~Josephine Wall~

 

 "Unfold your spirit to the sky,
allow your sacred dreams to fly.
The Universe answers that you truly are
more precious than Heaven's brightest star."

Josephine Wall was born in 1947 in Farnham, Surrey
Educated at Farnham and Parkstone Grammar Schools,
her family moved to Poole, Dorset when she was 14.

From childhood Josephine has had a passion for
light and colour, fantasy and visual story telling.

The life of a painter was clearly her destiny!
Enchanting and detailed images flow freely from
her imagination in an endless cascade of ideas.
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Her first employment after leaving Art College
was at Poole Pottery, where she painted the dynamic
and boldly coloured designs of the now famous
Delphis ware – very collectable and realising
high prices at specialist auctions.

In addition to her main love of painting, she directs
her creative energies into pottery figures, sculpture
and reproduction stained glass panel.
She has even customised items of clothing.

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She lives contentedly with her husband at
Wisteria Cottage' where she works in a purpose
built attic studio. The walls are covered with a
huge wisteria, cascading gorgeous flowers -
hand painted of course. Josephine is convinced
that working under the pyramid shaped roof is a
source of inspirational vibes, aiding her creativity!
The rest of the cottage also displays her artistic
nature, a woodland scene and butterflies in the kitchen,
flowers and birds on the furniture and even more
wisteria on the glass doors in the living room.
Even the garden doesn’t escape her touch, as she
likes nothing better than to spend time designing
unusual features and creating an abundance of colour,
with a slight bias towards a Victorian style.

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Prelude to a Kiss.
That 'magic' moment! - the frozen frame in time,
savouring the powerful emotion of that first kiss.
As their lips move ever closer they can feel the electricity
in the air as they approach the blending of their
two minds and spirits.Their thoughts and pulses race
as the heavenly conductor leads them to a crescendo
in the concerto of love.The enchantment of that
moment will last forever.

"The art of painting is more than a career to me,"
she says. "It is an all consuming obsession and a
love of color and form. In fact, if I am away from
my easel for too long I become restless
and anxious to paint again."

Masque of Love
Having danced the night away she can pretend
no more.  Struck by Cupids arrow she coyly
comes out from behind her mask of peacock
feathers to reveal herself for the first time to
her masked partner.  Having only been able to look
into each others eyes ( the windows of the soul )
she knows their feelings for each other are true,
and uncomplicated by physical appearance. 
How can she resist when surrounded
by the hypnotic perfume of love.

http://www.josephine-wall-imagination-art.com/

~Mabel Lucie Attwell~

Attwell was born in 1879 and received some
education at the Regent School of Art and Heatherley's
School of Art in London, but she grew bored with
her academic studies and dropped out to focus
on her own interests... painting cherubic children
and fairies. Her work wasn't very warmly received
at first by galleries and agents, but when her first
batch of paintings sold out in three days,
they became much more enthusiastic.
Attwell illustrated greeting cards and children's books,
the most famous of which we are featuring today,
Peter Pan & Wendy.
(She died on 5th November 1964)

Mabel Lucie Attwell's illustrations for the 1921
edition of J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan & Wendy.

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Resources:
http://www.animationarchive.org/index.html

~Flora~

I am the handmaid of the earth,
I broider fair her glorious gown,
And deck her on her days of mirth
With many a garland of renown.
And while Earth's little ones are fain
And play about the Mother's hem,
I scatter every gift I gain
From sun and wind to gladden them.
~William Morris~

http://faculty.stonehill.edu/geverett/rb/ladies.htm

~Ans Markus~

 
Antje Geertje "Ans" Markus
werd geboren in Halfweg op 29 januari 1947.
Ans is bekend om haar schilderijen van vrouwen
in windsels. Ans is autodidact en haar stijl is realistisch.
In 1981 houdt ze haar eerste expositie en
vanaf halverwege de jaren '80 komt het grote succes.
Begin jaren '90 verhuist Markus van Udenhout naar
Amsterdam. In 1995 opent ze haar eigen atelier
en expositieruimte op het Prinseneiland.
Met haar 25-jarig jubileum als kunstschilder verschijnt
in 2003 het overzichtsboek Tot op de Huid:
25 jaar schilderkunst van Ans Markus.

