Design Inspiration. Planet Stencil Library.

Salon Bergen 2022

I'll be participating in the SALON of decorative painters in Bergen, Norway next week so I will not be able to post stencils or supplies  The website will be accepting orders, Chips will be cutting them for you but they will not get mailed until I return on the 24th May.

I apologise for any inconvenience.

If you would like to know more about Salon Bergen follow the posts from The Stencil Library's Instagram and Facebook pages. @thestencillibrary or visit the Salon Forever website

The SALON is a gathering of dedicated decorative painters from around the world coming together to exhibit their work and discuss old and new techniques, products, and information in the field. The Salon, which began in 1992 in Belgium with a small gathering of professionals, reconvened in 1996 and has been coming together in growing numbers every year since.

The Salon is now recognized as the most important and significant gathering of decorative painters in the world. 

Participants of The Salon include teachers from schools as well as those who are independent commercial craftspeople. The Salon is a way for some of the most unique traditions within the field of decorative arts to be shared amongst one another and ultimately, passed onto participants’ students. 

The opportunity enhances and extends the level of communication between serious and committed craftsmen.

The Salon is also a way for visitors and the outside public to experience the high quality of work present and meet the real masters of this craft. Ongoing demonstrations and an exhibit hall allow visitors and participants to view works specifically created for The Salon.  

Helen

 

 

Caserta Palace, painted and gilded ornament.

During a visit to my family that lives near Naples, Italy, I made an overnight excursion to the Royal Palace at Caserta. Built in the baroque style for the Bourbon King of Naples it is one of the largest royal residences in the world and has gorgeous decorative paintwork, gilding and trompe l'oeil. It has beautiful floors, highly decorated ceilings and some very fine furniture too but they can be featured in a separate post.  For now, we will take a look at the wall decoration, especially the hand-painted details including stencilling and marbling.

Caserta is described as the Versailles of Italy. I stayed in the 'Ma Maison B&B, Caserta' in an airy, spacious room that was shouting distance from the palace doors. From my balcony, I could watch the visitors arriving for their tours. I spent ten hours in the palace and garden but could have much spent longer. Take note, both are closed on Tuesdays...a fact that I missed when I booked my accommodation.

My first hour at Caserta Palace was blissful, I strolled empty enfilades and enjoyed close up views of the decorative painting, fabrics and furnishings before the school parties and the tours arrived....and when they did there were hundreds of children emitting the same excited screeches that I was guilty of when lessons were replaced with an outing. Above the din a teacher would yell "Silencio!" and all fell to a quiet hum ...but only for a few seconds. It was good-natured and amusing but I decided to visit the garden then tour the house again at four when things may be quieter.

The room attendants were interested to know why I was taking pictures of peeling paint on shutters and simple decorative effects such as pinstriping on the walls and close-up details of silks and wallpaper.

They would then show me fancier decoration such as pietra dura tabletops, fine gilding work and a birdcage clock hanging from the ornate curtains...complete with Linnet!

At The Stencil Library, we make classical-style stencils of borders and motifs similar to many found at Caserta; a good place to start looking is in our range of Regency and Empire style stencils.

At the end of this post, I will give a couple of useful links to help plan a visit. Meanwhile, I will let you enjoy a little more of the painted decoration in the palace without the Italian schoolchildren photo-bombing you.

Yes, it's painted. Caserta is around a half hour train ride from Naples; my sister in law drove me there and collected me the next day. There is a large car park under the palace grounds. There is a restaurant on site and several more in the town. I booked in advance but you can buy tickets on the day.

Initially, I decided to visit the palace after seeing artist Steve Schriver's beautiful snapshots of his visit there and then I was prompted to finish this post after receiving my newsletter from Schumacher wallcoverings and fabrics, in which Dara Caponigro and Francesco Lagnese wrote their memories of The Palace of Caserta, the town and their photo shoot for Schumacher.

Last week I was at Salon Chamonix 2019, where I was part of a gathering of international decorative artisans. Some of my friends at Salon paint this type of decoration and restore the decorative paintwork in such palaces and places as Caserta. The painted marble below was shown at Salon

and is the work of Chantal Siebens at Doublefaux  DoubleFaux, Antwerp, Belgium.

Pierre Finkelstein of Grand Illusions NYC USA is showing how it is done. Watching everyone paint is a delight. In a future post, I hope to show some work from previous Salon's, along with more of the interior and the gardens of Caserta....but for now, Ciao.

Helen.

 

A stencilled caftan in Marrakech

Last March I visited a friend who owns a riad in Marrakech. Before I went I stencilled a caftan to wear around her house. 

The caftan was made for me by a lady in our village. This was it before I started painting.

and this was it after.

If you would like to know what went on between those two photos, read on.

I chose the stencil DE173-Border 81 because I had not used it before, it is an art nouveau style border depicting papyrus in water and I thought it would be a perfect size for my project. A more 'normal' use for this stencil would be to decorate the area above a picture rail on a wall.

I wanted one of the tall flowers in the design to be central at the base of the caftan, flanked by two shorter ones. To find the centre point of the base of the caftan I folded the fabric like this....

I made a crease at the centre of the hem to align with the centre of the tall flower motif. To stop the fabric sliding whilst being stencilled I cut a vague body shape out of wallpaper and sprayed a light misting of SprayMount onto to one side of the paper then inserted it into the caftan. I smoothed the fabric over the slight tack on the paper taking care not to lose the crease that I made earlier. The centre stem of the tall flower was aligned with the crease on the fabric. The caftan has side splits so the pattern does not have to flow around the entire hem of the garment. The back of the caftan can have a central flower too.

The border was positioned along the hem, there are some diamond-shaped holes cut into the stencil to help create regular pattern repeats and to make sure that stencil layer 1 and 2 will align with each other. Place both layers of the stencil together and check alignment and position before any paint is applied. Then set aside layer 2 and spray or tape stencil layer 1 in position.

I used a mid-tone blue to stencil the leaves and white for the water. Dip only the tips of the stencil brush into paint then eliminate the excess paint by 'stirring' the brush in circles onto a wad of paper towel until the paint is distributed evenly through the brush tip and the paint is damp, not wet. Apply the paint through the stencil with a gentler version of the stirring motion. 

The colours were chosen to go with scarves and other accessories that would go to Marrakech with me. I like to take minimum luggage so everything has to work together. After the mid-tone was applied I added shading to some areas with a darker blue.

Before removing the stencil I placed small pieces of tape onto the caftan directly under the diamond shapes. I marked through the diamonds onto the tape. The diamond shapes cut into the second stencil fit directly over the marks on the tape. The tape is marked rather than the fabric, all the bits of tape are removed at the end of the project.

Once stencil layer 2 was in position I applied magenta and orange through it, two colours that are always in my suitcase and wardrobe. I added silver paint to complete the water part of the design. I could have added another layer of white but my favourite sandals are silver so the colour had to be featured. A clean, dry stencil brush is needed for each colour.

To reproduce the border along the hem just position the diamond shapes in the stencil with the marked tape on the garment.

When you reach the outer edges of the garment find a natural looking place to finish the pattern. I applied masking tape onto areas where I did not want paint applied and then filled in the rest. with colour. Do the same on both layers of the pattern. 

On one edge of the pattern I appear to have applied a butterfly stencil to the gap in the pattern, I can not remember whether that was deliberate or just that I forgot to do the opposite edge.

The top of the caftan was stencilled with designs from our Ottoman and Moroccan style stencils. I had used them one on of our guest rooms and they were perfect to reuse on this project. This was the front of my stencilled caftan...

and this was the back....

and this was me wearing it on my friend's roof terrace in Marrakech.

I was holidaying on one of the fabulous 'creative retreats' that she runs from Maison 28, her riad in the heart of the Medina, Marrakech. Some of the retreats are based in the city and others go further afield.  I can highly recommend both the riad and the retreats. Outside of retreat season, Maison 28 is available for hire. You can host your own retreat!

I will tell you much more of my visit in a future post but for now, you can follow the link and learn more about the offering at Maison 28. Did you notice that I'm posing by a matching stencilled cushion? That'll have to wait for a future post too.

