Life has become quite tough for all of us just now, no matter what age, gender or status you have. We are dealing with an unknown virus which has yet to show us how damaging it may be to the entire world population and economy. Most of us in the UK thought the BREXIT years were painful for many reasons but now, staying in, having no work, being in the front line of workers risking their lives to fight the virus, coping with shortages, lack of access to family, friends, so much we take for granted, difference of opinion between medical experts, scientists to help politicians make decisions, questionable behaviour by some very wealthy individuals, ineptitude, beaurocracy and questionable media coverage have hurtled us into this strange new world.
Although there are enormous challenges ahead and the fear of further outbreaks we must pay tribute to the enormous bravery of the medical profession worldwide and every key worker helping to save lives, protect us, and those desperately trying to find vaccines, tests and other solutions to all the chaos and problems Coronavirus has created. I’ve had my share of health problems as I’ve grown older and am enormously grateful to the countless consultants, doctors, nurses and hospital staff who have cared for me, not to mention my wonderful wife Christine, my close family and friends. Lockdown has given us all the time to take stock of our lives and re-asses them. In the last month staying at home I’ve produced the following paintings:-
We’re being bombarded by words, argument, confusion and controversy at the moment about what we should or shouldn’t be doing and how we must live. I’ve been thinking during lockdown about what our own parents went through in their lives. Mine were born in 1911, lived through the First World War, Spanish flu, the Depression in the 1930s, the Second World War, austerity during and after it, yet I never heard them complain! In the early 1950s we had no car, television, washing machine, fridge/freezer, phone, central heating, hair drier, instant access, holidays abroad and none of the countless material benefits we enjoy today.
Mental Health Awareness Week has passed and since the VE Day celebrations I’ve been appreciating the things I have that money can’t buy. A loving, caring, kind and supportive family, great friends, good neighbours, reasonably good health and so much else to treasure. I fully understand the fears people have, and there are many, particularly those with various forms of mental illness, so it’s so important to think of others far worse off than us – the homeless, refugees, those starving, in poverty and suffering from all kinds of mental and physical health problems. Please be kind, caring, compassionate and loving to those around you and display honesty, integrity, and sensitivity towards weak, vulnerable and lonely individuals.
I’ll jump off my soapbox now and post something I’ve done in the last week or so as a kind of tribute to my parents.
This collage, completed in lockdown, is a collection of memorabilia from my first home which my parents purchased in 1939 when they were married and where I lived for the first 23 years of my life. Top left is a photo taken by my dad who was in the navy as a wireless operator on a small old destroyer named HMS Walpole in World War II. He spent four years in the North sea in very poor weather conditions and frequent rough seas; he was tied to the rails of the ship for safety when the photo was taken. He suffered constantly from being seasick. I painted him in his uniform and attached another photo of my mum and dad holding me in 1944, the year I was born plus, to the right, a painting of his diary for that year, which we still have and is something I treasure.
The three other main painted objects are a small travel case similar to the one dad used in the war, his bowler hat worn in his career in marine insurance in London which started after the war, and an art deco clock belonging to my mum. My mother loved art, flowers, gardening, knitting, sewing and animals and she painted a watercolour that used to hang over the mantlepiece at home; dad was a keen musician, and also whilst at sea made two model galleons from matchsticks collected from his shipmates. Unfortunately, I no longer have these objects which were damaged and destroyed so I couldn’t reproduce them for the collage. I’ll end here but may have more to say about these memories next time!