Fame Or Infamy book by Stephen Powell

I have been reading this book and I'm savouring each page. It is not a book to devour in one go. I have to say that Steve's early experience as a musician has a real pull; it draws you in and it would strike a chord on anyone who wants to do something with their life, specially in the music field. It gives a very interesting glimpse of how it all works from his personal experiencies, that is, from the eyes of a musician. Steve writes very well and I have been impressed about his style of writing since it is not about whether a comma or an apostrophe is in the right place but more importantly how it makes the reader feel when you read it and that for me is the mark of a real writer. I know many people who can put their commas and apostrophies in the right place but who have absolutely nothing INTERESTING to say.

It is not important either, if its a Jack the ripper diary hoax or the Hitler diaries hoax that his misguided friend Park was trying to forge as that was in itself stupid, dishonest and not interesting. The best part of this book is when Steve Powell describes the juncture that every human being has to cross in their lives as he was striving to succeed in his devotion for music, that I found really interesting, and his music is very good, with a lot of people admiring it in real life. Maybe Steve should try to market his book to the music industry. It really is a very interesting Australian story.

Cruise 2010

Hola ! Notwithstanding the horror of the virus in the ship which didn't thankfully affect us, we did have a good time. We had a pretty room with enormous French windows at the back of the ship where we could see other boats on the high seas or when our ship docked at each destination. The climate was colder than here in Britain and on the excursion to the Etruscan mountains we got wet from tip to toe in a torrential rain that didn't give us a respite and my beautiful summer straw-hat was left as limp as a rag doll ! Maybe I will be able to fix it, if I spray it with starch. If you could see me at that time, I looked like a cat that had been dipped in a swimming pool but the excursion to Tarquinia was really interesting, especially the visit to the museum where they have funerary paintings and ancient stone sarcophagi which are intact and date back long before the Roman era. Afterwards, we were taken to an ice-cream establishment. The five ice-creams would have been very welcome on a hot summer's day but not when we were cold and shivering, dripping rain from head to toe but even so, they were absolutely delicious and I am happy that we didn't catch neither pneumonia nor the blessed virus that was circulating in the ship. On that same excursion a lady recognized Peter from the Heir Hunter show and she yelled out: Peter Birchwood from Celtic Research from her table to ours. She was fascinated talking with him afterwards. There were other people who recognized us from the show, Peter and I were surprised to see this whenever we shared a table with other people.

The excursion to Naples was cancelled, the captain told us the pilots were refusing to come out to direct the ship because of bad weather although an Italian lady whose family was expecting her at the port, telephoned her to tell her they had enquired about it to the port authorities and they were told that the ship was not allowed to dock in Naples as there were too many passengers in quarantine. They couldn't risk unloading people from our ship for reasons of health and hygiene so could not allow them to roam freely in the Napolitan streets. We didn't have any problems with the other countries. Although we didn't get to see Monte-Carlo as the excursion was cancelled due to the Grand-Prix going on, the reason being that the roads would be too congested to get back in time before the ship sailed again. Maybe we will make it another time.

Next, was Cannes. Really pretty with its yachts moored in the harbour. We got there in time for the Film Festival: Palm D'or. We saw the white marquees as we strolled along the beach where the film stars were being interviewed by the T.V. channels. It was very exciting! After that, we were taken by bus to see the red rugged cliffs washed by those intense blue ink waters of the Mediterranean; something really beautiful and impressive to see.

Afterwards the ship headed to Corsica where Napoleon Bonaparte was born: his statue was prominently displayed in the main square and his birthday is celebrated every August. In Corsica they make good use of the plants they grow there, turning them into essential oils. Plants like Myrrh , sea weeds, lemon, rose petals etc are turned into perfumes or potions for different remedies. I bought lemon oil, for sea sickness, then we were taken to a nougat factory where they produce a special Napoleon nougat which includes chocolate and other secret ingredients in the recipe that of course, was not even whispered to us. I had more than my share during the tasting time ! It’s not polite to do this but I couldn't help it. We bought about 5 different nougats. Then we went to sample their wine at another location. The weather was balmy and very pleasant. The roses were already in full bloom. It was a really enjoyable day.

