http://jeanromsey.blogspot.com: May 2013

Wednesday 29 May 2013

Life Is A Walk In The Park

Bluebells covered the ground as far as the eye can see.

With two long-weekends of public holiday in the same month, May sees us shedding coats, scarves and comfy socks after this cold period of wintry snow, intermittent sunshine, and more rain in April than we've had for many years. Suddenly spring was sprung on us, just as we entered into summer time. Spring flowers like crocuses, daffodils and tulips, made brief appearances and gave way to hardy camellias, which arrived late this year, and the elegant magnolia lost their flowers to the rain.

The colourful azaleas and rhododendrons braved the cold to reassure us of summer just around the corner, and then maybe we can envisage wearing shorts and sleeveless tops, but not just yet, as the deceptive sun still has a wind chill factor too blustery for me to venture out without a windcheater. On our terrace, we've lost a few non-hardy perennials to the snow, but the deeply planted bulbs and corms survived, to brighten our patio among the conifers, roses and climbers.

Delicate bluebells

We had a couple of sunny days this weekend, warm enough for us to explore a lavender field on the A36 going towards Salisbury. The season is too early for this most fragrant of edible flowers, but their tearoom serves a delicious, aromatic lavender cake, home-made with ginger, chocolate or pecan nuts, which, in a sheltered part of their garden, gave us the best of British afternoon tea this year.

It really felt like summer for a couple of hours, but the sun's warmth soon dissipated, so we headed towards a bluebell field near Motisfont, which we had visited in previous years. Alas, this year the bluebells seemed washed out by the rain. It was still a lovely walk, with the pale bluebells swaying beneath the trees.

Painted in 2007 for Southampton Art Society

On our return journey we came upon yellow fields planted with rape, a brilliant contrast against a light blue sky, divided by hedgerows and deep green trees. Summer is truly round the corner!

I once painted a rape-field through a gate that is not far from here, but that field is still green this year, waiting for more sun to ripen into gold. It's true you can paint anything you see around you, so long as it brings you peace and tranquillity, and allows you time to relax and immerse in nature.

Tulips at Chelsea

The Chelsea Flower show in London, is celebrating its Centenary with excellent blooms, prize-winning garden designs and innovative ideas: turning wasteland into communal oasis of peace and calm; utilising exotic plants from the desert and the rainforest to build contrast and drama, healing powers of Teavolution's 65 herbal plants, as well as an Artisan Garden, a Homebase Garden for the Alzheimer's Society, there's even a Get Well Soon garden to improve mental and physical health. Great inspiration for all garden lovers.

This panda looks like a lot of fun, so I put a twig in its mouth and swung him up a bamboo above an autumnal background, calling it: An Autumn Lookout, which was sold a few years ago, when I was a member of the Southampton Art Society. Alas, travel and retirement make it difficult to find enough time to be a member of more than one art club. As a member of The Romsey Art Group, we meet once a month for professional demonstration and a day of Open-studio for members to paint together. I try to paint about three pictures for each of the two exhibitions held every year, with one or two extra exhibitions for special events.

As a member of the Society for All Artists, (SAA), I have the option of attending one of their Regional or London three-day seminar/workshop for beginners, improvers, as well as professional and amateur painters, with lots of art demonstrations and new product lines, to inspire and to interact, where we can learn new techniques or test new products. More importantly, it's a platform to rub shoulders with artists and art teachers, who could help with new gadgets or any painting problems we encounter. We get six magazines a year, full of tips on painting in different media, competitions to enter in each issue and a chance to be voted the SAA Artist of the Year.

Pembrokeshire in Wales

This landscape was painted four years ago when my husband and I went to chill out in Wales, after his many operations on throat cancer with six weeks of radio-therapy. It was a gruelling time for both of us, but he has since recovered fully and we are enjoying our retirement travelling, writing, painting and saturating our computers with lots of photographs.

I look forward to talking to you again in a couple of weeks' time, when I hope to publish a few portraits painted for past exhibitions.

Wednesday 8 May 2013

Life's many Challenges

This is my new blogspot, created to showcase some of my paintings, many have been exhibited, but only a few sold and the majority are cluttering up my spare room. I shall publish some of these a few at a time, before I de-clutter our home.

In my Life's Journey, see jeanlairomsey.blogspot.co.uk, I have come to many crossroads, the decisions for which have brought me here today, to Southampton, and life is still evolving. Life is still full of challenges and the journey had been long but every bit as interesting. Right now my head is just above water, in organising this Blog, learning along the way. Google Blogger is really easy and full of creative tips and tricks and I am enjoying all the discovery so far. Try it yourself, you might like it so much, you could get addicted like my husband Roy. See his site at http://itravelstories.blogspot.co.uk

As a member of the Romsey Art Group (RAG) I entered three paintings into this year's Spring Exhibition, at The Mountbatten Gallery in Lee, near Romsey, went on refreshments duty last Saturday afternoon, and had a great time, chatting to people who stopped for a cuppa and a piece of cake. During the week, I took a small group of our Spanish coffee morning to visit the gallery, and was told that one of my Penguin paintings had just been sold! How exciting! My first sale through this Art Group, bought by the Mayor's wife, Dr. Tippet, for her daughter-in-law. I hope she likes it, too.

I was so happy I kissed the messenger for this good tiding - he was a new member of our Art Group and didn't know how to react to my joy!

I painted this friendly tiger in 2011, which didn't sell at the RAG Autumn Exhibition, but our friend Keith Field bought it for his sister's birthday last year. She was interested in wild animals, but I hope this is not too ferocious for her.

Life is definitely what you make of it, and at the moment it's fantastic!

