Long Mizzle Garden

 Hello m' art clubbers, Last year I came across a Kurt Jackson painting in Falmouth Gallery called 'All Quiet Now Dorothy'. Those who frequent my blog may know I am partial to a good handsome pit. There was a beautiful, aquamarine sereneness to this painting; a spellbinding calm after a noisy, hectic day. It drew me in. For some time I couldn't quite comprehend my emotional response to it. No matter what we do to mother earth, she eventually comes to rest and reveals beauty in her scars.  All quiet now Dorothy - mixed media on wood panel (60 x 60cm)   Upon returning home I did some feet-up-post-dinner iPad browsing. I discovered Jackson has a whole series of 'Clay Country' paintings. Sadly I'd missed the dedicated exhibition. Jackson immersed himself in these extraordinary man made environments, working plein air to depict the less glamorous, industrial side of Cornwall, scenes you don't see on TV's 'Caroline Quentin & Fern Britton try to...

Dear readers around the world, please know I come in peace, with creative, green fingers, not trigger happy, destructive ones...  Spring at Long Mizzle With the spring flowers blooming so beautifully, it is hard to comprehend the 'special military operation' on the edge of Europe that seeks to systematically erase an entire country, its memory, its culture... one that even threatens our planet as we know it. It is human nature to look for patterns. Unlike some comforting, predictable pop tune though in which one can guess the next notes, this is more like a mutating motif within an ill doomed symphony. History repeats itself time and time again.  'May the Nulclear War Be Cursed' Maria Pyrmachenko (1978) SOURCE    The Ukranian folk artist Maria Pyrmachenko (1904 - 1997) was born and lived her whole life in the village of Bolotriya, Kyiv Oblast. Relatives said she was a thoughtful and considerate person, with a passion for nature and everything living. I think that com...

Alreet m' glossy dahlias,   Well I've been eagerly waiting for them to all pop out so I can give you a proper update on this year's Dahlia patch....Do you have your preferred tipple ready??? The sun is shining and I've started early on a classy Buck's Piss, with plenty of ice cubes to crunch when no one's looking. Back in March, the idea was to plant a small cut flower patch inspired by the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo (original post here -  Flowers for Frida ).   Frida vase (a birthday pressie from Ol' Glass Eyed Mumrah) The small rooted cuttings that arrived in the post (from Halls of Heddon) all grew strongly and I just had to then battle with the slugs and snails. Twice they were completely gnawed down to the ground. I persisted and luckily they re-sprouted.     Yet again, my overwintered tubers were not a complete success. A couple of tubers didn't sprout at all and ended up rotting. Sadly, this meant loosing my favourite  'Totally Tangerine'....

 Hello m' furry antlers, I wonder what the artist Frida Kahlo would have made of a national lockdown. With her stern mono brow stare, nationalistic folk dress and cigar smoking attire, she looked to be a woman who wouldn't have liked being told what to do. However, Frida was no stranger to confinement. Having a crippled right leg from contracting polio as a child, she reached her teens only to have her spine, ribs and pelvis crushed in a bus accident, resulting in years of operations, multiple miscarriages and chronic pain. Henry Ford Hospital (1932), The Two Fridas (1939), The Broken Column (1944), The Little Deer (1946) Detailed paintings can be viewed at www.fridakahlo.org   Turning away from her previous career choice of medicine, Frida started painting. And what did she choose to paint in her constant bed of non-convalescence? The subject matter closest at hand - herself.  Only one look at some of her self-portraits exposes the true frustration, heartbreak and rea...