Books of Summer

Here is some of what I have been reading this summer. My choice of at least three of these has been influenced by my interest in the actor Richard Armitage.

Can you guess which three?

The books are clockwise from the top left: 1. One Step Behind, by Henning Mankell.
2. Claude and Camille, by Stephanie Cowell.  3. Worlds of Ink and Shadow, by Lena Coakley
4. The Last Kingdom, by Bernard Cornwell.  5. Urban Grimshaw and the Shed Crew, by Bernard Hare.  6. The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood.  7. Anybody Out There, by Marian Keyes.

At least one of these books should be an easy guess for any Richard Armitage fans. The other 2 will be easier for longtime fans to guess.

So, I am finally getting around to posting here on my long neglected blog as today is Armitage Day (otherwise known as Richard Armitage's birthday).  Although I haven't been as devoted to devouring all available information about him (as I may have been a few years ago), I still follow his career.  You can sometimes find me reading a few blogs, possibly making a comment when I am able to, and also sometimes I will be on Facebook or Twitter.

I was very pleased when someone posted a link to his film "Brain on Fire" on Youtube.  I enjoyed watching that film and learning about what that poor girl and her family had to endure.  Richard's role was a small one, but it was nice to see him in a father role.  I haven't had the opportunity to watch his television role in Berlin Station, except for the first episode which I was not overly impressed with.  I think it was because his character wasn't developed much.  I am sure it gets better with further watching.  I guess I was expecting something more like Spooks (MI-5) which I loved!

The other series I was excited to watch was Castlevania.  Thanks again to the fandom for the heads up about this series.  I probably wouldn't have thought to watch it otherwise, as it is a Manga cartoon based on a video game about Dracula and vampire hunters (not my usual thing!).  But I absolutely loved it!  And even better, I tricked my husband into watching it too!  (So I watched it twice!)  I could tell he was impressed because he actually asked me to put on the next episodes, even after he figured out that you-know-who's voice was in it.

Oh yes, and I finally caught that tiny but memorable role as King Oleron in Alice Through the Looking Glass as that movie made it to Netflix too.

To the creator of this GIF - If this is your work, please let me know and I will give you credit.

Richard Armitage, you still rule!

Happy Armitage Day!

First Impressions - More RA comix

Monet in series

DAY SIX

Thanks to CDoart for finding this for me! (Click to see it sparkle)

Claude Monet seems to have had a certain fascination with bridges.  In particular, the Japanese bridge he made over his lily pond in his garden in Giverny, but also he painted bridges in other parts of France and on his trips to London, England.

Fascinated with the play of light on his subject over the course of the day, Monet used several canvases at once and moved to each new canvas with the changing light.
This method of painting meant he had many different versions of the same subject.  Besides bridges, Monet is known for his series of paintings of Rouen Cathedral, The British Houses of Parliament, Poplar trees, haystacks and probably his most famous -- waterlilies.

The website of The National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC has an interesting post about Monet's series paintings. You can click on the featured paintings for some background information. Visit it here.

 

In this clip, Monet as an old man is played by Julian Glover.

I have gathered together a little slide show of as many of Monet's paintings and chalk drawings of bridges as I could find.

Monet's Bridges from Phylly3 on Vimeo.

Here is a lovely video which shows many of Monet's series paintings. They are blended together to make a moving light show.

This video, which shows a series of paintings about The British Parliament buildings, probably contains one of Richard Armitage's favourite paintings (according to an interview).  I wonder which one he likes best?

Richard as Lucas North in Spooks 8.1 in front of the British Parliament Buildings.

photo couresy of Richard Armitage Central Gallery

Green is the colour

 DAY FOUR

Green brushstrokes to represent leaves

I love the colour green, especially a bluish green like the azure water in the sun-drenched Carribean Sea.  I love the yellow-green of new leaves and the richness of deep, clear sparkling emerald jewel tones.  Green is a mysterious colour, it can be youthful and spritely like an elf or dark and foreboding like an enchanted forest. It is the colour of life, but can also foretell an unhealthy decay. Green is the colour of peasants and kings, truly a colour for all people!

Here are some of Monet's paintings which use an extra amount of green pigment.

