Every picture tells a story
I am a picture person. I used to love to draw and paint, still do if I ever get time. But what is in my head doesn’t translate as well as I’d like and other people always do it soooo much better than I can. So I am kind of in admiration of artists who do manage to achieve this so well. I have always enjoyed a good wander round an art gallery. Apart from the peaceful, almost reverential, feel of galleries, I find myself transfixed and mesmerised by what I see. I think I must have tried to duplicate this at home, as my walls used to be covered in pictures. I’ve learnt to reign this in (a bit) and have space around them now. But, for me, pictures are special things and, more often than not, there are special reasons for me having them. These are just a few of them – seriously, not room on one blog for them all!
I have a huge print of this picture, Rose Garden, by Paul Klee, hanging above the settee in my living room. It was given to me as a gift when I left my job to move to Yorkshire, in search of a new life as a writer – I hoped. I was drawn to it because of the beautiful warm colours and geometric shapes, like houses tumbling into a bowl of summer fruits!
In contrast, I fell in love with the simplicity of this picture, Sleeping Woman, one of Picasso’s many sleeping women pictures. I was going through a bit of a tough time, where I was sleeping really badly, when I found this picture in one of those choc-a-block full of housey things shops. I felt such a sense of hope and peace when I looked at it, that I bought it straight away. I have moved house three times since, but wherever I go, this picture comes with me and hangs on my bedroom wall.
You’ll have to indulge me here, but this is… er-hum… one of mine… I know, just a tad self indulgent! But I hope you’ll excuse the lapse. I painted this two summers ago, when I was writing less and had a massive urge to paint again, something, as I said earlier, that I used to love to do. So, I bought a big canvas and a load of acrylic paints, took some photos of the ivy that covers our garage wall, and… da da!… well, not quite – it took 8 weeks for me to complete. There’s a lot of detail, not all of which you can see here. This now hangs in my hall and makes me smile every time I look at it because it reminds me how happy I was with brush in hand again after so long an absence.
I bought this limited edition print, White Cow, 16 years ago, and paid more for it than I’d ever paid for a picture. It’s by Annora Spence, whose work I really like. Her paintings often appeared on cards, which I would regularly buy. I adore her use of colour (which doesn’t convey as well as I’d like on this photo) and the simplicity of her designs, as well as the abstract representations of nature. This hangs right above my mantlepiece and can be seen from every part of the room, which is as it should be.
Do you have a favourite painting or picture, that either hangs in your home, or that symbolises something for you?
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