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On our recent trip to Pembrokeshire I became the junk shop equivalent of David Dickenson (without the perm-a-tan though!)
It would seem that Wales has lots of vintage goodness ready to sell and at good prices.
We found one cold, warren of a place piled high with everything you could think of and not being staffed by the owner. This opened up the opportunity for some cheeky bargaining (I still don’t know what came over me.)
I came away with 3 old wooden storage boxes, two blue and white jugs, a tiny floral jug, a lace work cloth, two embroidered chair-backs and an enamel pan for £15. I quick-stepped it out before the owner came back. I mean when is anything ever as cheap as 50 pence! My gall is a disgrace!!
The next day I spotted two lovely white and blue enamel pieces sitting outside an antiques shop and bartered them down just a little bit.
I have a plan to fill the oval tub with lettuce seeds so that we can grow our own salad this summer and keep it by the back door.
So now the garden is ready for it’s thrifted, vintage makeover (as soon as it stops raining).
We had also been very lucky on a recent family trip to Manchester to come across an antiques arcade. There was beautiful crockery, coloured glass wear, old books, crocheted loveliness and a super wicker basket to carry it all home in.
Back in January you may remember this post where I had been working on some drawings of vintage cutlery.
As part of the Art and Business of Surface Pattern Design course (now on the last Module) we were tasked to create a collection of designs.
This was huge learning curve for me. Firstly it became quickly apparent that I didn’t have the computer equipment to do this (15 mins spent waiting for an image to move 1cm across the page!) so we upgraded to a beautiful, big, fast monster of a Mac.
Then I had a lot to learn about Adobe Photoshop (BTW did you know that BIG discounts were available if you are a student or teacher?) I can now use lots of the tools thanks to Rachael’s brilliant tutorials and I’ve remembered stuff from my college degree that I’d forgotten I’d forgotten!
As with all learning curves I would already handle designing these in a different way (nicer colours for a start) and I’m now trying to stay truer to my painters hand when I design.
But I think they have some merit especially because I came across these a few weeks after I’d completed my designs. So maybe I’m on the right track after all!
Easter is my favourite celebration, even more so than Christmas.
I love that it’s not been hi-jacked too much by having a major shopping focus and all the work that Christmas requires. It seems a much lighter celebration and the weather and spring flowers add to its joyfulness.
And I love the real meaning behind this celebration.
I bought marie claire ideas when I was in France.
It is full of inspiration (and French descriptions which I promised myself I would translate and improve my French – yet to do!)
I was gifted a bag of old music scores by a friend at work and set to, to try to add to my Easter dec’s.
Who knew that knives, forks, spoons and other assorted cutlery could be so much fun to draw and paint?
I have tried to adopt an approach developed in the course I was on recently,
trying out the same item drawn but using different media,
looking at whole shapes and sillhouettes,
and flattening 3D items into flat patterns.
If I remember correctly this is one of my nans cups from her tea service.
This is a real favourite to paint.
It reminds me of playing shops with her, the smell of her leather handbag and the scent of Polo mints when she opened it, the dark dining room and the noise of the kitchen lino underfoot.
It’s also got a great shape, flowers in all the right places and to top it off it requires a nice fancy lick of gold ink for the edging.
- Summer 2010 Julie Arkell
I enjoyed the whole Smile exhibition but must admit that seeing Julie Arkell’s work in the flesh was the motivating factor for going.
Her work fits perfectly into the brief for the exhibition because it is delightful, whimsical, nostalgic and amusing. It made me smile, coo, ahh and giggle.
Julie Arkell is one of Britain’s most recognisable folk artists. She works in paper mache and mixed-media .
Her construction process is completely handmade, beginning with manipulating the paper mache into figures and then dressing them by knitting and sewing bespoke garments.
Her work is the meeting point of domestic craft traditions and sculpture.
- My heart’s in high lands with lambs Julie Arkell
The ‘people’ she makes have references to bunnies, people, children and dolls but are none or all of those things at once.
I think this is what gives her work a storybook quality. That and the narrative which is hinted at through the embroidery on the clothing and the title of the work itself.
The clothing is reminiscent of an earlier age where petticoats and hobnail boots were standard. Julie likes to re-use items from the past such as lace trimmings and brooches which reinforces the historical quality of the characters.
I have always loved to make things using accessible materials like paper, glue, cardboard, fabric and wool, which relate to my papier-mache pieces. I am able to make pieces that express my feelings, thoughts and ideas, bringing past and present together. Julie Arkell, Flow Gallery.
- They were sisters Julie Arkell
I really loved this one A LOT. I love the expressions on their faces made through very little marking but a lot of expression through shape. I can just imagine these two sisters gossiping and comparing notes on things.
I adore the way their hair has been made and piled upon their heads and pinched in with ribbon.
I’m amazed by how much character comes thorough with such a lightness of touch. Carefully poised dots and lines, rouging and a clever wittiness with the printed text all combines to create a character that you can ‘read’ almost instantly.
There is something endearing about anything that is miniature and this outfit is no exception.
- All because of Stanley
Collecting things is an important part of my work. I look for postcards, plastic dolls (that I take apart and rearrange) old books, aprons, fabric, buttons, jewellery, used toys and much more that captures my attention. I’m constantly writing down words and phrases and thinking up stories for the world I make. Julie Arkell at CAA
I think her work perfectly suited this particular exhibition and I admit that I would like to don an apron and a pair of knitted ears and go and live in her fairytale world where it looks like relationships matter and its playtime all the time.
I have given myself a little project to paint some of the (many) teacups that I have collected over the years. They have filled up a cupboard but never really worked hard for their purchase pennies. I have a theory that I can buy such things if I make good use of them in a still life and therefore they ‘pay’ their way and aren’t just an excuse to buy more. Well it is an excuse to buy more! But now I’ve set to painting them I can feel a little better about it.
