The burning of Joan of Arc – 30 May 1431
“Whatever thing men call great, look for it in Joan of Arc, and there you will find it.” – Mark Twain Five-hundred and eighty years ago today the English tied a 19-year-old French peasant girl to a pillar in the square in Rouen and burned her alive. Her executioners were so afraid of relic-hunters they [...]
Henning Mankell in Woodstock
Popular culture mostly passes me by. But the extraordinary publishing phenomenon of Scandinavian crime fiction has not. In our house it began when, quite by chance, we stumbled upon the BBC TV adaptation of Henning Mankell’s gloomy detective Kurt Wallander, starring Kenneth Branagh. We liked it so much we lapped up the Swedish films when [...]
Rush live at the NEC
I first saw Canadian rock band Rush live back in October 2007 and blogged about it here. We were fortunate to see them again last night at the NEC in Birmingham, this time from the third row from the front. This allowed my husband to indulge his passion for photographing the bands he loves. All [...]
Exhibition continues this weekend in Eynsham and Woodstock
My hand drawn map of Woodstock is currently on show at the Creative Art Gallery in Woodstock. It felt only right that the first time the map was shown it should be in the town that inspired it. I’ll be signing and hand-tinting copies of it tomorrow between 3pm and 5pm at the gallery. Meanwhile [...]
The beheading of Anne Boleyn – 19 May 1536
Four-hundred and seventy-five years ago today, Anne Boleyn knelt upright on a scaffold in the Tower of London on the orders of her husband, King Henry VIII (1491 – 1547). Looming over her was expert swordsman Jean Rombaud who had been especially brought over from France for the occasion. A single stroke from Rombaud’s weapon [...]
Artweeks exhibition – opens tomorrow, 14 May
My exhibition opens tomorrow. There’s more information, including a short and funky sneak-preview film here. Opening times: Saturday 14 May 12noon to 5.30pm Sunday 15 May 12noon to 5.30pm Thursday 19 May 5.30 to 8pm Saturday 21 May 12noon to 5.30pm Sunday 22 May 12noon to 5.30pm Do come along for a cuppa!
Exhibition opens on Saturday 14 May 2011
My exhibition, part of Artweeks – Oxfordshire’s visual arts festival – opens on Saturday 14 May 2011 at 12 noon, in Eynsham, just 6 miles west of Oxford. There’s more information, including a short and funky sneak-preview film here. We’ll be open: Saturday 14 May 12noon to 5.30pm Sunday 15 May 12noon to 5.30pm Thursday [...]
The death of Paul Gauguin – 8 May 1903
This post also appears on Dorian Cope’s blog On This Deity “In art, all who have done something other than their predecessors have merited the epithet of ‘revolutionary’; and it is they alone who are masters.” – Paul Gauguin When artist Paul Gauguin’s 54-year-old dead body was lowered swiftly into his grave on the remote [...]
Eynsham Morris dance for the May, 2011
Still in the spirit of the recent royal wedding, the Eynsham Morris gathered in the village square this morning to dance. I love it that my village has its own very active and much-loved morris side. They bring a colour and English folk flavour to the village which I enjoy and am very proud of. [...]