Helen.

 

A Dash to Dior

Rachel was staring at her computer screen. She said, "The Dior exhibition in Paris finishes this weekend and we didn't get to see it".

Somehow ten minutes later flights and hotel were booked and our husbands were persuaded to get us to the airport for an unpleasantly early flight time. The advanced tickets had sold out so we had to take a chance. We queued for 7 and a quarter hours and were amongst the last people to be admitted into the Musee des Arts Decoratifs. 

The queuing was not as bad as it may sound, we took it in turns to go for meals and general exploring. The Musee had extended the opening hours for the last few days otherwise we would not have had a chance of seeing it. Was it worth it? Yes, it was. Of course, it was crowded and much of the light was low so my pictures are not as good or as plentiful as I had hoped but they will give a flavour of the event and will remind me of the fantastic craftsmanship, art, imagination and beauty created by the House of Dior.

 One of my favourite designers for Dior was John Galliano (above and below). There was a diverse selection of his creations, I could not find my absolute favourites but these two were glorious.

There were rooms filled from floor to ceiling with glorious gowns from all eras of the house of Dior. I was swapping between my reading glasses and long distance specs throughout the show.

Look at the beading and embroidery on this dress.

The one below is beaded and embroidered too, this time the designer was Gianfranco Ferre.

Seeing as I am stencilling a lot of Chinoiserie projects at the moment these dresses by Maria Grazia Chiuri grabbed my attention.

Not everything was fancy or evening wear. Coats and dresses that you could wear 'to town' featured amongst the exhibits.

Well, maybe not this one...but turquoise is my colour and I like the extended bit at the front to accommodate large lunches.

Many of the familiar images of Dior's work appeared throughout the show. In this tableau, Richard Avedon's iconic photo of Dovima with Elephants faded from a screen and the original dress appeared in its place.  It took Rachel and me two and a half hours to get around it, we needed longer but were thankful that we had got into there in the first place. The exhibition has now finished.

I was going to finish this piece with a photo of the queue but by the time I took my picture we had been there for more than four hours and it was no longer impressive. So, I'll sign off with an image that I took in Paris the next day. It was an optician's window in The Marais. It made me think of all of us in that very long line of people inching towards the Musee dreaming of clothes by Dior.

Helen.

 

Barack Obama, Chuck Close and beautiful stencil work at Ushaw, Durham

Ushaw, the North East's newest heritage site has gorgeous stencil work! I visited it with a friend and fellow decorative painter. We had gone to see the exhibition of large and life-like tapestries by Chuck Close. I am always impressed by his work.

This one is a self-portrait. The exhibition has been extended until the end of October and is well worth seeing. The tapestries are impressive and I want to return and take another look because I got distracted...hugely, by the room in which they were displayed.

In fact, most of the building distracted me,

the stencilling,

the tile work,

the gilding and wood carving,

the stained glass,

I could go on and on so I will show you a few snaps from my brief time there and link you to their site so that you can plan your visit, there is a book called Treasures of Ushaw  Whilst there, I witnessed people tucking into an 'afternoon tea'  in the refectory, my friend and I were too late to do the same but that is another reason to return, along with a walk around their gardens. The refectory has many portraits, windows and stencilled banners.

Sometimes I toy with the idea of hosting a week of stencilling and decorative painting classes interspersed with excursions to beautiful places in Northumberland and Durham...this one would be definitely on the list. The Stencil Library sells many stencils similar to the ones at Ushaw, mostly in their Gothic range but there are some in Arts & Crafts too.

I hope you enjoy seeing a little more of it.

So much lovely stencilling,

There were highly decorative ceilings

and some that were stunning because of the structure.

I felt that I was in a Vermeer painting whilst walking these corridors. There are many corridors, all of them different.

and all are lovely.

If you want to see Obama and the other subjects of the Chuck Close tapestries you will need to be there by the end of October when the exhibition closes. Entry is free, donations are welcome. Open Wednesday to Saturday. See more at Ushaw.org 

Helen.

Marianne North and the gallery at Kew Gardens.

There are many reasons to visit the beautiful Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew near London. I posted a few of them after my visit last year. Nestled in a corner of Kew Gardens is the Marianne North Gallery which houses Britain's finest collection of botanical art, all painted by North during the latter half of the 19th Century.  Even if you did not like the paintings it would be hard not to admire the room that she built with the architect James Ferguson to display her work.

I think its fabulous from the tiled floor to the black and gold picture frames to the stencilled cornices and friezes to the ironwork on the upper roof-lights.

It was built in the style of a Greek temple with light channelled from a light well in the roof, which prevents direct sunlight fading the paintings. The display is orderly excess; in the best way. The walls resemble the pages of a stamp album... remember those? The paintings are collated by countries and regions, each of these is named in lettering around the cornice work. Wood from 246 different trees can be seen around the lower portion of the room. 

Marianne North was the eldest daughter of a wealthy MP and spent most of her time with him until his death. She did not care to marry, in her words 'Marriage was a terrible experiment' and she avoided formal social occasions wherever possible  Her elevated social status prevented her from pursuing a career as a singer which had been her passion; then during her art class, she discovered oil painting which she described as 'A drug'. When her father died Mariane inherited the wealth to travel the world painting hundred of pictures of the vegetation in the countries that she visited.  

These plants were often in the most inhospitable places which meant climbing mountains, trekking jungles and navigating rivers. Many of the species that she recorded are now extinct. Unlike plant hunters, Marianne did not dig up the specimens, her detailed, naturalistic paintings were returned to Britain where they were welcomed by botanists, scientists and other learned groups of the time.

Also, Marianne recorded the flora in relation to its surrounding often adding creatures that relied on the plant, therefore an ecosystem was being recorded. Vessels, buildings and people of the time appeared in some of the pictures. Because Marianne's work was in oil paint rather than watercolour these records have not faded and still offer a fascinating insight into our world during the 1800s.  She found it hard to be contained and travel companions to be 'tiresome'.  She saw most of the world, alone, carrying paints and paper and wearing a long frock. Which I think is admirable.

At The Stencil Library, we have designed several stencils of flowers and plants. On my first visit to Kew in the 1980s, my husband and I photographed urns, planters and lemon trees at the gardens which found their way into our Architectural range of stencils and into a collection that we called Garden Room. A version of the gallery idea can be seen in the black panelled living room at The Stencilled Home.

All 23 stencils featured in the room were inspired by ancient botanical engravings, each one can be ordered from our Gothic, Medieval and Tudor range of stencils. They are the perfect panel or furniture size and make an excellent cushion cover.

The Gustavian style bedroom that I featured in a recent post about half price stencils showed several botanical prints corralled into a framework of stencilled borders of Laurel, another idea that I think Marianne may have approved of...and the room features large-scale stencils of flowers. The classical Greek style borders that Marianne North chose have been fashionable throughout the ages and you can find similar in our Empire and Regency style stencils. All our stencils are made to order so sizes can be scaled to suit your project. 

More information about Kew, their work and their visiting hours are on their website.

Helen 

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Behind Closed Doors, a tour of a gem on Holland Park Avenue

There is a tiny jewel of a home near Holland Park in London. Brian Lewis lives there. Brian has an array of decorative skills and if you had booked a tour of his flat through Open House London you may have seen some of them. I tried to book in previous years but was always too late. I host tours of my home and like Brian decorative painting is both my passion and business, so I had many reasonsfor visiting. Brian's place is theatrical and he is a showman, prepare to be entertained.  Volunteer assistants greeted ticket holders at the door and advised those waiting outside of any cancellations. The assistants were dressed in robes from far-flung exotic locations, just as the rooms were. On the tour, one visits India, China, New York, The Devil, ancient Rome and a fusion of France and Bavaria. 

We will start in the combo of France and Bavaria. Brian names Mad King Ludwig and The Sun King amongst his style icons. Take a careful look at the pictures, the cabinet came from IKEA, it has been 'Versailled' in silver and gilt. Storage is important to maintain the fantasy. The tv, the computer and the music centre are all present but unseen.

Look at the trims around the ceiling, Brian makes, adapts or transform everything with a toolbox of decorative finishes, skill and experience. 

