Remembrance Day

Mia, this is so poignant. I love this work. The war time graves in France are so well maintained. I have visited them very often.

Well done Mia. Normally I would suggest removing a Post for a walkthrough for the eye but this works.

Simple yet effective. I like the way the misty field shows up the stark outlines of the posts. Well done.

Superb! A beautiful painting. It caught my eye immediately. The beauty is in the simplicity of the scene yet filled with memmories. I think each and everybody can relate to what you are saying.

Excellent Mia. The misty fields are wonderful and portray the countryside just as it is and was at this time of year . I like the crosses too, formed by the broken fencing.....

A lovely evocative painting, Mia! Another of your paintings that tell a story!

I agree with all the comments made Mia, very poignant.

There's a novel you might enjoy, if you can find it = Late in the Day, by Ernest Raymond; Raymond fought in WWI, and writes in this otherwise extremely funny book about his return to the Menin Gate, stories about the campaign being woven throughout. It's sadly out of print, but copies can still be had. An evocative painting which would have meant a lot to Raymond.

Thank you all very much for your comments. This painting means a lot to me, because this part of Flanders is soo beautiful and yet so full of sadness. Everywhere you look, you can see the gravestones in the middle of the fields. 4, or 10, or even a hundred of them, because they use to be buried where they died. Those without a known grave, their names are engraved in the walls of the Menin Gate in Ieper, there are thousands of them. Still every evening "the Last Post" event is there at 8 pm. I saw it on TV and it was so emotional. Even when I am there during the day, all those cards and poppies with names of school-pupils and relatives are so moving... it is unbelievable....young people are still remembering and brought here to see what a war can do to a generation of also (mostly) young men!!!

Simply lovely.

So atmospheric and poignant. We have an uncle buried in a war cemetery just outside Antwerp.

A beautifully thought out painting Mia. I love the mist and the for ground reflections.

Mia, I love this very evocative painting which is so fitting for this time of the year. The various shades of grey with a hint of yellow in the sky is pure magic. My father served in the latter part of WW1 and I still possess his cap badge of the Machine Gun Corps. Can I also congratulate you on winning a prize in the "Holiday Postcard" competition. Both of us will have no excuse of a shortage of watercolour paper ! !

Thank you very much William, Lesley, Carole and Roger. I appreciate your comments very much. After being away for 3 days, I found the prize-letter and that was a lovely surprise!!! Congratulations to you too, Roger. Indeed, no excuses anymore.

Mia - This is the best piece of art - in the true sense of the word that I have seen in a long time. Reminds me of an experience when I was a serving soilder in 1980. We were based in Hohne in Germany and crashed out in the early hours of the morning. Hohne is basically Bergen Belsen. Due to fuel rationing our section didn't go far away from the camp and at 2am in the morning I was shoved out of the clanky (me being the NIG - New In Germany) and told to stay on stag (or guard duty) for four hours. I was so suprised at the time that my Human Rights could be 'Dissed' to such an extent and didn't belive that it would be possible to survive the extreme cold for that long. Anyway, I found a mound close-by the clanky and stood on that until dawn. As the sun slowly rose I noticed a sign by the mound and went to read it. Well at that time I could only read pidgeon English but was still able to read that this mound contained the remains of 500,000 Rusiian prisoners of war. If you drive away from the entrance to Belson and around the back of the perimitered area you can still find this unknown grave there. But most visitors just concentrate on the main area of Belson Concentration camp. War is crap for the young and old of every country and denominations - not just the Wilfred Owens etc. who were shot on Armistice day, or for Rudyard Kiplings (only) Son who was needesly marched into a hail of bullets. There is no glory at all in it, and since the fall of the Berlin wall there is little to show for all of the loss of life which occurred in the cold war. So - why are we stupidly allowing ourselves to fight now? I won't leave an opinion on this question but leave it up to each individual to ask themselves whether they truly feel that all of the maiming and crippling - and having the life squeesed out quicker, than it should be in reality, is really worth it. I have my opinions but they are mine!

Thank you very much, Jamie, for your wonderful compliment on my painting. And also, I thank you for sharing this very emotional experience with me. I am very touched by your story and agree with you about the unnecessary loss of young men.

Just seen this, Mia! Marvelous piece. I love your gallery too.

I love this sort of painting. The mist rising from the field is so effective

Thank you very much, Tom, for having a look at my gallery. I appreciate your comment.

Clean and beautiful

Thank you very much for your nice comment, Ceri.