The Light of the World

Hi folks! I hope that this finds you well.

As it is Lent, I just wanted to share with you this painting I did a while ago on recycled wood. I used oil paints and have recently varnished it with a 50:50 % turps and linseed oil mix.

I copied William Holman Hunt’s original, entitled The Light of the World. It depicts Jesus preparing to knock on an overgrown and long-unopened door, and echoes the passage from Revelation 3:20: «Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me».

Notice that the door in the painting has no handle, and can therefore be opened only from the inside, representing «the obstinately shut mind”.

My version of Hunt’s ***Light of the World***.
(Oils on recycled wood. The painting is about 1 & 1/2 m high.)

And here is the man himself:

**William Holman Hunt** (London, 2 April 1827 – 7 September 1910)

Hunt was an English painter and one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. His paintings were notable for their great attention to detail, vivid colour, and elaborate symbolism.

Well, To end this blog, I’m including a special prayer for Lent, for those who might be observing this special season of prayer, meditation, reflection, charity, fasting and abstinence, confession and the general preparation of the body, mind and spirit for conversion at Easter.

Lenten Prayer for Spiritual Renewal (taken from Catholic Online)

God, heavenly Father,
look upon me and hear my prayer
during this holy Season of Lent.
By the good works You inspire,
help me to discipline my body
and to be renewed in spirit.

Without You I can do nothing.
By Your Spirit help me to know what is right
and to be eager in doing Your will.
Teach me to find new life through penance.
Keep me from sin, and help me live
by Your commandment of love.
God of love, bring me back to You.
Send Your Spirit to make me strong
in faith and active in good works.
May my acts of penance bring me Your forgiveness,
open my heart to Your love,
and prepare me for the coming feast
of the Resurrection of Jesus.

Lord, during this Lenten Season,
nourish me with Your Word of life
and make me one
with You in love and prayer.

Fill my heart with Your love
and keep me faithful to the Gospel of Christ.
Give me the grace to rise above my human weakness.
Give me new life by Your Sacraments, especially the Mass.

Father, our source of life,
I reach out with joy to grasp Your hand;
let me walk more readily in Your ways.
Guide me in Your gentle mercy,
for left to myself I cannot do Your Will.

Father of love, source of all blessings,
help me to pass from my old life of sin
to the new life of grace.
Prepare me for the glory of Your Kingdom.
I ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You
and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever.

Amen.

——————————————-

Happy Lent and happy week to you!

Bye for now — take care xxx

The door and Rabindranath Tagore

Hi folks! I hope that you are well…

I just wanted to share a photo with you of a small door that I painted some time ago. Now that the oil paints have dried thoroughly, I am going to varnish it with shellac. The door is from an old wooden dresser of hip-height, and is a style typical of Spain (I live in Córdoba). Unfortunately, apart from having been weather-beaten and sorely neglected, it was definitely rough around the edges, a testament to its antiquity. I hadn’t mistreated it, but found it in this state lying on top of a load of rubble in a skip. I love to hunt out these small treasures and then breathe a little life into them.

So here it is:

The wood is solid beech, and it weighs about 2 kilos. (I am selling it though, if anyone’s interested…)

I couldn’t end this post without including a poem by the Indian poet, Rabindranath Tagore, who mentions a door in his lovely poem, The Gardener.

The Gardener

Who are you, reader, reading my poems an hundred years hence?

I cannot send you one single flower from this wealth of the spring, one single streak of gold from yonder clouds.

Open your doors and look abroad.

From your blossoming garden gather fragrant memories of the vanished flowers of an hundred years before.

In the joy of your heart may you feel the living joy that sang one spring morning, sending its glad voice across an hundred years.

Rabindranath Tagore (7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) a Bengali from Calcutta, was poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. In 1913 he became the first non-European and the first lyricist to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. His poetic songs were viewed as spiritual and mercurial; however, his «elegant prose and magical poetry» remain largely unknown outside Bengal.

For a brief biography and summary of works, see this link.

Well, that’s all for now.

Thank you for visiting. As usual, your comments are always welcome — I love to interact with my ‘visitors’.

Take care xxx

The cork oak tree and pigs!

Hi folks! I hope you are keeping well.

Here is a photo of a cork oak tree taken from my morning’s walk in the countryside of Posadas (Cordova province in Andalusia). The photo’s a bit dark because rain’s expected (at long last, we’re having serious drought here!). You can see the red-brown trunk which has been exposed after the cork has been harvested.

