Poppy Corner project
Thinking about the Dublin Canvas project and the significance of the poppy flower, I was restless to get back to Poppy Corner. My mission was to complete the task of bringing colour and creativity to everyday objects in Dublin city.
I tipped away, adding final touches with oil paint. Passers-by were so very generous with their comments. This inspired me to apply just a few more strokes here and there to Poppy Corner.
An elderly lady who had watched the progress from the beginning addressed me:
“What are you doing?” she enquired in a polite yet impatient manner.
“Em, I’m trying to create more depth, more foliage, more highlights……..” I meekly responded. Just one more daub with a swirl of the brush, are the vanishing points correct, is there enough contrast, what about the tone …. ?
“Leave it alone, it was perfect yesterday, Don’t Touch It!” she said with an air of frustration.
It brought a smile to my face and I was thankful for the wise words of that nice lady:
Enough is Enough – Leave it alone!
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“The Remembrance Poppy (Papaver rhoeas) is used to commemorate soldiers who have died in war. Inspired by the World War I poem “In Flanders Fields“
You might like to read this very touching poem by Tomás Ó Cárthaigh :
Click the link : War and Poppies
War and Poppies – An insightful and sad poem for the overlooked and forgotten – lest we forget!
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The remembrance poppy is especially prominent in the UK. In the weeks leading up to Remembrance Sunday, poppies are distributed by The Royal British Legion in return for donations to their “Poppy Appeal”. During this time, it is an unwritten rule that all public figures appearing on television must wear poppies. Newsreader, Jon Snow berated this as “poppy fascism” and argued that it is glorifying current wars. It is especially controversial in Northern Ireland; most Irish nationalists and Irish Catholics refuse to wear one, mainly due to actions of the British Army during the Troubles, while Ulster Protestants and Unionists usually wear them.
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Hopefully, #PoppyCorner fulfills its mission by bringing colour, creativity and some lightness and cheer to our city!
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one of my favorite poems. lovely work , touching subject. it is sometimes hard for us to leave it alone, our work. but the strength of that ability to let go of what one has put so much heart into – that is the artists true talent and in my opinion only goal. cheers