MUM'S ALBUM PART 2

 

A lovely portrait of my grandfather and his family. Herbert (grandfather) is the second from the left and I can remember all the aunts as they lived close to each other in Hampshire.  My uncle Walter  who I met on one of his visits ended up living in South Africa and also shared my birthday but the other uncle Stanley went to Australia and was later killed fighting in WW1. Don't my greatgrandparents look jolly with her smile and his big bushy moustache!

 

 

After WW2 my mother felt the need to go and help the post-war reparations in Poland and early in 1946 she got herself a job in Warsaw.  These early photos show some of the devastating damage done to the city and there are many more in the album showing the great efforts made by the US and European community to get the country back on it's feet.

 

 

Mum's job was as secretary to General Drury in the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Association Mission to Poland. They found ways to get people back to work on the land as well as helping to rebuild the city and infrastructure. There's more info on Wikipedia if you're interested in having a look. I was fascinated and spent an hour or 2 looking at what amazing things my Mum was involved in.

 

 

Of course it wasn't all work and it looks like she had plenty of playtime too!

 

 

 Mum shared an apartment with a couple of other girls and these pictures show them celebrating at Christmas.

 

 

Mum's best friend was called Lois, who was American and they kept in touch throughout their lives.  At some stage they went to Denmark and Sweden for a holiday together and visited Copenhagen and Stockholm where these photos were taken.

 

 

I think mum was very attracted by Sweden because when she finished working in Warsaw she took a new job in Norrkoping in Sweden working for Goodyear the tyre company.

 

 

I can't help wondering if the travel bug passes through the generations as Mum moved away from home and her brothers all ended up living on different continents: Walter in Australia, John in Canada, Michael in Africa and Peter in England.  My own daughter set off at 21 with a backpack to travel the world and then spent several years working in Hong Kong before coming back home to settle down.

MUM'S ALBUM

 

Another of my winter projects has been to collect together all the photos I have of my mother. After she died 22 years ago my sisters, brother and I had the job of sorting and sharing out her possessions. Because I'm the eldest and had the most space I took the collection of loose photos as well as a few albums. My siblings also took some albums but the loose photos have long needed to be collated into a cohesive story for our descendants.

 

 

Mum was born in 1919 at Boscombe in the south of England to Herbert and Maie Gritten.

 

 

Herbert worked for the Eastern Telegraph company as a cable telegraphist.  His job took him and his family to a new posting every 2 years.  Each of Mum's 4 brothers was born in a different country: Africa, Egypt, Portugal.

 

 

They had many uncles and aunts, some of whom I can remember from our holiday visits to Granny Maie when she retired to Southbourne.  I have a group photo of Herbert's family which I'll put on the next post.

 

 

In 1932 Herbert decided he had had enough of working as a telegraphist and wanted to make a new start.  He had heard about a new 'English Colony' being set up in Argentina and he bought a stretch of jungle that he planned to clear and farm maize.  The family set off on their new adventure on the SS Alcantara, despite the misgivings of my grandmother.  Of course Mum's 4 brothers were thrilled at the prospect of living in the jungle and I have a fascinating account from my uncle John of their time there. Mum never spoke much about her time growing up as a teenager in a primitive wooden house with all her lessons being taught by a young woman who also acted as a housekeeper.

 

 

The dream didn't work out for the family and they returned to England after only 2 years.  They lived with one of the aunts until Herbert found a job and a home for them in Pinner.

 

 

Around this time in the 1930s my grandfather left my granny for a younger woman and started a new life and another large family.  The history is a bit sketchy as granny refused to talk about Herbert and never divorced him.  My mum knew of her half brothers and sisters and made some contact with them before she died.  My sister Juliet has more knowledge of the rest of that part of the story.

 

 

Mum was a very popular and beautiful young woman and I believe she was engaged at least 3 times before she met and married my father. During the war she worked for the land army clearing forests with a team of Polish internees. (Reminder to Juliet to send me the photos so I can add them to the album!)

INSPIRATION EXCHANGE

 

I had a wonderful surprise this week when Starr White of Wonderland Woods showed me what she has made of my tiny red mushroom sketch.  Here is her beautiful embroidery which really captures the shape and colour of the original. Above is a sketch I did yesterday using one of her lovely forest photos as inspiration. It is on the end papers at the front of my latest sketchbook, newly bound with papyrus inside the covers.

 

 

Starr loves mushrooms and we've both been delighted with our exchanges of inspiration. To see more of her work have a look at her blog Wonderland Woods

 

 

Here is my sketch and the photo below of the original mushroom which is the size of a Yew berry.

I was very lucky to see it hiding in the grass before it got trodden on!

 

A BUSY TIME

 

The last few weeks have been very busy for me. My daughter Justine announced the date of her annual garden party in aid of charity and this is the first year I have had the opportunity to be there.  

I booked my flights straight away and got started on making some things to sell.

