Coughs and Sneezes

"Coughs and Sneezes spread diseases
Trap yours in your handkerchief "

Sadly someone I may never know didn't do that, and I have gone down with such a nasty bug, that I could have picked up from anywhere!
Its why I have been absent from my blog - why my week's holiday has been spent cuddled up to the warmest of all nurses :)

Every cloud has a silver lining...



Another few days and I will hopefully be back to normal - and painting again!

Walkies

This will be we three in the next week, as we have the half term off.
Hopefully we won't have any snow...

we'll be taking the camera wherever we go and fingers crossed we'll have some lovely pictures to make paintings from later in the year.

Modern Art

Sometimes I do paint some pieces which might be called Modern Art..

Left alone to my own devices I might never had painted any such thing - but that's the joy of going to college and being given an assignment.. you have to do it. That stretches you and sometimes you find things you really enjoy..

here's my favourite two modern art pieces...

Visions of Blue




Five

Stained Glass

In our previous house, we had a wooden door as an entrance door.
Many moons back we had a stained glass window made for the door.
The amount of work in stained glass is phenomenal.
Take a look here at The Stained Glass Guild.

We couldn't take our door or panel with us, so I did the next best thing, and painted a picture of the panel .

The Peacock

The Legend of Stingy Jack

There is an old Irish legend, about a drunk called Stingy Jack.
This man tricked the Devil into not claiming his soul when he died, but being such a rogue was denied Heaven also. He was doomed to travel the darkness between Heaven and Hell for all eternity; with only an everlasting coal from the fires of Hell to provide him light on the road. This coal was placed into a hollowed out turnip and thus the first Jack O'Lantern was born. Full story here

When the Irish emigrated to the US at the time of the potato famine, they took the tradition of carving jack o'lanterns with them; but turnips were not as plentiful in the new land, so they started to carve pumpkins instead.
Read about the potato famine here.

Being half Irish, I knew the myth that was Stingy Jack, so when I decided to paint a picture of a carved pumpkin - what else could it be called, but "Theatrical Halloween"

All things Ancient Egyptian

Like many others, I have a fascination for all things Ancient Egyptian.
Last night I was watching a programme about a mummy that resides in Belfast, called Takabuti
It was a fascinating programme, though I had mixed feelings watching it.
Part of me wishes the mummies could have been left to rest in peace, but another part understands how they would have been lost for all time, given the trade by grave robbers at the "mummy markets" of the 1800s.

I once painted a picture of that most famous Ancient Egyptian, Tutankhamun which expresses my feelings.
The Mask is painted in black, white and shades of grey - with only the tear that runs down his face in the gold and blue colours of the real mask.
The title of the painting is "Rest in Peace", a privilege that can never be accorded the boy King - hence his sorrow.

Rest In Peace

Missy helps with painting.

Missy helps with painting. By posing as a model, you might think?
Not this time.
Missy was helping by making sure the dust sheet didn't move as we painted the walls in our lounge!

She's such a little precious..

Holding down the dust sheet




Waiting for a reward




this weekend's painting