I have posted the same link as before on blip tv as the quality is better.

http://blip.tv/archer-doc/benjami-reads-us-his-diaries-5856725

Benjami's diaries

Over the last few months Benjami and I have seen one another and I have filmed him, but I have not had time to sub title or up load the films.
In September I filmed Benjami telling us about the diaries he keeps and before the end of 2011 I would like to show you what I filmed.

Elephant with Dutch windmill girl

Benjami paints us another elephant. This time with a dutch windmill girl

http://blip.tv/archer-doc/elephant-with-a-dutch-mill-girl-5287667

The elephant and the cabaret/circus dancer

Benjami paints us an elephant with a circus dancer


http://blip.tv/archer-doc/the-elephant-and-the-cabaret-dancer-5287445

Benjami taming his chairs

Another of one of Benjami's little performances. Here he has choreographed some stools and he is whipping them into position.

http://blip.tv/archer-doc/benjami-the-chair-tamer-5287173

Montanisell

Benjami painted Montanisell the village he lived in with his mother when he was a young boy and through his painting he describes the village, the inhabitants and the life style he grew up in for a while.

http://blip.tv/archer-doc/montanise-5265285

"The number 3" part 2

I must have a real problem with dates and numbers today. I just wrote the title back to front instead of writing: "The number 3" part 2 I wrote The number 2 part 3

http://blip.tv/archer-doc/the-number-3-part-2-5265151

The number 3 in Benjami's life

Yesterday Friday the 13th and no I didn't even think of it being un unlucky day until writing the date down. Well it wasn't a bad day for me. I try not to be superstitious, it can really poison your life.
Anyway yesterday I went round to see Benjami who showed me that he had discovered his obsession for things in 3's. Watch and you will see.

http://blip.tv/archer-doc/the-number-3-with-benjami-tous-5265043

I have just seen that today is Saturday the 11th of June, so yesterday couldn't have been Friday the 13th, so God only knows what planet I live on. At least now makes more sense that I hadn't heard that it was Friday the 13th! I suppose Friday the 13th doesn't get much attention in Spain, apart from the horror film, because the unlucky day in Spain in Tuesday the 13th and incase you didn't know it Friday the 17th in Italy! Who invented these awful bad luck days, doom days? Who and why?

King kong, Marilyn Monroe & many other fairy tales

Is this a children's book a toy shop, Mattel's factory ?
No this is once again Benjami Tous studio and this week his theme seems to be toys and fairy tales...

http://blip.tv/archer-doc/king-kong-marilyn-monroe-and-many-other-fairy-tales-5204104

Lleida sensual

I went to Lerida to accompany Benjami to the opening of the exhibition "Lleida sensual".
The exhibition was held at the Espai Cavallers in Lerida town and the curator of the exhibition was Roser Xandri, who had put an interesting mix of artists together for the exhibition.
The other artists exhibiting their work appart from Benjami were:
Börlansa, A. Coma, Xavier Goñi, Merc¡e Humedas, Pau Humedas, Ernest Ibañez, Miguel de Ibarbia, Didier Lourenço, Javier Mariscal, Victor P. Pallarés, Perico Pastor, Jordi V. Pou, Benjamí Tous i Joaquin Ureña.

I hope you enjoy the paintings. Sorry but all the interviews are in Catalan. One day when I have more time I will translate and sub-title them. But for the moment those of you who cannot speak or understand Catalan you can just enjoy the paintings.

http://blip.tv/archer-doc/lleida-sensual-5178933

It is quite interesting to go back to the films I uploaded on the 17th of April "Live creation of a painting.." and "3rd painting for Lleida sensual exhibition" and you can see how different the final work of art is quite different.

Poesias

Benjami goes once a month to the readers club at the Picasso museum and when the members meet they have to write poetry or short stories based on a Picasso painting. So Benjami together with his friend Marta wrote these two poems in Catalan. Benjami read them to me so that I could film them.

By pure coincidence when Benjami was reciting the poem there was a bird singing and it went perfectly with the context of the second poem that is all about a pigeon.

http://blip.tv/archer-doc/jo-la-monja-5146473

http://blip.tv/archer-doc/colom-cubista-5146717

A few hours with Benjami before Sunday lunch

As you may have noticed Benjami has mentioned the Brontë sisters on several occasions.
I looked them up on wikipedia to double check that I had said the correct names, to find out about Anne. I am afraid to admit that I was not aware of the existence of the 3rd sister Anne or her book "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall" . If you have a little curiosity to what the sisters looked like click on the below wikipedia link I came across with an interesting painting of the 3 sisters painted by their brother Branwell:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bront%C3%AB_family


I went round to Benjami's today with the intension of going out with him to paint in the street. He wanted to paint a building, la typical modernist architecture façade. So we headed out. We went by car because Benjami decided that it would be easier to find the building if we went by car. We stopped on Diputacion corner of Passeig de Gracia where we found a parking space. Because the building is also chosen depending on parking availabiltiy! Benjami got out took a look at the large building on the corner and started to feel quite unwell due to all the pollen from the plane trees. So we then decided to go down to the sea front to see if the sea air would make him fell better. Unfortunately by the time we got to the Barceloneta it was lunch time and Benjami had to go and have lunch with Nuri and I had to go home to my boys.

Watch Sunday 17th of April 2011:
http://blip.tv/file/5033058

3rd painting for "Lleida sensual" exhibition Sat 16th of April 2011

Aquet video esta en Català per la Roser.

http://archerdoc.blip.tv/file/5032555/

Benjami paints a very sad elephant. Sat 16th of April 2011

Watch Benjami paint this sad elephant whilst he listens to the music of the album of Pedro Almadovar's film "habla con ella"


http://archerdoc.blip.tv/file/5031663/

Lets see Benjami in his studio Saturday 16th of April

Here Benjami changes his trinkets and paintings around in his studio. It is a green day.

http://archerdoc.blip.tv/file/5031372/

Live creation of a painting for the coming up exhibition in Lerida in May

As I mentioned in my previous post, I am terribly sorry but instead of getting shorter my videos seem to be getting longer. I think that fortunately or unfortunately I have a very contradictory personality. I can't help it. But the minute I get told not to do something, I feel a deep necessity to do the complete opposite. I believe this is quite a commun human behavior, is it not?

