the men were thinking, seeing and doing
The first world war was especially hard on soldiers, and Flanders Field was where more than one million men from 50 different countries were injured, missing, or killed. The missing, mainly men that fell and unable to be collected or recognised. Most were British. The trenches were harsh, the battles were bloody and the injured rarely recovered to wellness. Over 99% of the men were seriously affected. The conditions were brutal. It's hard to imagine how the men coped. The poem 'In Flanders Fields' by Canadian John McCrae about the fields where poppies grew was written in minutes during battle in a rare moment he had as a medical man in the field. Poppies no longer grow there. This collection contains several designs and although all of them can be used in any place, the colours, are, as you would expect, somewhat of an unlikely match. But they, for me, represent Flanders Fields and WW1 using two greens (representing uniforms, the leaves, and grasses), two reds (representing bloodshed, sore eyes, medals), an almost black (representing smoke, earth, nighttime, wrought iron, and pencils), and a grey with a hint of blue (representing the dull sky and stone). I have included 2 poppy designs, trellis, crosses (men counting the days), stripes, wrought iron embossed, and dots, all in the same group of 6 colours. I appreciate this is not a upbeat collection, but I wanted to create my own small nod to those poor men in the way I know best. Stepping away from reality for a moment, the collection still holds some very nice designs that can be mixed and matched and are especially lovely for someone looking for these colours for their chosen area. Of the 18 designs, 6 are definite, the remaining are coordinates. There was another reason I wanted to create this collection. In 1914 my grandfather was not yet 13 years old, and he joined the navy! Unbelievable, but true. The war effort was screaming out for boys to join up and less than scrupulous officers enlisting in the UK allowed many boys under 16 to join the army or navy. I have to say he is the only one I know of that was just 12. And, just so you know how bad this was... as a full-grown man he was only 5' 5" - can you imagine how small he was at 12 years old? He was one of 16 children in his family... it gave the family another wage! Sad. I never did fully believed this story until I got his war service papers. If you read all this, thank you. I'm sorry it's a sad read. We all hate war and if we don't learn from the past and remember it, then we fail, and history repeats itself. I have only included this long description on a couple of the main designs. Scale: 12"