The Disgruntled Elf

The Disgruntled Elf :: Loftus // C-Type Plate // No flash Q. When is an elf disgruntled? A. When he is a gnome on a donkey entertaining delusions of grandeur.

Just look at this kitsch ceramic little figure. Even the donkey looks put-upon.  Tolkien never wrote about anything so comically adorable, although this pair does resemble a couple of reluctant adventurers.

I don’t recall how I stumbled upon this figurine on Etsy, but it sure tickled my fancy. I already owned a small stone carving of a donkey/mule/horse that I had bought in the Rif Mountains of Morocco, and decided this little pair would look darling sitting nose to nose with it on my windowsill: a study in contrasts.

A Vintage Touch :: Loftus // C-Type Plate // No flashThey came from the quaint Etsy store Betty And Dot, named after the owner’s two grandmothers. The lovely owner Sherri, surmises the figurine is most probably of 1960s Japanese origin. She very carefully packaged it for a long journey over the ocean, and the figurine arrived safely, tied up with blue ribbon and cushioned amongst the bubble wrap. Sherri included a lovely handmade note (I loved the vintage rainforest photograph) and a vintage posy of berries –a personal touch that makes all the difference with impersonal online shopping. She also has a second Etsy store, Sew Betty And Dot, specialising in vintage sewing supplies.

Here are the donkeys on my windowsill, becoming acquainted. Hee-haw!

Getting Acquainted :: Loftus // C-Type Plate // No flash

Old Papers and New Poems

I’m pretty excited to have finished my new set of ‘Random Poetry’ this week. I started them way back in October last year, so they’ve been a long time in the making. They are a bit of a departure from the first set, with a simpler colour palette – most of the images are black and white – and some incorporate pen and ink wash drawings. All of them use antique papers, postcards or envelopes for backgrounds.

Most of these papers I have bought either here at home in Melbourne, or online at Etsy. The ones I love most are the 1860s and 70s receipts formerly belonging to one James Bell; those were bought in a fantastic secondhand books and curios shop in a Melbourne neighbourhood I once lived in. The copperplate script on these handwritten receipts is beautiful – how long did it take a clerk to fill them out?

There is even one sheet of yellowed foolscap that belonged to me as a child – I found it in one of my books in my parents’ garage. My dad discovered me a few months ago buried in an old storage cupboard and rummaging around. “What on earth are you looking for?” he asked, bemused. “Stuff,” I muttered in reply. I didn’t know what I would find. One of the things I uncovered was a 20-year-old love letter my sister had composed to her husband, then boyfriend. I very politely refrained from reading it and passed it on to her. (Later I asked her what it had contained, and she told me it was horrifyingly soppy.)

I’m really pleased with this new look to my collages that I developed. I find the stark black and white images have much more impact, and the casually scribbled drawings have the freshness of doodles. As a whole they are much more satisfying as pieces of art. One of them even rhymes! I was impressed I was able to create a semblance of meter from word scraps. The poems are about looking back and looking forward, passing through love and loss, transience and hope; some are sweet, some sharp, and some are bittersweet. Some of them are even lighthearted!

I hope you have as much pleasure in reading them as I did in the making. Click here to view Gallery Two of the random poems.

The Girl in the Chair

The Girl in the Chair, 2012This is The Girl in the Chair, a little oil pastel drawing I whipped up one day in a whimsical mood. There’s no secret philosophy or meaning behind it – sometimes it’s just nice to curl up in an armchair before the fire and dream. That is all.

Flights of Fancy

Touch the SkyWhat a pleasure to discover a new artist whose work very much appeals to my own aesthetic. Dreamlike and surrealist, fanciful and full of whimsy and strangeness and visual puns, Catrin Welz-Stein beckons one to step into another world of the imagination.

Originally working as a graphic designer in Germany, Welz-Stein now lives in Malaysia and, inspired by her young children, switched to illustration three years ago. She creates her images digitally, collaging old illustrations and photographs, blending them seamlessly into fairytale works of art. Her colour palette is muted and delicately tinted with a dirty edge; the grungy textures add depth and grittiness.

Heaven and EarthIt is no surprise to learn that she is inspired by fantasy, children’s stories, the medieval age, Jugendstil, folklore and Surrealism, and by artists such as Otto Dix, Frida Kahlo, Picasso, Gustav Klimt, Magritte and Botticelli.

Who needs realism after all? There’s plenty of that around to drag us back to earth with a sudden jolt. Float away whenever you have the chance …

For more, visit Welz-Stein’s blog or Red Bubble gallery.

Madonna of the TreeSunshine TattooSnow WhiteSummer Dreaming

Vintage Mum

Ooo, wait, this is the wrong kind of Mum, isn’t it? How embarrassing …Someone told me a little while back that Hallmark had invented Mother’s Day. He was not consciously being cynical or facetious, but thus challenged, I immediately turned to Wikipedia for the facts.

There I learned that the modern holiday was first celebrated in 1908 by a woman in West Virginia, USA, who held a memorial for her mother. It was she who campaigned to have it recognised as a holiday, and though she was successful in 1914, she was disappointed by its commercialisation in the 1920s. I guess that must be round about the time Hallmark took a hand.

Regardless of the day’s origins, there’s nothing wrong with honouring a beloved mother, right? Happy Mother’s Day! This one’s for you, mum.

That’s better …1920s advertisement from Melissa Brady King. Click image for a larger version to read the copy and have a giggle. Victorian diecut from The Vintage Moth.