Anyway maybe people should watch the videos with a different point of you. Instead of wanting to quickly be entertained when somebody else has done all the editing for you, searched for what is interesting for you to hear and condensed it down.
Well what I like is the reality and spontaniety of my films with Benjami.
Let us take for example: going around to a friends or family members house to pay a visit. You would sit together chatting in the living room and maybe many a time you may have wanted to own a magical remote control and fast forward the other persons because they could be drowning on and on. But we can't. And that is what I like about my videos with Benjami and yes maybe sometimes he can be a real chatter box.
But I can't believe that the TV programs with high viewing rates are reality shows such as: Big Brother and in my opinion hardly anybody really ever has anything interesting to say.

I am sure that when people who are not his friends, acquaintances and family get to know of: Benjami, his work, his different styles and personalities he will also have a large fan club, who will enjoy the length of the videos.

Here you can see Benjami paint a painting for an exhibition coming up in Lleida in May. The theme of the exhibition is "Lleida sensual". Enjoy the long video:
http://archerdoc.blip.tv/file/5022935/

Wednesday 13th of April 2011

I AM SORRY BUT IT IS IN MY NATURE TO BE MARY MARY QUITE CONTRARY.
I HATE TO BE GIVEN CRITICAL ADVICE. SO SORRY TO THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE DONE SO, BY TELLING US THAT THE CLIPS I UP LOAD ARE TOO LONG. THEY ARE PROBABLY LONG, BUT I LIKE THEM.

My idea is for people who like me, enjoy Benjami's company as well as his art and want to listen to all the interesting things he has to say, as well as have your spirit lifted by his good humour and often eccentric behavior; they can do so.
If you find the clips too long and boring well, this is INTERNET and you have a fast forward button.
But in years to come I am sure that you will enjoy a little half an hour in Benjami's studio, because he is not an ordinary artist. For me he is an EXTRAORDINARY artist with so many interests, hobbies and he can be a source of inspiration to a lot of people who think that life is uninteresting when one has reached the age of retirement.
So you will have to excuse me but the videos have become longer.


http://archerdoc.blip.tv/file/5021009/

Lleida

Benjami is preparing an exhibition that will once again take place in the city of Lleida, Catalonia.The theme of the exhibition is."Lleida sensual". I have been trying to follow Benjami as much as possible to see the evolution of the paintings he is specifically creating for the exhibition.

Please find to follow a cut and paste of the history of Lleida for those of you who may be interested:

An amalgam of people and civilizations has provided Lleida with a rich and restless culture that can be found in the current modern city.

The Ilergetes was an Iberian community that appeared in the middle of the 6th century BC. They used to place their settlements on high places and thus, it is easy to imagine Iltrida on the top of the Sovereign Hill.

Their most relevant leaders were Indivil and Mandoni, who defended the Ilergetes against the Carthaginians and Romans. Once they were defeated, the city changed its name to Ilerda in the year 205 AD. Roman chronicles describe a walled city with a stone bridge that constituted a municipality (founded in the time of Emperor Augustus) with fertile orchards, which at the end of the 3rd century, were destroyed by barbarian Germanic tribes.

Around 716 - 719, Lleida was occupied by the Saracens and the following four centuries of coexistence marked the city character.

In October 1149, the city surrendered to the troops of Ramon Berenguer IV and Ermengol VI d'Urgell. In 1150 Carta Pobla was granted to the city.

In 1300 Jaume II founded the famous Estudi General, which was the only centre of advanced studies of the Crown of Aragon until the end of the 15th century.

Since 1382 the municipal government seat was in the ancient palace of the Sanaüjas, a significant example of civil Romanesque art. From that moment onwards, the building was called Palau de la Paeria. The name Paeria is due to the privilege that Jaume I granted in 1264 and that substituted the former Roman consulate with Paeria as a form of municipal government.

The 15th century meant a period full of great architectural works that have lasted till the present day. An example is Santa Maria Hospital, which has housed Institut d'Estudis Ilerdencs since its foundation in 1942.

The two following centuries were characterised by a recession, worsened by wars and diseases that ended up in Guerra dels Segadors (the uprising of the Catalan servile peasants between 1640 and 1652). The city was damaged and Felipe V found Lleida in ruins.

Finally, with the decree of Nueva Planta in 1714, Lleida lost its liberties, the municipal government regime of Paeria and its University. Seu Vella, closed to worship since 1797, became military barracks.

In the 18th century the city regained its image and dimension; in the reign of Carlos III Catedral Nova was built. The new ideas of Enlightenment gave rise to such remarkable figures as Blondel and Baró de Maials. They changed the appearance of the city according to its role as the capital city of the province and applied the new agricultural studies to crops. At the beginning of the 19th century Lleida endured a new setback, the Napoleonic invasion.

Once again the city had to recover from the disasters of wars and a new period started from the second half of the 19th century.

The railway line reached the city in 1860; in 1864 Camps Elisis Gardens were open and in 1865 architect Josep Fontseré began to design the first modern city plan.

The beginning of the 20th century meant the reassertion of the Catalan State with Mancomunitat of Catalonia. The Spanish Civil War (1936 -1939) destroyed the city again. Then, in 1940, with only 40,000 inhabitants, everybody's effort was needed to achieve urban, commercial and demographic growth.

Nowadays the city of Lleida, with about 115,000 inhabitants, has updated its infrastructures to link the different neighbourhoods to the city centre thanks to the building of Pont Nou (bridge) in 1973, Pont Universitat in 1993, Pont Pardinyes in 1995 and the new footbridge in 1997.

In 1999 the old slaughterhouse became Teatre de l'Escorxador. Moreover, in the year 2000 the inside night lighting of Seu Vella was installed and the restoration of Porta dels Fillols was finished, the Blondel footbridge and the recently open footbridge in Avinguda del Segre.

Urban expansion and the creation of new facilities have shaped the beginning of the 21st century. The opening of the Motoring Museum -Roda Roda-, the recovery of the Templar castle of Gardeny and the opening of the new fruit and vegetable market are some of the most notable events so far this new century, while the AVE high-speed train, the Arts Centre in the historic building of La Panera and the future construction of the Business and Convention Centre (B&CC) is the most important features of 2004.

