The Unexpected Rose!

As most of us are aware today is St. Valentine's Day, and I thought I'd just write a few words about my thoughts on the matter. First of all I'll get the history lesson out of the way by just leaving a link on Saint Valentine. Any curiosities can be answered at this link. I suppose like anything related to religion and history, there's a bit of mystery and confusion of facts associated around this Saint, but all I can say is that I do know where the Relics of Saint Valentine are situated. That's an easy one, they're in my hometown of Dublin at Whitefriar Street Church. .......and if it's in Dublin it must be the real thing!

I always remember this because I used to walk past Whitefriar Street church regularly on my way to work while living in Dublin a few years ago. It was always full of tourists around this time of year, and every St.Valentine's Day they still hold a special Mass to celebrate the saint and all those who are in love in the world.

I remember being back in school and some of my classmates coming in on Valentine's Day bragging about how many Valentine's Day-cards they received in the post that day. It was normal to receive maybe two or three cards, but there were always a few boys who got a lot more. I am talking about double-figures here, and they often brought the cards in to prove it too!  I found this a little worrying as I went to an all-boy school, and I couldn't understand how any of these guys had the time to meet up with so many girls between sports and homework. Like myself, most of my close friends were struggling to find one steady girlfriend during the year, so the arrival of just one Valentine's card was a welcomed bonus. 

Valentine Cards don't have to cost much in these hard times, and after all, it's the thought that counts. Now if only they had these budget cards when I was back in school!

After the usual early stage of sending cards, a guy tends to move on to the more hardcore Valentine presents such as chocolates or flowers. Sometimes, budget prevailing, a trip to a fancy restaurant is the order of the day. Traditionally it is not unlike a guy to totally forget about Valentine's Day, or so I've been led to believe from all the female stories I heard and read about. Maybe it's the truth or maybe it's an urban legend, who knows!

This leads me on to another story, a weird one.  

It was Valentine's Day, shortly after I first came to live in Finland. I was sitting in my house having a cup of coffee when I had a visit from some of my wife's relatives. As I welcomed and greeted them into our home her uncle walked slowly over to me and handed me a big red rose. I immediately called my better half and  handed it to her. She then explained that it was actually for me. I stopped and stared in confusion at her for a minute before turning around to thank her uncle for the nice 'flower'. I had to explain that it is unusal for an Irish guy to receive flowers of any kind at any time, least of all on Valentine's Day. Well, unless he was gay perhaps, then it would look okay I suppose.  I continued at this stage to be confused and cautious. I wanted to know what this was all about. 

   

After several explanations everything was crystal clear. It turns out that the celebration of St.Valentine's Day isn't just reserved for lovers in Finland. This special day is called "Ystävänpäivä" which translates as "Friends Day", and it is not only a day of romance but a day to celebrate friendships, which I reckon is okay. And this totally explains why my wife's uncle gave me a present. Although I still find receiving flowers from another guy a bit on the weird side! Apparently when young folk graduate from college over here in Finland, they are each presented with a special white cap and a rose. Even the boys get a rose. So it's not such a big deal!

Have a happy St.Valentine's Day wherever you may be.

And as they say here in Finland on "Ystävänpäivä" or "Friends Day",

"Hyvää Ystävänpäivää!"

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My blog has been nominated for a blog competition online. It would help me a lot if you could give it your vote please. My thanks to all of you who voted for me last year. Hogan's Blog finished at a respectable 39th place! Now with the help of your vote again and the votes of others I hope to do better this year. Fingers crossed!! :)

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Strongbow's Awakening!

When I lived back in Ireland one of my favourite places to visit was the National Art Gallery. I often found myself walking around the streets of Dublin city on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon, when suddenly it would start to rain. This was usually the opportunity I took to visit the gallery. It's warm, relaxing and after ten minutes inside I usually forgot about the world outside. It's always been an oasis of calm in the very hectic city that is Dublin. It's a fine complex consisting of four interconnected buildings, the Dargan, Milltown, Beit and Millenium Wings. The oldest of the four, the Dargan Wing was formerly opened in 1864. The newest, the Millenium Wing which was opened in 2002 has a very modern contemporary look to it. You may ask how have they managed to fuse such an old building with such a new one. Well, it's cleverly done and the buildings cannot be truly seen next to each other from outside as both facades face out onto two different streets, Merrion Square and Clare Street.

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I always remember the first time I arrived at the old gallery back in the eighties. As I walked in I was stopped by the vision of the biggest painting I had ever seen. I said to myself “Wow!”. And honestly that's all I could think to say. Since then, everytime I go back to the gallery I always try to see it. The painting is called 'The Marriage of Strongbow and Aoife' by Daniel Maclise.

'The Marriage of Strongbow and Aoife' by Daniel Maclise, 1854

The painting shows the marriage of Norman invader Richard de Clare, also known as Strongbow, to Aoife, daughter of Dermot McMurrough, the King of Leinster. This marriage was considered a major event in Ireland's history as it symbolised the start of 800 years of British rule. Sized at a huge 10ft x 16ft (that's over 3 x 5 meters I think), it was painted in 1854. I wanted to make this blogpost in recognition of this fine painting and it's Cork-born artist, Daniel Maclise. Today January 25th is the artist's birthday, so 'Happy Birthday Mr. Maclise wherever you are!' and thanks for a wonderful painting. I was recently saddened yet delighted after reading a news article about this painting. Firstly, I found out that the painting is being removed soon from the gallery walls for two years. Then I saw that this was due to a planned restoration. So that news cheered me up a bit. Apparently a US bank is sponsoring it's restoration, which can be read about here. That's good news indeed, especially since I can't see much help coming from the Irish banks at the moment!