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)

A Change for the Better

With so many hospitals closing in the UK, today we have less than 140,000 hospital beds compared to 550,000 beds in 1948 when our National Health Service was founded. But modern technology from America will soon step in to relieve the pressure on our A & E Centres. Take a look at iDoctor here

iDoctor http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=r13uYs7jglg

We can change our life to do some of the things you have always wanted at any time you feel it is time. Take a look at the SLOMO clip below, just click on the link.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/01/opinion/slomo.html?emc=eta1&_r=0

A Lion called Christian

In 1969 Ace Bourke and John Rendall from Australia bought a lion cub from a London department store, Harrods, and named him Christian. He grew too big to keep as a pet in Chelsea and had to be returned to the wild in Kenya.

Years later Christian still remembered his 'parents' and like long lost friends. What a reunion! Click this link to watch the video: http://youtu.be/4enNZqNrwYc

My view on current situations

Could our climate really be changing in this Millenium?

Only a week ago we had snow in Devon, one of the warmest places in the South of England that even boasts a comparison with the Riviera in Europe.

In the USA's Tornado Alley, the most destructive tornado in history travelling at 200 mph, flattened the suburb of Moore in Oklahoma City in just 40 minutes without warning, causing so much grieve and loss of lives. This powerful tornado had been rated four, on a five point Enhanced Fujita Scale, making it the second most dangerous type, with more warnings to place Central Texas on further tornado watch.

More importantly the US government must ensure that any new buildings constructed in the Tornado Alley should include shelters, basement or safe rooms, specially built to protect from such tornadoes. This Great Plain experiences more tornadoes than any where else, at the height of the season in May and June, there may be two to four each day.

There are fears that tornadoes may become more common as global temperatures change, and such devastation as Moore must be avoided at all costs.

Having visited Shanghai thrice, I am still astonished at the constant changes to this great city's skyline and the speed of its industrial revolution, from 1949 when Chairman Mao's Communism took power, to 1992 when the People's Republic of China opened its doors again to foreign trade, and to today's superpower it has become, as discovered by Piers Morgan.

This video was recorded over 5 years ago, but if you have never been there, or even if you have but don't know much about the place from your tour guide, then you will be amazed to see how Shanghai has progressed - especially with regards to women CEOs. Click on the link to see modern, glamorous Shanghai today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wbGFeDR7Gg&feature=endscreen&NR=1

FOR OUR ECONOMY TO GROW

We need to get Britain manufacturing again; for goods to utilise our rail freight, road haulage and container ports; to expand our market worldwide and to be self-reliant.

With so much intelligence and creativity in our young and educated population, I am amazed to find that our UK Business Sector has not developed a strong, effective Export and Marketing Department to help develop products created by our inventive industrialists, nor facilitate co-operation between Universities and businesses to research new ideas and promote British Manufactures for export. All over the world, entrepreneurs are learning English to be able to trade with us, we do have the advantage of doing business anywhere.

For the Conservatives to win in 2015, David Cameron cannot rely simply on rhetoric about turning the tide on years of decline here or in the EU, in the battle for Britain’s future.

The government is likely to double the national debt inherited from the Labour government, if we continue to lose high street shops, vital businesses, century-old corporations and franchises, leading to empty premises and redundancies, which serve only to reduce the much needed Corporation and income tax, whilst swelling the ranks of the unemployed queuing for benefits, job-seeker and housing allowances.

The government must put a stop to the culture of rewarding failure with disproportionate pension packages, and gross bonuses unrelated to services rendered, for bankers, health service managers and local authority leaders alike, especially those who failed in their jobs. When an executive is recruited for a job in the public sector, the salary determines the job’s worth, there is no reason why bonuses or pensions should exceed the total pay, particularly in the present economic climate.

Any government that cannot legislate against this extortionate ransom culture, practised by leaders of public services, then they don’t deserve to be re-elected.

Take the news of Sir David Nicholson stepping down next year, retiring with his full pension of £2 million. Not more than a few decades ago he would have recognised his failure in running NHS England and resigned. Should he be allowed to take his full pay and pension package? It's an astronomical sum by any standard, and that same sum spent on improved nursing care at Stafford Hospital would probably have saved all those who died, from living under those unbearable conditions as described in various reports.

How does one man who could never do the job of supervising the whole of the NHS all by himself, deserve so much? We also must remember that in the costly reorganisation of the NHS, hundreds of managers were made redundant, obviously because they have not achieved success in their particular sector. After receiving huge severance pay and pension, why are some of them re-employed with new contracts, and probably on even higher pay packages, to carry on doing what they did before? Are we spending tax-payers' money wisely?

It is indeed time for the Chancellor to look into how much the re-vamping of the NHS is going to cost the nation and really cut down on management expenses, but increase training for good nursing care to properly run each hospital, to make them fit for purpose. Cut out the middleman, trim the fat and get Britain back to basic good value, responsible and trustworthy.

Only then will the Conservative government be returned to power. Austerity alone will not suffice. The voters need to see real changes, and good value for their taxes instead of wastage.

Congratulations to Nigel Farage for leading the UKIP to win almost a quarter of the votes cast at our local elections, thus forming the fourth major political party of Britain.

This is not just a protest vote from the public, but a vote of confidence in Mr. Farage as an honest man of integrity, not greedy for power for himself, but for the nation in trouble, and in debt to the tune of £billion, which no successive governments since WW2, had been able to eradicate.

UKIP's common sense approach to easing our national debt by opting out of EU membership will save us £billions in subsidies, huge MEP pay and expenses, and massive prison expenditure for un-deported foreign criminals. If we also temporarily withhold foreign aids until our own debt situation is no longer as bad as those we sought to assist, we should come out of debt sooner.

Chancellor Osborne should continue with our austerity policy, and also bring civil servants' pay and pension in line with the rest of the private sector remuneration to encourage growth in our economy with youth employment and private enterprises.