The Words that gave me goosebumps...
A LITTLE UPDATE FROM AN ARTIST'S CORNER OF THE WORLD...
1) A quote that stopped me in my tracks, literally...
2) A visit to a war museum that reminded me why art matters so much.
3) What Henry Ford can still teach us about work, worth, and dignity.
4) A new Stratford painting; nearly finished and full of feeling.
5) Venice, memory, and the art of moving forward
Things I found meaningful this week...
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When a Quote Finds You
Some words arrive like old friends you didn’t know you needed.
I was walking through a quiet churchyard, one of those places I visit to look at beautiful 'scrolly writing'. I love the way the old headstones are carved with beautiful lettering (great practise for calligraphy) and more often not, through the inscriptions, there's a story to learn too...
On one such visit, an inscription caught my eye.
“Life can only be understood backwards,
but it must be lived forwards.”
It stopped me in my tracks.
I’d never heard the quote before, so I had to find out who had written it. Kierkegaard. The name stayed with me, as did the words.
A few weeks later, I was in a bookshop with my avid-reader daughter. As I waited for her to pay for her umpteenth book, I glancing around at the bookshelves. Right in front of me, at eye level, in the very centre of the shelf, was a small yellow book.
Intrigued, I picked it up, it was about Kierkegaard!
Coincidence? Serendipity? I don’t know. It did give me goosebumps though!
I just had to buy the book and read it cover to cover. And how profound it is! Whether you believe in 'the Universe'/God/something else/nothing at all, sometimes life really does nudge you in the right direction.
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Gallery visit – Worcester Art Museum:
From portraits to a deeply moving exhibit on the Worcester Regiment, this museum held echoes of past lives and present reflections. The soldier sketches especially caught my breath; raw, honest, and immediate.
At the weekend, I visited Worcester Art Museum, which includes a section dedicated to the Worcester Regiment. What struck me most wasn’t just the uniforms or medals, but the sketches.
Soldiers, often artists themselves or supported by official war artists, recorded what cameras couldn’t: the fear, the resilience, the silence after the noise.
It reminded me why art has always mattered, not just to decorate, but to document. To feel. To make sense of what’s happened.
It’s how we understand things, often only in hindsight.
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Reading this week –
Henry Ford: My Life and Work:
You might think it’s all about cars and production lines, but I found it to be full of compassion, business ethics and life advice.
Ford believed in giving people something useful to do, especially those others might have overlooked. He believed strongly in employing people with physical limitations, finding tasks they could do, not focusing on what they couldn’t.
He knew that a sense of worth came not just from wages, but from dignity.
In a world so quick to claim benefits, that feels more needed than ever.
A great read I can wholeheartedly recommend.
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Now available to preview:
the third piece in my Stratford Series.
Stratford-Upon-Avon is somewhere I lived, both in a Manor House and then on a Fruit Farm - more about that in later letters - but never really had time to digest what's here.
Now, all these years later, I’m walking the streets with new eyes.
The third painting in my Stratford series is almost done. It's full of that soft kind of noticing, the kind you only do after life has taught you how. The colour scheme has been selected by the owner of the estate agency where they'll be displayed. They've asked for 8 in total so I still have a way to go!
Here’s a first peek:
Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-Upon-Avon. A View from the River.
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Venice, Memory and the Art of Moving Forward.
There’s a quiet rhythm to Venice; the echo of footsteps on stone, the hush of water gliding beneath bridges. It’s a place where time stretches. Past and present exist together.
This piece explores that idea of reflection and motion, of beauty that lingers even as life flows forward.
I have one final Venice painting remaining from the last collection. Framed, ready to ship, and carrying all the soul of that timeless city. It's a piece that embodies the Kirkegaard quote perfectly. A tribute to memory, stillness, and the courage to keep going. Venice will always be Venice.
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If you’re in a chapter of your life where things feel tender, new, or quietly uncertain; I see you. (I'm here myself!)
We can’t always understand what we’re walking through until later.
But we can choose to notice beauty along the way
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