The Green Wave (1866)

Claude Monet grew up in the seaside town of  Le Havre, France. Boats and the sea are a familar subject for his paintings.

Le Pave de Chailly



Monet's first attempt at painting "en plein air" (in the open air).  This was a revolutionary way for a painter to work at the time.  First influenced by a local painter he knew in his hometown of Le Havre named Eugène Boudin, Monet became convinced this was the only way to capture the true essence of the scene.

Camille Doncieux (Lady in Green)

Camille was Monet's model who became his mistress, the mother of his child and later his first wife.  The artists of that period in France must have lived a very avant garde existence to have flouted the rules of polite society in so many ways.  Claude Monet seemed to have truly loved this woman as he did not abandon her when his father refused to accept Camille as his future daughter-in-law.  Since his father was Monet's principal means of support, Claude could not afford to be married until he could sell enough paintings to support a family.  Sometime in 1868, in despair over his poverty, Monet contemplated taking his life. Luckily he was able to find a patron in M. and Mme Gaudibert. Claude and Camille were finally able to be married in 1870.

Green Park (1871)

Camille and Claude Monet took refuge in London, England (1870-71) so Monet could escape being sent to fight in the Franco-Prussian War. Monet had previously served in his county's armed forces.  His friend and fellow painter Frederic Bazille was not so fortunate. He was killed in battle in 1870.  While in England, Monet studied the works of John Constable and William Turner.

Train in the Countryside (ca. 1870)

  I was lucky enough to view this painting at its home in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris.

Green Reflections left panel

This is part of a larger work which Monet did in the latter part of his life.  He was always fascinated with the play of light on water and he explored this endlessly in paintings of his water lily pond which he designed and built himself in his garden at Giverny.  This particular series of paintings was created to display in The Musée de l'Orangerie in Paris.



In the Garden

Monet is well known for his love of his garden at Giverny where he made his home from 1883 until his death in 1926.

  Let us not forget the man himself! Here is Claude Monet as portrayed by Richard Armitage looking particularly dapper dressed in green.

Richard Armitage is able to beautifully portray both the sadness and the joy of Claude Monet's life in the BBC biopic "The Impressionists"

"Colour is my day-long obsession, joy and torment." 

Claude Monet

  
Colours by Donovan 

Have a very green St. Patrick’s Day!

Monet and The Impressionsts music videos

 DAY TWO

There are countless videos about Monet on Youtube but very few about that wonderful BBC production The Impressionists starring Richard Armitage as Monet as a young man and Julian Glover portraying Monet in the late stage of his life.

Here is a video by KatSw3 which I am not able to embed:

The Impressionsts-- Richard Armitage -- Fanvideo

This was Bccmee's first fanvid. It is remarkably good, especially for a first video!  I was pleased to be able to interview her recently. (Her interview is here.)  The music is Ave Verum Corpus as performed by Rhydian.

This one is one of my favourites which is no longer on Youtube but Vimeo. It is one of Yorkshirewench's earlier videos.  As it is password protected, in order to watch it you will need to enter the following password; butterfly

The Impressionists - Monet - Upside Down from yorkshirewench on Vimeo.

***UPDATE***(07/18/2014)
I think this next one must be a re-upload (for which I am grateful).  I don't think it was available when I first put this post together.

You Can't Hurry Love - Richard Armitage (The Impressionists) / by Miss Hale78

This video by the very talented Elvira Sweeney shows Richard Armitage as Monet
in his every mood.

And last but not least....I almost forget to include this lovely video by 19bt80

Your Impressions please!

2nd Annual FanstRAvaganza

This is the first year I will be taking part in the festivities for this RA jam-packed event!  Last year at this time I was just beginning this blog so my first year anniversary will take place during this same week!

The idea is to have a new post daily for week of March 14 to March 21. I hope I will be up to this ideal, as I barely post that often in a month!

My RA related theme is The Impressionists -- that wonderful biopic of Claude Monet and his group of revolutionary painters who founded a new style of painting called Impressionism.

I would like to ask your help in sending me a piece of your artwork, either inspired by Mr. Armitage or by Monet's works. 