In the ship, there were s

Fame Or Infamy book by Stephen Powell

I'm looking forward to reading Fame or Infamy about the JTR dairy saga. With credits to Celtic Research. BTW... yesterday we had the meeting with the producers for the fifth series of ' Heir Hunters' and we were informed that the viewing was high so this is why they will produce another series. Also, the BBC has the ability to monitor when people see the programme at the beginning, middle and end. The good news is that people watched it from beginning to end without flicking the channel for another one, that is excellent news, to have people glued to the television when we appear. All in all, the horizon is looking good. In this series we will be allowed more time to shoot it which will begin soon and this new series will be shown by the end of January on BBC 1 so.. put it in your calendar. Anyway... going back to Stephen Powell's book I will be interested in reading the contents.

Women Painters

Hello ! Well, as you can imagine with the volcano cloud, our flight to Spain was cancelled but it wasn't bad at all, if you are going to be left without travelling, its good when you are left stranded at home rather than abroad so we had a nice night in Liverpool in a room where... oh no ! horror of horrors, Tony Blair had stayed at and a few other people from the world of music who I did not recognize apart from the Beatles. Anyway...we headed to The Walker Gallery in Liverpool the next day, where they are currently having an exhibition from their own collection of ' Women Painters ' which I found very interesting there was a painting of Andromache fainting at the unexpected sight of Aeneas on his arrival by ANGELICA HAUFFMAN who was the daughter of a Swiss painter, she was the first female artist to chanllenge the male monopoly over History painting. History painting took subjects from the bible, history, literature & classical mythology. These subjects were usually deemed too challenging for women. Despite such discrimination, Angelica Hauffmann became a highly respected professional painter with Royal patrons. In 1768, she was one of two female founding members of the Royal Academy of Arts. No other woman was elected as a full or associate member until 1922, when ANNIE SWYNNERTON came to the scene, there is a beautiful painting of hers on show called: ' The Sense Of Sight. Annie was born in Manchester. ( 1844-1933 ) She founded the Manchester Society of Women Painters with the artist SUSAN ISABEL DACRE. In 1895, she was the second, and last woman to sit on the Liverpool Autumn Exhibition Hanging Committee in 1922 and at the age of 78, she was the first woman to be elected as an associate member of the Royal Academy since its foundation in 1768. Her painting ' The Sense of Sight ' ( an angel overwhelmed at the wonder of what they can see, perhaps relates to the importance of sight to an artist and the joy of the visual world.

ELIZABETH- LOUISE VIGEE - LE BRUN (1755-1842)
This artist was taught by her father and financially abused by her art-dealer husband whom she later divorced. She was official painter to Queen Marie-Antoniette but in 1789, the French revolution forced her into exile for 16 years. During this time, she travelled Europe receiving commissions from aristocratic and Royal patrons as a celebrity artist known for her sensitive portraits of women, she was the obvious choice to paint the image- conscious Emma Hamilton, Emma is shown in Naples performing one of the dances that made her famous. It was painted a year, after Emma's marriage in Naples to Sir William Hamilton and 1 year before she met her lover Lord Nelson.

I also found The Dictionary of British Women Artists by Sara Gray, where they had written the name of my ancestor Maria Spilsbury wrong.. they had her as Mary Spilsbury.

