Studio paintings in oil

The last leaf

In autumn I always think of The Last Leaf, a short story by O. Henry, published in 1907 . It is all the more pertinent this year when we are in the grip of an epidemic.

In the O'Henry story, the illness is pneumonia.
Sue and Jo two young women artists share a studio at the top of a run-down apartment building. When winter comes, Jo becomes grievously ill. The doctor who visits them predicts that Jo won’t have much chance of survival if she doesn’t find the will to live, since his medicines have little effect on a patient who has decided that she’s going to die.

Jo is feeling very fatalistic and becomes obsessed with the leaves falling from a vine outside her window. After the last leaf falls, she tells Sue, she will die. Sue tries unsuccessfully to convince Jo that she has something to live for. In desperation she goes to visit their downstairs neighbour, Behrman—an old, unsuccessful artist who, after decades of failure, still hopes to paint his “masterpiece.” He paints a leaf on the wall which is so realistic that Jo thinks that it is real. She regains the will to live, but the old artist Behrman, well he succumbed to while he was outside painting the leaf....

It is a very sentimental but lovely story, timeless and compassionate. It was made into a movie that I remember watching.  It is here on Youtube as part of an anthology - the story starts at 44.08 minutes into the movie. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPbgGywFiNg

Images of Autumn

New paintings

After months of work, I have completed the finishing touches for the works that I have created for the Melbourne International Flower Garden Show which takes place from 25- 29 March.

I am exhibiting these paintings with our group The Northern Artists. There is  section of the Flower Show dedicated to art based on garden themes.
Here is a selection of the works that I have prepared. They range from 1 meter by 1 meter to around 70cm x 50cm

A fond farewell to Greece

It was a wonderful trip, and I have many wonderful images in my head. 

Mycenae

Mycenae was one of the major centres of Greek civilization in the second century BC.  It had been inhabited since the  Early Neolithic period (5000 4000 BC) 

The period of Greek history from about 1600 BC to about 1100 BC is called Mycenaean when it was at its peak. In 1350 BC, the citadel and lower town had a population of 30,000.


Today, tourists go there to see the famous gate to the citadel called the Lion Gate.

In 1841  Greek archaeologist  found and restored it.

In the 1870s other excavations in the citadel revealed many treasures from graves that are housed in the museum nearby. 

Archeological Museum in Napflion

 A couple of hours spent time travelling back to 6,000BC and then travelling forward in time at the  Archaeological Museum in Napflion. Images below .... not in chronological order.
I love seeing what the ancestors were making BCE.
And here they all are, out of context and being examined by us in this post modern, technological age, and we are still swooning over their beauty.

 The glassware above is around 500BC!!!

These sisters above are from 7th - 6th century BC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jewellery from the 1500 - 1400 BCE