Charley Harper and the Exquisite Corpse

Has that title grabbed you?  Have I got you wondering?  Thought I'd share a little bit of book-love with you.  I love a book that inspires and delights and thought you might too.  I've been wanting to share these two books with you for quite some time now, birthday gifts from way back in October.  The first one is "Charley Harper An Illustrated Life".  Charley Harper was an American artist known for his highly stylized wildlife prints, posters and book illustrations.  I love their simplicity and his vibrant use of colour.

Do you remember as a child playing a drawing game where you folded a piece of paper into 3 sections and you would draw a section of a person, say their head, then pass it on to the next person to draw the body and the third person to draw the legs, and you weren't allowed to see what the other people had drawn, so that when it was unfolded you usually fell about giggling because you had ended up with the head of a princess, the body of a circus clown and the hairy legs of Uncle George ... well that is called an Exquisite Corpse.  Did you know that?  I certainly didn't, not until I stumbled across this fabulous book titled "The Exquisite Corpse".

The pages unfold out of the book.  Each artist was only allowed to see the entire page of the one before, and they had to keep the line of the horizon going throughout and take inspiration from the previous work.  Some pages have a natural flow with shape, theme or colour linking them.  Others I've looked and looked and cannot see a connection at all!!

This is a particular favourite link from one artist to the next.  Notice the leopard has lost his spots, and in the next drawing the girl has freckles all over her!!

Hmmm, if anyone has any clues about the connection between these two pages, I'd be happy to hear what your thoughts are!

Enjoy your day!
Trudy

For the Love of Jane

Something happened on the way to sleep the other night.  I picked up my book 'Mansfield Park' by Jane Austen, a book started a while back and not finished.  I love Jane Austen, but just between you and me, I'm a bit lazy with the words and sometimes watching the movies is a bit easier than reading the books.  You won't tell, will you?

Back-track a couple of weeks and let me tell you the type of books I had been reading, and I'll say right away I was reading these particular books because of all the hype I had been hearing.  I was curious, and I didn't want to be left out!!

Firstly 'The Hunger Games' by Suzanne Collins, because 12 year old Girl 1 had read it (there was a copy of it going around at school, with children lining up to read it next), and then 'Fifty Shades of Grey' by E.L. James, which I must say had my eyes out on stilts for the entire time I was reading it.  I'm only beginning to look normal again now.  And I don't need to read the next books in the series.

So I'm not sure if it was because they were the last two books I read before going back to 'Mansfield Park' but when I picked it up, I read the words and they were like music.  Each word so perfectly fit with the next and flowed and danced along.  It was beautiful.

Jane Austen was born on this day, 16 December, in 1775.  Happy Birthday Jane!  Are you a fan?  Do you love her books / the movies?  Do you have a favourite?

Trudy

Beatrix Potter

When I was little, many moons ago, I was given the entire set of Beatrix Potter books.  They were given over a couple of years, for my birthdays and Christmases, from my parents and grandparents.  I loved slowly adding to my set.  And I still have them, still loved, still cherished and still occasionally read.

I just love, love, love the colour of the spines, especially sitting all together in a row.

I have my favourites.  Favourite titles, favourite stories, favourite characters, favourite illustrations.  Lucinda and Jane are adorable!

 

And even though my girls read Harry Potter, there is still room for Beatrix Potter.  I think there is something nice about the size of the books in little hands, the snuggling potential to read together and of course the wild imaginings of these farm yard animals, "Yus, yus, yus!" as Aunt Pettitoes would say.

 

 

Thank you Miss Potter for your wonderful imagination, beautiful illustrations and for your adorable characters.  I have such lovely memories of my Grandma reading these books to me as a child, and now more memories of reading them to my girls.

 

Did you read Peter Rabbit when you were little?

Do you have a favourite Beatrix Potter character?

 

Trudy





About Gumnuts

Gumnuts.  Because there has been some questions.

 

The gumtree, or Eucalyptus, has very distinctive flowers and fruit (gumnuts), the type you can't resist picking up if you pass them on the footpath.  The flowers have stamens rather than petals in beautiful colours of white, cream, yellow, pink or red.  The woody fruits, or gumnuts, release the seeds.

