Stonehenge England

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

I have been visiting one of my Angel Academy fellow artist friends, Wendy, in Bristol, England.  The other day we drove to Wiltshire to see the famous prehistoric monument Stonehenge.

Stonehenge is believed to have been built anywhere from 3000 BC to 2000 BC. and while many observations have been made about how the specific placements of the stones coincide with natural events (sunrise, sunset, winter and summer solstices, and more), it still feels as though we have more questions than answers.  

It now costs eight pounds to get in, with a free audio guide that I felt was actually interesting and useful (I do not always appreciate this commentary in art museums).  Sadly, due probably to the negative behaviours of humans being selfish, one can no longer walk amongst the stones and the ropes that are quite tempting to jump over are fairly distant from the monument.  I behaved… really.

Although the consensus of Stonehenge is that it was a gathering place for people, I would have loved to have been alone and walking amongst the stones at dusk.  I want to touch them and smell them.  The audio guide told that there are over 90 different specimens of lichen on those rocks.  There are many colors in the stone, visible in their subtleties even at the distance we had to stay.  Some of the stones have enough iron in them that when they fall over or are horizontal, one can clearly see the ferric red color “flowing over” the stone.  And they believe that human sacrifices were done on these sacred stones.  I only see more questions than answers.  Are we not a complicated lot?

In any event, Stonehenge needs to be protected even in these wide open fields.  However, there was construction going on while we were there and I fear that development of the site will ruin it.  It was fun to imagine what it must have been like in the beginning when one was traveling on foot a long way and suddenly topped a hill to see Stonehenge in the distance.  It must have been a welcome site!

I hope that you enjoy a selected bunch of my images of Stonehenge.  Each is available for purchase as prints, if you like… just inquire.  Thank you!

For more information on Stonehenge, visit:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonehenge

 In addition:

Part I of my recently published art newsletter: Castelvecchio and a Fortuny copy: http://www.borsheimarts.com/news/2013_09_StoneCarvingSymposium-Italy.htm

Part II … carving stone in Pontremoli, Italy at the Medieval Festival:

http://www.borsheimarts.com/news/2013_09_StoneCarving-PontremoliMedievalFestival-Italy.htm

Past art newsletter topics can be found in the table of contents… You may also subscribe via this page as well:

http://www.borsheimarts.com/newsletter.htm