Monthly Archives: May 2019

News from the Mantelpiece….

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Yes, a new post! How scary is that? What am I thinking? Surely my readers have a month to wait before I pop up again in their blog readers? Blame Jon. And Dinah. More on that later.

Meanwhile, I have news from the mantelpiece [the chair is having a much needed rest, probably sitting somewhere], and it looks something like this:-

my-studio-mantlepiece-2019

Mantelpiece

Oh wait, what is that interesting, yet sophisticated, picture? Oh my goodness! It’s another collage! Let’s take a closer look….

close-up of items-on-mantelpiece-in-calligraphy-studio-uk

Looking closer…

…and look! There is a gilded ‘d’!!

close-up-of-collage-with-gilded-letter-and-modern-script-calligraphy-uk

Shiny d!!

No? Then can I interest you in an orchid? I have kept it alive since March. Remarkable.

Orchid-on-mantlepiece

Still alive!

Well that was exciting wasn’t it?

Anyhow, Jon and Dinah have been talking about blogging and have been saying that only a few of us, in our little niche, post regularly, ie. more than twice a month, so I thought I would try to post more frequently. I know, I have said this before, but I am feeling in the mood to connect more often, AND I’m a collage behind, meaning I have pictures that I haven’t yet posted. I even have a post that I haven’t posted that isn’t related to the aforementioned pictures. So expect more. Especially on Sunday. There may be a coup.

Retro Greetings!

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Apologies, I have been stuck up my archive, and have been sorting bits of paper into piles. My mother seems to have kept every greeting card that popped through the letterbox since 1963. It has been fascinating, and I thought that, over time, I would share some gems, like this greeting card from the 1970’s – so innocent, and yet also a little bit wrong.

vintage-1970's-birthday-card-featuring-two-young-men-camping-by-a-river-uk
Happy Camping!

Captions welcome! There may even be a prize!

It’s New and….Old!!!!

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Ihave made another one!!! I know!!! You are getting really bored with me posting over exposed photographs of random pieces of paper!!! Soz.

mixed-media-collage-constructed-narrative-made-from-recycled-and-new-materials-uk

I could murder a bakery product right now….

Okay, let me try to explain. I was really taken by Looby’s comment on my previous post where he said that he liked the juxtaposition between the dramatic headline and the ebullient wrapping paper. This got me thinking. I realised that I’m curious about what lies beneath the veneer of British middle-class domesticity, and I decided to further my curiosity with my next collage.

The wrapping paper reminds me of chintzy 1950’s wallpaper, so it became the perfect backdrop. I then needed some text, so I randomly opened an old Scarlet Blue post from 2013, and chose a comment that grabbed my attention. The comment referred to frozen bakery products, so I then spent a day looking through my stash of 50’s vintage newspapers for a relevant image to go with it, et voilá, from bits of scrap and a recycled blog comment, a fresh narrative was born!

vintage-fridge-advert-and-constructed-narrative

Weapons to chew on…

detail-of-collage-using-both-new-and-old-paper-uk

To whom it may concern…

For my next post I hope to bring you something I seldom speak about. But it might end up being something related to a vintage newspaper….