Pictures for Lent - Breezing Up by Winslow Homer

Another Winslow Homer painting. He captures the lines of the boat and the sails beautifully. These curves are difficult to represent authentically and many artists don’t succeed in showing these at all well. The boat in the picture is a catboat, one of the most beautiful small sailing boats. It originated in the US and is still built in various sizes and materials.

Wikipedia says: the painting's message is positive; despite the choppy waves, the boaters look relaxed. The anchor in the bow was understood to symbolize hope. The boy holding the tiller looks forward to the horizon, a statement of optimism about his future. 

The Anchor is a symbol of hope and one of the meanings of the term “hope” is an anchorage: pubs called “The Hope and Anchor” use the word with this meaning - an anchorage and the means of securing the vessel.

Pictures for Lent - West Point, Prout’s Neck by Winslow Homer

I seem to be focussing on seascapes - I wonder why. The American artist Winslow Homer painted some wonderful scenes

Pictures for Lent - Yellow Spinnaker by Donald Hamilton Fraser

Another thoughtful journey suggested by this picture

Pictures for Lent - Eric Ravilious: Pilot Boat

Eric Ravilious was a 20th century artist who produced a range of works from a mural at Morley College to Wedgwood pottery designs. His woodcut of cricketers was printed on the cover of Wisden’s from 1938 to 2002. He was also an official war artist and was killed during the war while accompanying an RAF air sea rescue mission. This is one of his many water colours 

Pictures for Lent - Sea of Galilee

This picture was chosen by Tricia. It was taken when she visited the Holy Land a few years ago.

Tricia’s prayer to accompany the picture:
Loving Lord, as we sit and share this view of tranquility over the Sea of Galilee help us to give ourselves to you, to hear your ‘still small voice’ beckoning us this lent. Amen

Pictures for Lent - Landscape at Tenby with Figures

Gwen John’s only known picture of the town where she was brought up.

I was brought up in Tenby, too

Pictures for Lent - Duffryncamwy, Patagonia

Another publicly-owned Kyffin Williams painting. Dyffryn Camwy was one of the first places colonised by the Welsh in Patagonia in 1865. The locals still speak Welsh in this part of South America.

Another very rugged landscape

Pictures for Lent - Cwm Hetiau

This is another painting in Public Ownership. Cwm Hetiau (Valley of the Hats) by Kyffin Williams is in the National Library of Wales. The valley is on the Llanberis Pass in Snowdonia. It got its name from the hats that were blown off the heads of Victorian visitors using the Snowdon Railway. The local children collected the hats at the bottom of the valley and sold them to other visitors!

A rather rugged but nonetheless beautiful landscape

Pictures for Lent - Rising Up

Carolyn chose today’s picture which was distributed on the newssheet at Church. It is called Rising Up and it’s by James Martin

Carolyn included this prayer in today’s sheet:
Dear Lord,
We thank you for the hope you offer in our darkest hour
For the strength you give us even when we feel we are in a wilderness
Help us to see ourselves as we really are 
And the wisdom to hear your word
Amen

Pictures for Lent - The Gardens at Cookham Rise

Not the normal Stanley Spencer style

Pictures for Lent - a frosty day at Great Missenden

I got tied up setting up a new PC for a friend yesterday so this is rather late. This was a frosty day last December in the field next to St Peter and St Paul, Great Missenden

Pictures for Lent - Winslow Homer

I've liked this artist’s pictures - particularly the ones of boats - more of these later. “Boys in a Pasture” seemed to suggest quiet thinking about the next days of lent

Pictures for Lent – Ash Wednesday

We’re doing pictures on Sundays during Lent so I thought I’d try to do one a day. No significant commentary – but add your comments if they mean something to you.

There’s a project to make available on the internet all the oil paintings that are in public ownership in the UK. Most are available already on www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/ so I’ve started with one of these: “Avenue at Chantilly” by Paul Cezanne

Lent is a journey, Ash Wednesday is the start of that journey.