Pictures on my walls

Not long before my Mum died she bought this watercolour picture and asked me to find out anything about the artist.  It is painted by Edward Renard, ARCA (Associate of the Royal College of Art) (1880 - 1909, what a short life) who was a Yorkshire painter and watercolour artist.  That's all I can find out.  I just love the detail of these figures.

I can remember my Mum buying this original sketch many, many years ago.  I don't know who he is and the picture is not everyone's cup of tea but I have always liked him and the picture has held a fascination for me.

He can be seen at you enter our house, not a very welcoming face!

I framed this baby's pillowcase several years ago too.  It belonged to my great grandmother.

Easy Like Saturday Morning

The perfect start to the day....

Wake up Henry.

Wake up Henry, it's time to play.

Then a walk along the beach.

It promises to be a lovely day.

Then home for breakfast.  Mmm, porridge, prunes and honey.  Delicious.

And a new copy of 'The Simple Things' pops through the letterbox.

Now off to the airport to collect my husband home.

This rather tatty postcard which I have had for many years says

My heart is so sad, my hopes so deferred
My nights pass so weary - the day's joy deterred
Whilst I pray for your safety - yet fear
All darling, because you're not here.

I was just thinking of all those people who will be enjoying Valentine's day together today yet so many others are separated from their loved ones who are in unsafe places.

This video looks so dated but I couldn't bear to listen to this when my husband was away whilst in the Navy.

 

Newlyn School of Art

We have been studying some of the artists who were involved with the Newlyn School of Art at my little art group.  I hadn't realised that there were about 130 artists who studied there between 1880 and the early twentieth century.  Newlyn (near Penzance in Cornwall) attracted artists because of its light, cheap living and availability of models.  Many of the artists were fascinated by the fishermen, their lives and their families.  Perhaps the most well known of the artists is Stanhope Forbes and his wife Elizabeth who later formed the 'Forbes School of Painting' in 1899 and promoted the study of figure painting.

Just look at the detail in these paintings of his

The Health of the Bride (1889).

  A Fish Sale on a Cornish Beach (1885)

The Saffron Cake (1920)

Going to School (1917)

The following paintings are by Elizabeth Forbes

School is Out (1889)

Blackberry Gatherers (1912)

Boy with a Hoe (1882)

Some of the artists, particularly Walter Langley, showed the hazards and tragedies associated with a fisherman's life with women looking anxiously out to sea or grieving when a loved one has drowned.  

For men must work and women must weep (1883)

Disaster ((1889)

The paintings I would love to feature here are too numerous but I will end with one of my favourites which is often used for greeting cards so you may recognise it.

The Beach by Dame Laura Knight (1909)

Meet Henry

(Sorry this is a little out of focus, it was taken on my phone)

I have been searching for a Schnoodle (Schnauzer crossed with a Poodle) for ages, well almost since my daughter had her Schnoodle, Bodhi.  They always seemed to be too far away or, when I did contact the owners, they were sold.  On Saturday evening I came upon an advert for some for sale about an hour away from us so on Sunday afternoon we drove over and came home with this little chap.  Well, how could I resist?

Bodhi is white and I have often seen black Schnoodles but never this colour; he looks just like a teddy bear! After much debate about a name we decided he looked like a Henry.  He is as good as gold and everyone adores him!  Life for Henry is playing hard

and sleeping a lot

I can't wait till he is old enough to go out for a walk with me.  This evening the sunset was beautiful as I walked along the beach.

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Toile Blind

I wanted to put a blind in the new bathroom just to soften it a bit.  I had decided on toile de jouy and black was the obvious colour to choose.  I found that Annie Sloan did one and a YouTube video showed her making a blind with a co-ordinating fabric.  Since I live a long way from anyone who stocks her fabrics I decided to pay Blendworth Fabrics a visit as I have often found beautiful fabrics there at such reasonable prices.  Well I found exactly what I wanted and here is the finished result.

It didn't take long to make at all and I am so pleased with it.  The toile was £11 a metre and the 'gingham' was £6.50 a metre and they are really good quality too (suffice to say that the Annie Sloan material was a lot more expensive but then you are paying for her name).

We have a new member of the family since Sunday - a gorgeous new puppy but I shall show you photos of him on my next post.

First of all thank you to all of you who suggested a caption to the piece of toile in my last post.  They were all very funny but I have to admit that my favourite was from gillyflower and she will be receiving a lavender heart made from vintage toile.

And now for something completely different.  This is totally ridiculous logic but I was ordering a slow cooker from John Lewis and had to spend another £3 in order to qualify for free delivery.  I have really wanted a Jo Malone candle for ages but they are so expensive (in my opinion), however, this seemed the ideal excuse to add one to my basket!  Does anyone else do this sort of thing?  I spent £38 on a candle rather than £3 on postage!!  Crazy, but I do love my candle and it came all gift wrapped, just for me.  I haven't lit it yet.  That's another thing; I am always reluctant to light nice candles so they just end up getting dusty and faded and not looking nice at all.  I'm sure I'm not the only person who thinks like this, though.  Do you do anything that is totally illogical?

The fragrance I chose is 'Lime Basil and Mandarin'.   I had tested a lot of the scents at Dublin airport on Monday but they were all lovely and I couldn't make a choice.  I have just been in the garden and noticed that the Daphne shrub is flowering.  This is my favourite shrub of all as the scent is really strong.  I have brought some into the house and know that it will soon scent the whole room.

As I mentioned, I have been over to Dalkey in Ireland for a few days.  Dublin is very near so I had to have a day's shopping there; it is such a beautiful city.  I also visited my two favourite shops there, Noa Noa and Avoca and, of course, I had to help the Irish economy and buy a few things!  You can read about a previous visit to Avoca here.

I hope that you all have a lovely weekend.