Then there was ROSA BONHEUR her father was a social-reformist painter who believed in art education for women. She specialized in painting animals and won fame in her native France with her 5 metre wide painting ' The Horse Fair' it proved so popular, that it toured the U.S. several times, selling thousands of printed reproductions and in Fef 1856 it was exhibited in Liverpool. She gained her sympathetic knowledge of animals by keeping a small zoo and visiting slaughter houses & dissecting animal remains. Mmm. It looks like she took to heart Leonardo's advice ! Then there was ROSALBA CARRIERA she came from an artistic Venecian family. Her father was an amateur artist and her mother was an embroiderer and lace-maker, she started by painting miniature portrait paintings on snuff boxes but moved to life-size portraits in pastel, for which she became internationally reknowned. She was particularly famous among British tourists such as the author and collector Horace Walpole ( 1717-1797) who visited Venice in 1741. So great was the demand for her work among British visitors that she once complained of ' being attacked by the English. ELIZABETTA SIRANI - her artistic skill and beauty brought her European fame and female students. She fed her celebrity with self-portraits, one shown there which was owned by the curator of the Ufizzi collection in Florence. She also entertained visitors to her studio in Bologna with conversation and song. Her father was a painter and all three of her daughters became successful painters, she specialized in religious art. Her early death aroused her father's suspicions that she had been poisoned by her maid. In fact, she probably died from a stomach ulcer brought on by overwork. Or it could have been lead poisoning ! There are paints like White Flake that contains lead. LAVINIA FONTANA she was one of the most successful female artists in the 16th century ( 1552 - 1614 ) and she was the first woman to paint large alterpieces. She was chiefly noted for her portraits. She was trained by her father, a painter from the city of Bologna, known for its support for woman artists. The painting that its on show is based on a drawing by Michelangelo called ' Silentium ' There were a few more. The exhibition is worth seeing.

The Lost Mona Lisa by R.A. Scotti

Sometimes you buy a book that turns into a real gem. Well, this happy feeling happened to me when I bought the ' Lost Mona Lisa by R.A. Scotti. This is a really wonderful book. The author takes you through the extraordinary true story of the greatest art theft in history. The account of this tale reads better than a fictional one. There were weird and strange happenings when the Mona Lisa disappeared from the Louvre, for instance, when the museum finally opened its doors without their star attraction, hundreds of grieving Parisians queued up to view the blank space where the Mona Lisa had been smiling the week before. They didn't queue up to see the other 3 thousand paintings but just to stare at a blank dusty space ! As incomprehensible as this may sound, this is exactly what happened. The queues stretched several blocks where there had never been a wait to enter the Louvre before. Some say, this was the beginning of Modern Art. I also loved the way the author wrote nuggets of historical information in the most entertaining and amusing way. It sets the atmosphere in Paris in such a manner that you can imagine yourself being transported exactly in that era of the afternoon of Sunday, 20 of August 1911 when the painting vanished from the walls of the Louvre. It describes, with a wealth of interesting information what was happening in the inner sactum of the Louvre and who were the people who run it and where they were at the time. The failings that took place. It really is so good, I could not recommend it enough. It is thoroughly well researched from many sources, including newspaper stories of the time. Well, that is my humble opinion.

Black poodle

I have just finished painting this black poodle. Very tricky to paint. If you paint it too black, then you do not see any details and if you paint too many highlights then it would have looked grey instead of black. So it is a fine balance between the two. It is a commission work, so I hope the lady is going to be pleased with her dog's portrait.

Sunday

I'm not a writer nor pretend to be one, sometimes it is simply nice to record something you have lived like let's say...yesterday. Peter and I really didn't wish to travel too many miles we just wanted to go for a Sunday lunch somewhere near, that wouldn't involve a long journey. Where could we go? was the question. I had seen, as we often travel through a picturesque road, a really sweet looking white pub with a chimney stack, puffing blue smoke, so I ventured to suggest maybe going there for lunch, not knowing whether this was a risk worth taking or not, but we stopped there anyway. Once inside, the pub was really charming with wooden beams on the ceilings, velvet red covers on the dark mahoganny carved seats; very inviting we thought and we were right. The name of the pub was the Aleppo Merchant. Intrigued, I enquired about the name of the pub to the bar-man since Aleppo, is not by any stretch of the imagination in the U.K. so why this seemingly exotic name ? He told us that a very wealthy Welshman beyond the dreams of avarice from Llangollen had stopped there over night and he had made his wealth in Aleppo... the second oldest city in the world, located in Syria. He told us this merchant had made his fortune in the silk route selling sheep wool, and that Aleppo was not far away from the Mediterranean sea. It was really, very relaxing to hear this interesting tale as we had our drinks over lunch.