Notice the Art Deco style doors, we will come back to those later. Every surface tells a story or holds a memory, usually both.  The dog was a childhood pet. Painted postcards,  putti and trompe l'oeil photos in picture frames all appear in the mural and feature the faces of those that are important to him. "I don't do Facebook or any of those other social sites, my friends are painted on the wall If I fall out with someone, I just paint them out." Said Brian.

This could be a painted floor cloth under the rug. They are usually made from canvas, decorated and then varnished. I've made them for a few of my rooms. Look at the way Brian has extended the design from the rug onto the floor. If you are inspired to stencil something similar you will find appropriate designs in our 'Architecture' stencil range and 'Regency and Empire'

By the way, the marble effect is the only Magnolia colour that you will find in his flat.

Now, brace yourself because the next photo is hideously out of focus, there were five of us going from the lounge to the dining room and as we traversed this tiny and sumptuous space my camera hand wobbled.

The decoration of the hallway in Brian's flat is inspired by the elevator doors in the Chrysler Building in New York. Klimt-style paintings line the walls. They are glittery, beaded and all feature Brian.  The walls are fashioned from cork tiles, featuring mirror mosaic and gold. The floor is painted to look like marble tile and features playing cards, I am so disappointed not to show you details but I can show you a picture of the source of the inspiration.

At least I did not have camera shake at The Chrysler Building.  Now, we move to the dining room.

A large table is suspended from the ceiling. This is such a practical idea. One can adjust the height with pulleys and no one gets a table leg. I expect that the underside of the table is decorated and will become a ceiling rose when drawn up to full height.

Look at the ceiling, the mosaic echoes the pattern painted on the floor. The theme of Brian's dining room is witchcraft and black magic. If you wanted something similar in your home I can recognise gothic arches, dragons and heraldic beasts that are similar to stencils in our range.

Notice the light reflected in the gilded surfaces.....and Brian's fab beaded slippers.

Below the trompe l'eoil drapery you see dragons, find AR82 in our 'Architectural' range of stencils. It is based on one at The Royal Pavilion at Brighton. Between the skulls and the gryphons in tiaras....

St Brian looks over his guests...

The sun streams in through the stained glass-effect windows, stained effectively by Brian and his paint brush.

On leaving the dining room we were led through the kitchen to the grotto bathroom. Bryan asked us not to look at the kitchen "There is nothing interesting there" he said. Dutifully I averted my eyes and can, therefore, tell you nothing about it. The floor of the bathroom is modelled on a mosaic from one of the ancient Roman Villas.

Tentacles unfurl through shards of mirror. It is colourful and pretty with no sharp bits to hurt bare feet.

I enjoyed the effort that Brian put into making our tour a theatrical experience, as we entered each room the music enhanced the spirit of the illusion.

A white swan with glitter on his wings floated in the bathtub surrounded by flowers. There is another loo in the flat; the Maharaja's throne room, I did not get to see much of it because I was at the back of the queue but no doubt it was as full of colour and fun as the rest of the home. Brian has been opening his home to visitors at the Open House London weekend for many years.  Whether he intends to in 2018 I have no idea, but if he does I can recommend it. There are three rooms that I have not featured in this piece.....so there is still plenty to see. Brian accepts decorating commissions that interest him including domestic and commercial interiors as well as fashion and theatre, just don't ask him to do 'bland' 

I visited many decorative buildings during my stay in London, please check back to see where else I got to.

Helen.

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A brief look at art nouveau

On my way back from Paris recently, I scanned through various European interiors magazines I had picked up.  In amongst all that is hip and happening, quirky, contemporary, the latest thing, I came across this article in Marie Claire Maison (the Belgian edition) on recently renovated Louis Vuitton house in Asnières (a Paris suburb) which jumped right off the page.  It is now a private museum and still where most of the bespoke LV goods are manufactured.  What a perfect and lovely art nouveau gem. 

Personally, art deco is more my thing, but I cannot help but marvel at the artistry and creativity of the art nouveau style everytime I see it.  It is timeless.  No wonder it is one of the most popular ranges of stencils we do. 

To skate over history quickly, art nouveau is a highly stylised, flowing and curvilinear style often incorporating floral and plant inspired motifs and colours.  It was particularly popular in Europe and you tend to see the most spectacular examples in Paris, Brussels, Vienna and Prague, although I am sure there are splendid examples throughout the continent.  It encompassed architecture, furniture, décor, art and accessories.  There is no room for the straight line here, everything about it curves.  You only have to look at the decorative plasterwork in the LV house to see this.  I love the rounded edge to the ceiling.  Its heyday was at the turn of the last century from about 1880-1905.  The colours were very natural including all shades of greens, sludgy yellows, teals, creams, warm and soft. 

The most famous art nouveau designer in the UK was Charles Rennie Mackintosh.  However he had his own interpretation with many more geometric elements. 

image from glasgowmackintosh.com

To me he is the bridge between art nouveau and the reaction to it, wholly geometric and modern art deco.

Painted decoration was a popular part of art nouveau which is why we do so many art nouveau stencils and why they work so beautifully in many styles of décor.  Because they are so obviously stylised, they look good in any colours even when you move away from typical art nouveau colours. 

I think our stencil DE202 would be great for recreating the deep border in the LV house. It has a similar look with its stylised flowers and larger size.  Even if you don't have a curved ceiling, the rounded shapes in this border will certainly create the feel.

I love the detail on the quite splendid bow window.  The leading is wonderful enough but look closely at the morning glory growing up the sides and across the tops. 

We do some wonderful tall slim motifs that look good running up the side of the window or fireplace.  I think the iris motif like this DE257 stencil translates particularly well into the art nouveau look. We do quite a few tall thin motif stencils.  They are so versatile and can run up the side of fireplaces, panels, art, doors, windows and more.  You can use both sides of the stencil, with care, to create a mirror effect too.  Motifs are great when you want a bit of added detail, but maybe not much more.

It is not often that people think of using vertical borders.  I like the slim bit of detail painted between the panels. 

We are not all so lucky to have actual plaster panels in our house but panels can be simply created with paint.  Whilst I do not claim that painted panels are going to look quite like plaster ones, you can have the effect by masking off a panel to your chosen size with tape and painting it a slightly different colour from the wall.  It is a great way to break up a surface and add interest.  I love the idea of one of our vertical borders such as this wonderful fuchsia design DE176 running vertically between floor to ceiling painted panels.  The panels themselves being plain or areas to hang art.  Put a 6 inch gap between them and stencil this border which is only 4.75 inches wide.  As it is a slightly different format, it is something that is bound to get comments and yet couldn’t be easier to achieve.

The most impressive art nouveau interiors include bespoke decorative details that would require an artisan and no doubt be pricey.  Have a look at this amazing stairwell in the Victor Horta House in Brussels. 

But strip away those details, you are left with quite a few, usually painted, decorative details that can be achieved with stencils.  I would say that Art Nouveau is possibly one of the easiest historical styles to channel on a budget.  It doesn’t take much to get the look.  Even non-art nouveau furniture compliments it well so you don’t need to find specific antiques.  Some of the furniture in the LV house is simple, classic velvet covered shapes.

Finally, no brief visit to Art Nouveau would be complete without a door picture and every time I come across this frontage in Brussels by Delune, I sigh.  It is just the most beautiful thing from any era, which just so happens to be art nouveau.

Yes, indeed.  It is a beautiful decorative style and it is so nice to see beautifully preserved examples.  If ever you find yourself in Paris or Brussels, it is worth taking an art nouveau tour.  You won’t be disappointed.

Rachel.

Louis Vuitton house photos Vincent Thibert

Horta Staircase photo from VisitBrussels site

Delune door photo unknown.

The One and Only Toshie: Charles Rennie Mackintosh

teatowel by Gillian Kyle

I finally got to visit Glasgow.  It was a flying one day visit as a surprise for my sister's birthday.  She loves Mackintosh so we drove her up to Glasgow for a Mackintosh themed day.  We are probably well overdue for writing a post about this esteemed designer, architect and yes, stenciller. Although I would say that such is his creative output and status, he is worthy of many posts.

