Monthly Archives: November 2018

Remember, Remember. Let us never forget.

Nov 10

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This Sunday as we remember those who died in the First World War and all the conflicts around the world since I have decided to repost a number of my watercolours with poppies in them.

One hundred years ago the First World War ended leaving a lost generation of those who died in the conflict.

We have visited Ypres twice in recent years following the final days of my Wife’s great Uncle who was killed at Passchendaele in 1917. Visiting there was a remarkable and very moving experience.

David Andrews , from Larne in Northern Ireland, was reported as “missing in action” at Passchendaele in the Ypres are on 17th August 1917.  His body was never recovered. David was serving as a Lance Corporal with the 14th Battalion of the Royal Irish Rifles when he was killed. 
He, and many hundreds of thousands also killed in the Ypres area, are commemorated on the magnificent Tyne Cot War Grave Memorial at Ypres.His battalion had only engaged that day and in one day the troop was reduced from 400 to 100 men.  The battalion landed in Boulogne in October 1915 and was disbanded in February 1918 in France. David’s brother also served in the War and was gassed, but returned home eventually. Alas many of their friends never did.

These watercolours hopefully highlight how beautiful poppies are in the countryside across Europe. They are of course an great visual aid to artists providing interesting foregrounds to the paintings.

Anyway I hope you will enjoy them and remember as we do the great sacrifices made by so many over 100 years ago that give us all the freedoms we enjoy today.

Brian

Poppies in Provence

Poppies in the corn at St Margaret’s Church , Barming in Kent

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Posted in Paintings from our travels

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