Anyone who has ever written from the heart will empathise with this: Wow!! This book is published and, for the first time, it is published exactly as I created it, and will be available for anyone who wishes to read it within a couple of weeks. A labour of love that has become a reality at last!!
Thank you so much for all the emails and kind support given to this book!! I trust it lives up to expectations!! And am deeply grateful to you!!
There Is So Much More....
Perhaps it is dangerous to say that, amid the chaos of economies crashing and banks and bail outs and everything else in the news, I believe that what is now being reported so widely, is not so great a catastrophe as the loss of individual self-expression and the deep appreciation of beauty and freedom. What is happening, to my mind, is the natural outcome of a world where we have lost our way as far as individual freedom and the recognition of beauty goes. If we hang our hopes on economics, and let art be defined by unmade beds, piles of bricks, lights turned on and off, thrown-together things by those who are afraid to say, "The King is in the altogether," what can we expect? A throw-away society, depending on nothing of substance is bound to end up with nothing.
Happily, in spite of what they would have us believe, all is not lost.
That which is truly beautiful always prevails in the long run. That which is truly beautiful is always individual, original and free of the constraints of trying to be fashionable or living up to anyone else's standards or the general consensus of 'it must be this way...it must be that way...'
Isn't it fascination (aside from the power of individual thought and the circumstances we create for ourselves) that so many artists who were not recognised in their lifetime, now have their paintings stored in safes and selling for millions? It was ever thus, I think. The vast majority of us, most of the time, are asleep and want to be told what to do, what to think, what is good, what is bad. Whether these instructions come from governments, churches or are the acting-out of our childhood, we feel safe that way, because, when it all goes wrong, we have someone to blame. Hence, the individuals who couldn't fit into that - like Van Gogh or John Claire - ended up in 'asylums,' and then, when their art is recognised, along come those trying to emulate that 'madness' by trying to shock. It's so passé and unoriginal!
Looking for true beauty, it is so wonderful to come across truly original eyes - the kind of work that makes you stand back and think, "Yes!!! There are people who don't give a damn for what is said to be the norm because they are real artists and truly have an eye for the real!" There are several websites that seem to me to speak this way. I love this page filled with Heinrich Heine quotations and beautiful pictures and messages:
http://ravengrrl.blogspot.com/2007/04/wandering-meditation-on-life-art-trees.html
I love all the loveliness in this site, by Tom:
http://www.tkinter.smig.net/
And I truly love the beauty of the brilliant photography of André Hilliard, whose orchids photograph appears above:
http://www.andrehilliard.com/
So, we think the collapse of banks is so important? Maybe it is on one level. At the same time, there is more to life, and when we stop listening to the fluster and control-stuff, and think for ourselves, we can see that there are brilliant people all around us and there is far more to life than what goes on in 'The City'. We don't have to live in boxes. We don't have to be protected or told what is beautiful. We need only open our eyes and see that there are geniuses everywhere, and I, for one, am honoured to have seen some of their work.
Happily, in spite of what they would have us believe, all is not lost.
That which is truly beautiful always prevails in the long run. That which is truly beautiful is always individual, original and free of the constraints of trying to be fashionable or living up to anyone else's standards or the general consensus of 'it must be this way...it must be that way...'
Isn't it fascination (aside from the power of individual thought and the circumstances we create for ourselves) that so many artists who were not recognised in their lifetime, now have their paintings stored in safes and selling for millions? It was ever thus, I think. The vast majority of us, most of the time, are asleep and want to be told what to do, what to think, what is good, what is bad. Whether these instructions come from governments, churches or are the acting-out of our childhood, we feel safe that way, because, when it all goes wrong, we have someone to blame. Hence, the individuals who couldn't fit into that - like Van Gogh or John Claire - ended up in 'asylums,' and then, when their art is recognised, along come those trying to emulate that 'madness' by trying to shock. It's so passé and unoriginal!
Looking for true beauty, it is so wonderful to come across truly original eyes - the kind of work that makes you stand back and think, "Yes!!! There are people who don't give a damn for what is said to be the norm because they are real artists and truly have an eye for the real!" There are several websites that seem to me to speak this way. I love this page filled with Heinrich Heine quotations and beautiful pictures and messages:
http://ravengrrl.blogspot.com/2007/04/wandering-meditation-on-life-art-trees.html
I love all the loveliness in this site, by Tom:
http://www.tkinter.smig.net/
And I truly love the beauty of the brilliant photography of André Hilliard, whose orchids photograph appears above:
http://www.andrehilliard.com/
So, we think the collapse of banks is so important? Maybe it is on one level. At the same time, there is more to life, and when we stop listening to the fluster and control-stuff, and think for ourselves, we can see that there are brilliant people all around us and there is far more to life than what goes on in 'The City'. We don't have to live in boxes. We don't have to be protected or told what is beautiful. We need only open our eyes and see that there are geniuses everywhere, and I, for one, am honoured to have seen some of their work.
Star of Sisi Diamond
The robbery of one of Empress Elizabeth's jeweled hair-pins last year shocked all of Vienna. Made by Alexander Koechert for beautiful Empress 'Sisi' to adorn her thick, brown hair which fell below her knees, Sisi's 27 diamond pins looked wonderful in Winterhalter's famous portrait of her.
It was a brazen crime. It was taken from a glass case when the palace was busy and replaced with a fake.
Surprisingly, it turned up in Canada in the criminal's granny's house! Daniel Blanchard, the head of a large criminal gang responsible for many robberies of banks and jewels, admitted the crime to police and led them to the jewel.
Blanchard's girlfriend has recently been sentenced for her part in the crime.
Legend of Sisi's Tiara
Just before Elizabeth and Emperor Franz Joseph married in 1864, their aunt, Dowager Empress Caroline Augusta, looked at the wedding presents. As she was looking at the gorgeous pins, her mantilla got caught in Elizabeth's tiara and sent it crashing to the floor. This was seen as a bad omen. Indeed, the marriage was unhappy and Sisi was a tragic figure who traveled through Europe in search of happiness, lost her son in the famous Mayerling tragedy, and was eventually assassinated.
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