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Caravaggio - The Taking and Faking of Christ!

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You can receive my blogposts direct to your email or facebook profile by pressing the follow button at NetworkedBlogs  and you are welcome to visit my art page on Facebook by clicking the 'Like' button under my signature below.

- Alan 

               

                                                             

Oldies but goldies!

I just agreed to allow a new Finnish company sell some of my artwork. Based in Espoo, the company is called Softpixels, a brand new company selling canvas art prints online.

For this project the people at Softpixels chose a selection of my work that appealed to them. Surprisingly to me, they picked out some of my older pieces, and now they have set up a cool new page for me on their website. I'm very happy that they chose some of my old work as it represents an important time for me when I was only developing an art portfolio, and it's really nice to receive some acknowledgement for this work. Yes, oldies but goldies!

Here's some of my paintings from Softpixels in this video clip here.

While the internet becomes saturated with paintings and all sorts of other artistic mediums, it is important for me to spread my work through as many channels as possible. This is the only way of been noticed on the world wide web these days. And such companies like Softpixels deserve full credit for promoting artists like myself. It is also good for my work to be seen through a Finnish site as it can be difficult for me to be found by Finnish internet users, due to the lack of the Finnish language on my own website.

Thanks for reading my blog and you are welcome to look at my art at The Art Garage and at Softpixels

Alan Hogan

Irish Rockin' in Russia!

I'll be 'drowning the shamrock' quietly here in Finland tomorrow. But if there's anybody from a certain part of Russia reading this blog, I can recommend a good night out for you. I have a cousin from Dublin who's heading over to Belgorod to play two concerts with his band The Spikes soon. He only joined this band quite recently but I hear he's fitting into their sound very well and it looks like they're heading for better things pretty soon. 

The band will be releasing a new album shortly, which can only fuel the fire of their much appraised live shows. I believe 'live' music is the way to go for new bands today, and I reckon The Spikes have enough enthusiasm and charisma to do the job properly.

The Spikes will playing at Hamilton's Pub in Belgorod, Russia on St.Patrick's Night March 17th and also on Friday March 19th, 2010.

Here's a video from The Spikes. The song is called Monster.

If you're lucky enough to be at their gig in Russia, have a great night!

Thanks for reading my blog and please share it with all your friends.

-Alan

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Slow but Sure!

This is a little design I made up for the regional library in Raseborg where I now live in Finland. The library arranged an art contest for young school-children during the holidays in Autumn 2009. This contest was to help towards inspiring and developing a new mascot for the children's library and website. Over 100 children took part in this contest, and 20 of those images entered can be viewed on the video clip below. All of the childrens drawings were excellent, and it proved quite difficult to pick out one from them all.

I was asked to choose just one of the entries which I felt could be used to become their new mascot. I developed this winning entry of a simple snail by Nelly Wallenius into a suitable mascot logo for the Raseborg Children's Library.

I chose the snail for several reasons.

Firstly, it's a very easy image for children to recognise.

Secondly, the snail is too often associated with being slow. But being slow doesn't necessarily mean coming last, as we know from Aesop's fable of 'The Tortoise and the Hare.' With a little more knowledge some things can be done quicker and more efficiently. Sometimes it can be worthwhile to do things at a 'snails-pace' instead of rushing into them and getting it all wrong. Realising and understanding the consequences of their actions is an important part in the development of children I reckon. It can be good practice for adults also. We all know the snail is a slow creature who certainly takes it's time. Reading books can also take a lot of time. But in the end the reward can be all the more worthwhile.

My third reason for choosing the snail was simply it's shape and suitabilty for integrating the colours of the Raseborg crest.

Here's a short video of how I created the new mascot for the Raseborg children's library.

This isn't the only time I have been involved with art relating to children.

While I made this snail design entirely on a computer, I have also hand-painted some children's characters before as part of a Christmas display back in Ireland.

Here are some old photos of those paintings I made for the walls leading to Santa's Grotto at The Square shopping centre in Tallaght, Dublin a few years ago.

......and here's a few groovey door signs I made for some kids in Finland.

Thanks for reading my blog.

Please share it with your friends.

Alan.

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The Puppet Master's Farewell

I just heard sad news about one of Ireland's favorite characters Eugene Lambert who died suddenly at his home in Dublin last night aged 82.

As well as being a much-respected and well-liked person, Lambert played a part in the lives of many Irish people including myself who grew up and watched TV in Ireland during the 1970's and 80's.

He was a great puppeteer and ventriloquist who invented some well-loved children's TV puppet-characters.

Eugene Lambert and 'Judge' the dog.

I remember one particular character, a dog named 'Judge' who was part of a show called 'Wanderly Wagon'. He was a character most children of the time could relate to and trust.

It was no surprise that Lambert's wonderful canine character 'Judge' was also an important figure in public service campaigns for children's road safety throughout Ireland.

Eugene Lambert was also responsible for another very popular puppet in Ireland called 'Bosco', who lived in a box, only ever leaving it for an ice-cream or a visit to the Zoo!

Eugene Lambert was founder of the Lambert Puppet Theatre, which he established in 1972.

A sad day for 'grown-up' Irish children everywhere.

Read also:

RTE Television

Irish Independent Newspaper

Thanks for reading my blog and feel free to share with all your friends.

-Alan

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