The AnArt4Life Blog Turns 3 Years Old Today

This is a very special day for the AnArt4Life blog as we can celebrate our 3rd birthday having been in operation for 1095 days and written nearly 1030 posts that go out each day from Melbourne in Victoria, Australia to South Australia, New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia and then off across the world to England, Scotland, France, Italy, Austria, America, Brazil, Hong Kong and The Philippines.

The blog team have chosen some of our favourite posts to share with you, plus there are a few thoughts we would like to express. And we are taking two days to celebrate!!

We will commence with Jane's posts which highlight her love of travel, the strong connections she has to her Dutch heritage and the surprise delight in discovering a relative of van Gogh is living in Gippsland, Victoria and painting exquisite images of Australian bird life.

Escape to a Tree house in Africa
Escaping to a “tree house” an excellent option which I was lucky enough to experience while touring Namibia in 2008 just around the time of the GFC – we were completely oblivious to anything happening in the world.
Vincent and the Underworld
Two stolen Van Gogh paintings. “View of the Sea at Scheveningen” - the first work where Van Gogh used oils on advice from his brother Theo. “Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen, 1884–85″, His father preached in this church - Van Gogh gifted it to his mother on his father’s death.
An Australian Connection to Vincent Van Gogh
Emily Koenders’ gallery is hidden at the rear of her Australian colonial homestead located in Ruby, a tiny town in South Gippsland. Her connection to Vincent Van Gogh – being his great, great, great, great niece. Credit: south-gippsland.com

Commitment

As subscribers and followers, you know that we meet our commitment to you to deliver a daily post into your email box. And we love doing this and gain an enormous amount of pleasure from seeing the posts launched. As the appointed Editor in Chief (EiC) I do want to thank the GAALs (Girls About Art in Life) - Jane, Caroline and Julie for their amazing contributions which give the blog posts such variety and quality.

What you don't see are all the other people who have also shown amazing commitment to the AnArt4Life blog. Behind the scenes from the beginning is Matt Cameron our website manager and social media mentor. Matt has been looking after my website for over 10 years and the challenge to be engaged in blog writing came from him and he has maintained his commitment to look after our technical needs all the way. Thank you Matt.

There is a third group of people who have also been committed to this venture - you, our subscribers - many of whom have been with us from Day One. We write for you and thank you for your loyalty and continuing support.

Moving onto Caroline as she shares with us her Marvellous Movie Girls posts where her Movie Group of Friends open their doors to reveal treasured art works and the matching intriguing stories that are found in their homes.

At Home with the Marvellous Movie Girls - Part 1
My movie group is in lockdown so as special treat we have taken you into their homes for an exhibition of their favourite works of art. We see paintings by Joan Williams, a work purchased in Paris, plus much about “Better Loosen Up” for lovers of race horses. Image: Ash Wednesday by Joan Williams.
At Home with the Marvellous Movie Girls - Part 2
More At Home with the Marvellous Movie Girls’ works of art. We see some beautiful Moorcroft pieces owned by our Julie & learn the story of the Moorcroft vase missing for 70 years. You will also meet a fan of JFK & see a remarkable link to our earlier post on Jamie Wyeth. Image: Moorcroft vases
At Home with the Marvellous Movie Girls - Part 3
At Home with the Marvellous Movie Girls you will see a wonderful painting of Venus Bay, Victoria by Susan Bayre, meet the embodiment of nature & love in a German Shepherd called DD Dog (above) & learn that Caroline was rewarded with a Delft Blue vase for teaching fire fighting techniques.

Communication
It is fun and interesting to write the posts especially as we enjoy discovering new artists and unearthing hidden treasures.

But even more rewarding is receiving correspondence from subscribers. We have gained so much from those of you who write to us with comments on our offerings and ideas for future posts.

The monthly mailbag has become a favourite where we showcase the correspondence we have received. Please keep sending in your "finds" and "ideas" as this gives the AnArt4Life blog a very special quality. New correspondents are always most welcome!

Tomorrow we will move on to show you some more posts from those Julie has written and I will conclude our birthday celebration with a few of my past posts.