8th of April Red elephant & taxi in Barcelona

Today I was on my way to my son's school to see his teacher. When Benjamì called me and asked me what I was doing cause he felt like painting something. I only had half an hour but I rushed round to his studio and filmed him once again painting one of his elephants.

The other day I told Benjamì that he reminded me of the Karlos Arguiñano of painting. Karlos Arguiñano is a well loved chef/personality who has his won restaurant in the Basque Country and a television show. He his famous for always adding a few leaves of parsley to all his recipes.

I love spending time with Benjamì. I hope you all enjoy him as much as me.

http://archerdoc.blip.tv/file/4995230/

L'éléphant Fauve

Benjamí in his studio paints a daily elephant in front of us.

Watch and enjoy:

http://blip.tv/file/4986920

reTOUSpective - Benjamì's exhibition in Lerida

Benajmì exhibition in el Centre d' Estudis Illerdencs

http://archerdoc.blip.tv/file/4983663/

Samples of Sam says aprons drawn on my Benja

2nd half of the 1st of April 2011 at Benja's studio

Benja explains a bit about his life.

http://archerdoc.blip.tv/file/4965130/

Benjamì arranges his studio on the 1st of April 2011

Today is the 1st of April and I went round to see Benjamí. I filmed him explaining to me his arrangement of objects and paintings specially for the 1st of April.

Benjamí then invited me to a delicious health lunch consisting of green beans and potatoes followed by dover sole and sauteed leeks.

Enjoy the tour:

http://blip.tv/file/4964421

Benjami draws Sam says on aprons

Benjamí draws Sam says: on aprons that I have had made specially.

I bought the fabrik and accessories and a local charity called Prisbe, are making up sample aprons, tea towels and oven gloves to print Sam says merchandising to raise money for the Sam and Ruby charity.

http://blip.tv/file/4978722

Benjamí wearing It SAMazing T shirt.

Benjamí wearing one of our Sam says sample T shirt.

It SAMazing! Benjamí gives us a boogie

2nd of March another red day

2nd of March another red day

http://blip.tv/file/4849982

2nd of March another red day

http://blip.tv/file/4838164/

Fabada Asturiana

Benjami shows us how he makes a Fabada Asturiana.

http://blip.tv/file/4839825

Benjami's military service in El Pardo, Madrid

http://blip.tv/file/4835838

Nova Tarrega The weekly magazine that Eloi is in

http://blip.tv/file/4829153

Here Benjami shows us the magazine that Eloi is in and reads us one of his comic strips. He then tells us some funny anedotes

Various different links related to the conversation we had

In the last Green day video Benjami talks about a village in Asturias called Tazones, if you are interested in looking up the village here you go:

http://www.google.es/images?hl=es&xhr=t&q=tazones+asturias&cp=7&pq=tazones+asturias&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&sa=X&ei=KBFtTd7GNsaqlAeOzeX7BA&sqi=2&ved=0CDMQsAQ&biw=1523&bih=846

Before going to Asturias I had never seen the tipical Asturian oreos (not the biscuits). They also have them in Galicia:

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/sZRf0y4re588BNLqoh6OhA

Whilst Benjami was interviewing me he sang a song called: "el unico fruto del amor es la banana" and if you would like to hear it sang in a different version here you go:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqJRr_mStrc

If anyone wants to listen to the French song I tell Benjami about by Lio "Le Bananasplit":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgVttp5pfjI

Benjami mentions a little village in France that he painted called Saint Gaudens near the pirenees. If you are looking for some escape week ends away get some ideas here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint-Gaudens,_Haute-Garonne

Green day Isidre Tarragona show us his work

http://blip.tv/file/4828225

Today is green day Isidre Tarragona. An older man who likes to paint landscapes, beaches and nudes. Take a look at some of his work.

Bits of the ReTOUSpective Lerida

ReTOUSpective, pictorial walk

The exhibition in Lerida

The exibition

The signs say:

For me painting isn't a hobby,

it's a way of life...building your path forgetting others

If you were to sum up my pictorial dream,

it would be the desire for constant human freedom

Benjami's opening speech

Here Benjami is giving his opening speech straight after having been introduced by the director of the centre.

Institut d' Estudis Ilerdencs

Exhibition in Lerida - A dream come true

Last Thursday was the opening of Benjami's exhibition in Lerida. Unfortunately I don't have too much to show you as I have just tried to download the material that I thought I had shot, only to find that the tape I thought I was filming on was not a proper tape but a cleaning tape! How annoying, what a waist of time, energy and money. At least I can feel relieved that I wasn't being paid to film the event.

I do have a few photos and mini clips that I shot with my other little camera. Not much. Unfortunately Benjamin's opening speech did not get recorded, because Benjami told the story about when he was young and the Institut d' Estudis Ilerdencs wasn't used as an exhibition hall at the time and how he had walked through the building and made a wish as he walked past the little fountain in the inside courtyard. The wish that he had made was to one day have an exhibition in the building.

http://www.fpiei.cat/pdf/activitats/2011/Postal%20Benjam%C3%AD%20Tous.pdf

Benny Thousand or Benny Thousard or Ben Tauets

Saturday white day: Benny Thousand or Benny Thousard or Ben Tauets creators of comics.

Benjami Tous talks about one of his early works.

Watch:

http://blip.tv/file/4787631

If you are interested in Joaquim Chancho's work

When Benjami talks about the teachers he had at Fine arts (Bellas Artes) he mentions Joaquim Chancho. If you are interested in looking at his work, if you didn't know it, like me.

Here you can look at some of his work. I'm afraid I can't find that much.

http://www.artnet.com/Galleries/Artists_Detail.asp?aid=80661&gid=92113&rta=http://www.artnet.com

http://www.haimchanin.com/exhibitions/exhibitions_chancho.htm

http://www.haimchanin.com/exhibitions/exhibitions_thumb_chancho.htm

Ben Amin paints for us

http://archerdoc.blip.tv/file/4786268/

Ben Amin paints us a beautiful little painting.

Toast & honey with Benjami Tous

http://archerdoc.blip.tv/file/4786203/

On one of Benjami's yellow days he prepared me a simple but absolutely scrumptious mid morning snack.

Umm simple but Nice...

Benjami takes us to his world again 16th Feb 2012

Click here to watch:

http://blip.tv/file/4782693

Benjami's yellow turban

In this little film Benjami takes us through some of his entertainment props for a yellow day.

