Artful Readers Club - June Read

As a follow on from last month's military history book, this month, my chosen book was the Life of the Duke of Wellington by Rosamond Waite.  The Duke of Wellington  referred to is Arthur Wesley, later Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington b.1769 - d. 1852) most famously remembered for his victory over Emperor Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.

I have owned this lovely little book, the 1878 edition,  since the mid 1970's having initially been drawn to it as it contains some wonderful little fold out maps of the Duke's military campaigns.  As a child living in Surrey, England I was always curious as to why our London central railway station was called Waterloo and why so many of the streets near our home were called Waterloo Place or Road etc.  This curiosity introduced me to life long interest in military history, and in particular the Napoleonic wars.

This book is very readable and informative and fairly bounces along.  Most of the Duke's life is well documented but it was interesting to read assessments of his character  by his contemporaries.

As to his immense success, he was described as having "an iron hardihood of body, a quick and sure vision, a grasping mind, untiring power of thought and the habit of laborious, minute investigation and arrangement ... and that most rare faculty of coming to prompt and sure conclusions on sudden emergencies".

In addition to his success as a military figure, he was also twice Prime Minister of Great Britain.  We could do with someone of his calibre now!

For my artwork, I ventured into uncharted territory with white Indian ink, acrylic paints and a Gelli Plate.

The profile of the Duke is based on an 1822 sketch made at a dinner party he was attending.  The background represents the colours of the armies, the explosions during battle and the regimented ranks of soldiers forming square (top left).

Thank you for stopping by and do feel free to leave a comment.  I do appreciate them all.  I state in advance that my next book will NOT be military history!

Artful Readers Club May Read - The Military Experience in the Age of Reason by Christopher Duffy

This month's Artful Readers Club book is a factual book describing the state of the military during the years 1650 - 1790.
An odd choice you may think but I have to confess to being a bit of an anorak concerning military matters, especially during the Napoleonic Wars.  This book, however, introduced me to a period of history I knew very little about and one that was left untouched by my school education.  In short, I learned something new!

The Age of Reason was a cultural movement of intellectuals in 17th and 18th centuries which began first in Europe and later in the American colonies.  Its purpose was to reform society using reason; challenge ideas grounded in tradition and faith and advance knowledge by scientific method.
Unfortunately, apart from the Prussians, almost none of this philosophy applied to the military during this period.  The armies of Europe were structured almost exclusively on wealth, privilege and noblesse oblige rather than ability, experience and knowledge.  In fact, if you were high born, wealthy and well connected you could purchase the highest rank in the best regiment - experience in matters military not necessary.  A good upbringing involving hunting, shooting and fox hunting was all that was considered necessary to become a high ranking army officer. Lower born or poorer officers were constantly passed over for promotion and consequently stagnated in the ranks causing great resentment.  The experienced soldiers were generally the NCO's (non commissioned officers) and, particularly in the French army, were left to run things on a practical level in time of crisis. This had an impact when the French Revolution of 1789 took place as many of the very experienced battle-hardy NCO's took charge of civilian armies and rounded on their military grandees.  Score:  Peasants 1  -  Fops 0.
The Prussians took a much more sensible approach to their armed forces by equipping them well, training them constantly and valuing their service.  They also permitted personnel to be promoted by merit shown on the battlefield.

For my art piece this month,  I have gone well out of my comfort zone,  and painted a scene showing a Prussian Army regiment being directed into battle by a mounted officer wielding his sword.  It is painted with acrylic paints onto acrylic paper.

In summary, I found this book extremely interesting, informative and easy to read.  Well worth a look at if you are interested in military history.

Thank you for visiting and I do hope you will have a look at the lovely Darcy's blog and the other book reviews and wonderful artwork.  Your kind comments are encouraging and much appreciated.

Last Enchantment Altered Book Page - The Oak Tree Roots

This page came about as I came across a delightful German fairy tale book called The Story of the Root Children by Sybille Von Olfers.  The Root Children live underground in the roots of tall trees and are woken up each Spring by Mother Earth. They set about making new clothes for the flowers and painting the beetles and ladybirds in their bright colours.  They spend all summer dancing and playing in the fields before returning to their underground homes at the onset of winter.

The oak tree is a new stamp from Sheena Douglass, as is the word stamp and saying on the bottom of the page.  The tree roots are a texture stamp from Lavinia Stamps.  The page has been coloured with Derwent Inktense pencils and the oak tree foliage is Aged Green embossing enamel by Stampendous.  The two smiling children in their earth bed were drawn by yours truly.

Thank you for visiting and do feel free to leave a comment.  I appreciate every one.

Artful Readers Club - April Read

My book for April was The Brethren by John Grisham published in 2000.

I was totally sucked in to the narrative from the first page and found it difficult to put the book down!  For me, it contained all the elements of an expertly fashioned and totally believable crime story with a political sub-plot. In no way spoiling the plot, the main characters are two ex-high court judges and a disgraced Justice of the Peace who are serving lengthy sentences in a federal prison in Florida.  With the help of a bent lawyer, they place advertisements in a contact magazine and pose as young men wishing to become 'pen pals'  with older men.
At the same time they are busy writing their letters, a country is going to the polls to elect a new President.

A piece of American junk mail arrived fortuitously in the post box this week so I thought a collage would best depict this very enjoyable book.  The fingerprints, letter (written in block capitals), SWM (single white male) and postage stamps with election badges set the scene for a great read.

Thanks for stopping by and I do hope you will check out all the other reviews at Darcy's Art-and-Sole and thank you for your lovely comments.

Last Enchantment Altered Book Page - Dancing Unicorns

These pages are dedicated to the legend of the Moon Dancing unicorns as told by Meredith Ann Pierce in Birth of the Firebringer.  Each month the unicorns gathered at dusk to dance in a Circle under the full, dusky moon.

The unicorns are from Chocolate Baroque stamps and have been stamped in Black Archival Ink and then covered with Glossy Accents and glitter.  The foliage stamps are from Clarity and Lavinia Stamps.  The background has been made by masking and sponging with various Distress Inks.

Thanks for stopping by and do feel free to leave a comment, I appreciate them all.

"Last Enchantment" Altered Book Page - Jack Frost

I think we have all seen enough of Jack Frost just lately and he also inhabits the enchanted forest.  As a child I found Jack Frost to be a bit of a scary character and yet, at the same time, very appealing.  The image of Jack is from Google and has been coloured with pencils.  The poem by C.E. Pike is the one most of us are familiar with "Look out! Look out! Jack Frost is about!"

I have white gessoed the pages and then sprinkled Stampin Up's Dazzling Diamonds powder on whilst the pages were still wet.  The snow flakes have been stamped with Cobalt Blue Archival Ink.  The images have been attached with Golden Matt Gel and brushed over to seal them.  Snow crystals have been punched out of silver holographic card to add some shine.

Thank you for stopping by and do feel free to leave a comment.  I appreciate every one.

Last Enchantment Altered Book Page - The Green Man

The image of the Green Man is a freebie from the very talented artist Jay's blog as drawing this would be way beyond my capabilities.  I have coloured the image with Derwent Inktense pencils and then used a crackle stamp from Sheena Douglass and a border stamp from Clarity Stamps to complete the design.  The poem on the opposite page is suitably creepy and called Green Man in the Garden by Charles Causley and has been coloured with Pan Pastels.  The pages have been coloured with Distress Stains and overstamped with green Archival ink with a flourish stamp from Fiskars.

Thank you for looking and do feel free to leave a comment, I appreciate every one.