Ans Markus is een opvallende verschijning met
haar kledingstijl. Ze wordt beschouwd als de
societyschilder van Nederland en verschijnt
dan ook veelvuldig in de pers.

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http://www.ansmarkus.nl/

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Met haar realistische schilderijen van ingepakte
vrouwen is ze er in geslaagd om bekendheid te krijgen.

De Levensweg.

Vele wegen kent het leven, maar van al die
wegen is er één die jij te gaan hebt.
Die éne is voor jou. Die éne slechts.
En of je wilt of niet, die weg heb jij te gaan.
De keuze is dus niet de weg, want die koos jou.
De keuze is, de wijze hoe die weg te gaan.
Met onwil om de kuilen en de stenen,
met verzet omdat de zon een weg die door
ravijnen gaat, haast niet kan bereiken.
Of met de wil om aan het einde van die weg
milder te zijn, en wijzer, dan aan het begin.
De weg koos jou, kies jij ook voor hem?
Dag Hammarskjöld (bewerking Hans Stolp)

~Jackie Morris~Illustrator

Jackie Morris 

Born in Birmingham 1960, Jackie is a well established
illustrator of beautiful luminous watercolours for
over 30 children's books. Her subject matter
include detailed magical landscapes of different
lands and times, biblical and mythological characters,
the natural world involving whales, peacocks, bears,
snow leopards, cats, and tigers.
Each time you look at her work you notice
something previously hidden.

In her earlier days she worked for magazines and
also designed greetings cards for Greenpeace
and Amnesty International.

Jackie's illustrations for greetings cards caught
the attention of author Caroline Pitcher, and Jackie
illustrated her first Childrens Book 'Jo's Storm'
published in 1994.  

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Jackie Morris has since written and beautifully
illustrated the books 'The Seal Children', which she
was awarded the Tir na n-Og Prize by the
Welsh Books Council in 2005', 'The Snow Leopard',
'Lord of the Forest', 'The Barefoot Book of Classic Poems',
'Bears, Bears and more Bears', and
'Cats, Cats and more Cats'.

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Jackie has collaborated with many authors for
children's stories including :- Ted Hughes for
'When The Whale Became' a new edition published
in 2000, Caroline Pitcher - who Jackie collaborated
with for 5 books including 'The Snow Whale',
which achieved The Children's Book Federation
Award shortlist in 1997; and with Sian Lewis for
'The Cities in the Sea', which received the prize
for Best English Book of the Year in 1997 by
the Tir na n-Og Welsh Books Council.

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'Can You See A Little Bear?' written for Jackie by
James Mayhew, was inspired by the illustrations she
created for Christmas cards for the
Musicians Benevolent Fund. This story became
one of Child Magazines top 50 Children's books in America.
This book has also been picked up by the Book Start
Scheme in the UK. James and Jackie are currently
working on a follow up to the successful
'Can You See A Little Bear' originally called
'Starlight Starbright', and the progress of
this book can be viewed on Jackies blog

http://starlightjourney.blogspot.com/

complete with her wonderful illustrations.
Her books and those she has illustrated have been
produced in many Countries including Wales,
Denmark, Sweden, USA, Canada, and Korea.

. . .

Jackie has also designed images for
Terry Pratchetts Calenders since 2004.
She was highly commended in the Australian
Women's Art Award, exhibits her paintings and
prints in Galleries all over the UK, and globally
as far as Queensland, Australia.
She has a collection in the public collection
at the National Library of Wales.
Jackie lives in Pembrokeshire with her two children,
two dogs and numerous cats.

www.wethreecats.blogspot.com 

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Curled around my pillow
My dragon sleeps
And keeps
One eye on the door
To be sure
That no monsters creep
Into my dreams.