In 1918 May Gibbs, Australian author and illustrator, published Snugglepot and Cuddlepie, a book which has given Australian children their own fairy tales, with characters from local flora and fauna.  The book chronicles the adventures of the gumnut babies who are modelled on the appearance of young Eucalyptus nuts. The female gumnut babies' hair, hats and skirts are modelled on the flowers of the Eucalyptus tree.  It has become a classic Australian children's book.





Have you read Snugglepot and Cuddlepie?

Do you have a favourite Fairytale?

 

Trudy

The Messenger etc.

Love, love, love a stack of magazines and books ... anywhere in the house.  It's the only thing I never tidy up.  There can be mini stacks all over and I don't mind, Not At All.  Here's a pile sitting on my desk at the moment.

 

Would you believe the Kaffe Fassett book has been in the house for 3 days and I haven't sat down and had a good look at it yet?  I've had a quick flick through and decided it needs 'special time' to sit with a cuppa and at least half an hour to give it it's due.  I did spot a younger model Kaffe.  He is such an inspiring man.

 

 

The November issue of Country Style magazine slipped into the letterbox this week and I had a chance to read some of the articles this morning, waiting for Girl 2 to complete her violin lesson.  Featured within the pages is Cradle Mountain, Tasmania!

 

 

And now I need to tell you about a book I have just read, while on holidays, called 'The Messenger' by young Australian author, Markus Zusak.  It was written in 2002, so maybe it's been read and discussed by lots of people already, but it's new to me and I loved it.

 

 

The main protagonist is a 19 year old down-and-out taxi driver and I was wondering how I would relate to him and how much I would enjoy the book, but Zusak's writing is clever and he has woven a tale of suspense, drama, mystery and action and shows us the true value of random acts of kindness.  Have you read it?  Did you love it too?

 

What are you reading at the moment?

Hope you have some book/magazine time this weekend.
Trudy

5 Things

Five things that have been a thief to my time these past few days.  Five things that have kept me focussed on the tasks at hand.

There has been a lot of organising happening in our house for a birthday party for a girl who is now 12.  There has been games to plan, billy cans to fill with take-home treasures (yes, it was a camping party in Winter!) and a menu to think about.

There has been a book which has captivated me.  You know the type that you simply can't put down?  I attempted to cook and read at the same time but cooking really takes all my concentration skills!!  I love a good book when it takes you along for the ride, the characters become real to you, and in places you're holding your breath wondering what is about to happen next.  That's exactly what happened with Sarah Water's book "Fingersmith".

There has been a new crochet square to nut-out.  One I've never done before, but one that I have recently seen in a baby-sized blanket and one I knew I had to tackle.  New blue and white twine-looking 4 ply wool, (which practically had me swooning in the shop!) and a smaller crochet hook than I'm used to, a size 3mm.  And then I saw Pixie's of the same pattern made into a wrap.  Stunning.

There has been the waiting and waiting of a certificate to arrive from England to help me piece together a tricky bit of family history.  When it finally did arrive this week all I could do was mull over the new information and try to fit it with the stories we thought we knew.

And of course there was the actually day and night and morning of the party.  The crossing of fingers that it would be fine and we could toast marshmallows outside, and the girls could snuggle up in the 6 person tent and tell ghost stories and share secrets.  It was all completely wonderful and there was a lovely group of girls in our home.

Five fun things, that I'm happy to have taken time from me for.
What fun things have you been up to?

Trudy

Angie Lewin

Angie Lewin is a British printmaker who works in linocut, wood engraving, lithography and screen printing, and she is inspiring the next corner of my dolly quilt.  She has a fabulous book entitled "Plants and Places", which is lovely to look through as it is filled with gorgeous eye-candy.

Love her use of colour, and bold dramatic designs.

And here is my Angie Lewin-inspired applique square, simply stitched without too much regard for perfect lines ... I could almost say it was the look I was after!!

Really enjoying the designing aspect of this mini quilt, and watching it emerge.  Tweaking bits as I go along, still working on other parts of it that I don't feel are working yet, and enjoying the colour choices.

Two weeks of school holidays spread blissfully ahead so hopefully I'll have a chance to do some stitching on this project. Today though I had other priorities with the painting of small fingernails, snuggling up on the couch reading out loud the brilliant "The Invention of Hugo Cabret" by Brian Selznick and attempting, without any success at all, hand-stands against the fence ... big sigh ...

Enjoy the hols!

Trudy