Pigs love to eat the acorns that drop from its boughs:-

To see more photos of the oak trees and the PAINTINGS I do on the cork, you can click here.

Well, that’s all for now…

Thank you for visiting. Take care! xxx

Beautiful Christmas Nativity paintings

Hello all!

I just wanted to share a few Nativity scene paintings that I stumbled across the other day when surfing the net. They are by contemporary artists. I just love the tenderness, gentleness and unity that they portray.

(I do hope I’m not infringing any copyrights, but I have linked the names of the painters with their brief bios and also the sites where their work is available, if that’s any compensation!)

So here they are:-

(One of my favourites! A very young-looking Mary, as she was purported to be.) **Morgan Weistling**

I’m afraid I don’t know who the artist of this lovely painting is, so sorry again if I’m infringing any copyrights, but it is so nice with its romantic and definitely Jewish twist!!!

At this point, I’m also going to include an oil painting that I did 20 years ago. It is a copy of William Hunt’s (Pre-Raphaelite) Light of the World. However, I wasn’t happy with the way I had painted Jesus’ eyes; also some of the paint had disintegrated due to being exposed to dripping rain water which I hadn’t noticed because the painting was in my ‘attic’ — so last week I took it along to my art class in Posadas (Cordova), and my very-talented teacher, Antonio Peso, helped me out. Thank you, Antonio!

The Light of the World (1851–1853) is an allegorical painting by the English Pre-Raphaelite artist William Holman Hunt (1827–1910) representing the figure of Jesus preparing to knock on an overgrown and long-unopened door, illustrating Revelation 3:20: «Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me».

According to Hunt: «I painted the picture with what I thought, unworthy though I was, to be divine command, and not simply a good subject.»

The door in the painting has no handle, and can therefore be opened only from the inside, representing «the obstinately shut mind» — Wikipedia.

My **Light of the World**. (Oil on recycled wood, later treated with linseed and turps mix, 50:50 %)
You can just spy Antonio in the background, bending over slightly as he coaches another of the students!

And to end with, here’s a lovely Christmas Carol — In the Bleak Mid-Winter (compiled or hung by Sarah J Allen, I think). The words to this carol were originally written by the English writer from the Pre-Raphaelite movement, Christina Rossetti (1830-1894).

Here are the lyrics:

In the bleak midwinter
Frosty wind made moan
Earth stood hard as iron
Water like a stone
Snow had fallen
Snow on snow on snow
In the bleak midwinter
Long, long ago.

Angels and Archangels
May have travelled there
Cherubim and Seraphim
Thronged the air
But only his Mother
In her maiden bliss
Worshiped the beloved
With a kiss.

What can I give him?
Poor as I am
If I were a shepherd
I would give a lamb
If I were a wise man
I would do my part
But what I can I give him
Give him my heart
Give him my heart.

Happy Christmas to everyone! May the peace and love of Christ and his Holy family reign in our hearts and dwell amongst us all! xxx

The Arquito holy arch of Posadas village (Cordova)… and gold leaf in painted glass

Today is the 13^th and this reminds me of the legend of the mystical arch — el Arquito — that we have here in our local village of Posadas. This Little Arch, dating back to the Gothic 13^th century was also known as Puerta del Levante, The Eastern Gate of the castle that once stood on this land. It is located in the Morería neighbourhood of Posadas village, which dates back to 500 AD, and was an area formerly occupied by the Jews and Moors. In 2006 it was declared an Asset of Cultural Interest (BIC), also forming the stage set of many films such as Guerreras Verdes (Green Warriors) starring Carmen Sevilla and Sancho Gracia.

El Arquito — the medieval arch which once formed the Eastern Gate of a former castle

Below this medieval archway lie the remains of an old door of the former medieval castle, the last towers of which fell in 1791. There was also a window with a turntable where, in more recent years, abandoned children destined for the Charity Hospital were placed. They were either adopted or left to suffer a worse fate…

You can see the little window with a grille where there was once a turntable on which abandoned babies would be placed

Above The Arch there is a balcony with a railing behind which is a little shrine presided over by the Virgen de los Remedios(The Virgen of Remedies).