Charles Rennie Mackintosh got into architecture at a time when much was changing in the design world.  To oversimplify things he rode the wave of what was dubbed "Free Style" and started to create his own distinctive, world famous art nouveau architecture, decoration and furniture designs.  At the turn of the last century his design for the Glasgow School of Art (recently badly damaged in a fire) was taking shape.  Many regard this building as the birth of modern architecture.  It is easy to see why.  Most architecture of the time, especially for commerical buildings, was still very much Victorian.  Mackintosh saw beyond his job as an architect.  I daresay he was a bit of a control freak, but he not only designed the buildings shapes, but also it's interiors, furniture and accessories.

photo source unknown

He quickly gained an international reputation.  His style, quite his own, took elements from the arts and craft movement (natural materials and shapes, stylised flowers), mixed in a bit of orientalism, and married it with hints of the art nouveau movement coming out of europe. There are many books on Mackintosh if you want to know more, but I rather like a small tome called Charles Rennie Mackintosh Masterpieces of Art by Gordon Kerr which is both informative and includes lots of pictures of a wide variety of CRM's work.  I like to think that his style is the perfect bridge between art nouveau and art deco.

image from brucehamilton.co.uk who are furniture makers responsible for the dining suite here and making marvellous reproduction Mackintosh furniture designs

He was fond of the square in different combinations with stylised flowers, mainly the rose amongst other motifs (take a close look at any of the interior shots in this post).  And he liked to use a stencil to do it.  Towards the end of his career he discovered the triangle, but it is squares and roses he is most famous for.  Sadly ill health curbed his career and by 1928 he had died.  Thankfully his legacy lives on and a fair amount of his work has been preserved.  And this is what we set out to see on a whistle stop tour one day of the vibrant Glasgow.

We drove north of Glasgow first to Helensburgh to see one of his most famous residential commissions, Hill House, thankfully in the hands of the Scottish National Trust. 

Budget constraints meant he could only design the structure and certain rooms.  Whilst certainly not an outrageous design by today's standards, the building still has a shape that is quite modernist and unique and stands out against the other turn of the century houses in the area. 

The spaces that were completely designed by Mackintosh are fantastic.  Some spaces are light and airy with white surfaces on which pink, purple, grey and green designs were stencilled. 

photo from glasgowmackintosh.com

Others were darker.  I was also impressed by the spaces that were not completely Mackintosh designed.  The combination of traditional antique furniture in a room with Mackintosh panelling and fireplaces was just as pleasing - a testament to how versatile his designs were and how well they combine with just about anything else.  Even though they were so obviously contemporary, they complimented the traditional well. 

After Hill House, we drove back to Glasgow and parked the car at the Park & Ride just outside of the city centre.  It just happened to be across the street from the Scotland Street School.  I was unaware of this building and as we drove by I remarked how Mackintosh like it was and so it turned out to be.  Again he referenced traditional Scottish baronial towers but added his own touch by covering them with masses of small paned windows. 

The light must have flooded in.

We were collected at the Park & Ride by Glasgow Taxis who operate a bespoke tour service.  For two hours we were whisked around Glasgow City Centre looking at Mackintosh buildings (popping in where possible) and a few other famous Glaswegian landmarks.  What a terrific way to get around.  We would never have been able to see so much given our limited time had we done it ourselves.  Sadly, but not surprisingly,  we could not go into the famous Glasgow School of Art as it was badly damaged in a fire last year. 

photo source unknown

Thankfully the fire department, recognising that it was a building of high importance, worked hard to save as much as possible and contain the fire so that as little of the building was damaged as possible.  Because most of the interior was covered in wood, the damage was still extensive.  Full restoration is underway and it will look exactly as it did before the fire.  We visited a church he designed, Queen's Cross Church, as spartan as you would expect for a church, but still undeniably Mackintosh. 

We stopped at the tower Mackintosh designed to hold a large water tank on the premises of the Glasgow Herald newspaper (newspaper offices were always catching fire so they commissioned a new building complete with inbuilt water tank) which now has a terrific gift shop on all things Scottish housed at its base. 

Here I snapped up a Tunnocks Tea Cake tote (tunnocks tea cakes are a famous glaswegian snack), the Mackintosh teatowel at the top of this post and a fab book on Tartan which will probably inspire another post soon.

Our taxi dropped us off at the world famous Willow Tea Rooms on Sauchiehall Street where I had booked a birthday afternoon tea. Bookings are recommended.  I must mention that the Sauchiehall Street tea rooms have now closed for a massive refurbishment (open again in 2018) but the tea room business has moved to nearby Watt Brothers Department Store so it can continue during the refurbishment.  Check the website (click on the link above) for the address and to make bookings.  The Buchanan Street premises are still open.

We were seated in the wonderful Salon de Luxe.  When it was built. you had to pay extra for your tea in this room as it was so resplendent. 

This is one of Mackintosh's crown jewels and it can still be enjoyed in all its glory.  He designed everything right down to the waitresses' uniforms.  As you can see from this photo, not a cake or sandwich was left. 

Full of tea and food and inspiration, it was time for us to head home again. 

Our Mackintosh stencils are one of our most popular ranges and it is easy to see why.  The style of decorative detail suits many types of interiors and they are so easy to put together in interesting ways.  In a way, the use of squares is almost like having a set of building blocks at your disposal.  It is easy to be creative with the form and layout of Mackintosh's motifs as we have on a couple of occasions. 

I stencilled the walls in this room so I can personally testify it was the most easy and satisfying style of stencils to use. Stencils used here were elements from custom sized TP30 and BB48 as well as MS75 at the standard size.  We chose to focus on the black, lilac and cream colours with hints of pink to keep it quite true to CRM's oft chosen palette.

I was so glad to finally get to Glasgow and see some examples in person and am thrilled that his ground breaking work is still appreciated and preserved.  Honestly the first thing that strikes you as you see it is how modern it looks.  Hard to believe his buildings,interiors, art, furniture and decorative accessories were created over 100 years ago.

Rachel.

All photos Stephen Egglestone unless otherwise stated.  Unknown source photos will gladly be credited, just let us know.

The Arrival of Spring; Hockney at Saltaire

I have enjoyed every visit that I have made to Saltaire in Yorkshire. The last time I was there was January, everything looked beige and brown but still lovely.

Saltaire is a model village built by Titus Salt in mid to late 19th century and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  The Italian renaissance inspired the architecture of the public buildings and the cobbled streets of terraced houses are named after Salt's numerous children.. and Queen Victoria, this was a smart move and she awarded him a baronetcy.

I expect that Fanny Street raises a smile these days. Titus Salt was a mill owner, he owned mills in nearby Bradford which at the time was ridden with disease; Saltaire was to be a clean fresh start.  Instead of a pub Salt gave his inhabitants art classes and reading rooms; education was a large part of his vision. The mill closed in the 1980s and has been sympathetically renovated as Salt Mills which now houses a superb book shop, diner, small shops and two floors of art gallery. This was the second time that I had visited Salt Mills to see works by artist David Hockney.

Walking into the 3rd floor gallery to view Hockney's Arrival of Spring was a joyous blast of colour. Each painting was produced on an Ipad and recorded the changing scenery at Woldgate near Bridlington, as the season progressed from January to June.

Hockney explains 'I realised how quickly I can picture it withIPad, a lot faster than watercolour for example. Simply faster. You an choose a new colour or new brush more rapidly. You don't have to wait for anything to dry'. He adds 'Turner would have loved it'

As you view each painting up close the lines and squiggles have a child like quality and you might not have a clue what you were looking at until the bigger picture is revealed a few paces away.

By the time that I had viewed every one of the 45 paintings I really did feel as though Spring had arrived. 

As a final note before we leave Saltaire I must give a mention to Jeanette's Cakery on Bingly Road.  Their flat white was one of the best ever.. anywhere... it was stencilled and the cakes were fabulous. I had two!

Helen.