I’ve nearly finished the pretty pink Pip Studio teacup – show you tomorrow.
Thanks so much for all your lovely comments about the blanket box. Here is the finished room which of course looks as tidy as this everyday! Not.
The wallpaper is Antique Rose by Cath Kidson and that’s my Nan’s eider-down – not just vintage but heirloom.
We’ve had this pine furniture set since the early years of our marriage. At the time it was the most enormous amount of money to us and the only things which matched in our house. So for many years we’ve been a little precious about it. Until now when we decided it would suit the room better white and that pine furniture is ‘so last season’. We took a deep breath and slapped on a whitewash and it looks much the better for it.
Our local junk shop came up trumps with this lovely oval mirror. It’s so deep and heavy and finely finished and was only £35.
This photo hides the as- yet unhemmed curtains!
I love this piece of furniture and the whole mirror, dressing table set up. I saw this at the same junk shop months before we even began redecorating but knew, from what Lu had said about her vision for her new bedroom, that this would be perfect. I nearly drove up onto the pavement to snatch before anyone else did!
We didn’t quite get a good photo of the day bed because the truth is that I moved a pile of junk out of every shot and it all ended up under the bed! That’s life.
Last week I achieved a long-wished for visit to this amazing house in Norfolk. Voewood is an Art’s and Craft’s house which has been brought back to life by the current owner in the most artistic, eclectic, vintage styled manner thinkable. Every square inch is gorgeous and inspiring and I have a lot of photo’s to share with you!
I’ve been umm’ing and ahh’ing abut whether to split all the photo’s I took (210!) into two posts or not but have decided to bombard you with them all at once so that you get the full feeling of the house in one go. If you like china, vintage thrift’s, hand painted decoration etc then I think you’ll be as excited as I was!
All good house tours should start in the kitchen me thinks…so here we are.
One of the characteristics of the decor was little groupings of objects everywhere, be it colour grouped china on shelves or themed objects on window sills. There was a still life to be painted where ever I looked.
The Music Room had an exotic, hot country feel to it – lots of fur, Ikat fabric and objects from foreign travels in places such as Africa. There was a lot of texture and attention to pattern through ordinary, natural objects.
The owner put to work the talents of his friend, the artist Annabel Grey who has had a hand in other rooms too. These are her screen printed curtains but have a look here to see just how wonderful the design is spread out over a large area.
The Games Room (above) is a real boys den but look at that fabulous butterfly collection. I wished I’d been carrying a bag big enough..
The Dining Room boasts these awesome hand appliqued curtains by Annabel Grey and Kirsten Hecktermann. How long these took to make is anyone’s guess but these were only two of several more curtains. It was these artistic labours of love that were so inspiring.
The Conservatory had this beautiful mosaic floor where tea and cakes were served following the house tour.
On the first floor was our favourite area. This little landing looked like the perfect, tranquil place to sit and read a book. The whole corner was themed a greeny, peachy, taupe from the stripes painted on the wall to the vintage artefacts on the window sill.
There are enough bathrooms for you to use a different one everyday. Simon Finch, the owner, deals in antique books and obviously loves to collect other treasures from the past such as these trays of labelled shells and tiny bugs.
These photo’s don’t do this room justice. It is hand-painted in vivid green with birds and flowers swirled everywhere like a meadow scene – you feel like you’re in an Impressionist painting. Then to make the whole scheme sing, the bed is topped with a bright pink embroidered bedspread.
But this had to be the best most impressive bedroom because of the scale and ambition. This took Annabel four months to hand-paint in a patchwork style.
Then it’s been thoughtfully furnished to pick out the colour’s of the walls including the gold leaf that was used.
It made me wonder, having just paid for wallpaper, what stops me from doing similarly.
For every room that is chock full and all-singing, all-dancing, there are quiet peaceful places. This room was simply grey and white but still full of charming embroidered hangings from India and little vignettes of re-found objects and antiques. I loved these simple box frames with rows of buttons glued into them. Just a simple idea showing off the lovely colours and patterns of the buttons.
We absolutely loved these mosaic flowers by Annabel, and as our own family bathroom is next on the list for decorating, this room gave us pause for thought. We were all ready to pull it all out and buy new but this has given us another idea.
It really was such an inspiring place.
Inspiring me to use my creative talents to make our home a little bit more individual.
I think in all there are seventeen bedrooms and some have more than one or two beds in them. But all the rooms are chock full of lovely art and textiles.
The owner has such an eye for colour and the photo below really illustrates this.
Finally, back downstairs, is the room that will probably have the most impact on us. On the left it is bright white and showcases china. On the right it is more masculine with an old typewriter and leather chair. Very Mr and Mrs L. So I think that the old table I bought recently on a junk shop whim will be coming in very handy.
If you ever get the chance to go (book ahead) it really is the most inspiring place and you get home-made cake. What else could you want? And if my rather dark photo’s aren’t enough, have a watch of these…enjoy 
Part One…
Part Two…
One of the upside’s of volunteering to do a clean-up job at school is that you can save the vintage classics from the un-initiated who would have destined it for the junk pile.
I love the nostalgia that these bring and personally think they’d do well in our historical artefacts collection but not everyone values the 60′s/70′s because it’s not yet old enough!
Maybe we could use them to teach about gender – dad has a car and reads the newspaper while mum pushes the pram!
But as illustrations go these are worthy of keeping especially as there is a lot of this kind of work being produced again now.
We had a tonne of these and a lot had to go but these were the best illustrated.
We do a lot of child initiated learning these days and these would have fitted right in with their ‘get some paper and make a picture’ invitation.
I shall be content to have saved a little piece of history and wait until some kind of inspiration strikes on how to use them.
Unless you have any suggestions?