The statue dates back to the 16^th century, and the shrine adjoins an old former chapel also of the same antiquity, La Capilla de la Caridad (Charity Chapel). This now houses the beautifully-kept, whitewashed, rustic, wooden-beamed tourist office. (I wonder if I’ve got my adjectives in the right order?…)

The building with the old wooden door was once the Charity Chapel, La Capilla de la Caridad, and is now the tourist office. You can see the green ribbons hanging from the shrine above

Certain mystical qualities are attributed to this Arquito and many fervent prayers are offered to The Virgin Mary by devotees asking for cures and protection from bad luck.

The special day to make such supplications is any Tuesday that coincides with the 13^th, on which day the devotee will pass under the archway three times, each time reciting the Hail Mary before making their petition. If their prayer is answered, then they hang a green ribbon from the balcony railings in acknowledgement and gratitude. (Sure enough there are numerous little strips of green material fluttering from the balcony!) Flowers are also deposited before her on her saint’s day, and on each second Sunday of October she is paid a visit.

There still exists the saying in Posadas: ‘Ese es más viejo que el Arquito’, which means ‘Him — he is older than the Arch’.

For a more detailed and very interesting account of the Arquito and its intriguing history based on authentic documents from the early 19^th century (as well as more on the history of Posadas village) see the blog of Gabriel Martín entitled The Abandoned Infants of the Foundling Home of Posadas in the 19th Century. (Good practise for your Spanish but I think you can use Google translate. The black and white photos do summarise its sad story.)

There are other mystical legends pertaining to the neighbouring villages of which I have already written about in previous blogs: Hornachuelos (the enchanted convent of Santa Maria de los Ángeles) and Almodovar del Río (the haunted medieval castle). However, suffice to say that these villages (as well as Cordova town) have their share of intrigue and certainly a lot to offer, be it in the way of nature, sport, culture, history and tales. The people — a very interesting mix of Latin-Iberian with strong Arabic roots (seen also in their cuisine) are warm, friendly, welcoming, laid-back, though at the same time hard-working.

However, to finish on a similar spiritual note, I just wanted to share with you the effects of gold leaf behind glass painting, such as a religious-themed one I did yonks ago and am thinking of repeating (this technique — that is, if my glass paints haven’t all dried out over the long, hot 45°C summers!).

Gold leaf behind the painting (which is painted with glass paints on an old pane of glass) really illuminates the rich colours, especially when the light falls on it.

I stuck the gold leaf with mixtion behind the glass once I had finished the painting (using glass paints applied via a pipette, and lead contour paste). I then sealed the gold leaf with a couple of coats of shellac varnish. The gold leaf has the beautiful effect of illuminating the jewel-coloured paints when the light or sun falls on it and is reminiscent of the golden letters in the Illuminated Manuscripts which were produced in monasteries between 500 AD and 1600 AD, and the highly-decorated Book of Hours — a devotional book ‘crucial to the development of Gothic illumination’, produced in the 13^th century. Really worth a peruse and serving as an inspiration for colours, gold and intricacy!

Happy painting! Take care xxx

Caterpillars, Cordovan roof tiles and Wordsworth’s daffodils

Hello again! I hope this finds you all well.

As usual, I’ve been busy these days both flicking off caterpillars from my plants and painting (not at the same time though), as you can see in the following photos:

And here they are! Steadily munching their way through my broad bean plantlets!!!

Ouch! My poor iris, suffering a beheading from the merciless jaws of the caterpillar. (What wonderful in-focus photography, ha ha!)

But I did manage to rush to the iris’s rescue before it was all devoured, taking it inside with me to safety! (These are the tall irises, not the **dwarf ones** **irises** **that I talked about in my previous blog**.)

And being inspired by all the springy buds that are opening around me, I couldn’t resist trying to immortalise these by painting them on an old clay roof tile

And while recalling this ‘host of golden daffodils‘, how could I not end with the daffodil poem written by the English Romantic poet, Wordsworth.

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud by William Wordsworth (7 April 1770 – 23 April 1850, Cumberland, England)

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o’er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

The waves beside them danced; but they

Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:

A poet could not but be gay,

In such a jocund company:

I gazed—and gazed—but little thought

What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils.

————————————–

Thank you for visiting — take care! xxx

Happy St Valentine’s!