 

 

 

Kew Camera, Kew action. A visit to Kew Gardens in November

The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew offers a reduced admission price during November, I thought that the discount may be because there might not be much to see, I was wrong. My mother and travelled from the very north of England to spend a weekend in London and Kew was top of her agenda. Here are a few of the pictures and links so that you can discover a little of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Kew Gardens for yourself. There was so much to experience, we saw only a fraction of it. I recommend taking the free walking tour, ours was entertaining, informative and most enjoyable.

It was a crisp chilly day so for a while we warmed ourselves in The Palm House.

We climbed the iron, spiral stairs into the roof above the plants and the mist.

There was a wonderful temporary installation called The Hive, it is connected to the activity of the bees at Kew. 

Once you are inside The Hive you will experience lights and vibration triggered by the bees along with music in the key of C which is apparently the same frequency as the bees use to communicate.

Another entertaining feature is the treetop walkway which is a footpath 18 metres high above the arboretum allowing views across the landscape.

This will be just as spectacular when the branches are devoid of leaves. Whilst we were ambling above the trees the weather turned nasty, a soaking was avoided by visiting the conservatory,

and the water lily house before setting out again to walk the grounds. The ginkgo trees were in full splendour and I am puzzled as to why I have no photos of them. We have a beautiful ginkgo leaf stencil at The Stencil Library and seeing the trees made me more determined to decorate something with the design. It is a rather large stencil so the project may have to be walls or fabric. Another inspiration was the grass garden, I keep planting ornamental grasses in my flower beds then accidently pulling them up mistaking them for weeds so my borders look nothing like the ones at Kew!

All in all it was a lovely day. Now we hope to visit at least once in every season next year. At the moment Kew is hosting an illuminated after dark event called Christmas at Kew until January 2nd 2017...it looks a bit fab, I may have to book another train ticket!

Helen

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More historic home decoration from Roscheider Hof.

Following my earlier post about decoration within the historic homes at the Roscheider Hof in Konz, Germany here are some more images and observations from my day there starting with a rustic interpretation of an Art Nouveau style of Orientalism. Notice that the highlights on the stencilled leaves match the colour of the front door.

Two narrow painted stripes separate the colours of the upper and lower portions of the wall. This effect can be done with ease by stencilling between two evenly spaced rows of masking tape or by using a stencil of lines; our F25 Coach Line Corner stencil would be handy for this purpose.The most similar to the simple oriental feel of the stencil that I could could offer would be CA16 from our Cameo Collection, it features a teapot and bamboo.

One of the kitchens at Roscheider Hof featured a swag stencil on the walls; we have quite a lot of swag designs for sale at The Stencil Library so if you were looking for one I would recommend using the search box on our website to find something suitable.

The museum features some utensils and furnishings that were employed within the lifetime of many of the visitors. I still use an enamel, stove top, coffee pot. My friends and I reminisced over wash boards and mangles being used to launder our clothes.

I lived in Germany for a while as a child in the mid 1960's but can recall little of it. My memories seemed to relate to school, snow or our dog.

The stenciller that decorated this wall used the stencil surround as part of the decoration. Stencils in this era would be made of oiled paper although tin and sometimes leather was used. On the following photographs the same stencil has been used to decorate a school room.

The motif is similar to CS31; a motif stencil that I used a lot when I first started to decorate homes for others. It was very popular as it suited all colours and styles of interiors. Also, CS17 cornflower motif might be worth considering if you wish to recreate this look. Both stencils are in our Budget Collection.

I have enough pictures for a couple more posts from Roscheider Hof at Konz, Germany... but will wait a while in case you have had your fill of rustic, country style and peeling paint for now and if not, here's another picture to finish with. 

Helen Morris.

 

 

The stencilling at Roscheider Hof

Five miles from Trier in Germany and close to the borders with Luxembourg and France is the Roscheider Hof a cultural museum of the local, rural communities.

A friend treated me to a lovely afternoon there; I wandered through the old homes, gardens and the buildings that held collections of everything from Jesus to washboards and hairdressing equipment.

All the historic houses were stencilled, the stencilling was unsophisticated, rustic and charming. Here are a few of them.

 

The bedroom here adjoined the washroom in the first photograph. The motif I think is a poppy. It is one that could be made quite easily at home. Stencil film, craft knives and stencil burners are all available to order from The Stencil Library. A more sophisticated yet still simple poppy is SS25 from our Simple Stencil range; the poppy stencil is found in our Budget Collection and although it is not at all like the one in the picture it would look fabulous dotted around a wall as they have done. Just type poppy into the search on our site to find others. 

Another of the rooms was stencilled with two different flower motifs, I did not touch the walls so was unsure whether a very soluble paint had been used or whether it was pigment; the stencilling was damaged and looked as though it were melting.

We have a rose motif in a square-ish format which could give a similar look to the one in the pictures...without the melting I hope. It is SS6 Rose from our Simple Stencil range. There were too many stencilled rooms at Roscheider Hof for one post so I shall bring you more tomorrow. 

Helen Morris, The Stencil Library.

At home with Carl and Karin Larsson.

In 1998 an editor of a popular British home decorating magazine gave my husband and I a book. She had written in the frontispiece ''To England's Carl and Karin Larsson'
The editor was featuring our home in her magazine and she and the photographer had spent a couple of days with us. At the time I did not know about the Larssons but her dedication was a compliment and whether true or not it is one that I enjoyed; even more so now that I have visited Lilla Hyttnas the home that Carl and Karin Larsson created by a lakeside in Sweden more than a century ago.

The editor compared Chips and I to the Larssons because most of the decoration of our home had been made by ourselves or our group of friends. We decorated our walls, ceilings, fabric, floor, rugs, and some of the furniture with designs from our stencil company and other designs for carpentry, lighting, iron work and soft furnishings were completed by our friends. They were a talented bunch of the 'You draw it and we will make it variety' and I doubt that we would have created our home without them. The Larsson dwelling was furnished and decorated for the most part with their own design and skills, they too called upon friends and artisans to help them realise their vision. Like my home theirs was personal, colourful and unusual... unlike mine theirs became a model for Swedish domestic design and spread the international success of the 'Swedish style'.  Without knowing about the Larssons I had been influenced by them. 

The cabin bed that I'd had made for a guest room was very similar to one Carl built for Karin in 1909 and the colours and decoration of our own bedroom owed more than a nod to the duo.

When my husband and I moved to our present home the landlord's agent remarked that there was no where to put a bed in the room we had elected to sleep in. "It will go in the centre" We said and I think the agent thought we were crazy. Whilst visiting the Larsson's house I noted that Carl's bed is in the centre of the room too.

His was positioned so that he could talk with Karin who slept with the babies in the adjoining room; ours was postioned for a view from both windows. Carl Larsson published sets of watercolours and illustrated books featuring his home and family. These paintings and books were the viral hit of the day and it was because of their popularity that the artistic couple's home became so familiar and emulated.

Carl was a highly skilled artist commissioned for monumental work as well as portraiture, watercolour and illustration. They were a pioneering team, at the time their style was unusual especially Karin's contribution; she was ahead of her era.

When the editor visited us a book about the decoration of our home had just been published.

The Stencilled Home was written by me and featured the rooms in our house, it explained how we achieved some of the decorative effects in them. The publication is still available in hardback form for the USA and paperback from the UK.

A few times a year we host tours of the stencilled rooms at our home; Lilla Hyttnas is still owned by the family of Carl and Karin Larsson and I went on one of their tours.

Visitors were not allowed to take photographs in the house and I expected that there would be loads of postcards of the interior decoration for sale in the gift shop that I could buy and show you...there wasn't. So, I shall have to leave it to you to research further images and a little more about them. The Larsson House is in Sundborn near Talun it is 3 to 4 hours drive from Stockholm. I visited it with a great friend who had helped us to stencil our home around the time of the editor's visit and my discovery of Carl and Karin Larsson; another nice little link in the chain.

Helen Morris.

 

The Chinese Pavilion at Drottningholm, Sweden

In April I wrote that I hoped to visit Drottningholm Palace whilst I was in Sweden. Well, it was a flying visit but my mission was accomplished! I saw both the Chinese Pavilion and the Court Theatre. I hope to return to Stockholm and review them at a more leisurely pace. However, I was thrilled by the bits that I did get to see and very thankful that my generous host took the trouble to drive me there.  The Chinese Pavilion served as a retreat for the 18th century King and Queen of Sweden. It is only a 15 minute stroll from the main palace and is a small complex of buildings built and decorated in the Chinoiserie style.

