Two lovely vintage books that I picked up in my local Oxfam shop. They are both a delight to look at and read. Just love the old typography and charm of the illustration..... On the left is: 'The Starke Sisters' by Kathleen Mackenzie published in 1963, tells the story of Charlotte, Selina and Georgiana who live with their elderly grandmother, Lady Starke. Disliking anything modern, the grandmother insists the girls live as if forever in the Edwardian era. The story details how the girls have their first social occasions with other young people and how they realise the differences in their lives. It is a book about social change, class, and is very English.
Michael looked at their dresses and did not wonder they felt peculiar; he did not quite know what to say. But he need not have worried about hurting their feelings."You don't have to try to be polite about them," said Selina, interpreting his silence correctly. "No one could think them more awful then we do.""Why do you have to wear them?""Grandmamma!" said Selina and Georgiana together....From 'The Starke Sisters' by Kathleen Mackenzie 1963.
I think I am correct in saying this book is now out of print. Perhaps one for Persephone Books to 'discover'?
The other book Ivor Brown's 'Book of Words' is a fabulous treat of a book for anyone, like myself, fascinated by meanings and history of language. The book was published in 1944 and the paper is the economy type that publishers were obliged to use. With the 'war economy' logo printed on the inside first pages. It is a book of its time, and is a subjective, eccentric catalogue of words and meanings, with emphasis on words used in drama and poetry. Some words are well-known, whilst others are words in less-common use, or were on their way out by the 40's. The author was a successful journalist and reviewer. Infact he went on to be editor of The Observer. It's a wonderful book and I think there are several copies floating about in secondhand shops, so I hope it continues to be read and enjoyed.
Here, for example, is Brown's understanding of the word 'glamour'...
GLAMOURThis beautiful word has been bludgeoned to death by modern showmanship, which has attached it to every young lady who contributes a face to the film or a limb to the chorus. It is an English importation from Scotland where it had long signified magic with magical effect. I had fancied that it was pronounced 'glam-our' until I found Burns rhyming it with grammar..... Until recently glamour was reserved for conjuring tricks and was not bestowed, as now with such damnable iteration, on all aspiring to or professing 'it', 'umph' or 'sex-appeal', to use the modish title of what used to be called plain beauty......
Nature's quiet glamour...... the beauty of rosehips in snow.... for yes we had snow overnight, just a few inches, but enough to make a delightful scene.....
One of several robins that live about our garden..... They are so very territorial, it is true... the blackbirds and the robins clash all the time. They like to keep the food supply to themselves.... I try to remember the birds and feed them with nuts and seed. We've got some new feeders to put out, so better get on with that....
A selection of bird tags, monoprint drawings with collage and stitch. Sort of an alternative to cards, a gift in themselves.... I hope they may be enjoyed...
And to finish this post, another quote from Ivor Brown's Book of Words:
FAREWELLThe word has dropped from popular speech. We say 'Good-bye' which is decent, or decline into the democratic 'ta-ta's' and cheerios and 'so longs', which are miserable. (What exactly does 'So long' mean?) Farewell is now rather literary and slightly jocose. Perhaps this is due to a kind of reverence. Do we hesitate to make common a word which sounds so beautiful? You have only to put it in a line that scans and poetry emerges.......Well, not quite farewell, but until Monday...... enjoy your weekend. And part two of 'Winter Magi' will be posted tomorrow over at
Nevering.
a goldfinch in the snow......
Another chair in progress.... I like the slightly larger size of this one and that curved top. Playing with scale and shapes interests me and one chair seems to be leading me to another, like a parlour game.... These are very time consuming to make! Oh, a whole morning goes by with glue-sticky fingers and the snow falling outside.... Yes, we have had snow, a small sprinkling. Not enough to close the roads just yet, hmmm....
1. blanketed horse, 2. IN CASE OF LOSS, PLEASE RETURN, 3. Spontaneous Journal 12/13/09 - 5 minutes, 4. white rabbit, 5. Monoprint2, 6. red robin relief print, 7. Self-portrait, 8. Untitled, 9. ida bohatta winter prints, 10. Untitled, 11. The older sister, 12. Untitled, 13. Pearly Bird of LOVE, 14. DSC00485, 15. the oracle, 16. xmas market, 17. birds67, 18. Ninfa y Alimaña en el autocine., 19. Home for Christmas, 20. Owl stories-, 21. Untitled, 22. To Live Is to Fly, 23. white rabbit, 24. 3 garotas, 25. Too little too late, 26. roots, 27. Untitled, 28. Viva La Gong knit tree, 29. Lady Cat with paper jelly, 30. revisiting the holiday wreath, 31. papermaking final project, 32. esquizoide, 33. finding each other1, 34. Cutting Board - Stage, 35. IMG_7701, 36. Les Pierres Les Oiseaux (1/13)
As many creative people know, ideas work in cycles and happy dances of chance and circumstance and connections etc....... Red thread and paper combined are making a 'comeback' in my work, it seems... I like the feel of it and it feels right to be working in this way. Perhaps my recent pared-down monoprint drawings have suggested this is the way my stitching work should follow.... Abstracting the figure just a little more and playing with the 'other side' - that is the other side, or bobbin side of the stitched work. Have you flipped over stitched work to see that the back is sometimes more interesting than the front? If you use a sewing machine you understand this....
Tiny Jack balances himself on a vintage cotton reel, upon a papier mache chair..... he is one of the new yesterdays dolls that I am making right now and will continue to work on over the next few weeks or so.....