If you prefere seing the film in a slightly better quality you can do so here:

http://blip.tv/file/4782205

Eloi's calendars

Benjami's Friday character sometimes known as Benny Thousand other times as Ben Taulet draws a cartoon character called Eloi who is nearly always with his cat.

I find the calendars really amusing.

http://blip.tv/file/4781766

Amin's blocks

http://blip.tv/file/4778038

"The full Benja" - The entire striptease

http://blip.tv/file/4772911

Building blocks

One of Benjami's teachers he mentions a lot

If you are interested in looking at the work of Joan Hernandez Pijuan's work (Benjami's teacher for 7 years at fine arts) you can do so here:

http://hernandezpijuan.org/?locale=en

http://www.artnet.com/artists/joan-hernández%20pijuan/

Barcelona map painting that Benjami gave me

Flamenca & maps

4 angels in search of the missing orange

Thursday Orange Benjami Tous day

Wednesday is March Huddersfield

Tuesday Rita Hevia

More about the origins of the book of hours

Origins of the Book of Hours


The Book of Hours did not appear as an identifiable class of book until the thirteenth century. Before that time, Christians wishing to say a daily round of prayers had to seek guidance from some other type of book.

The Jews of the pre-Christian era had an authoritative source of devotional verse in the Book of Psalms, which, they believed, had been composed by King David. Christians adopted this book for their own use, and the "Psalter" soon became their main devotional text as well.

Monks and nuns recited the Psalms according to guidelines laid out in monastic rules. According to St. Benedict:

The Psalter with its full number of 150 Psalms [should] be chanted every week, and begun again every Sunday at the Night Office. For those monks show themselves too lazy in the service to which they are vowed, who chant less than the Psalter (together with the customary canticles) in the course of a week, since we read that our holy Fathers strenuously fulfilled that task in a single day. [Rule of St. Benedict, chapter 18]
Over the centuries, the Psalms were provided with a number of supplementary texts. It became customary, for example, to frame the Psalms with "antiphons" -- brief passages that helped to bring out the Christian significance of the old Jewish texts. The antiphons were joined by a variety of prayers, canticles, hymns, readings from the Bible, and dialogues. These disparate elements were arranged in a repetitive structure that varied in its details depending on the time of the day, the day of the week, and the season of the year. A liturgical calendar was used to keep track of the days and the seasons, and rubrics were employed to indicate exactly what words were to be said when. The result was a new and more complex book known as the breviary.

In the Gothic period, and especially in the thirteenth century, there was a strong desire on the part of lay people to imitate the devotional practices of monks and nuns. The breviary was far too complex for use by lay people, however. A simpler book was therefore developed which, though resembling a breviary, was far less variable, and therefore easier to use. This new type of book was the "Book of Hours."


The Structure of a Book of Hours


All Books of Hours begin with a liturgical calendar listing the feast days of the Church year. The calendar is followed by short extracts from each of the Four Gospels, and then by the text that defines the Book of Hours -- the Hours of the Virgin. These are made up of eight sets of devotional prayers to Mary, modelled on the "Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary" in the breviary. The Hours of the Virgin are followed by other sequences of hours, usually including the Hours of the Cross and the Hours of the Holy Spirit, and sometimes also the Hours of the Passion, or a set of hours devoted to a particular saint. A standard Book of Hours also includes an Office for the Dead, which would be said through the night before a burial, or on the anniversary of a loved-one's death. The Book of Hours is completed by the Seven Penitential Psalms, litanies, and prayers to the Virgin and various saints.

The Calendar


The calendar used in Europe during the Middle Ages followed a system developed originally by the ancient Romans. In the Roman system, the year was divided into twelve months, as it is in the modern calendar, but the days of the months were not numbered consecutively as they are today. Instead, three key days were identified by name: Kalends (the 1st), Ides (the 13th or 15th, depending on the month), and None (the ninth day before Ides). All other days were related to these two, by saying, for example, "today is the second day before the Ides of March."

One important difference between the Roman system and the one employed during the Middle Ages was that medieval Europeans superimposed on the Roman calendar a list of the Christian feast days. The twenty-fifth day in the month of December, for example, was equated with the Feast of Christ's Nativity ("Christmas"), the fourteenth of February was called "St. Valentine's Day," and so on. [see the Online Calendar of Saints Days]

The most important feast of the Christian year was Easter, the day of Christ's resurrection. The date of Easter varied from year to year depending on the relationship between the cycle of the sun, the cycle of the moon, and the cycle of the week. Other feast days (like Ash Wednesday), whose date was tied to the date of Easter, also varied from year to year.

These "movable" feasts, together with the "stationary" feasts commemorating other events in the life of Christ, were arranged by the Church so that they corresponded roughly to the order in which they appeared in the Biblical account of Christ's life. As a result, the feast days of the Christian Church recapitulated the life of Christ, in compressed time, once each year.

The Seasons


To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven [Ecclesiasticus 3: 1]
The feast days celebrating the major events in the life of Christ (his birth, death, resurrection, and ascension) were set within longer periods of time known as "seasons" or "times" (tempores). The feast of Christ's Nativity (Christmas) was preceded by the season of Advent, which, because it had to include four Sundays, varied in length from year to year. The feast of the Nativity was followed by a period running to the feast of Epiphany (Jan. 6), and popularly known as "the twelve days of Christmas." The Christmas season, broadly speaking, extended all the way to the Feast of the Purification of the Virgin (Feb. 2), making it a season of forty days. Easter Sunday was preceded by another forty-day period known as Lent (forty-six days including Sundays). Lent began with Ash Wednesday, and ended with Holy Week, in which the Church memorialized the events of Christ's Passion (the Entry into Jerusalem, the Last Supper, the Betrayal and Arrest, the Crucifixion, and the Burial). The Feast of Christ's Resurrection (Easter Sunday) was followed by a fifty-day season known as Pentecost, which culminated with the feast commemorating Christ's Ascension.

The Cycle of the Week


Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest [Exodus 34:21]
According to Jewish and Christian belief, the cycle of the week was established by God himself at the beginning of time. Creation, as described in the Book of Genesis, began on a Sunday, and was completed on a Friday. God rested on Saturday (the "Sabbath"), and a new week began on the next day, which was another Sunday. Whereas the special seventh day of the Jews is Saturday, Christians celebrate Sunday, the day on which Christ is said to have arisen from the dead. For Medieval Christians, the cycle of the week represented not only the cycle of days during which the world was created, but also the events of the week in which Christ was arrested, tortured, killed, and resurrected.

