Are Swearwords REALLY necessary?

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  The closest I could get to a painting of a ship 

I have just read a blog by a presumably successful blogger who liked my blog –which I am grateful for.  I just can’t understand why every second word has to be a swear word or  if not a swear word then a derogatory word.  Do we need to put the word SHIT into every sentence.

I know that that word is NOT a swear word.  It is an acronym which originated in the 1800’s .  Apparently there were often fires started in the holds of ships going to the East from England.   They used to take horses, and of course with horses there are always the problems of the , yes, shit.  As anyone who has had a horse knows. This manure has to be shoveled away every day so that it cannot cause foot rot in the horses.

This pile of manure quickly builds up and becomes very hot and can combust causing the fire and much damage to the ship.
Eventually it was found that if the manure was stored higher up in the ship, where the air could get to it, it was much safer.  The letters S H I T were stamped on all containers of horse food as well.
Store High In Transit.

I wish I also had a story for the F word.  That is just vulgar. What more can I say.
Old fashioned?  Maybe, but there are OTHER words which would be as effective and more classy.
Just my views.

Website: http://www.lizmcqueensart.com.    -Where I have the other blog and don’t know how to combine them.
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One Bucket list item ticked off

                                 Mona Lisa from a distance

Truffle


City Hall in Munich

Everyone talks about the Mona Lisa painting at the Louvre.  Don’t understand why it is such a popular painting, it is small, I’m sure there have been other portrait paintings that have been as good or better,  ……….BUT,  this one is supposed to be the MOST valuable painting in the world.  Priceless.

Our chance came to see it in the Louvre on our trip to Paris a few weeks ago.
All roads lead to the Mona Lisa.  Millions of others had the same idea and it was all I could do to lift my camera up above my head and snap away, hoping that I had it aimed correctly.  I do wish that I could have got closer to see if those eyes actually DID follow one.

So: item ticked off on the bucket list. Now for the rest of the trip.
Europe is SO amazing.  I can never get over how magnificent those buildings are. The time and effort that went into building those cathedrals and town halls will never cease to be a ‘wonderment” to me.  The craftsmanship and pride taken has lasted for centuries.  What a sadness that we do not have that anymore.  Minimalistic and plastic.  No more little birds carved out of stone on the top of a huge pillar in a cathedral.  When asked why the artisan had done that when no one could see it, he said.”God can see it!”  Motivation enough.

We were treated to a day in Munich by our son who lives in Stuttgart.  It was October fest time and there were markets everywhere.  At one stall selling vegies they advertised fresh truffles.  Having never seen a truffle we asked to look at it.
The photo above explains it all.  I asked what one did with it and a tourist from the USA said, “we grate it on French Fries!”  So I learned something else.  Not sure that that is what the French chefs do , but good

 

 

 

Every Painting Has A Home

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Years ago we paid a visit to Malta.
Coming from South Africa where the rivers are always brown after rain, I   could not get over the colour of the water around Malta.  Translucent, turquoise, shimmering.  Beautiful.   On arriving back home I had to get it down on canvas.
‘Mediterranean Mood’ lived with us for many years.  I think that I did not actually WANT to part with it.  However today it found a new home and the lovely person who bought it is so chuffed with it, that I happily let it go.
One puts so much of yourself into your paintings. You make yourself extremely vulnerable by doing so, until after a time, you can pass off the snide comments and realise that the people who pass those comments usually do not paint, so are not worth listening to.

Now to another topic.  I have a website on which I put the odd blog and then I have this one.  Can’t understand how that happened.  Hence the tardiness in writing on this ‘blog site’  Thank you to the few folk who have decided to join my site,  I will try to be more diligent.

In the meanwhile please check out my website for more paintings.  Thank you for your interest and participation.  My website is:  www.lizmcqueensart.com   You can subscribe right here.  Have fun.

 

    

Where has it gone?

Coffee Break

Coffee Break
Coffee Break

After going for a coffee break, I found that there were a couple of replies to my last post.
Where is that post.???  I cannot find it and it is not on my WordPress website.
http://www.lizmcqueensart.com.  So has it flown away like many of my other articles and
precious documents have done.

I would really love to find the place where all of these have gone to.  My husband had to re-start the book that he is writing 5 times as each time it has just vanished.  Now  he backs it up in 3 different places.

I wonder if it is all in the Stratosphere?  There seems to be a lot of space up there to
store things that have vanished.   It is above the clouds, so things stored in the clouds will not be there.  Just wonder.

If you like my painting above then I am pleased.  If you would like it to grace your home I would even be more pleased.  Otherwise just enjoy it.  Provided this mail does not also disappear into the ever never.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to where I can find it?

Let’s Try Again

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    Follow My Leader
    The boffins all tell you that to get into Blogging, you have to try to get people to know you.  Now who would be interested in someone like me?  A very ordinary, elderly, passionate painter, who lives in South Africa near the Kruger Park and is always very aware of her surroundings as it is a beautiful part of the world..
    I feel rather like the painting above; sort of all over the show. This started off as a collage and ended up being a sort of abstract.  I called it SAFE HARBOUR.  It is available if anyone would like to take it home with them…..for a fee of course.

    HOW DID IT ALL START?
    I worked as  a pharmacist locum for many years and in 2000 decided that things were becoming very impersonal and not what I wanted to spend the rest of my life doing.  The days of hugging your customers and crying with them when they told you their troubles was over.  Now people stood in a queue and became a number.  The personal touch had gone.  I was 60 and it was time to pack it up.

    Purely by accident, I happened to meet a lady at the hairdressers and we got chatting, When I asked her what she did, she said ,”I teach art.”  I had never ever considered painting as a hobby, had not had any art at school and could not draw (I thought).
    A little voice said to me, “DO IT!!”.  So I said, “I think I would like to do that.” She told me that she had a two year waiting list but would put my name down.  Two weeks later  she phoned to tell me that she had a cancellation. It was February 2000.

    DAWN OF A NEW LIFE
       What bliss those lessons were.   I was with Estelle for 6 years until she moved to the Cape.  SUDDEN SHOCK!  I was on my own.  Could I cope?  What should I do? Who would help me?   I realised that it is a good thing to have to depend on your own motivation and discipline.  Many good books, after about 15 years I now have You Tube.  What more could one want.  A ‘job’ I cannot wait to get to in the morning, a very helpful and supportive husband, and an opportunity to share my inspiration with others.
    What a life!
    Check out my website for more:  www.lizmcqueensart.com
    Till next time.  Thank you for reading this.