Owen D Posted 22 August , 2006 Share Posted 22 August , 2006 Aww, Spike , lead in bed last night I was wondering what to draw. Thought, I know just an Army Shovel. Now you've beaten me to to it with a word-painting about same thing. Back to the drawing-board.......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gporta Posted 22 August , 2006 Share Posted 22 August , 2006 Surely the saying is "out since Mons" Owen, as Landsturm has pointed, it was not a mistake: I intended to picture the old sweat as a Kitchener man. If I take the numbers given by Charles Messenger in "call to Arms": the total numbers of the british army were a bit less than a quarter million men (plus 290.000 in the reserve) during the war roughly 2.5 million men joined as volunteers and over the same ammount were conscripted: by the end of the war, the great majority of soldiers were wartime recruits and I wanted to reflect that. I think that when Bairnsfather referred to an old soldier as "out since Mons" he really meant it: I don't think he would refer to Loos or Somme soldiers (this he depicted as young and earnest -if a bit naive-) I quite like Landsturm drawing, too. The gaze of the old man is very telling. I wonder if the son (who, in France, 1940, must be caght in the feeling of victory) is wondering why his father looks so melancholy. Great piece, Ppike. BTW "Donde este el aeropuerto ?" it depends from where you are. If you are near Plaça Universitat or Plaça Espanya get the Gran Via, and from there the Ronda litoral. If you're around the Diagonal, enter the Ronda de Dalt (in both cases: Direcció Llobregat, not Direcció Besós). Gloria Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen D Posted 22 August , 2006 Share Posted 22 August , 2006 Gloria, I wasn't having a dig or saying you were wrong, it was just a comment related to other Great War artwork. ie Bairnsfather. Therefore take it as a complement that I'm linking your work with Old Bill. That's why I put a so it would be hopfully taken light-heartedly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen D Posted 22 August , 2006 Share Posted 22 August , 2006 Here's mine. "Clowning around in the War" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gporta Posted 22 August , 2006 Share Posted 22 August , 2006 Gloria, I wasn't having a dig or saying you were wrong, it was just a comment related to other Great War artwork. ie Bairnsfather. Therefore take it as a complement that I'm linking your work with Old Bill. That's why I put a so it would be hopfully taken light-heartedly. Owen, I knew from your previous posts what you meant to say, so yes, I took it light-heartedly, but felt I had to further explain why I had chosen a man from 1916 and another from 1918. Your link to Bairsfather work is indeed complimentary: I always admired how he, being one of those "out since Mons", was able to portray war from an humorous point of view... Also, his simpathies were aimed towards all Tommies, even the young 'uns who joined "Old Bill" in later stages of war. I like your Divisional Concert drawing. It truly has the Bairsfather spirit . Gloria Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spike10764 Posted 22 August , 2006 Share Posted 22 August , 2006 Great piece, Spike. BTW "Donde este el aeropuerto ?" it depends from where you are. If you are near Plaça Universitat or Plaça Espanya get the Gran Via, and from there the Ronda litoral. If you're around the Diagonal, enter the Ronda de Dalt (in both cases: Direcció Llobregat, not Direcció Besós). Gloria That's just it Gloria I didn't know where I was The policemans instructions were "El Rondo Littoral, .......direccion puerto(which I took to mean the port)..... turn there, ........ camion...lorry ..........that way." (lorry turning left onto slip road) And a large Gracias Senor to that fine public servant Fine effort Owen- so much better than a shovel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frajohn Posted 24 August , 2006 Share Posted 24 August , 2006 Thought I'd have another go ..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunboat Posted 24 August , 2006 Share Posted 24 August , 2006 Owen D I like the clowning around idea....its sometimes easy to forget that there was some lightness in very dark times. FraJohn: what a powerful image Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozzie Posted 24 August , 2006 Share Posted 24 August , 2006 Why? She traced the indentions in the cold white stone, saying the words slowly. Trooper William Mitchell. KIA 7th August 1915 8th Light Horse Regiment AIF “Why?...... Why did you leave Mother? Why did you not come home?” she murmured, as the wind played with stray locks of her grey hair. She looked out over the sea, watching a large dot that she guessed was a pelican, make a graceful landing on the calm surface. Her eyes wandered over the rough terrain to where the ground rose sharply up to rocky ridges high above her. The coldness of the stone seeped into her hand and she shivered. It was summer, she thought, why did she feel cold. Her knees creaked as she struggled to her feet, a groan of pain escaping her lips. The old woman’s eyes flicked from one white stone to another, marvelling at the symmetrical rows, but confused by their number. There were not enough stones for the amount of men killed. “I suppose you lay here with friends; that is a small comfort. Do you know that mother died not twelve months after you? Do you know that she was buried with your letters? I have nothing of you except three medals, those three pieces of metal, and a photograph. That is all I have of my father. You died brave, so the army said, when I asked for your records. You got up out of the trench with your mates, and you died with your mates. But.... did you think about me when you left the trench? Did you think of Mother?” she wiped away the wetness from her cheeks. Her limbs protested at her stooped position, so she gave in to them, and sat heavily on the grass. “I expect you did think of us as you died. I hope you did. You are legends now, you Light Horsemen who died at the Nek. You are not a legend to me. You are my father that never was. A photo that is no-one. Why Father? Why did you ride off to fight a fight that wasn’t ours? I was lucky. Uncle Jim took me in. I started school and heard how brave our soldiers were. We said Lest We Forget every Anzac Day, and back then, back then I was proud that my dad fought and died.’ She laid her head against the stone that held her father’s name. “That was until I had your grandchild. It was then that I asked myself, how could a father go and leave his wife and child, to fight a war that wasn’t his. You will never know your grandson or your granddaughter. I have not tarnished your memory. To them you are a hero, ‘one of the dashing Light Horsemen that died so tragically at the Nek’. But, Father, I do not see that. All these years I have questioned, have searched for an answer. Did you love your country more than us? Did you go because your mates did? I will never know, will I? I need to understand.” The old woman sat back and wiped away her tears with the back of her hand. She drew a pressed sprig of wattle from her pocket and laid it on the gravestone. “I’ve read the stories, the books. But they don’t help. Being here helps, it helps a little to see where you died. I came to say goodbye to a father I never knew. Now I feel a little closer to you, but I still don’t understand.” Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunboat Posted 24 August , 2006 Share Posted 24 August , 2006 What did you do in the war daddy? I did what I had to do What I was asked to do, told to do. I did it as well as I could, without question And without complaint I went where I was told to go At the pace commanded I walked I didn’t run. I didn’t look back and didn’t stop I came home many didn’t Though part of me will always Be there, with my chums Doing what we had to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gporta Posted 24 August , 2006 Share Posted 24 August , 2006 Frajohn: Great impact! An image indeed can be worth a thousand words! (and the gaze in the old man's eye's... much like the father in Landsturm's drawing) I like Ozzie's story too, reminds me of the Kaethe Kollwitz drawings of bereaved mothers, wifes and orphans. ... And Gunboat's poem has really touched a soft spot. Gloria Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spike10764 Posted 24 August , 2006 Share Posted 24 August , 2006 Frajohn, Ozzie and Gunboat- great efforts- each stark and special in their own particular way...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen D Posted 24 August , 2006 Share Posted 24 August , 2006 These lastest entries, this is why I needed a break from the Great War for a few years, makes you want to cry too much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ypres1418 Posted 25 August , 2006 Share Posted 25 August , 2006 Hi all, Back from hols and just caught up with this months MGWAT, what a brilliant title and so many different slants on the theme, I have tears in my eyes and will find it very difficult to vote at the end of the month. Now I know the title I will try to do something. Mandy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaymen Posted 25 August , 2006 Share Posted 25 August , 2006 Won't have time for an entry this month but so far all to a very high standard. John - That is exceptional. Glyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spike10764 Posted 25 August , 2006 Share Posted 25 August , 2006 There's still time.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 25 August , 2006 Share Posted 25 August , 2006 Hi All Kind of new here, sketching takes me forever and poetry is not my style so I'll offer up a figure, I finish one once in a while! Cheers Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spike10764 Posted 26 August , 2006 Share Posted 26 August , 2006 Welcome and well done....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kate Wills Posted 28 August , 2006 Share Posted 28 August , 2006 Owen, I like your drawing very much, and it is good to see someone else remembering this aspect of service life. Just one observation though; pierrot costumes were very roomy, like pyjamas that were several sizes too big. PS This is my only area of expertise in uniforms, insignia and equipment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyshep Posted 30 August , 2006 Share Posted 30 August , 2006 Hi Totally new here. Very interested in the Great War and work in 1/6 miniature figure scale as well as paint from the figures I make. I had never heard of this forum before but I hope to stick around and delve deeper. Here's a painting I did at the start of the summer. It's of a private from the AEF as he would have appeared in 1917 at the start of the American involvement in the war. The painting was done in gouache on board. I'd be really interested in your opinions. Cheers Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gporta Posted 30 August , 2006 Share Posted 30 August , 2006 Mark, Great Tommy! One is almost compelled to wave back (as I have to hat to take off) and hopes the blighty one get him a well deserved rest. Andy, As a local saying goes "in two words: im pressive!". Great gouache work: looks almost like an oil painting! have you used watercolour, too? Gloria Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spike10764 Posted 30 August , 2006 Share Posted 30 August , 2006 Andy, that's special...thanks for including it.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyshep Posted 30 August , 2006 Share Posted 30 August , 2006 [Andy, As a local saying goes "in two words: im pressive!". Great gouache work: looks almost like an oil painting! have you used watercolour, too? Gloria Gloria. Thanks for the comments. I prefer to gouache as a watercolour medium as it's more versatile. Gouache can be thinned right down to use as a wash or worked opaquely. Watercolours are purely designed to be transparent and applied in thin washes. I use oil sometimes, I'll post an example at some point but I definitely prefer the ease of gouache. Cheers Andy Spike Thanks for commenting Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozzie Posted 30 August , 2006 Share Posted 30 August , 2006 Wow, Andy. Impressive debut! I think I have my No 1 for this month. Cheers Kim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen D Posted 30 August , 2006 Share Posted 30 August , 2006 Andyshep Love the picture. Awesome dude! it can't win though cos it ain't nuffin 2 do wiv da "subject of the month". Otherwise it'd be the winner. Show us more. O Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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