To find similar designs in stencil form type 'Greek Key' into the search box on our web site; also see stencil F25 Coach-line Corner, IN30 Chinese Railings, 45 Brighton Pavilion and much of our Chinese Style collection. The colours on the exterior of the buildings are a dusky rose hue alongside a buttery shade of ochre. The roof and the iron work are the colour of jade.

The planting featured the same colours.

I had never seen such eery, tortured looking trees and found them fascinating, does any one know details of this technique? If you do please let me know.

One of the roles of the pleasure palace was to 'amuse, astonish and delight' the owners and their guests.  The doors would be opened to the awaiting guests ...probably with more than a little theatricality so that the audience would be surprised and awed by the beauty of each room as they travelled their way through the building being astonished, delighted and amused as each vista was revealed to them.

From the central hallway on the lower floor of the pavilion one can travel the blue or the green corridor; I placed them together on my picture.

Both these passages used to be ornate, whether they will be again I do not know but at the moment they offer a contrast for the splendour of the rooms at either end of the pavilion; one room is green and the other is blue... both are delightful.

On the day that I visited Drottningholm the sky was dull and overcast so I was not seeing the ornamentation at its best.

The attendant in the green room described how the gold highlights on the paintwork shimmer in sunshine and how the light reflects from the various surfaces and makes the room sparkle.

His enthusiasm for the decoration matched my own, it may even have surpassed it. He was brilliant, all the guides were. I am disappointed that my photos are not as sharp as I would have liked, I think the faults were a combination of over excitement, being in a hurry and possibly still having my macro lense on. Anyway, I hope you get a flavour of the place from the pictures. Not all the rooms featured painted Chinoiserie; some were home to collections of orientally inspired furniture and porcelain,

others featured silks on the walls or early hand painted wallpaper.

One of the buildings housed a confidential room. This was a dining room where the table and cabinets could be lowered to servants in a room below; they would be emptied of used plates and debris then restocked with food and returned to the dining room by strong men and pulleys. This is a room where secrets could be discussed and not overheard by the staff.

Can you see the areas of floor that were lowered? I wonder if the diner's legs were left dangling over the abyss when the floor and table disappeared. The decoration in this room is simple and austere compared to the rest of the place. The walls are painted with a two colour marble effect and I love the shade of blue paint on the chairs. I was not able to visit this room so I am grateful that the Drottningholm team keep their windows clean enough to photograph through them!

I have a couple of Chinoiserie stencils that are not on our website that I will show you soon. It will be a special offer for our blog readers and social media followers. The stencils can give the effect of the panels in the blue and green rooms, also coming soon will be a short report on my visit to the Court Theatre at Drottningholm and a couple of other decorative wonders to see in Sweden.

Helen Morris. 

 

 

 

Vintage Asia more family photographs from the 1960's

Thank you for asking to see even more pictures of Singapore and Malaya in the 1960s; I will make an appearance in this post.

I was born in Singapore, left at two years old two and then returned aged six for a few more years. Those that know me might notice that I wore red shoes from an early age. I re-visited Singapore at the turn of this century and then bussed across the causeway to Malaya. Some things were the same but most were not.

This is both countries from 1958 to 68. I have asked my mum to add her commentary to mine; that's her in the fab yellow frock.

Mum- The buildings at the riverside were 'Go Downs' where produce that came up the river was stored. People lived on the houseboats, I don't know the Chinese name for the river but the Europeans called it The Sweet Water Canal because it smelt so awful.

Me- I remember the smell from the river area but I think I am actually recalling the smell of uneaten fruit rotting in the tropical sun from markets and food stalls along it, if you have smelled Durian fruit squashed on a hot road you'll know what I mean. I used to have a shop by a street market in Newcastle the smell of fruit abandoned in the cobblestones on a hot day was very similar.

The Snake Temple

The Snake Temple is in Penang, yes it is full of snakes. I believe that it is unique. My father brought my brother and I some very life like rubber cobras from there and we used them to scare our Amah with. Our Amah was called Sue; she was our nanny, housekeeper and all round good person...she did not deserve to be taunted by rubber reptiles and revolting children.

Also in Penang; I bet there are not many ox carts at Minden Baracks today...in fact I bet there is not a Minden Barracks either.

Me- Kranji War memorial in Singapore was one of the few places that had lawn grass....Kranji and the Polo Club.

Mum-Like other war memorials it was beautifully kept by the Singaporeans and was a place of tranquility.

Mum- This is the Singapore Botanical Gardens, where we spent many happy hours.

Me- Note red bag, red shoes! Men with floppy hair, sparkly white shirts and short shorts. I wonder if it still has monkeys there.

I have mentioned the Tiger Balm Gardens also known as Haw Par Villas on other posts. It was a weekend after lunch destination for us as it was on the Pasir Panjang Rd close to where we lived. It is a large tropical, garden park, full of brightly painted statues set in numerous tableaux of morality tales and folk lore.  Most were blood thirsty and macabre...my little brother and I loved it.

I don't know whether the lady in this scene has just made a rude hand gesture or hurled a dagger through the intruder's head; possibly both.

Mum- This tableaux was known as "The rape of the Buddhist monk".

Me- Fab outfits don't you think?  I thought this guy represented lust and as that is one of the deadly sins you would be sure to find him in the adjoining tableaux having met his fate which was always a grisly death but all the fables seemed to end that way. 

The last time I visited Tiger Balm Gardens was 2000 or thereabouts I was told by the lady at the gate that it would be closing for ever later that day.  I am so pleased to read on Trip Advisor that people are still enjoying visiting the place and it will get a face lift this year.

Mum- Below you see a more charming view of the Tiger Balm gardens.

 

The road builders here are women. Monsoon drains line the roads in Singapore, they are much needed because when it rains..it really rains.

Mum-The roads would flood in minutes, and when the rain stopped it would be dry almost immediately.

Me-  There was basin like dip in the garden in front of our apartment and as the rain started my brother and I would sit in it until the water surrounded us. The rain was torrential and stung us but it was warm and so was the lawn tub that it created because the ground was already hot.  Also, we made paper boats and raced them down the open monsoon drains running or cycling beside them.

Mum- This is where we lived when Helen was born; our road ended here and became a track into the jungle. Just out of picture was a hut which was our local shop.

Me-I don't remember the road but I liked the vintagey-ness of the photograph.

We will end as we started with me. I am on the lawn with the dip in it; it is seven years later and I'm still wearing red shoes.

More of my posts showing 'Vintage Asia' are here and here.

Helen

 

 

Related articles

Vintage Singapore. Colour slides from 1960.

100 Years of Vogue and Curtain Up!

If you can get to The National Portrait Gallery in London before 22nd of May this year I strongly recommend booking a ticket for Vogue 100 A century of Style.

This major exhibition celebrates Vogue's first 100 years and it was worth taking a day of holiday and taking a train to the capital. It took me an hour and forty minutes to watch every film clip, read every description and stand before each of the pictures drinking in the colour and beauty of the exhibits. It is a visual feast and I would liked to have spent an other hour revisiting my favourite bits but I had only an afternoon to visit three exhibitions spread across the city, also I wanted to go shopping in the V&A's book store and then attend the trade preview of Ralph Lauren's  Spring/Summer home range before returning to Newcastle.

No photography was allowed in or surrounding the exhibition so the best I can do is show you the book of highlights starting with Mario Testino's well known picture of Kate Moss in a union flag jacket.

This picture was Ryan McGinley's shot of Sienna Miller who was playing the part of Tippi Hedren in the film The Girl. I spent a very pleasant hour chatting with Tippi Hedren some years ago, we were passing time on a film set and she was telling me about her animals.  It wasn't all Kate Moss or beautiful actors on the walls of the NPG though; Prince Charles and his chickens made an appearance, his photograph was also by Mario Testino.

