Flattening the Curve, Day 33

Shelter in Place

Hello everyone, today is the thirty-third day of my mandatory leave from my government job due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Thirty-three days and as of now there is no end date in sight. 

I'm glad I have a stack of old National Geographic magazines and a bunch of vintage books. The possibilities for collage are endless. And of course the current crisis is top of mind and spills into the work. After all, staying in one place for a period of time can tend to grow on you - hopefully in a good way.

Take care in these uneasy times and see you again soon. 

Flattening the Curve, Day 32

Hello friends. Today is 'Day 32' of my mandatory leave from my work site due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Since I last spoke here on the blog about my Etsy shop Vintage Tea Treasures, a few sales have rolled in and I am thrilled. I know these are uncertain times for many people, so I appreciate it all the more.

I had a chance to faff with one of the sold items before packing it up and shipping it off to its new home in Canada. This lovely vintage bone china teacup and saucer set is a Royal Grafton #1454 in pastel yellow. It features a beautiful mixed floral bouquet in red, orange, white and purple, and the floral arrangement is embellished with greenery.

Another lovely feature is the gold gilding on all the rimmed edges, standard on most teacup sets of this era (1950s).

  

There is also a decorative gold band around the outside of the teacup.

And the pattern on the saucer matches the teacup.

Pottery decorator Alfred Bailey Jones (A.B. Jones) is thought to have started his pottery career selling his wares at the Eagle Works, Station Square in Longton England in about 1876. Around 1900 his Grafton works was built in Longton across from the Grafton Junior and Infants School. Grafton then became the trade name of his business and Alfred was joined by his two sons. A royal warrant was give by Queen Mary and the business then was known as Royal Grafton and survived into the 1970s.

Every time I find another vintage teacup set while charity or estate sale shopping, my heart nearly skips a beat. There is such beauty and a timeless quality in the pieces I find and I love that each one will eventually find a new home and begin its life all over again.

So if you are looking for that timeless quality or if you need a special tea gift for yourself or a friend, Vintage Tea Treasures is at the ready. Just use code PLUMBLOSSOM10 and get ten percent off your order.

Thank you and I hope you have a peaceful evening.

 
 

Flattening the Curve, Day 31

Plant Lady

Hello friends. It's the thirty-first day of my mandatory leave from my work site due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Today was a typical Willamette Valley spring day. Dark and cloudy in the morning, followed by early afternoon sunshine, which prompted Jim and I to get out in the backyard to do a few chores. After about an hour it suddenly began to shower and we scrambled to pick up tools and fold up chairs. We got back in the house just in time to watch the rain come down hard for about an hour. It stayed dark and cloudy for the remainder of the day.

Here's my version of a collage theme I've seen on Instagram quite a bit. I think it's both creepy and funny at the same time. Also, it's a fun challenge to limit myself to just a couple of elements and still make an impact.

How are your days in quarantine going? Are you finding something creative to do to keep yourself occupied? Creativity is the one thing in life that can keep you going, even in difficult times.

See you again soon.

Flattening the Curve, Day 30

Hello everyone. Today is the thirtieth day of my mandatory leave from my work site due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Thirty days...

I can't think of anything in my life over the last fifteen years that I've done consistently for 30 days except eating and sleeping...

Until now.

For the first time since I started this blog I have shown up here for the past thirty days to write about whatever is on my mind, in my heart, or what art I've created. And all because a pandemic has placed me in quarantine.

I've always had the idea to share some of my favorite podcasts here and it feels like now is the time.

I am especially excited to present The Observatory, a podcast hosted by Michael Bierut and Jessica Helfand. As designers, Michael and Jessica discuss design, current events, and current enthusiasms. I've linked the current episode which I just listened to this morning.

In the episode Jessica announced that she is now writing a daily essay series entitled The Self-Reliance Project. The writings are intended to prompt one to think about "what it means to be a maker during a crisis - to think through making, to know yourself better through the process of producing something - and how this kind of return to self-knowledge might just be the entire point." The essays can be found on their website Design Observer which "is a great place to meet for conversation about all the ways design affects our lives."

Thanks for reading and see you again soon.

Flattening the Curve, Day 29

The Transformation of Thomas Babington Macaulay 

Hello friends. Today is my twenty-ninth day of mandatory leave from my work site due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and I spent the morning finishing another collage that I had started several months ago and had set aside to gather dust apparently...

I cut this book cover off of Thomas Babington Macaulay's 1854 German translation of The History of England to use as a base for this piece which is titled The Transformation of Thomas Babington Macaulay. I originally bought the book (at a library book sale) because it has an interesting font. You can see the font on the last collage I shared here on the blog entitled Reviving the Dance.

