For one group of passengers settling in to their seats and taking their first sips of champagne, the journey from London to Venice is more than the trip of a lifetime.

A mysterious errand; a promise made to a dying friend; an unexpected proposal; a secret reaching back a generation…As the train sweeps on, revelations, confessions and assignations unfold against the most romantic and infamous setting in the world.

Arriving from Orion Books on 4th July 2013

Writer in Residence – Web content stolen from veronicahenry.co.uk

While I was writing this novel I was lucky enough to be made Writer in Residence for the Venice Simplon Orient Express, travelling in splendour from Victoria to Venice, then staying at the Hotel Cipriani on the island of Giudecca. How could I fail to be inspired? My characters came to life en route, and the story unfolded.

View from the window – Cipriani Hotel Venice The images below are taken from a bedroom window of Palazzo Vendramin Palazzo Vendramin is a 15th-century residence linked to the Hotel Cipriani through an ancient courtyard and a passageway lined with flowers. It houses 16 suites and rooms with sweeping vistas over the gardens and across to St Mark’s Square. These views have been [more]

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Aquetin carried out an experiment studying the light passing through the colored panes of glass in his veranda. Bernard wrote and commented on this experiment, ‘Aquetin observed the light streaming through the coloured panes of a glazed door and noticed that yellow produced an impression of sunlight; green of dawn; blue of night; red of twilight.’ Bernard painted ‘The Reaper’ in the key of yellow (often repeated later by Van Gough) and in the key of blue, ‘The Avenue de Clichy at Evening’. These paintings were exhibited at the Revue Independante, at the Salon des Independants and at the headquarters of Les Vingt in Brussells.  Read more…

The Société des Artistes Indépendants (Society of Independent Artists), Salon des Indépendants, formed in Paris 19 July 1884. The association began with the organization of massive exhibitions in Paris and was established in response to the rigid traditionalism of the official government-sponsored Salon. Their exhibitions were where new artworks were often first displayed and where paintings were widely discussed and in some cases caused controversial outrage in the newspapers and journals of the polite, conservative Parisian society.

Choosing the tagline “No jury nor awards” (Sans jury ni récompense) the society’s aims were to champion new ideas and thoughts that were prevalent in the cafe cultures of Paris and Europe. These contemporary ideas were being marginalized by mainstream critics and galleries. The strategic alliance between these artists from different backgrounds and methodologies was extremely successful in promoting their collective vision. The publicity gained by this ‘outsider’ tactic became the launching pad for many artists, who by gaining notoriety and publicity, crossed over into the mainstream.

Albert Dubois-Pillet, Odilon Redon, Georges Seurat and Paul Signac were among its co-founders. For three decades their annual exhibitions moulded the art of the early 20th century. World War I brought a closure to the salon, though the Artistes Indépendants remained active.

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www.ukoptimisation.com is a site that has been specializing in creating navigation solutions for websites for several years, their expertise has helped several floundering web based companies. They have now decided to convert to WordPress and create a general blog commenting on various subjects from SEO to Real Estate. Their client base is continuing to grow organically so the need for a ‘point of sale’ website is no longer necessary and has been archived.

It is important to make sure your site is easy to navigate and intuitive for your visitors.

How the visitor to your business website navigates around your pages influences their decision on whether to visit a competitor or purchasing your goods or services from your website. If the site is too difficult to navigate the potential customer might never return again. You need to make your navigation links (text or images) as obvious as possible and it is imperative that there is a degree of continuity of color and form so that the user can easily get what they want intuitively. These simple steps will help you to achieve your goals.

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Essex County Council is the county council that governs the non-metropolitan county of Essex in England. It has 75 councillors, elected from 70 divisions, and is currently controlled by the Conservative Party. The council meets at County Hall in the centre of Chelmsford.

As of the 2011 census it serves a population of 1,393,600, which makes it one of the largest local authorities in England. As a non-metropolitan county council, responsibilities are shared between districts (including boroughs) and in many areas also between civil parish (including town) councils. Births, marriages/civil partnerships and death registration, roads, libraries and archives, refuse disposal, most of state education, of social services and of transport are provided at the county level.

Right Surveyors in Essex and North East London undertake various types of general practice surveying work, including Schedules of Condition and Dilapidation, Single Fault Assessments, Major Elements Surveys and Full Building Surveys.

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Below is an extract from a Blogger blog:

The image below was created using 35mm negatives that had been taken using a Pentax SP1000 camera. All Pentax Spotmatics (SP) use the M42 screw-thread lens mount. The lenses are focused at maximum aperture to give a bright viewfinder image for focusing, then a switch at the side stops the lens down and switches on the metering to enable the exposure to be set prior to shutter release. The photographs below were taken in 1981 and 2012 and merged together in March 2013. Read more…

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Here is an article stolen from Sitemaps-xml.com: New Art Groups Fail – #marketing – promote your art

Often artists’ groups have a core of members who initiate activities and support the rest of the group. Not only is it important to support new groups, it is important for these founding members to fully understand the structures and reasons for creating new groups. They must be asked ‘Why are you doing this?’ and ‘Are there other groups around that already fulfill your needs and aims?’ Creating new artist groups/collectives could be counterproductive and create an even more fragmented environment. It is important that a robust armature is created for a network to succeed. If this is achieved then it would be a formidable and powerful organisation.