Even if you haven't picked up a drawing pencil in years, now is your chance to give it a try! If you are an artist or a dabbler, dust off one of your earlier works or give me a new one -- whatever you please!  This is not a contest, simply a display of the talent of the RA fan world. (I might even try one myself!)

The only thing I ask is that you keep it G Rated (or at least PG) as I would like to keep this blog available to all ages.

I am sorry that I have not given you more notice.  I have been so busy and also feeling quite under the weather lately.  I hope that you will have enough time to send me something by next Wednesday March 9th.  Please send to:  phylly3@gmail.com
If you have any questions, please send that along to me as well.
Thanks for participating!

Here are the other exciting Blogs that will be participating in the FanstRAvaganza this year:

1. Servetus- Me + Richard
2. Mulubinba- RA Viewers Perspective
3. Skully- The Spooks Fan Blog
4. Traxy- The Squeee!
5. Avalon- Avalon's Blog
6. "Frenz"- RA Frenzy
7. Nat- The RA Fan Blog
8. Sarah- From the Quill Tip
9. Christine- CDoart
10. Pi- Nevermind, Mr. Armitage
11. Prue- Mesmered’s Blog 
12. Musa- White Rose Writing
13. Judiang -- Confessions of a Watcher
14. bccmee -- Richard Armitage Vids & Graphics 
    
    
       
    

Heads Up!

If he could see his shadow he would want to paint it!

I've been especially sleepy lately. I would be quite happy to hibernate!  Over at Me + Richard Armitage blog, Servetus has a poll where we can vote for how we'd like to keep warm with our favourite RA character. If the choice had been there, I might have picked under the covers here with Monet!


Where I live I don't need a Groundhog to tell me that there will be six more weeks of winter. If there even was a groundhog in my neck of the woods, he would be very foolish to want to stick his head out of his nice warm hole in this climate.  There wasn't any blizzard raging outside, (it was a sunny day), but a wind straight out of the Arctic belied the thermometer's measure.

Here is a wonderful review of one of my favourite movies, that I would watch any time of the year but is especially relevant today.

Groundhog Day with Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell

So I hope wherever you are you can believe that spring is just around the corner.  We can look forward soon to some RA sightings if our friends from Downunder can help us out with that, please?  Right now in New Zealand the dwarves are just starting to come out of their Hobbit holes. :)

Happy Groundhog Day!

RA is more likely to meet up with a wombat than this critter!

The Last Spike -- 125th Anniversary tribute

CPR travel poster

November 7th 1885 was the date that the last spike was driven into the track of Canada's first transcontinental railway (the Canadian Pacific Railway -- a.k.a. the CPR).  Sorry, my post is late by a few days, but I just got the memo!


Actually I missed seeing last week's episode of the Rick Mercer Report. Luckily I subscribe to his Youtube channel and what to my wondering eyes did appear -- but this excellent clip where Rick interviews Parks Canada employees about the Last Spike and rides the rails over some of the most beautiful railway scenery to be found anywhere in the world!

The history of Canada is defined by this transcontinental railroad.  There is a good chance that without the persistence of Sir John A. Macdonald (Canada's first Prime Minister) and the partnership of railway engineer Sir Sanford Fleming and CPR general manager Cornelius Van Horne, Canada would not exist in its present form today of 10 provinces and 3 territories linked together from east to west coast by a fragile network of rail (and now highways).  In fact, it was mainly in order to bring the province of British Columbia into Confederation that started the mad rush to build the railroad in the first place.
Is it any wonder then that so many talented performers have paid homage to Canada's railways?

Here's a famous song called Canadian Pacific by country music star Hank Snow

And one of my favourite songs by Gordon Lightfoot, Steel Rail Blues



Now you know I can't leave without a picture of Richard Armitage, so here he is as
Claude Monet in The Impressionists admiring a train.

screencap courtesy of RichardArmitageNet

*******UPDATE*******
Just had to share this lovely montage done by a dear friend and fellow admirer of Richard Armitage.
Just look at the way she has blended Richard as Claude Monet in The Impressionists with Monet's own artwork and a quote by fellow Impressionist painter Edouard Manet about his artistic vision.

The quote in English is "I paint what I see, not what pleases others to see".