A copy of *John Everett Millais*‘ — The Huguenot, which was one of my first oil paintings that I had a bash at. I used oils on wood, though I made the mistake of diluting them too much with turps which had the effect of matting the colours — but not bad for that first attempt a few years ago. The height is about 1.5 m

Happy Valentine’s Day…

… although the above painting , however tender and sweet it may seem, might not really be so… Read on…

The Huguenot was painted by John Everett Millais in 1852. It is also known as A Huguenot, on St. Bartholomew’s Day, Refusing to Shield Himself from Danger by Wearing the Roman Catholic Badge.

The Huguenots were French Protestants who were persecuted because of their religion. This painting refers to their massacre of 3,000 Protestants in Paris (and 20,000 in the rest of France) on St. Bartholomew’s Day in 1572. In order to protect themselves and escape the danger they had to wear white armbands, one of the Roman Catholic symbols. The rise of Protestantism in France in the sixteenth century resulted in hostility from the Catholics which eventually gave rise to a series of religious conflicts knows as The French Wars of Religion.

I think the painting speaks for itself. Though soft and sweet in its appearance, especially where the girl is devotedly tying the ‘catholic’ armband on her lover to keep him out of harm, if one analyses the painting, it is not so sweet and simple: the main colours are dark, except for the brightness of the white band, which depicts that this is the only light and hope, shining out from the surrounding darkness and uncertainty, and without this there is death. The fallen petals that lie on his shoe and on the ground indicate hopelessness and the deathly fate of their love, while the Canterbury bells signify faith and constancy…

And here is a photo of the artist himself:

John Everett Millais (England 1829-1896) Wiki

John Everett Millais was a child prodigy who, at the age of 11 was the youngest to enter the Royal Academy Schools and later was one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood ( a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 who painted abundant detail, intense colours and complex compositions of Quattrocento Italian art, basing many of their themes on romanticism, nature, history, legends, stories, fables and religion).

See more of his lovely (subjective!) paintings here

One of his paintings (oil on canvas, painted in 1886) was later used as the original advert for Pears soap:-

Hurrah for Pre-Raphaelite paintings!… but I’m sorry that my Valentine’s Day theme had a bit of morose side to it…

Anyway, here’s to hoping that you have a nice Valentine’s Day, not forgetting that originally Valentine cards were made by children for their MOTHERS!!!

xxx

Art, art and more art in the village of Posadas and Cordova town!

Hi folks! Hope this finds you all in good health and spirits!

‘ART‘ has been the key word for Cordova (Córdoba) and my neighbouring village of Posadas these last couple of weeks.

Let me explain: the whole ‘art thing’ kicked off two weeks ago with the annual fast-painting competition in Cordova. The objective was to paint a picture of one of the town’s iconic patios in a maximum of eight hours. As you might already know, the patios of Cordova are famous for their balconies replete with hanging geraniums, pot plants, fountains, orange trees, pillars etc. (You can see my earliest blog for photos of typical patios, houses and courtyards.)

There were many talented, long-standing artists — and then there was my daughter too. (She likes a challenge, but I think she was also motivated by the first, second and third prizes of 5000, 3000 and 1000 euros!) At the ripe old age of twenty-two, she had never entered an art competition before, neither used acrylics, nor painted on a big canvas (56 cm x 70 cm, I think). Needless to say, she didn’t win, but I just couldn’t resist putting up the photos of her painting!

Artist at work, painting in one of Cordova’s typical patios decorated in white and bluey indigo

Her friend’s panting propped up against the well in the background…

… and this little fella was wandering around, presumably trying to help!

The final product, after 7 hours of painting and later hung on her wall, alongside her ‘father-in-law’s’ watercolour of the entrance to the Great Mosque/Cathedral

But this was not the only art event. Last week there was an invitation to the artists of the village of Posadas to display their works. This included items of crochet (photos of which I included in my last blog), as well as graffiti art, paintings on buildings and on the underpass below the rail tracks. (Posadas is well-communicated, with the train taking only eighteen minutes to Cordova, or in the other direction, fifty-five minutes to Seville.)

A crochet ‘banner’ hung on the façade of the Ermita de Jesús

Here are some photos of the street paintings — they were taken by one of the locals of Posadas, Paco Martinez Herrera, a great painter, photographer, nature-lover and hiker! I asked his permission first, knowing that his photos are a class above mine (he has some lovely shots on his Facebook). Anyway, here are some of the village paintings:

This was painted on one of the council buildings

The above and below paintings were on one of the buildings in the periurban park of the Sierrezuela in the hills adjacent to Posadas.