 

 

I went through all my old paintings and cut some up to make original cards as well as doing a few new pictures which were all attached to purchased blanks or offcuts of the coloured card I use when I make birthday cards for the family.  Then I scoured my sketchbooks for suitable images to print off for more cards.  I ordered some cellophane bags and now they are all wrapped up with a personal label on the back I think they look very professional.

 

 

After that I set to and started on a batch of 10 handbound notebooks.  Last year with this idea in mind my brother-in-law had given me some quality computer paper from his stationery firm.  My bookbinding instructor had given me some offcuts of the stiff card used in the covers of books as well as some short lengths of ribbon she had.  I've been collecting pretty patchworking fabrics for a while so there was plenty to choose from for the covers.

 

 

It took me over 2 weeks working every afternoon to get these done to add to the dozen or so I made last year and delivered when I went for my autumn visit.  I made a showcard to display the prices as well as some ideas for the use of these pretty books using a cupcake giftwrap as a background which goes with the theme of the garden party.  Justine and her girls will make cakes and biscuits to sell as well as the jewellery and plants Justine produces. She also invites some of her crafty friends to come and sell their wares so we're hoping for a bumper day with plenty of visitors. The date of the party is Saturday April 26th so I hope any of you who know me and are not too far from Guildford will make the effort to come and support us!

JIMMY'S BIRTHDAY CARD

 

Today it's my grandson Jimmy's 2nd birthday and I thought I would share his birthday card with you.  I was inspired by a painting by Alain Thomas, an artist who specialises in paintings of birds, especially toucans, in a jungle setting. I decided to make it 3D so I had to separate the picture into several layers.

 

 

I used light blue card for the back and sides and my Museum watercolour pencils for the painting. I started at the back with the sky and then a cut out layer of the distant trees using soft muted colours.

 

 

Then the toucan layer, painted on black card to give him some strength.

 

 

The third layer is the jungle plants painted on green card which gives a very bright effect.

 

 

 

Finally I made the frame to put on the front which pulls it all together.  I reinforced the top and bottom bars with another layer of card and started on the sides. I took 2 pieces of the blue card and folded them in one inch concertina folds then built up the card, layer by layer sticking each picture on the layer above so they stand out when the card is stood up.  Last of all I made a tiny monkey out of velour paper and stitched a vine for him to hang on, just out of reach of the toucan.

Jo called me on Skype so I could see Jimmy open his card and he loved it, especially the monkey and he had fun identifying the other creatures on the front.

BLACK SKETCH CATCH UP

 

It's a while since I posted some of my black paper sketches so I thought it was time for a catch up.  This first one is a copy of a photo I took on the Isle of Sheppey when I was staying with Jo last October.  We were very lucky to arrive at the bird sanctuary at sunset just in time to capture this beautiful sky.

 

 

The hellebore I bought in Lidl before Christmas flowered for a few weeks but now it's outside ready to be planted in the garden.  I'll probably buy a couple more in different colours to keep it company.

 

 

The flowers gradually changed from white to green as they matured.

 

 

A couple of Saturdays ago we passed a clump of these butterbur plants, blooming profusely in a shady place at the side of the road. The fragrance is beautiful, similar to mimosa although the flowers aren't very showy they attract the bees and provide food at a rather difficult time of year for them.  The leaves were used in times gone by to wrap butter due to their size and durability, hence the name.

 

 

The next day we walked along the beach at Trègastel and around Ile Renote to see the damage caused by the storms. The sand from the beach had been blown up all over the promenade but at least there was no structural damage, unlike the last time a few years ago when the restaurant and the swimming pool beneath it were completely inundated and closed for 2 years to make the repairs.  I collected a handful of seashells to draw at home.  I noticed that the colour of the limpets varied depending on the colour of the sand they were found on.  One side of the island, facing the sea has golden sand and the other has white on the edge of the inlet.

ETEGAMI

 

You must be wondering what I'm up to!  I saw a post on Nature sketchers last week that mentioned Etegami and being curious I went in search of enlightenment.  It's a Japanese style of painting that is carried out using Japanese or Chinese inks and a brush to make the outlines and do the script.

 

 

 

The idea is that you hold the brush at the tip of the handle and draw freely from the elbow. I have a brush pen filled with black ink so I got started and it's very hard to draw in this way, the lines are very wobbly! But the intention of an etegami is that it is spontaneous and errors and blobs don't matter. Nevertheless I have had to rest my wrist on the table to make anything presentable!

  

 

 

The writing is a short phrase to give a message or just cheer someone up. The images are made on postcards so that they can be sent to friends and family.

I had bought a set of Chinese ink drawing equipment a few years ago and included there was a 'chop', a little stone stick intended to be carved with one's signature to stamp on the finished card.  There was also a little pot of red ink, still moist after all this time to use to make the mark.  I managed eventually to carve my initials on the bottom of the stick, getting it right ( image reversed) on the second attempt!

 

 

Then I was away, trying to think of images to draw and some amusing or interesting words to add.  This has kept me amused for days and I'll try to do a new one every week which I'll post on the new facebook group I've joined, Etegami Fun Club.