Big Smoke

At the weekend I went up (or possibly more sideways really) to London to meet up with some old friends. Needless to say, I had a great time and would have liked to cram in a few more things. Amongst other things, we went to the British Library and whizzed around the Evolving English exhibition that is on there. I'd never been into the British Library before - from the outside the building is a bit ugly, rather like an overgrown Tesco's . However, the inside of it is definitely worth a visit and it has a good cafe (always a bonus). Here are a couple of items from the exhibition which caught my eye. The riot act one could catch on in a "Keep Calm and Carry On" sort of way. We could certainly do with it in this house at mealtimes! On the other poster, the Skeleton man in a kilt made me laugh. Unfortunately, the spectacle of a Fat Child these days isn't such an oddity. And "Giant Rat" - is it really a crowd puller? Obviously, the poster dates from the days before we had freak shows (ooops, sorry. I mean Channel 4 documentaries!) on telly.

Pretty Flamingos

Here's a design I did for a Valentine's card. I think it was subconsciously inspired by some old 1950ish wallpaper my sister found in their bathroom when they redcorated it! We saw some Flamingos yesterday when we went to Paradise Park in Hayle. They were even more pink than in my illustration. Virtually flourescent they were!

Brideshead Revisited- Revisited

We have been watching the ITV 1980s production of Brideshead Revisited, which makes for good viewing. It is also something of a tweed-fest. Regular readers of this blog will know we are currently undergoing a tweed craze in this house. I say "we" but really mean the other half, as I haven't quite gone down the Miss Jean Brodie route myself! (yet) . The series inspired me to pick up the 1970s copies of Evelyn Waugh's novels that we have and I was reminded of how great these covers are. The cover design is credited as Bentley/Farrell/Burnett . I also did a couple of little drawings myself of the Brideshead characters.

A Huge Thank-You

I've finally got around to making thank you cards for people who sent us things for Christmas, so I'll be sending them out in the next few days. I do regularly update my illustration website these days so please do go and have a look , if you haven't seen my work for a while!

Tootles the Taxi

Hey, Tootles, take me back to the 1950s, it looks nice there! The streets are clean, the houses well-kept, there's nice little shops on the high street, not a Tesco's Metro or a Chelsea Tractor in sight, PLUS people come and deliver buns to your door! Hurrah!
I had this book when I was little (in the 70s) and I'm not sure if this is the exact same copy or whether this one came from a boot sale or somewhere. Both our boys have enjoyed having it read to them despite it being old fashioned - of course that's exactly why I like it. There's something very charming about these nicely executed illustrations of 1950s utopia. I am sure I hardly need to say that it was published by ladybird books, as the format is so recognisable.
Vintage ladybird books now have quite a following and are collectable. If you like these books check out these particularly cool plasters. Worth getting injured for, I reckon!

Hacked Off?

A post by fellow bloggers over at the curious eye reminded me that I have in my possession this remarkable tin which once contained Hack's cough sweets. When I glance at it I never fail to be amazed by it. Whoever thought it would be a great idea to depict an old bloke coughing up gawd knows what into a hanky? ... and the name - might as well call it phlegm's - whoever it was -you're fired!
Still, I must like it or I wouldn't have been carrying it around with me all these years.

Country Fair

I found these little gems hiding in a charity shop . They date from 1950/51 and are primarily aimed at farmers and other country gentry. Although not of the huntin' shootin' and fishin' persuasion myself there's quite a lot of interesting information relating to all things country - as the title suggests. There's also lots of 1950s adverts which, as I'm sure we're all aware, are usually game for a laugh. Some are for odd contraptions which wouldn't look out of place in the "innovations" catalogue. However, I did just buy these because I like the covers. There's actually some black and white illustrations inside which are also pretty good. Although I've only shown some of them here, I have 12 issues each featuring animals with a different main colour. I particularly like the one with the black lamb, although I wouldn't want to bump into it on a dark night - it looks mean!