One of my favourite Vogue covers is one that you would not find at the exhibition it is a spoof made by my husband and given to me as a Christmas gift in 2008. 

I am wearing a silk skirt which I stencilled with LTL11 a wisteria stencil from our Larger Than Life Collection; I bought the skirt from a Ralph Lauren outlet in Orlando when I was there for a stencil convention and it took me years to pluck the courage to paint it!  The picture was taken to accompany a 'how to' blog post showing how I decorated the skirt.

The other exhibitions visited that day were Botticelli Reimagined which is on until the 3rd July and Curtain Up which runs until 31st August both are at the V&A Museum. I had specifically gone to see Curtain Up because it features the work of set designer Bec Chippendale, her model for the stage set of the musical Matilda was a popular exhibit and I had to wait in a queue to take my out of focus picture. Bec is one of my husband's family.  The Chippendales are a  talented bunch.

Another exhibit at Curtain Up celebrated 40 years of 'A Chorus Line', I recall my boyfriend taking me to see it when I was a stage struck teenager and A Chorus Line was the hot new musical. A large group of his friends from university came with us; we all linked arms and high kicked our way home along the London Streets singing 'One' .... it is still a memory that makes me smile.

I noted that Tippi Hedren is appearing at the Hay Festival talking about her experiences with Alfred Hitchcock and her work with big cats amongst other things. I think that will be well worth a ticket purchase too!

Helen.

Take a message to Marfa

I had the good fortune to spend a week in Marfa, Texas. The by-line on the 'Visit Marfa' website reads 'Tough to get to. Tougher to explain but once you get here you get it.'  I agree with that. One of my friends 'Got it' enough to set up home and studio there and a year ago today I went to visit.

I can not praise my first experience of Marfa highly enough. However, my visit coincided with the Chinati Weekend one of the highlights of the Marfa arts calendar so I did not see the town in it normal guise.  The current population of approximately 2000 people swells to bursting point for those few days in October, the numerous artists open their doors wide...

and everywhere becomes a gallery. Wine, music, curiousity and conversation flow around the town. Everyone that I spoke with held huge affection for Marfa  ....and I spoke to a lot of people during my stay. I was surprised that so many people extended a hand, introduced themseves and asked me who I was. My friend said  "People notice when there is a stranger in town.

But there are lots of strangers in town this week I replied.  "They can't notice them all'. She looked at my orange hair, granny shoes and long frock, raised an eyebrow and said no more. 

My friend moved from Austin to live there, It seems to me that many of the 'New Marfans' that increased the town's population to 2,000 moved from Austin to be there. My friend is the designer Holly Everett. Primarily, Holly is a furniture designer but she can turn her talents to wallcoverings, fabrics, gates, windows and the spaces to surround all of the above. She has a studio with a yellow door opposite The Get Go and advertises work hours as 'By Chance or By appointment'.  It is a designer, artist, musician type of town and the feeling is so laid back as to be horizontal. Marfa is located on the high plains of the Chihuahua Desert 4,800 feet above sea level the surrounding distant vistas feature the peaks of higher mountains.  The light is phenomenal, the weather during my stay was perfect. I loathe the words vibe and awesome...but the vibe was awesome. 

Visit Marfa  shares a link to a thirteen minute feature on 60 Minutes at CBS it gives a flavour of the town although not quite as I experienced it.  I never heard a quaver of country music in the country lovin' one horse town during the week that I was there. I didn't see a horse either although there were tethering posts outside the stores and bars. It was lovely to see some of the many faces that I met during my stay appearing and speaking in the film clip. TravelMag features Marfa and gives far more information than I could.

Big Bend National Park reflected in a window 

An overnight trip took Holly and I to the nearby Big Bend National Park, my phone pinged with the message 'Welcome To Mexico' I wondered whether we had taken a wrong turn but no; Mexico was a short wade through the Rio Grande from us.  I kept firmly to the Texas side of the river. We stayed in Terlingua Ghost Town. 

Sunrise at Terlingua TX

rusting miner's cage at Terlingua

Holly kitted me out with a desert appropriate outfit from her wardrobe. My floaty chiffon was replaced with double denim, a big brimmed hat and fabulous pair of her pointy, western boots.

Me, enjoying the scenery and sun

She drove for hours showing me vistas, creeks, flowers, rock formations and more ghost towns. We took short walks and stopped for refreshments and photos.

During my week we had various excursions around the area, some of the places reminded me of the paintings of Edward Hopper.

Padres, Marfa.

The place looks like a film set. 'Visit Marfa' proclaims to be a film friendly town. No Country for Old Men and There Will be Blood are two of the more recent big name films with a Marfan backdrop. Ranch scenes from Giant starring James Dean, Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor were filmed there.  Giant was one of the earliest 'on location' movies.  I stencilled an homage to the man and movie for my hosts using our Cowboy and Paisley stencils.

Paisley and Jimmy stencil

Holly's neighbour was a stunt rider in the film and it was filmed on her friend's family ranch. I was invited to see their scrapbook which I really wanted to do but ran out of time.

Dan Flavin installation at The Chinati Museum

Minimalist and contemporary art, Donald Judd, The Chinati Foundation, the mysterious ghost lights, the night skies, even 'Prada Marfa'  all go hand in hand to embellish the Marfa experience and I will save more observations and photos for another post. I fear this one may already be too long.

Prada Marfa and Presidio Courthouse, Marfa

I returned from Marfa with a relaxed glow and a flight bag full of roasted beans from Big Bend Coffee Roasters. It was a long, stressful journey home; almighty dust storms were wreaking havoc with the flightpaths. My suitcase and I were separated somewhere between Midland and Dallas and I missed the last connection to England waiting in vain at an empty lugage carousel.  No matter; When I think of my week in Marfa I smile at the memory, I'd like to think I will return and that for a short time maybe 'I got it'

Helen

 

Vintage Asia. Hong Kong and Thailand.

Thank you for asking to see more of my parent's photos from Asia in the early 1960's.

Rain played a large part of life in the tropics. It could rain so hard that it hurt. These are my father's pictures from Thailand, the boys are cooling off in the monsoon flood.

and this one is staying dry. Look how the tree grows through the rock.

I think IKEA'S current light shade collection could have been influenced by this photo.

I don't know which temple this is but they don't tend to change much so someone may recognise it. Rather handsome carving over the door.

We have now moved to Hong Kong and the Tiger Balm Gardens also known as Haw Par Gardens. There is  one in Singapore too, I spent many a day there. The parks were built the profits from Tiger Balm which was touted as a cure all for everything. I shall not scoff at the venerable Tiger Balm, it is wonderful for decongesting a head cold. 

My parents wheeled me up to The Peak for the famous view of Hong Kong...and the restaurant. 

Fabulous brollies don't you agree?

I'm in the buggy; I'm not daft it was a steep walk.  Mum's friends Malcolm and Jim helped to push me.

Jim was working on the submarine, apparently he had a motorbike to get from one end to the other. One of my earliest memories was being shown the tall buildings as our ship approached Hong Kong.

Mum tells a story of them all going to this restaurant. My father and the two friends got into a tiny, shallow boat to be punted to The Sea Palace, Mum panicked - she did not want me (or her) to be ferried in such a rickety craft. The boatman was very old and spoke no English but deftly he snatched me from my from my protesting mother, tucked me under his arm and started to cross the water; she had little choice but to follow. 

No, that is not her in the water.

In our next visit to the family archives I will bring Malaya and Singapore, the infant Helen will make an appearance.

 

 

Salon 2014 Seattle

Last year I was honoured to be invited to participate in Salon.

Panel painted by Niels Jongdahl Sorenson, Denmark.

The Salon began in 1992 in Belgium with a small gathering of professional painters of decoration and has seen attendance grow for most of the years since.  The Salon is now recognized as the most important and significant gathering of international decorative painters in the world.

Panels painted by Jean Sable, France.

Panel by Caterina Manisco, Italy.

The Salon is hosted in a different country each year, last year was Seattle, USA and this year it will be held in Lecce, Italy.
It is a unique event and a great opportunity to discover the world decorative painting. The public is invited to experience the quality of work present and meet the masters of their craft. A finished piece of work is submitted to Salon by the artist and then recreated before an audience of their peers and public. Each piece is created specifically for the event.  My photos show some of the panels exhibited at Salon last year. There are more at Salon's website.

