Dear Friends: After our first failed attempt to create a website about Painted Wall Sundials I was sad and disappointed, but Dave Bell and I received so very many letters of support and encouragement from so many of you, that you changed our minds, and we decided to attempt to redo the website, but this time in the proper way. It was just too important for us to abandon it. With a new attitude and renewed enthusiasm, over the past several weeks, Dave and I have been working very hard, in secret, redoing the entire website. This time around we made every possible effort to fully document the painted wall sundials in our Image Archive and to get permission from all the owners of the photographs to use their photos. We should have done this from the beginning as you made me realize. You all taught me a valuable lessen for which I am very grateful! So, in return, Dave and I would like to give to you, our friends on the Sundial Mailing List, this website as a Christmas Present. Were send! ing thi s letter to you on Christmas Eve in the Western Hemisphere so that our friends in Europe will get it on Christmas morning. I only regret that I could not gift wrap it for you with a pretty ribbon like the ones found on so many painted wall sundials!
I have scoured my notes and the Internet and have been able to determine the sources for most of the photographs, and I have contacted the owners of the source websites seeking their assistance to help me identify and locate the owners of the photographs. Everybody involved was "sworn to secrecy" not to reveal the URL of the new website until we had obtained permission from the photos' owners. We now have permission from most of them, but we are still trying to locate and obtain permission from a few others. In addition, we are gathering and posting information on the sundials makers, locations, dates of construction, photo origins, source websites, and the photo owners' and dial makers' websites and email addresses. We have also included separate pages with Technical Info rmation about PWS construction and a Commissioning page to help people find sundial designers, makers and artists. We now have 252 wonderful photographs in the Image Archive! Dave and I would like to thank the many people who have given us permission to use their photographs and who generously sent us new photos, information, helpful suggestions, and who proofread the text. Special thanks go to Riccardo Anselmi (Italy), Mario Arnaldi (Italy), Roger Bailey (Canada), Fer de Vries (Holland), Alain Ferreira (France), Antonio Giorgi (Italy), Claude Hinsinger (France), Reinhold Kriegler (Germany), Lucio Maria Mora (Italy), Edley McNight (USA), Giorgio Mesturini (Italy), Mac Oglesby (USA), and Karl Schwarzinger (Austria). We hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and enjoy the new website. And thanks again for everything. To unwrap your Christmas present, click here: http://advanceassociates.com/WallDial/PWS_Home.html John Carmichael & Dave Bell.
--------------------------------------------------- https://lists.uni-koeln.de/mailman/listinfo/sundial