The portrait of Mr. Macaulay is an engraving by E.U. Eddis. I find the portrait a bit disturbing to look at because the rendition is very realistic - in a creepy kind of way. It looks like a high quality black and white photograph and Mr. Macaulay is looking intently straight back at me. Do you see that?

The starting point for this piece was one of those serendipity moments. Once I had decided to use Mr. Macaulay's image for collage I cut it out of the frontispiece of the book and when my attention was called away, I tossed it on top of the book, took care of whatever bit of business called me away, and when I came back to the project my eyes opened wide as I stared back at Mr. Macaulay looking at me as he sat perfectly framed, just as shown here, on top of the cover of his book. That's when I decided to cut the cover off the book.

I said to Mr. Macaulay 'you need a transformation'. He resisted saying his authority and public standing would not allow a transmogrification of any kind. I laughed as I pulled out scissors, and a copy of Flowers, A Guide For Your Garden and commenced the transformation.

It is camellia season, after all.

Flattening the Curve, Day 28

Well friends today is my twenty-eighth day of quarantine from my work site due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and I experienced what perhaps by now many of you have already experienced.

Today is our daughter Audrey's birthday and because of the strict social distancing measures in place, also due to coronavirus, we were unable to celebrate in our usual custom of sharing a nice dinner and a celebratory cake together.

Instead, Jim and I visited Audrey at her home and placed her gifts on her front porch. We then walked out to the sidewalk and called her to let her know we were there. As Audrey opened the door to come outside we held up the family 'Happy Birthday' banner, torn, tattered and taped from years of use, and greeted her with big smiles and a happy birthday salutation.

In truth as we waited for Audrey to appear, I held back tears. I had a sudden moment of overwhelm as I stood next to Jim, anxiously waiting to see our daughter, and thinking about how crappy it must feel for a young person to not have a proper celebration surrounded by friends and family.

But those thoughts and feelings passed as Audrey came out, dressed for her special day with her hair nicely styled. She was upbeat and said despite the situation that she was having a good day. She told us about how her friends had visited her earlier in the day (adhering to social distancing of course), bringing gifts, and that her step-sister Kaede had sent birthday greetings. And she said that tonight she will be watching a movie with friends via Skype.

It was so good to see Audrey and I felt much better after hearing about how her big day was shaping up.

Happy Birthday Audrey - I love you!

Flattening the Curve, Day 27

Reviving the Dance

Friends, today is the twenty-seventh day of my mandatory quarantine from my work site due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and today I took care of some unfinished business.

I started the collage above, entitled Reviving the Dance five years ago! I remember when I needed to get new tires on my car, I brought an Italian printed vintage book, titled Ceramiche e porcellane cinesi, along with me to the tire store. As I sat waiting for my car to be serviced I cut the three images of women, known as mingqi or 'furnishings of the spirit', (shown) out of the book, knowing I wanted to use them in collage. Of the three women, the standing figure on the left is a 'court lady' from the Sui Dynasty (589-618) and the other two are dancing tomb figures from the T'ang Dynasty (618-907). Both were part of a broad afterlife tradition known as 'furnishings of the spirit'.

There were several 'false starts' with the three figures over the years as I stumbled through various ideas, but it wasn't until I was looking through a copy of North American Wildlife (another great vintage find) and saw the dancing Sandhill Crane (middle panel). Part of the description for the Sandhill Crane states "Pairs perform together during courtship, but dancing is confined neither to the breeding season nor to pairs; hundreds of birds may dance at the same time."

That was my 'a-ha' moment. Dancing ladies and dancing cranes - now that's a party! During one of my failed attempts to make this piece, I had punched out the brown and light blue floating balls or dots, and it seemed like the work was coming to life at that point but it wasn't until I started cutting out the cranes and experimenting with placing them with the dancers that it felt like the energy and emotion of the dance was becoming more apparent.

The last problem to solve was how, because the figures are all similar in size, to create some interest in how they each sat on the page. That's when I got the idea to find some kind of base for two of them to stand on. Now the figures are all grounded, yet each sits at a different height, which gives the piece more interest. And, finally, the work is ready for the imaginings of the viewer to wonder what this dance is all about!

I'm very happy with how this collage turned out and that I was able to finish something, even though it was started five years ago. Now, I wonder what other unfinished business I may have in my art box?

How about you? Do you have an unfinished project of some kind laying around somewhere?

Thanks for looking and I hope your day is good and your night is restful.