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Persephone and the Pomegranate Seeds Oil on paper by Celia Turner. September...Autumn...Winter...Spring The trees flush red and drop their leaves, the flowers wither and the crops stop growing. Persephone has travelled to the Underworld and Demeter roams the earth missing her daughter. But Spring will come again, and Persephone will return to her mother. The grasses will become green, the flowers will bloom, the trees will sport blossom, then leaves and then fruit. Demeter and Persephone will walk hand in hand, talking, singing, and laughing and the evening primroses will open just to see them passing by.

Here is my new 'retro' radio, by the toaster and with the manky back door in frame. But this little gem of a radio blasts out SO much fun every day, it brightens my life. It is tuned to Radio X. I have listened to XFM since its conception in 1997. I remember many a Saturday afternoon driving to the seafood stall but having to pull over so many times in fits of giggles, tears streaming down my face, listening to Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. The crab and prawns always gave me indigestion as I would be doubled up on the way back home. Cramped with laughing with a belly full of fresh crab is quite painful. In 1996 I went to see Oasis at Maine Road. It was THE BEST NIGHT OF MY LIFE, as anyone who knows me will testify. I still, to this day could bore for England about it but oh what a glorious night. I was on a high for two whole weeks after the gig and wore my sky-blue Oasis T shirt and trackie bottoms to meet my kids from school. proudly, much to their embarrassm...

Virginia Woolf by Roger Fry (1917) I love this painting of Virginia Woolf. The faraway look in her eyes seems to encapsulate the myriad of thoughts that constantly swirled around in her head. She looks beautiful which would not be a common description of this great lady. It's such a shame that a generation of cinemagoers will only know of Virginia Woolf through the narrow portrait given in the film 'The Hours' where she comes across a dull and dour woman. I would have so loved to have been a part of The Bloomsbury Group, those artists, philosophers, writers, and intellectuals who revelled in each other's company during the first half of the 20th century. Fancy belonging to a group whose members included Vanessa Bell, Roger Fry, E.M Forster, Duncan Grant, Lytton Strachey, and Leonard Woolf himself of course. What the Bloomsbury Set would have thought of life today is anyone's guess. I think I would have preferred to live in an era of dramatic and important li...

1966. Oil on card by Celia Turner. Here is a painting to celebrate 1966, the year in which many of my peers were born. 52 years seems like a long time ago yet also not that long. In England, the year is best remembered for the winning of the World Cup against West Germany, we have that memory at least. (Well, I don't remember it as such and all it gets in the painting is a little goal at the bottom of the picture) Other notable events that took place in 1966 included: The last UK concert by The Beatles. John Lennon meets Yoko Ono. Anti- Vietnam war protests all over US and London, Tokyo, Stockholm, and Lyon. Cigarette packs started to carry health warnings. USSR launches Lunar 9 towards the moon. Dow Jones index reaches 995 points. It's the 23rd Golden Globes. Ba-ath party takes power in Syria. Muhammad Ali beats George Chuvalo in fifteen rounds. 215,000 US soldiers are in Vietnam. Harold Wilson (Labour) wins the General Election. Soviet Lunar 10 completes its ...

I can't play tennis My golf's a menace I just can't do the Australian crawl And I'm no better at volleyball, Ain't there anyone here for love? I'm apathetic and non-athletic I can't keep up in a marathon I need some shoulders to lean upon. I need a chappy to make me happy And he don't have to be Hercules Don't anyone know about the birds and bees? Ain't there anyone here for love Sweet love, Ain't there anyone here for love?

Spanish Dancer. Oil on wood by Celia Turner. Based on carpet designed by Joan Miro c1930 for the Maison Myrbor, a gallery on the rue Vignon near the Champs Elysees. Arts and Crafts. I have always been intrigued by the debt we owe to William Morris. Morris was one of the most influential personalities on the British cultural stage in the second half of the 19th century. Morris was one of the first to consider the carpet as an art form, rather than merely as a floor covering. William Morris also advocated the 'total work of art', which extended from the design of a building down to the cutlery and floor coverings. The philosophy of William Morris and John Ruskin gave birth to the Arts and Crafts movement. Art Deco and Modernist carpets are beautiful works of art and can be seen in museums and collections all over the world, including the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.  I am working on a collection of paintings based on original carpet designs from the art deco...

As we have seen in the posts entitled ' Mental Health Awareness Week: 14-20 May 2018- some issues are perennial, such as relationship concerns, health worries and money worries. Trauma can occur at any stage in life and there is no predicting when the stresses of life will suddenly mount up to the point of feeling overwhelming. We all go through tough times, but it's not just what  we go through that determines our ability to cope, but how we deal with the stress- how we still manage to meet our needs as best we can, retain hope, and feel empowered. Once we understand the typical stresses of the cycle, we can prepare ourselves and others to best manage them. And a big part of this lies in having good support from others. So, what can we learn in general? Well, primarily relationships matter . Having warm, good, and wide-ranging friendships and relationships helps us all mentally, physically, and even financially. The one and only constant in life is change. The body m...