The Calendar in Books of Hours


The kind of liturgical calendar that we find in a typical Book of Hours is identical to that used in church missals or monastic breviaries. The days of each month are identified not by number, but by the feast celebrated on that day by the Christian church. Some indication is always given as to the relative importance of each feast in the calendar, the usual practice being for most feasts to be written in black or brown, and for feasts of special importance to be written in red (the so-called "red-letter days").

Each day is identified by a letter from A to G. These letters identify which days are Sundays in any given year. Roman numerals (from i to xix) mark the new moons, and aid in the calculation of the date of Easter.

The Hours of the Day


Seven times a day do I praise thee [Psalm 119: 164]
The Jewish practice of saying prayers seven times a day was adopted by Christians as the basis for their own daily round of prayers. The system developed gradually, but had already achieved what was to become its definitive form by the mid-6th century, when it was incorporated into the rule of St. Benedict:

That sacred number of seven will be fulfilled by us if we perform the Offices of our service at the time of the Morning Office [Lauds], of Prime, of Terce, of Sext, of None, of Vespers and of Compline, since it was of these day Hours that [the Psalmist] said, "Seven times a day do I praise thee." [Rule of St. Benedict, chapter 16].
The hours were completed by a "Night Office" (or Matins), in accordance with verse 62 of the same Psalm: "At midnight I will rise to give thanks unto thee." The resulting eight hours made up the liturgical, or devotional day.

Matins was considered to be the first of the eight devotional hours; the medieval day, therefore, began in the middle of the night. Dawn was celebrated with the office of Lauds (the "Morning Office"). In summer, when the nights were very short, Lauds might follow Matins very closely. St. Benedict advised only a short interval between the two, "during which the brethren may go out for the necessities of nature" [Rule of St. Benedict, chapter 8]. To allow for a longer period of sleep, Matins was sometimes postponed until daybreak, and said together with Lauds, or moved to the afternoon or evening of the previous day. The hours of Prime and Terce followed Lauds at intervals throughout the morning, and Sext was said at noon. The office of None was recited in the mid-afternoon, Vespers at sunset, and Compline in the evening, just before retiring.

The hours of devotion just described had little to do with the hours of a clock. Their timing was determined not by the regular ticking of a machine, but by the rising and setting of the sun, and by the biological necessities of eating, sleeping, and excreting.


After the Book of Hours


During the course of the 15th century, an alternative form of devotion gradually came to rival the Book of Hours in popularity. This new form of devotion was the "rosary" -- a systematic way of saying prayers aided not by the text of a book, but by the sequence of beads on a string. The devotions of the rosary were simpler even than those of the Book of Hours, consisting almost entirely of the "Hail Mary," the "Our Father," and the "Glory be to the Father," which were repeated from memory over and over in set numbers indicated by the beads. There was no longer any variation in what was said from hour to hour, or day to day, or season to season. All that changed was the "mystery" born in mind while saying the rosary. Many of these mysteries are the same as those depicted earlier in the illustrations of the Book of Hours (mainly sequences of events from the Infancy and Passion of Christ).

By the late 16th century, the Book of Hours had lost its pre-eminent position as a tool of private devotion. In England, however, the Hours found a new life as part of the "Primer" -- a compendium of everything that a good Christian ought to know. The primer (which may have taken its name from the Hour of Prime) was used to teach children the basic precepts of the Christian Church, and the term eventually came to be used for any introductory instruction manual. The texts of the Hypertext Book of Hours are taken from one of these English printed books, The Primer, or Office of the Blessed Virgin Marie, in Latin and English (Antwerp: Arnold Conings, 1599).

Hours book

The daily life of a Medieval monk during the Medieval times of the Middle Ages centred around the hours. The Book of Hours was the main prayer book and was divided into eight sections, or hours, that were meant to be read at specific times of the day. Each section contained prayers, psalms, hymns, and other readings intended to help the monks secure salvation for himself. Each day was divided into these eight sacred offices, beginning and ending with prayer services in the monastery church. These were the times specified for the recitation of divine office which was the term used to describe the cycle of daily devotions. The times of these prayers were called by the following names - Matins, Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, Nones, Vespers and Compline:

Lauds : the early morning service of divine office approx 5am

Matins : the night office; the service recited at 2 am in the divine office

Prime : The 6am service

Sext : the third of the Little Hours of divine office, recited at the sixth hour (noon)

Nones : the fourth of the Little Hours of the divine office, recited at the ninth hour (3 pm)

Terce : the second of the Little Hours of divine office, recited at the third hour (9 am)

Vespers : the evening service of divine office, recited before dark (4 - 5pm)

Compline : the last of the day services of divine office, recited before retiring (6pm)

Any work was immediately ceased at these times of daily prayer. The monks were required to stop what they were doing and attend the services. The food of the monks was generally basic and the mainstay of which was bread and meat. The beds they slept on were pallets filled with straw.

Benjami's blocks are based on Monks hours books

Monday is Alba Alvarez's day

Intro to Benjami's 7 painters within

Last year I made a little documentary about Benjami's 7 different personalities as well as the paintings that he was preparing for an exhibition in Tremp.

I never got round to translating and sub-titling it and now I have started, so I will up load little by little as I translate & Sub-title.

This is the introduction to his different characters that inspire him to paint different styles, colours, themes....

Bubble and squeek Benjami style

I don't know if I mentioned it before but Benjami and I have an agreement that every Wednesday I go round to his studio at around 12 ish and he draws me a drawing for my Sam says: Enjoy life project. If I have my camera with me I will then film one of his most recent paintings and then Benjami cooks me lunch. He's truly a wonderful cook who cooks quite simple traditional home cooking.

I spent a week with him in Gijon and he cooked for me every day, unfortunately I din't think of filming him cook. The idea occurred to me yesterday. So as from now on I will film Benjami preparing our lunch. I don't promise this to be a rigidly frequent event as I often go away and have to skip our Wednesdays! But I will try to be as regular as I can.

