LIFE BEFORE ART TO HEART – Why did Art to Heart come about? Read all about it in this article by Eamon Spelman, Course Leader in Visual Communications, Limerick School of Art & Design. http://www.100archive.com/article/graphiconies

FAVOURITE BOOKSHOPS – SCÉAL EILE IN ENNIS Every time I am in Ennis I pay a visit to Scéal Eile in Market Street and I make a point not to leave without buying at least one book! "Scéal Eile Books is an independent bookshop and intimate arts venue based in the Market heart of Ennis, Co Clare. It is home to the theatre company Scéal Eile Productions. Scéal Eile Books stocks new, used and bargain books as well as an extensive collection of rare, out-of-print, and first edition books." http://www.scealeilebooks.ie/

My New Year message was carried away by a gentle wind!

ORANGE WARNING! Don't Travel unless you have to. Met Eireann's colour palette has been swinging in the warm colour tones in the last couple of months: storms, storms and more storms. Yield to the warning and stay put this weekend to see 2017 through while greeting the new year. Pictured below is the snowstorm of December 1836: The Irish County Louth mail stuck in snow; the horses up to their necks and men transferring mailbags to another coach, while others with spades arrive to assist.

Since I was born at the foot of the Alps I always had a strong wish to go skiing but never quite managed to do it. The cold weather brought back that longing so I decided to go skiing in my imagination.

This very frosty morning prompted an orange warning from Met Eireann but I will go out for a while to enjoy the beauty of the land and cityscape covered by a white sparkly blanket. Here are some of my favorite Japanese woodblock prints from the Ukiyo-e period. This is a genre of Japanese art which flourished from the 17th through 19th centuries. Its artists produced woodblock prints and paintings of such subjects as female beauties; kabuki actors and sumo wrestlers; scenes from history and folk tales; travel scenes and landscapes; flora and fauna; and erotica. The term ukiyo-e (浮世絵) translates as "picture[s] of the floating world".

Ivan Yakovlevich Bilibin (1876 - 1942) was a 20th-century illustrator and stage designer who took part in the Mir iskusstva, contributed to the Ballets Russes, co-founded the Union of Russian Painters (Russian: Сою́з ру́сских худо́жников) and from 1937 was a member of the Artists' Union of the USSR. Throughout his career, he was inspired by Slavic folklore.

Christmas Eve by Carl Larsson, 1904

I came across the work of Larsson many years ago when I bought a book of his illustrations. Carl Larsson (28 May 1853 – 22 January 1919) was a Swedish painter representative of the Arts and Crafts movement.