Well it’s been a busy few months with some cross Channel traveling and France coming alive for the Summer season ( although unfortunately no one told the weather Gods, as we’ve not seen heaps of sun this year!)
At the beginning of the month we took our familiar route up to the ferry port of Ouistreham to catch the overnight ferry to Portsmouth. As we had the whole day to travel up we took a short detour to take a look at the recently installed “Standing with Giants” display at the British Normandy Memorial.
This incredible installation used silhouettes of 1,475 figures representing the number of soldiers, sailors and airmen who died on D-Day fighting to restore liberty to France and freedom to Western Europe. The positioning of these figures as they seemed to emerge from the beaches and blend back into the wildflower meadows was a highly emotional sight and appreciated by the many subdued and silent crowds that wandered amongst them.
Just below the D-Day sculpture stand the figures of 2 nurses Dorothy Field and Mollie Evershed, the only women among the 22,442 names inscribed on the British Normandy Memorial.
The legion of the lost “The Giants”are the work of Dan and Janette Barton and their team who conceived the idea, created and installed the figures.
The last figures to be installed were the silhouettes of 50 French civilians and Resistance fighters who were placed amongst the trees behind the French Memorial.
The Memorials will remain however the Giants were there to commemorate the 80th anniversary in 2024 of the June D-Day landings and have been exhibited at more than 20 locations. Made from recycled signage salvaged from building sites they were cut out by hand, sanded and painted.
It took 4 years to make all the components for this Normandy tribute and it was an honour to view it.
”Lest We Forget”
The UK trip was threefold, to catch up with family and friends, for Chris to tick off a bucket list item by being a part of his old mate Colin’s Charity Day for Classic and Supercars, which just happened this year to coincide with a workshop down the road hosted by the Society of Equestrian Artists!! We stayed with our wonderful hosts Colin and Diana in their fabulous Herefordshire home and then went our separate ways over the weekend 😊 🏇🏎️
Unfortunately for any rev heads I’m unable to upload Chris photos from the day but here are a couple of shots taken at Castle Combe on our travels!
The SEA weekend was held at two different studs where we were given the opportunity to draw horses from life, under the wonderful guidance of Jenny Bell. Check out her amazing work on www.campionbell.com
The first day was spent at Monnington Court Morgans where we were introduced to 2 different Morgan horses (a breed I don’t know a lot about) but soon learnt that they are very patient, as they put up with us artists and easels scattered around in the sunshine.
The second day we headed off to Pearl Island Arabians where we met some ‘real’ performance bred Arabians. Strong, compact types with good bone the bloodlines are from Bahrain where horses are bred for endurance rather than the in hand show rings.
Our first muse was a stunning chestnut stallion who had arrived from the Bahrain Royal Stables earlier in the year and was being prepared for presentation as a gift to King Charles – to be delivered to Windsor Castle.
Believe me when I say that trying to create that glistening chrome in a stallions coat is no easy task! But here is my attempt in acrylics.
After lunch we met a cute bay endurance gelding who made our lives a little harder when he decided that standing still was not on his agenda! 😂
The remainder of our 2 week trip was spent enjoying the company of friends ( including my old mate from Ireland who flew in for the afternoon to join us for a pub lunch!) and family members including this little’menace’ 😂
Recent Comments