Gijon 4

Gijon 3

Gijon 2

Gijon

La Manon

Sofia Loren

Vegetables chosen by colour per day

That's life! Full of distractions

Men created brooms and women use them!

Jorge Manrique's poem: The Coplas on the death of His Father

Jorge Manrique
(1440-1479)

The Coplas on the Death of His Father,
the Grand-Master of Santiago

The Introit

Let from its dream the soul awaken,
And reason mark with open eyes
The scene unfolding,—
How lightly life away is taken,
How cometh Death in stealthy guise,—
At last beholding;

What swiftness hath the flight of pleasure
That, once attained, seems nothing more
Than respite cold;
How fain is memory to measure
Each latter day inferior
To those of old.

Beholding how each instant flies
So swift, that, as we count, 'tis gone
Beyond recover,
Let us resolve to be more wise
Than stake our future lot upon
What soon is over.

Let none be self-deluding, none,—
Imagining some longer stay
For his own treasure
Than what today he sees undone;
For everything must pass away
In equal measure.

Our lives are fated as the rivers
That gather downward to the sea
We know as Death;
And thither every flood delivers
The pride and pomp of seigniory
That forfeiteth;

Thither, the rivers in their splendor;
Thither, the streams of modest worth,—
The rills beside them;
Till there all equal they surrender;
And so with those who toil on earth,
And those who guide them.

The Invocation

I turn me from the praise and singing
Of panegyrists, and the proud
Old poets' stories;
I would not have them hither bringing
Their artful potions that but cloud
His honest glories;

On Him Alone I lay my burden—
Him only do I now implore
In my distress,—
Who came on earth and had for guerdon
The scorn of man that did ignore
His Godliness.

This world is but a highway going
Unto that other, the abode
Without a sorrow;
The wise are they who gird them, knowing
The guideposts set along that road
Unto tomorrow.

We start with birth upon that questing;
We journey all the while we live,
Our goal attaining
The day alone that brings us resting,
When Death shall last quiétus give
To all complaining.

This were a hallowed world indeed,
Did we but give it the employ
That was intended;
For by the precepts of our Creed
We earn hereby a life of joy
When this is ended.

The Son of God Himself on earth
Came down to raise our lowly race
Unto the sky;
Here took upon Him human birth;
Here lived among us for a space;
And here did die.

Behold what miserable prize—
What futile task we set upon,
Whilst greed awakes us!
And what a traitor world of lies
Is this, whose very gifts are gone
Ere Death o'ertakes us!

Some through increasing age deprived,
Some by unhappy turn of fate
Destroyed and banished,
Some, as with blight inherent rived
At topmost of their branching state,
Have failed and vanished.

Yea, tell me shall the lovely blason,
The gentle freshness and contour
Of smiling faces,—
The blush and pallor's sweet occasion,—
Of all—shall one a truce secure
From Time's grim traces?

The flowing tress, the stature slender,
The corporal litheness, and the strength
Of gallant youth,—
All, all,—to weariness surrender
As o'er them falls the shadow's length
Of age in truth.

The Visigoths whose lineage kingly
Whose feats of war and mighty reign
Were so exalted,—
What divers ways did all and singly
Drop down to the obscure again
And were defaulted!

Some through their worthlessness (How lowly
And base among the rabble came
Their estimation!)
Whilst others as a refuge solely
In offices they only shame
Maintain their station.

Estate and luxury's providing
Can leave us pauper—who may doubt?—
Within an hour;
Let us not count on their abiding,
Since there is nothing sure about
Dame Fortune's dower.

Hers are the gifts of one unstable
Upon her globe as swift as light
Revolving ever;
Who to be constant is unable,
Who cannot stay nor rest from flight
On aughtsoever.

And though, say I, her highest favor
Should follow to the tomb and heap
With wreaths her master;
Let not our solid judgment waver
Since life is like a dream and sleep
Flies nothing faster.

The soft occasions of today
Wherein we find our joy and ease
Are but diurnal;
Whilst the dread torments that must pay
The cost of our iniquities
Shall be eternal.

The pleasures light, the fond evasions
That life on troubled earth deploys
For eyes of mortals,
What are they but the fair persuasions
Of labyrinths where Death decoys
To trap-like portals?

Where heedless of the doom ensuing
We hasten laughing to the snare
Without suspicion.
Until aghast at our undoing,
We turn to find the bolt is there,
And our perdition.

Could we but have procured the power
To make our faded youth anew
Both fresh and whole,
As now through life's probation hour
'Tis ours to give angelic hue
Unto the soul,—

What ceaseless care we then had taken,
What pains had welcomed, so to bring
A health but human,—
Our summer bloom to re-awaken,
Our stains to clear,—outrivalling
The arts of woman!

The kings whose mighty deeds are spacious
Upon the parchments of the years,
Alas!—the weeping
That overtook their boast audacious.
And swept their thrones to grime and tears
And sorrow's keeping!

Naught else proves any more enduring;
Nor are the popes, nor emperors,
Nor prelatries
A longer stay or truce securing
Than the poor herdsman of the moors
From Death's decrees.

Recount no more of Troy, or foeman
The echo of whose wars is now
But far tradition;
Recount no more how fared the Roman
(His scroll of glories we allow)
Nor his perdition;

Nor here rehearse the homely fable
Of such as yielded up their sway
These decades gone;
But let us say what lamentable
Fate the lords of yesterday
Have fallen upon.

Of fair Don Juan the king that ruled us,—
Of those hight heirs of Aragon,—
What are the tidings?
Of him, whose courtly graces schooled us,
Whom song and wisdom smiled upon,
Where the abidings?

The jousts and tourneys where vaunted
With trappings, and caparison,
And armor sheathing,—
Were they but phantasies that taunted,—
But blades of grass that vanished on
A summer's breathing?

What of the dames of birth and station,
Their head-attire, their sweeping trains,
Their vesture scented?
What of that gallant conflagration
They made of lovers' hearts whose pains
Were uncontented?

And what of him, that troubadour
Whose melting lutany and rime
Was all their pleasure?
Ah, what of her who danced demure,
And trailed her robes of olden time
So fair a measure?

Then Don Enriqué, in succession,
His brother's heir,—think, to what height
Was he annointed!
What blandishment and sweet possession
The world prepared for his delight,
As seemed appointed!

