Here is a rose, or two, one for me and one for you x

Ruth Weal — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 22:59:36 +0000

Heaven Scent - Copyright R.Weal 2007

I’ve always loved roses since I was a little girl and my Nan had a wonderful set of rose bushes outside the front of her house that she was always proud of. Nan’s pride is not surprising as her roses were much admired! She would always let me pick one to take home with me because I loved the scents.

This yellow tea rose is called “Heaven Scent” and I photographed it at the 2007 Bath & West Show which is an annual agricultural show that has become a bit of a tradition to visit with my Dad and when she’s free my sister Shelley! The show always has lots of lovely plants, a beautiful flower tent, oodles of lovely fresh food, loads of animals, competitions and lots of interesting country and craft stalls.

It’s always held at the end of May/beginning of June and there is always at least one stall with the finest Cotswold Strawberries, which are the best in the world and alone are worth the entry fee!!

I had actually bought the same variety of this rose plant for my Nan and helped to plant it in her garden the year before, along with a red rose similar to my second rose picture “Passion” below. These pictures were also one of the first times I took out the Pentax K10D digital SLR camera and started taking my photography seriously.

So, the pictures of “Heaven Scent” and “Passion” therefore evoke happy memories of exploring my skills in photography, spending time with my Dad and sister Shelley and of the fond times gardening with the my beloved grandmother, who I had sadly lost the year previously.

Passion - Copyright R.Weal 2007

Red roses were always my Nan’s favourite and “Passion” had a deep heady scent to it that brought to mind the conversations my Nan and I often had about roses and red ones in particular.

Nan said red roses always reminded her of the ones she had carried in her wedding bouquet. That they were a beautiful symbol of her enduring love that she shared with my Granddad. Nan was admittedly a bit of a romantic, but when you spend over 60 yrs with the same person in your life and still feel in love with them to the end I think you’re entitled to be a romantic!

I decided to buy the rose bush “Passion” that was the subject of this picture and I planted it in my own garden in her memory.

My “Passion” bush is still there today, though sadly a bit overshadowed by a climbing plant that has decided to take over my back yard! Every time I see any rose I always smile at the memories it evokes and the scent transports me back to times when my life seemed simpler and one the most truly inspirational and selflessly loving people graced my life.

Shortly after uploading the picture I added a poem in the flickr description for the picture “Passion”. I was inspired to write the poem after attending Paco Peña’s - A Compás Flamenco show at the Salisbury City Hall as part of the Salisbury International Arts Festival . A Compás was a veritable feast of music, dance, colour and spell binding rhythms that kept me so completely enthralled that it seemed like it had hardly begun before it had ended!

I remember clearly the poem bursting forth in my mind to be written the moment the show was over. The title had exploded into my consciousness as I had watched the commanding performances of the lead male Flamenco dancer and I knew if I didn’t capture the energy and spirit of the moment in the poem I’d always regret it. Unfortunately it was one of the rare occasions when I didn’t have a pen and paper in my handbag. Luckily my good friend Deborah came to the rescue and was quickly on hand ensuring that the poem lived and the energy and passion of the moment was not lost. Hopefully if you read the poem out loud to yourselves you’ll hear the rhythm of the flamenco that drove the words from men that heady evening.

As Flamenco is such a passionate art form, it seemed only right that it should have a passionate picture to compliment it and so another melding of my art forms was born. At the bottom of the post there’s a video clip of Paco Peña and his team performing the A Compás show, maybe you’ll get swept up in the passion just like I did!

May your passions warm you all your days and complacency never darken your way.

Wealie x

IF I MARRY, LET HIM BE A FLAMENCO DANCER

“If I marry”
she said
“Let him be a flamenco dancer
With lithe feet
And graceful passion
I will fall into his embrace
In the gypsy fashion”

“If I marry”
She said
“Let him be a flamenco dancer
For he stole my breath
With the fire in his feet
And my heart’s true rhythm
Is forever linked to a flamenco beat”

“If I marry”
She said
“Let him be a flamenco dancer
For he tore from me my passion in the blink of an eye
And gave me elation on an exhaled sigh
For I gave him my heart, my essence, my soul
And without his flamenco
I will never be whole

“If I marry”
She softly sighed
“Please, let him be a flamenco dancer”

Ruth Weal
16 June 2007 12.18 am
Copyright R.Weal 2007 ©

The first two verses were written after watching the breathtakingly beautiful Paco Peña’s A Compás Flamenco show from the Salisbury International Arts Festival on 01 June 2007.

Convergence (A Self Portrait)

Ruth Weal — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 23:16:45 +0000

This is one of my older paintings and has a lot of meaning for me. I painted it during the dark days after my Grandmother died when it was too painful to write, too painful to be around anyone, too painful to leave the house. Convergence, Confluence and Overload of the Senses were the outlet for my grief, a purging of the pain and a means to finding my way back to myself in some way.

Convergence was my longest “straight through creation”, i.e. I painted it over 48 hrs without sleeping or leaving the house (I did snack and have loo breaks though). Of the three paintings I created after Nan died this was the one that brought me the most resolution and peace. Symbolic of all the ties of the people I love in my life and the convergence of all their love weaving into the pattern that makes up me.

In a way that I did not quite understand until I viewed it again lately it is an emotional self portrait of my thoughts and feelings.

It was with great happiness that I gave this painting in particular to one of the most important women in my life (my very good friend and sister of my soul), Lisa. It hangs in pride of place in her bathroom and it’s nice to know that something born in my grief and pain has brought her joy.

I never took a pic of it before I gave it to Lisa (I never really have of my paintings). I used to be exceptionally self-conscious of this medium of my artistic outlet and don’t by any means consider myself to be a painter and artist. My technique is sloppy at best, but I find a certain sense of peace when I paint. Where writing wrings from me the emotions, taking me to great highs and lows, leaving me elated and drained, painting is the opposite. Painting grounds me, fills me with the scent of the colours, mesmerises me with the shapes and lines my mind would have me follow and leads me to my centre and peace. I should probably paint more often (grin).

In days gone by I have merely thrown away my canvases after a few weeks and never thought to share them with anyone until the likes of Lisa complained at the idea.

Well Lisa now has another two of my paintings and true to form I gave them to her before photographing them, so I went to her house with camera in hand and finally photographed Convergence too.

It’s acrylic on canvas, I hope you like it too.

Wealie's World » nan

Here is a rose, or two, one for me and one for you x

IF I MARRY, LET HIM BE A FLAMENCO DANCER

Convergence (A Self Portrait)