          Brot, Kathe Kollwitz     

                                             

                                         The Absinthe Drinker, Degas

                                          

                                  Tenement Children, Joan Eardley

                                                                                         

                                                                

                                                                        

                                          

                                        Slum Children Joan Eardley

Plague,Disease,Death, how artists have reacted.

The world is facing a new plague,Covid19,these are some paintings and illustrations from the past showing how artists reacted in their own time to similar disasters.
                                                                        

Death Seizing a Mother by Kathe Kollwitz,1934

                                                                            

                                                                     

The last great pandemic, Influenza 1918

                                                                 

The Doctor,Luke Fildes, 1891

                                                                               

Applicants for Admission to a Casual Ward, Luke Fildes 1891

                                                     

Diptheria,Richard Cooper Tennant

Widowhood

                                                                          

Snow Scenes,Favourites Ancient and Modern

Painted Winter

We have not had any serious snow in the UK yet, I love it as long as it does not go on for too long.As soon as there is some snowfall I go out with a camera to find suitable views to turn into paintings.Given that I live in a city with many lovely old buildings that is not hard.
Winter snow scenes remind me of memories of Christmas, friends and family returning home ,and the cool, cold silence and peace that a deep fall of snow imparts.
 Many famous artists have painted snow scenes , here are some of my favourites.

                                       

                                                                   

Winter Landscape ,Rowland Hilder

                                                     
                                                   

Painting by Jack Sorenson

Cover for The New Yorker 1942

 Village Scene Christmas Card by Evynd Earle

Snow Scene ,Pissaro

Hunters in The Snow ,Breughal the Elder

Blizzard by Nina Macquire

Returning Home, Ellison Hoover

City Under Snow by Anton Piek