Monet is more appropriate to this post than I at first realized! His birthdate was November 14, 1840 which means that I just missed his 170th birthday by one day!

If you like trains as I do, don't miss my first post on this blog, "I Think I Can"

Poppies

Linda Granfield. Toronto, ON: Stoddart Kids, 2001

The poppy -- a flower for remembrance. Blood-red, it is at once a symbol of sacrifice and a hope for the future. The flocked red plastic pin with black centre poppy that Canadians start wearing as soon as the Halloween gear is stowed away, has been offered for sale by the Royal Canadian Legion since the 1920's.  
 
Remembrance Day November 11th at 11:00 am we will pause in our work and play and pay tribute to those brave souls who put their lives on the line for all of us who live in freedom.
 
All Canadians are familiar with the poem "In Flanders Fields" by John McCrae, a doctor in the first World War from Guelph, Ontario who wrote the poem after his friend was killed in the battle of Ypres, France, 1915.

In this video by Poetryanimations,
we see a picture of John McCrae seem to perform his own poem.

If you watch this video at Youtube, you can read the extensive notes underneath the video. To visit Youtube, simply click on either the video title or the Youtube symbol within the frame.

I don't know how I missed knowing this before, but apparently this poem has been made into a song!
Even if you are familiar with the poem, please listen to the song -- it is quite beautiful.

Remembrance Day is always a very sombre and sad time for those who feel the pain for those who have suffered and are still suffering because of war's devastation. But the symbol of the poppy is one of hope. It is afterall, a part of nature, it has a graceful and strong beauty able to withstand the turmoil that humankind inevitably creates.

Here are some of Claude Monet's paintings of poppy fields.
It seems he must have admired the beauty of these flowers too.

And now, although it may be entirely inappropriate. I am going to include an imaginary character from a television show who is wearing a poppy.  I am actually feeling quite sad about this character right now because of the way in which the scriptwriters chose to write him out of the series. I would like to remember Lucas North from Spooks / MI-5 as he was in the first episode in which he appeared in season 7.

Richard Armitage when he was Lucas North

To Autumn

Claude Monet, Autumn Effect at Argenteuill

To Autumn

by William Blake

O Autumn, laden with fruit, and stained With the blood of the grape, pass not, but sit Beneath my shady roof; there thou mayst rest, And tune thy jolly voice to my fresh pipe, And all the daughters of the year shall dance! Sing now the lusty song of fruits and flowers. "The narrow bud opens her beauties to The sun, and love runs in her thrilling veins; Blossoms hang round the brows of Morning, and Flourish down the bright cheek of modest Eve, Till clust'ring Summer breaks forth into singing, And feather'd clouds strew flowers round her head. "The spirits of the air live on the smells Of fruit; and Joy, with pinions light, roves round The gardens, or sits singing in the trees." Thus sang the jolly Autumn as he sat; Then rose, girded himself, and o'er the bleak Hills fled from our sight; but left his golden load.

This past week I had the great pleasure of discovering a very talented singer named Eva Cassidy who is singing in this video. Sadly, I also discovered she no longer graces this earth with her presence, having succumbed to cancer in 1996. There are many lovely videos of her songs on Youtube, but I chose this one for the beautiful pictures of autumn foliage. If there are any readers out there who care to send me a translation of  the language in this video, I would very much appreciate it.

Claude Monet, Waterlilies series (1920-26)

Claude Monet has always been one of my favourite Impressionist painters. He also was a dedicated gardener who often used his garden as a subject of his paintings. I would love to visit his house at Giverny, France.  Many people do visit and many take photographs. Here are some photographs of his lovely garden in the Fall.

Photographs of Claude Monet's fall garden.

It ocurred to me that although I love all things British, (poets included), I should include a poem by a Canadian author.  This one paints a picture of autumn in the Canadian woods.

Here is the poem "The Solitary Woodman" by Charles G.D. Roberts

Some of my favourite Fall scenes by the Canadian artist  

Tom Thompson :

 and The Group of Seven :

Arthur Lismer

Frank H. Johnston

Frank Carmichael

A.Y. Jackson

JEH MacDonald

Lawren Harris

And here is another work of art....Richard Armitage as Guy of Gisborne!

