Happy Christmas everyone and wishing you all a great, safe, healthy and cheerful new year in 2021. The answer to earlier question A very Merry ChristmasAnd a happy New YearLet’s hope it’s a good oneWithout any fear Happy Christmas (War is over) written by John Lennon & Yoko Ono (1971), produced by Phil Spector for…
Author: whats in the white box
December Painting of the Month (3)
The Christmas Truce of 1914 is one of the great romantic stories of the First World War. Whether it was a truce or a few local unofficial ceasefires is conjecture but certainly some soldiers popped their heads out of the trenches and met in ‘No Mans Land’. This image was painted by Angus McBride in 1969…
December Painting of the Month (2)
The traditional Christmas tree and where did it come from is my second theme this month. It sort of begs the question what is ‘traditional’ as the origins of the tree are lost in myth. What does seem common practice is the decorating of houses and churches all over Europe with evergreen decoration during the…
December Painting of the Month (1)
December 2020. I think we are all getting pandemic weary but while we want to spread some Christmas cheer it is still a time for care and vigilance. So I thought I might post a few paintings this month looking at earlier and modern ideas of the Christmas story. Giotto is an ideal place to…
Two great stained glass windows offering different perspectives of God’s purpose
The United Kingdom has a rich collection of stained glass windows but there are two I keep returning to and am richly rewarded every time. They are both massive areas of glass and the messages they announce reveal differing purposes spanning 560 years. They are the Great East Window at York Minster and the Baptistry…