Tuesday 22 June 2021

Remember These?

 Do you recognize  these from your childhood?

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




























Sunday 13 June 2021

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. 



Thursday 10 December 2020

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.



                                                               

Thursday 15 October 2020

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


Sunday 15 March 2020

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

                                                                          

Monday 23 December 2019

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









Tuesday 19 November 2019

Selling my stuff,Ebay or Amazon?



My Cambridge Attic is still full of books


After a week of trying to set up an Amazon Selling account I have got absolutely nowhere.They keep telling me I have to send different documents to prove that I am me,
perhaps I should stick with my ebay account.

At least it has given me more time to select a few books to sell.

When the account is finally set up I shall start with these two.


                                                          

 This book published in 1985 is full of charming illustrations to well known poems
 about elves and fairies.



A more recent book is 


                                                      



I bought this book very recently,it is a very full account of modern still life .It was not quite what I wanted and I shall be selling it for a lot less than the £22 I paid for it.