Couldn't you just "Fall" for him?

Spring is sprung...

Spring is sprung.
The grass is riz.
I wonder where the birdies is?
The bird is on the wing.
Now isn’t that absurd?
I always thought the wing was on the bird!

-- Anonymous

I remember fondly my Dad quoting this verse and telling me it was by Odgen Nash. Well, I have been unable to prove this assertion (at least by internet research)! But this one is one of his:

Spring has Sprung!

Spring has newly sprung
the hills are full of grass
and along comes a billy-goat
sliding on his overcoat
down the summer pass

~ by Ogden Nash ~

Here is a video bursting with the signs of Spring set to Vivaldi's Spring suite from "The Four Seasons".

This Beatles tune always puts me in the mood for Spring:

And once again here is a painting by Claude Monet, entitled Break-up of Ice, Grey Weather (1880)

Canadian artists were also influenced by French Impressionism. Tom Thomson was a forerunner of the Group of Seven but his style of painting had great influence on them.

Spring, Algonquin Park

Here is another painting by Tom Thomson entitled Spring Ice (1917)

This was finished shortly before he died, mysteriously drowned while on a painting expedition.

Springtime brings thoughts of romance and here are some favourite movie clips with this theme:

I had to find a new clip for The Lonely Goatherd  from The Sound of Music (1965), as 20th Century Fox had a copyright issue with the last clip. Here's hoping no one has an issue about this one! Julie Andrews sings the song on The Muppet Show (1977)



Besides lonely goatherds there have been some lonely shepherds as well:

Alan Bates played Gabriel Oak in Thomas Hardy's Far From the Madding Crowd (1967) with Julie Christie, Terence Stamp and Peter Finch. His character, like his name was strong and natural as an Oak tree and as kind and heroic as the angel Gabriel himself. One wonders why it takes the love of his life, Bathsheba Everdene so long to figure out that he is the man for her!

Here is a clip from the movie where Bathsheba is singing
at the Shearing supper for her tenants.




This story was redone for television in 1998 starring Nathaniel Parker (from the Inspector Lynley series) as Gabriel Oak and Paloma Baeza as Bathsheba.
Here is a wonderful fanvid by Elva75 of the 1998 version of the story:



As an interesting side note, both of these actors have worked with my favourite actor (have you figured out yet whom that might be?) Richard Armitage appeared with Nathaniel Parker in an episode of The Inspector Lynley mysteries. As well, Paloma Baeza appeared in 3 episodes of Spooks / MI-5 Season 7 as Lucas North's ex-wife Elizaveta.

RA with Nathaniel Parker

RA with Paloma Baeza

Even better, Richard Armitage had quite a Gabriel Oak type role as John Standring in Sparkhouse, which is a modern retelling of the classic Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. Here's a link to my blogger buddy Mulubinba's terrific review of Sparkhouse.

Richard Armitage as John Standring helps tend the sheep on a farm owned by the father of the girl he yearns for, named Carol (played by Sarah Smart) who is madly in love with Andrew (Joe McFadden). Since Andrew's parents believe Carol is beneath him, they foil the couple's romantic dreams and Andrew abandons Carol at the altar. Years pass, and he marries someone else and even becomes a father. One day he moves back home and when he sees Carol again, his passion for her is reignited. Nevermind that she has finally got her life back together and has persuaded the ever loyal and loving John to sell his house, put all the money into her farm and then she will promise to be a good wife to him. Long story short, it's very sad, but not quite as tragic as the original story because really, which guy would you rather end up with?

On the left we have Andrew whose parents hate you and although he professes undying love, he has abandoned you at the altar, married another woman and had a baby with her, all without any explanation for his behaviour.

On the right we have John, who has always been there when you needed him, is willing to make himself over for you, heals your wounds, doesn't mind raising your child by another man, is always kind, gentle and caring, and oh yes, although he doesn't start fights, can do a fabulous job defending your honour.

It's not really a fair choice...for a sane person! Immature boy-man vs. man of any woman's dreams!

Here is one of my favourite fanvids by Neelma, telling the story from Carol's viewpoint. It's set to Fallen by Sarah McLachlan.