Life on a Different Coast - Large and Small

Brighton Pavilion photo courtesy Photos Everywhere

The English Coast, along the Channel. Above, a very large seaside cottage - the magnificent Brighton Pavilion. And below, the smallest seaside cottage in England,

- on the beach at Porthcurno. Maybe best to try for something in the middle!

Punter's Holiday

Punter's Holiday 16 x 20"

This was fun . I raided my stash of vintage English ephemera and then picked out what went well together. Many of the pieces in this collage came from a scrapbook of a 1952 trip to Europe that I found at a Flea Market several years ago. I used a deep gold silk paint on the ribbon (we picked this up on our trip to the Cotswolds in 2006) to give it an aged look. The vintage cigarette cards are also finds from our trip.


This is in a glass (front) and acrylic (back) frame held together with thin black metal strips. I adhered the ephemera with glue dots to the piece of acrylic, placed the glass on top and then slid the sidepieces on. The back piece has its own hanger - which would be great if I hadn't done the collage upside down!! Oh well, I'll figure something out.

Life on a Different Coast - Cornwall

The Three Mackerels - Falmouth, Cornwall UK - photo courtesy Telegraph.co.uk

Here's a lovely way to spend a Sunday afternoon - on the deck of The Three Mackerels beach cafe in Falmouth, Cornwall looking out on the Lizard Peninsula. Love the colour of the water, and wouldn't a pint of Betty Stoggs ale and a fish pie go down a treat?

Cigar Box Wednesday

OK, it's a candy tin, not a cigar box, but it serves the same purpose - holding wonderful, magical bits and bobs for art! In this case pottery shards from the east coast of England.

I love all the different colours and patterns and am especially enamored with the blue and white with the hole in it.

Stoned in Britain

I was sitting here at the computer waiting for something to download and picked up a piece of slate that sits on the desk. I brought it back from our trip to Scotland several years ago. It made me think of all the different stones we had seen across the British Isles on our travels. Well known stones, in the above picture, on a windswept plain in Wiltshire.

Humble cobblestones on a back street in London.

Serviceable stone walls in Penpont (home of Andy Goldsworthy), Dumfriesshire, Scotland.

And a very famous stone in the British Museum.

What's Your Sign, Mate?

Here are a few of the interesting signs that we saw on our England trip. The one above was in a restroom in Porth Curno, Cornwall. And after a rather lengthy search for a carpark and a quanity of beer at lunch, we were ready to vote it "Loo of the Year" as well!

I thought this one was funny - it seemed like most the roads we'd been driving on weren't much wider than that. It's a real experience to be on a narrow country lane, bordered by tall hedgerows and then meet up with a large farm machine going the opposite direction. Thank heavens Margot did the driving!

Found on a charming back street in Fowey - long time home of Daphne du Maurier.

On the quay in Fowey across from the Polruan walk-on ferry.

Along the Regents Canal

One of the things we did on our trip to England was a narrow boat ride on the Regents Canal through London. This canal grows out of the Grand Union Canal that comes down from Nottingham and is one of the most traveled in Great Britain.

The trip started in an area of the city called Little Venice. The canal widens to a watery basin here and several boat companies offer tours down the canal that winds along, the back of Regents Park Zoo and eventually ends up at Camden Lock.

It was fascinating to see the different boats moored alongside the towpaths. Getting a berth here is a lucky chance. Many of the boats have been lovingly restored and provide year long lodging for their proud owners.

It was strange to be on the water, basking in the rural feeling and quiet of the canal and then look up and see the city of London rising above us.

An added bonus were the old fashioned tickets for the ride which the boatman punched with a vintage handheld tool. As you've already guessed, they went into the travel journal before we'd even reached Camden!

64 years later.

Piccadilly Circus - May 8, 1945

After almost six long years WWII in Europe was at an end. Indomitable Londoners poured into Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, in front of the palace to cheer and shout and weep. It would be another seven to eight years before all rationing was lifted and Britain began her journey forward into the second half of the century with young Queen Elizabeth on the throne.

New York City - May 8, 1945

In New York crowds thronged the streets and Times Square, celebrating the victory while still mourning the loss of FDR a month earlier. And then there was the rest of the war in the South Pacific to win.

With gratitude to those who served - in all the allied armed forces and at home. Thanks Dad.

Camden Town

We visited England in the fall of 2006 and while in London spent a Sunday in Camden . Shopping at the Camden Lock Market - great used book stalls and jewelry, eating wonderful ethnic food and reveling in the hip, young atmosphere.


Lots of edge-y boutiques, and shoe stores. Margot was busy taking notes and sketching ideas for Sassy Feet

I was writing in my journal and snapping pictures like crazy. Loved all the bigger-than-life advertising sculptures. Camden was definitely a feast for the senses.

Books?

What a delightful shelf of vintage children's books - but is it? This is a poster I picked up in Witney, Oxfordshire, England-at their local hardware store of all places. (I just remembered I also purchased some cool drawer face plates, I'll have to get those out and do something artful with them!) I have this up on the wall by my desk at the library and several people have commented on how real the books look. Which they do, and even more so in this photograph.

Witney is the market town for Woodgreen just north of town, which was the model for Miss Read's ever popular Thrush Green series.

Warrior Princess!

Statue of Boudicia by Westminster Bridge London

Ah, warrior princesses! You gotta love 'em! So powerful, so commanding, so hot! I was able to snap the above photo on our England trip in 2006. The mighty Celt Boudicia - she who almost kept the Romans out of England. And of course, Xena; bad scripts, bad acting, but that never stopped any of us from watching did it?

Xena -Warrior Princess (photo -boxoffice.com)

I once had a spiritual healer who told me I possess warrior princess energy - cool! I don't know if I do or not, but my car sure does!

Book Stacks

(from gallery in Chipping Campden)

On our trip to England in late summer 2006 I spotted this delightful piece in a gallery window in Chipping Campden. It was early and not open yet. There was no title or artist listed - at least not on view through the window. I would love to know, to give credit to this talented artist, so if any of you out there in Blogland have a clue please tell me. As a book lover and altered book artist I was fascinated with this wonderful stack of books. The next spring I created my own - using discarded library books, which I gessoed, then painted and splattered in a variety of pastel arcylics, finishing off with painted twine and a wooden apple atop the stack.

A Smattering of Knowledge