The underpass below the rail tracks was also painted using spray paints:

And in more detail…

There were even bird cut-outs flying above the Plaza de la Estación (Station Square), where my good friend Rosa runs a little bar, ‘Las Ciervas’ (The Deer), on the corner. The trees, by the way, are melias, commonly known as Pride of Persia. (But more about the nature, culture, history and my life here in Posadas and Cordova, in my book An English Lady in Cordova — the ‘Alternative’ Guide, if you like…)

And now for my humble effort at photography: the bird below was painted on the water tower of the neighbouring village, Rivero de Posadas, which lies at about 9 km (9.6 mi.) west of Posadas:

So over the last few days we have been treated to these beautiful works of art which will remain, decorating the village. Over the many years that I have been here, I have come to learn and appreciate the talent that you can find among the locals — from those who pursue art, crochet, needlework, lace-making, basket weaving to actors, musicians, singers, astrologers, mycologists, sports people, anthropologists, botanists, authors, etc., etc., etc., — and all found within a populace of approx. 7,350! One doesn’t get bored here! I’m eagerly waiting for my crochet and lace-making classes with the ‘abuelas’ (grandmothers) to restart…

And here’s how to get to Posadas: (taken from the city council’s page):

Posadas is just 35 km (22 mi.) SW of Córdoba and approx. 100 km (62 mi.) NE of Seville

Anyway, by the time I got home, as if to wind up the lovely, colourful day the sky had also decided to display its own work of art…

The view from my country abode when I arrived home

Well, that’s it for now!

Thank you for reading — comments and questions always welcome — and take good care of yourselves! xxx

And my thanks once again to Paco Martinez Herrera for lending me his artistic photos and to the ‘ayuntamiento’ (council) for hosting the show!

What I’ve been up to these days (in and around my country abode of Posadas in Cordova)

Hi folks! Firstly, I hope this finds you all in good health and spirits — these are difficult and testing times that we are living. We all have to get on as best we can and keep our spirits up, not just for ourselves, but those around us. After all, we are all brothers and sisters, aren’t we?

Anyway, I haven’t written for a while because I have fallen in love…

… fallen in love with these acrylic paint pens that I bought a little time ago and I just can’t be parted from them…

So I wanted to share with you some of the things that I’ve painted since last I wrote…

Some of the smaller ‘golden’ stones with the flower motifs would be good as mosaic pieces, while the larger ones could serve as paperweights. I have written a description of where I got the stone from on the back, as a memento:–

Though the paint is water-resistant, I will be varnishing them before I then put them up for sale on my online shop and also a tourist shop in the Judería (Old Jewish Quarters) in Cordova town — that is, when the shop reopens again. Fingers crossed! (If you’re interested in any, then do let me know!)

We had a couple of promising cooler days last week where the temperatures only reached 33° C (= 91.4° F) so I painted outside in my D-garden. As you can see, I had some help (?) from my faithful friends, Sebastian and Little Grey.

However, temperatures have since risen to the 38° C mark (104° F), so I paint upstairs in my craft room, surrounded by heaps of inspiration, even if it is a little noisy due to the whirring and whining of the two inverters that have just been screwed to the wall and coupled up with the solar panels we have. (The price of electricity is EXORBITANT in Spain, notably so if you have 3-phase agricultural supply like we have. Our socialist president, Pedro Sanchez, really should do something about it, especially if he wants to win the next elections, which might be sooner than he thinks due to his handling of the Covid situation.)

Anyway, since painting stones has also involved quite a bit of sitting down, I decided that it was high time I went for a brisk walk, heat or no heat. So being a Sunday, I got up quite late, at around 8. (Also I slept late not only because of the evening heat that lingers, but because these days I usually end up doing some time of night-time vigil, watching over my vegetable patch as the wild boars still loom large. I usually hear the familiar grunts, but luckily the vegetables have remained unscathed. Fingers crossed again!)

And the aubergine’s steadily and safely growing, away from the boars’ tusks (even if a little out of focus!)

So I just thought I’d share with you a couple of photos from my dry, dusty walk in the neighbouring hills of the Sierrezuela. (If you’d like to know more about this area or see more photos, then you can check out some of my earlier blogs with Sierrezuela in the title. Sorry, still haven’t worked out how to put ‘Here’ to direct you straight to the link, unlike the many other of you who have managed to work it out…)