Yet see what unrelenting foeman,
What cruel adversary, Fate
To him became;
A friend befriended as was no man—
How brief for him endured the state
His birth might claim.

The golden bounties without stinting,
The strongholds and the lairs of kings
With treasure glutted;
The flagons of their wassail glinting,
The sceptres, orbs, and crowns, and rings
With which they strutted;

The steeds, the spurs, and bits to rein them,
The pillions draped unto the ground
Beneath their paces,—
Ah, whither must we fare to gain them?—
That were but as the dews around
The meadow places.

His brother then, the unoffending,
Who was intruded on his reign
To act as heir,—
What gallant court was round him bending,
How many a haughty lord was fain
To tend him there!

Yet as but mortal was his station,
Death for his goblet soon distilled
A draught for draining;
O Thou Divine Predestination!—
When most his blaze the world had filled
Thou sent'st the raining!

And then, Don Alvaro, Grand-Master
And Constable, whom we have known
When loved and dreaded,—
What need to tell of his disaster,
Since we behold him overthrown
And swift beheaded!

His treasures that defied accounting,
His manors and his feudal lands,
His boundless power,—
What more than tears were their amounting?
What more than bonds to tie his hands
At life's last hour?

That other twain, Grand-Masters solely,
Yet with the fortunes as of kings
Fraternal reigning,—
Who brought the high as well as lowly
Submissive to their challengings
And laws' ordaining.

And what of all their power and prize
That touched the very peaks of fame
That none could limit?—
A conflagration 'gainst the skies,
Till at its brightest ruthless came
Death's hand to dim it.

The dukes so many and excelling,
The marquises, and counts, the throng
Of barons splendid,
Speak, Death, where hast thou hid their dwelling?
The sway we saw them wield so strong—
How was it ended?

What fields upon were they engaging,—
What prowess showing us in war
Or its cessation,
When thou, O Death, didst come outraging
Both one and all, and swept them o'er
With desolation.

Their warriors' unnumbered hosting,
The pennon, and the battle-flag,
And bannered splendor,—
The castles with their turrets boasting,
Their walls and barricades to brag
And mock surrender,—

The cavern's ancient crypt of hiding,
Or secret passage, vault, or stair,—
What use affords it?
Since thou upon thy onslaught striding
Canst send a shaft unerring where
No buckler wards it!

O World that givest and destroyest
Would that the life which thou hast shown
Were worth the living!
But here, as good or ill deployest,
The parting is with gladness known
Or with misgiving.

Thy span is so with griefs encumbered
With sighing every breeze so steeped,
With wrongs so clouded,
A desert where no boon is numbered,
The sweetness and allurement reaped
And black and shrouded.

Thy highway is the road of weeping;
Thy long farewells are bitterness
Without a morrow;
Adorn thy ruts and ditches keeping
The traveller who doth most possess
Hath most of sorrow.

Thy chattels are but had with sighing;
With sweat of brow alone obtained
The wage they give;
In myriads thine ills come hieing,
And once existence they have gained,
They longest live.

And he, the shield and knightly pastor
Of honest folk, beloved by all
The unoffending,—
Don Roderic Manrique, Master
Of Santiago,—Fame shall call
Him brave unending!

Not here behooves to chant his praises
Or laud his valor to the skies,
Since none but knows them;
Nor would I crave a word that raises
His merit higher than the prize
The world bestows them.

O what a comrade comrades found him!
Unto his henchmen what a lord!
And what a brother!
What foeman for the foes around him!
His peer as Master of the Sword
There was no other!

What precious counsel 'mid the knowing!
What grace amid the courtly bower!
What prudence rare!
What bounty to the vanquished showing!
How 'mid the brave in danger's hour
A lion there!

In destiny a new Augustus;
A Caesar for his victories
And battle forces;
An Africanus in his justice;
A Hannibal for energies
And deep resources;

A Trajan in his gracious hour;
A Titus for his open hand
And cheer unfailing;
His arm, a Spartan king's in power;
His voice, a Tully's to command
The truth's prevailing!

In mildness Antoninus Pius;
A Marc Aurelius in the light
Of calm attending;
A Hadrian to pacify us;
A Theodosius in his right
And high intending;

Aurelius Alexander stern
In discipline and laws of war
Among his legions;
A Constantine in faith eterne;
Gamaliel in the love he bore
His native regions.

He left no weighty chests of treasure,
Nor ever unto wealth attained
Nor store excelling;
To fight the Moors was all his pleasure
And thus his fortresses he gained,
Demesne, and dwelling.

Amid the lists where he prevailed
Fell knights and steeds into his hands
Through fierce compression,
Whereby he came to be regaled
With vassals and with feudal lands
In fair possession.

Ask you how in his rank and station
When first he started his career
Himself he righted?
Left orphan and in desolation
His brothers and his henchmen dear
He held united.

And ask you how his course was guided
When once his gallant deeds were famed
And war was ended?
His high contracting so provided
That broader, as his honors claimed,
His lands extended.

And these, the proud exploits narrated
In chronicles to show his youth
And martial force,
With triumphs equal he was fated
To re-affirm in very sooth
As years did course.

Then for the prudence of his ways,
For merit and in high award
Of service knightly,
His dignity they came to raise
Till he was Master of the Sword
Elected rightly.

Finding his father's forts and manors
By false intruders occupied
And sore oppressed,
With siege and onslaught, shouts and banners,
His broad-sword in his hand to guide,
He re-possessed.

And for our rightful king how well
He bore the brunt of warfare keen
In siege and action,
Let Portugal's poor monarch tell,
Or those who in Castile have been
Among his faction.

Then having risked his life, maintaining
The cause of justice in the fight
For law appointed,
With years in harness spent sustaining
The royal crown of him by right
His lord anointed,

With feats so mighty that Hispania
Can never make account of all
In number mortal,—
Unto his township of Ocaña
Came Death at last to strike and call
Against his portal:

Speaketh Death

“Good Cavalier,”—he cried,—“divest you
Of all this hollow world of lies
And soft devices;
Let your old courage now attest you,
And show a breast of steel that vies
In this hard crisis!

“And since of life and fortune's prizes
You ever made so small account
For sake of honor,
Array your soul in virtue's guises
To undergo this paramount
Assault upon her!