A mentoring scheme which enables artists and crafts people to get access to strategies and processes needed to create successful art and business practice would be highly beneficial to individuals and groups. North Devon Web can help you with setting up an artist website and help you to promote your art.

Our skills are at the ‘start up’ phase of businesses and organizations, where the creativity of the entrepreneur or group is at its most inventive and vulnerable. We find the energy that is created very infectious but we also know that this enthusiasm gradually dies and needs ‘mothering’ to take it to the next growth phase. To achieve sustainability is key, and we have wide and varied experience of achieving this both in a traditional business environment and in pioneering innovations.

North Devon Web belongs to a network of websites that host in a green way. North Devon Web is helping to prevent the release of 2,660 metric tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere each year by hosting on ‘Green Servers’ – as a result, the network’s energy efficiency is equal to planting about 2,390 acres of trees, not driving 6.1 million miles, or removing 510 cars from the road. We are here to help you stay in business.

Contact them for a FREE quote

Being in the blog charts is a massive reward for everyone who has helped and contributed to this blog. We are still looking for writers to contribute to this growing blog. Contact us if you would like your work to be featured on sitemaps-xml.

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1. We are looking for artists to submit their work to us to be featured in our store and blog. Please use our contact form to get in touch with us.
2. We are also looking for artists to write about their art in our blog. Please submit ideas via the contact form.

If your art is failing you why not have a look at this…

Have you ever thought about changing your career? Maybe try working for one of the most respected companies on the web?

Mozilla exists to promote openness, innovation and opportunity on the Internet. They have done this for 15 years – in some ways they are just getting started, exploring new technology, entering new areas and reaching new users every day. They are recruiting so give them a click.

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The first impressions you get from your site’s visitors are critical. It is important to check what image and brand signals your website gives out. What does your Art Website say? A brand relies on continuity, clients need to have confidence in you and like to know that your company has a passion or belief – above all they need to know you are not simply in the game to make a quick profit and then disappear. Building a brand loyalty is paramount to continuing success. This is essential if you are a struggling artist.

There is no point in delivering the same product as the competition unless you come up with a strategy that makes you the brand leader.  Don’t convince yourself that a catchy gimmick  is going to be strong enough to get you to the top, the whole thing depends on building a culture around you, your art, your product, your service and the dream – people have to believe in you.

North Devon Web can help you with setting up a small business or artists website and help you to prove your brand.

North Devon Web belongs to a network of websites that host in a green way. North Devon Web is helping to prevent the release of 2,660 metric tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere each year by hosting on ‘Green Servers’ – as a result, the network’s energy efficiency is equal to planting about 2,390 acres of trees, not driving 6.1 million miles, or removing 510 cars from the road. We are here to help you stay in business.

If you have a problem with your website and need it fixed quickly, we can usually update, fix or produce content for your website within 36 hours.

Contact us for a FREE quote Thank you for your help – join us…

Being in the blog charts is a massive reward for everyone who has helped and contributed to this blog. We are still looking for writers to contribute to this growing blog. Contact us if you would like your work to be featured onsitemaps-xml.

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 ‘Le déjeuner sur l’herbe’ a photographic version.

Edouard Manet’s Déjeuner sur l’herbe (a large oil on canvas, during 1862 and 1863) caused a big stir at the Salon des Refusés in Paris, having been rejected by the Salon jury of 1863. Manet seized the opportunity to exhibit this and two other paintings, at the 1863 exhibition and reveled in the public notoriety and controversy that followed.

The painting has historic and pastoral overtones, depicting the juxtaposition of a female nude and a scantily dressed female bather on a picnic with two fully dressed men in a rural setting. This painting references previous works of art by Titian (c.1487–1576) and Giorgione (c.1476–1510). The piece is now in the Musée d’Orsay in Paris. A smaller, earlier version can be seen at the Courtauld Gallery, London.

The image above was created using 35mm negatives that had been taken using a Pentax SP1000 camera.  All Pentax Spotmatics (SP) use the M42 screw-thread lens mount. The lenses are focused at maximum aperture to give a bright viewfinder image for focusing, then a switch at the side stops the lens down and switches on the metering to enable the exposure to be set prior to shutter release. The above photographs were taken in 1981 and 2012 and merged together in March 2013.

Bow Wow Wow‘s version of the same painting:

Famously, coinciding with Annabella Lwin’s posing for album cover work, her mother alleged exploitation of a minor for immoral purposes, and instigated a Scotland Yard investigation. As a result the band was only allowed to leave the UK after McLaren promised not to promote Lwin as a “sex kitten”. This included an agreement to not use a nude photograph depicting Lwin as the woman in The Luncheon on the Grass (Le déjeuner sur l’herbe), though the picture was used as the cover of the band’s 1982 RCA EP  The Last of the Mohicans, which became their best-selling album in the U.S.

 

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I have always loved the drawings of Degas. The way he portrayed women, sensually and simply is to be admired. In the late 1880s, Degas also developed a passion for photography and this new skill influenced the composition of his paintings… Continue reading

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