“For you, are only half its terrors
And half the battles and the pains
Your heart perceiveth;
Since here a life devoid of errors
And glorious for noble pains
To-day it leaveth;

“A life for such as bravely bear it
And make its fleeting breath sublime
In right pursuing,
Untainted, as is their's who share it
And put their pleasure in the grime
Of their undoing;

“The life that is The Everlasting
Was never yet by aught attained
Save meed eternal;
And ne'er through soft indulgence casting
The shadow of its solace stained
With guilt infernal;

“But in the cloister holy brothers
Besiege it with unceasing prayer
And hard denial;
And faithful paladins are others
Who 'gainst the Moors to win it bear
With wound and trial.

“And since, O noble and undaunted,
Your hands the paynim's blood have shed
In war and tourney,—
Make ready now to take the vaunted
High guerdon you have merited
For this great journey!

“Upon this holy trust confiding,
And in the faith entire and pure
You e'er commended,
Away,—unto your new abiding,
Take up the Life that shall endure
When this is ended!”

Respondeth the Grand-Master

“Waste we not here the final hours
This puny life can now afford
My mortal being;
But let my will in all its powers
Conformable approach the Lord
And His decreeing.

“Unto my death I yield, contenting
My soul to put the body by
In peace and gladness;
The thought of man to live, preventing
God's loving will that he should die,
Is only madness.”


The Supplication

O Thou who for our weight of sin
Descended to a place on earth
And human feature;
Thou who didst join Thy Godhead in
A being of such lowly worth
As man Thy creature;

Thou who amid Thy dire tormenting
Didst unresistingly endure
Such pangs to ease us;
Not for my mean deserts relenting,
But only on a sinner poor,
Have mercy, Jesus!

The Codicil

And thus, his hopes so nobly founded,
His senses clear and unimpaired
So none could doubt him,—
With spouse and offspring fond surrounded,
His kinsmen and his servants bared
And knelt around him,—

He gave his soul to Him who gave it,
(May God in heaven ordain it place
And share of glory!)
And left our life as balm to save it,
And dry the tears upon our face!
His deathless story.

—Thomas Walsh (translator).

From: Hispanic Anthology: Poems Translated from the Spanish by English and North American Poets. Collected and arranged by Thomas Walsh. G. P. Putnam's Sons. New York, 1920.

Another death "Memento Mori"

The exhibition that hasn't been held

Eleazar and Toni Clos are the two painters who had suggested to have an exhibition about the 4 death themes:
1. Carpe Diem
2. Vanitas vanitum
3. Memento Mori
4. Tempus Fugit

http://www.eleazar.es/

http://www.eleazar.es/carpediem/carpediem00.htm

http://pompeianes.blogspot.com/2009/11/toni-clos-artista.html

http://www.acomunica.com/cora24/arte/galerias/021cd398dd109ac09.html

http://www.galeriacontrast.com/inicio.php?idcont=catalogobb&idioma=es&idpro=4&disp=2&ano=2007

Part 2 of 20th century Death

Pieter Bruegel

Benjami to me is not only a great artist, a friend, a source of inspiration.....He is full of knowledge and a very wise man. Of course he like all mortal beings, has his faults.

Anyway after spending a few hours with him I always feel refreshed and filled with information. Why aren't more teachers like Benjami?? He has a great ability of never belittling anyone.

I did not know who Pieter Bruegel was or his painting the "Triumph of Death". So for those of you who want to see the painting here you go :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Thetriumphofdeath.jpg

20th century Death

This is my favourite painting of all. I think that the way Benjami has portrayed every aspect of death makes you ponder about it in a different way.

Unfortunately I have had to split the video of this painting in order to upload it on the blog. Sorry.

Don't you think that the title makes 20th century fox look like nothing at all????

Daily decorations

Sister Benjamina having her picture taken with the cake

This is Eloi

The town of Tarregà where also organizing a fundraising for children for Xmas together with TV3 and the best pastry maker in town was selling off slices of cake at 1€ and each slice of cake had a piece of chocolate on it with a drawing of Eloi.

Here you see Benjami in front of a giant drawing of Eloi just before the cake selling started.

Sister Benjamina

In December I went to Tarregà, where Benjami was brought up as he was taking part in the artist and art & crafts fair. Benjami had a stand where he was asked to draw cartoon scenes live of his cartoon character Eloi and his cat.

Eloi is a famous boy in Tarregà. Without offending anyone, I suppose you could say that Eloi is a bit like a sort of Catalan Charlie Brown type. Anyway in Tarregà he is a well liked character.

Music selection

Let me introduce you to Marsh Huddersfield

Today is Wednesday and it is an erotic day!

Weeks,days, months, days,hours, minutes......

Death of workers (with larger sub-titles)

Painting: Doña Aurora copla love songs

You can be anything that you want even after life!

End of November 2010 when I was round at Benjami's studio he was painting several canvases for a coming up exhibition together with 2 other painter friends of his. I cannot remember the exact title they were going to give the exhibition. I'll find out tomorrow when I meet up with Benja. I think the title of the exhibition was "La danza de la muerte" "the dance of death". Unfortunately the exhibition never took place. But who knows maybe we can convince all 3 artists to try setting it up once again.

In this video below Benja is finishing off one of his "dance of death" paintings. I have filmed another painting of the same theme, but Benjami explained the painting to me in Spanish. I was lazily trying to avoid having to translate and sub-title anything. But I will try to get round to it as I just love entering Benjami's paintings when he explains them to you, they feel as though they are coming alive. They take on a completely different perspective.

What about suggesting that they set up the exhibition in a Mexican exhibition centre?

Red day & elephants

Benjami the painter, has a wide variety of different themes that he regularly paints.

Today you will see an assortment of elephants.

Off you go with a trumpete trump.. trump... trump... trump....

My friend Benjami

Benjami Tous is a Catalan painter that I would love you all to enjoy as much as I do.

A couple of years ago my friend Stephanie and I joined a drama group. This is where I met Benjami. At first we didn't gel, but we soon had to meet up in groups to rehearse other nights than our class nights. The group I was in consisted of Benjami and 2 other class mates and Benjami invited us to his studio to rehearse. This is when Benjami's entire persona came to light. I have since grown very found of him, his eccentricities, his numerous artistic talents, his generosity, his wonderful cooking and I would love to share some of these moments with you. There is never a dull moment spent with him.