Helen Morris (blog author) stencilled Seattle panel next to work by Pierre Finkelstein, USA..yes that's paint not marble!

Detail from panel by Stefano Luca, Italy...and yes that's paint not tile!

The Salon 2014 was hosted by Cathy Conner of Studio C, Seattle, Washington. The venue was a gorgeous old ticketing hall close to the railway station. People wandered in and out observing and chatting to the artisans. There were around 80 participants from all over the world demonstrating gilding, wood graining, marbling, trompe l' oeil and a host of other decorative skills onto a metre or so of canvas. I was the only one to travel from the UK and the only stenciller.  My stencilled art deco style panel was bordered by works from Japan and the USA, the theme for Salon 2014 was Industrial Elegance or else something 'inspired' by Seattle.

There were panels featuring Pike Place Market, rain and coffee amongst other subjects.

Panel by Margaret Von Kaenel, USA... in progress. This was fantastic when completed.

Work in progress by Ali Kay, USA.

Each year participants paint together to create a mural which is donated after the event.

Michiel Van De Laar, Netherlands orchestrates the mural team.

Last year there were two murals and I stencilled a background for one of them using a wave stencil from our Japanese Style collection.

Helen Morris, UK (blog author) and Yaeko Kurimata, Japan.

My panels for Salon 2015 are painted and are ready to travel to Italy with me this weekend. This time I am going with a friend and I hope to post from The Stencil Library's Instagram, Twitter or FaceBook page whilst there.

Ciao, Helen.

 

The Christmas Markets in Berlin

Recently my mother and I spent a few days in Berlin.

She wanted to see a German Christmas Fair and I wanted to see neo classical architecture and decoration by Karl Friedrich Schinkel.  A post about Schinkel can wait, he's not festive and my ambitions to see his works were mostly thwarted; However, the city of Berlin and all that we experienced there made up for it. Here are some of our Christmas-ey highlights.

The Gendarmenmarkt had better than average festive fare plus stiltwalking angels, theatre shows.... and Shinkel architecture. 

Is that an 18th century statue of 'Person with IPad'?  We were methodical in exploring all the rows of the fair in order, stopping for mulled wine, mulled rum, mulled cider and hot chocolate. 

I think we may have we sampled hot vodka with our meal of smoked fish but I really can't remember.

On our travels we found this beautiful, mosaic ceiling damaged by bombs in the 1940's.

The lights in the city's trees were being connected and tested. Mum and I were hoping that we would see the streets illuminated during our visit. We used to live in Germany when I was five, most of my memories are of the festive season being magical.

For me the star of the show at the Charlottenburg Christmas Market was the ever changing light and patterns on the walls of the palace. 

I have just found A useful post on Christmas/Design fairs in Berlin, seems like I will need a week next time. Oh and just as Mum and I were leaving for the airport, the lights came on all over the city giving us a gorgeous, glittery farewell.

Helen

Dining in a shell house

The unassuming exterior of a small, thatched building conceals the glittering gorgeousness that is The Shell Cottage. 

The Shell Cottage sits amongst 2000 hectaires of parkland at Chateau de Rambouillet between Versailles and Chartres in France. The curved walls of the interior are inlaid with neoclassical pattern made from thousands of intricately wired and pinned shells.

I think it was built around 1780 for the widowed Princess of Lamballe by her wealthy father in law the Duc de Penthievre, maybe some learned reader could confirm whether I am correct. 

If searching the net for images of The Shell Cottage you might see upholstered furniture in the room.  I do not recall seeing any on my visit but I was there with a big group of friends and a large art installation occupied the centre of the room.

Originally the rotunda would have been illuminated by candles and I was told that the alcoves contained perfume burners. 

Athough there is no kitchen, the room was used often for dining; a perfect picnic spot.  A separate 'ladies chamber' shares the same buildng and is hand painted in an Italianate style.

 

The Chateau Rambouillet and gardens are open to the public for much of the year. In my opinion it is well worth a visit and there is much more to see whilst there such as the Queen's Dairy and the Chateau Rambouillet its self.  I would love to return and spend the day exploring. See Rambouillet Tourism for informaton

Helen

Art Nouveau at The Musee Carnavalet

 

There are many fine examples of Art Nouveau decoration that remain in Paris, this is one of them.  The room is housed in the Musee Carnivalet.  I was told that this interior was once a pharmacy and maybe an informed reader could confirm or deny whether is is true. 

Look at the moldings, the peacock, the carving, the painting and that gorgeous mosaic floor.

There is a mass of scope for using stencils when decorating in the style of Art Nouveau.

There are peacock motifs, water lilies and masses of flower stencils within our collections;

As well as motifs we make border and repeat pattern stencils too. This stencil of a peacock is OTT53 and can be ordered from our Ottoman Range but most of the suitable designs are in our section of Art Nouveau stencils. Decorative stenciled borders are a fairly essential component when recreating the look of Art Nouveau wall decoration and here are two examples.

Border DE173

and Border DE202 

However, a water fountain is not essential. The Musee Carnavalet is situated on 16 rue des Francs-Bourgeois and I recommend it highly. A previous post from my visit there showed Art Deco Exoticsism with a chunck of Chinoiserie thrown in. How could you resist?

Helen

Hotel Metropole, Brussels

photo: Hotel Metropole

This past weekend, Mr Egglestone and I flew to Brussels to stay with friends for a few days.  It was Mr E's first visit, but I used to live and went to high school there many years ago and have popped back regularly since.  I have always thought Brussels a very underrated capital city overshadowed by places like Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin and Rome.  But I cannot enthuse about it enough and Mr E thoroughly loved his time there and cannot wait to go back.  I could wax lyrical about all sorts of places in Brussels, but today I shall write about the Hotel Metropole on the Place de Brouckère.  The hotel was opened in 1894 and as soon as you walk into the foyer, you are in no doubt that this is a grand old hotel from the Belle Epoque. 

photo: Hotel Metropole

Our flight from Newcastle left at 6:30am meaning that with the time difference you were in Brussels by 9am.  The 3am start was worth it to have a full day to start the trip.  We headed straight into central Brussels and wandered around for several hours.  At about 2pm we decided to go for lunch and I suggested the cafe at the Hotel Metropole.

"Cafe" is perhaps a bit of an understatement. 

It is as beautiful and elaborate as the rest of the hotel.  Decorative painters take note of the marble walls, stencilled columns and gilded ceiling. 

We had an excellent omelette avec frites (bien entendu) and Mr E sampled his first Belgian beer (in Belgium).  Belgium is famous for its beers and quite rightly so.  Drink beer there and it will never taste the same again anywhere else.  Despite sampling many varieties over the weekend, Mr E decided that Chimay was his favourite (so far)

whereas I was rather fond of the Zinnebir, and not because of the art deco label.

It was a beautiful setting to take a break after all the walking (it was a warm and sunny day).  It wasn't deliberate, but it was also a trip down memory lane.  Back in 1985 my friend Jill and I organised our schools autumn formal "homecoming" dance and chose the Hotel Metropole as our venue.  Not much changes.  There was a convention taking place in the basement room where our dance had been held and I went to the very same washroom I had stood in almost 30 years ago reapplying blue eyeliner and frosted lipstick whilst checking on the permed hairdo and making sure my taffeta skirt was still pouffed out (it was 1985 afterall - sadly I couldn't find a photo to share of that fashion ensemble). If you are ever in the european capital, it is well worth popping in for a drink or meal or even a stay at the Metropole.  Brussels is famous for it's art nouveau architecture so the whole city is a visual and inspirational feast if you are interested in the decorative arts and architecture (the shopping, restaurants, bars, beer and chocolate aren't bad either).  À toute à l'heure!

Rachel

All other photos: Stephen Egglestone

Spiral Stairs

Two gorgeous spiral stair cases seen in London.

Heals, Tottenham Court Rd.

The Queen's House, Greenwich.

Both had me in a spin.

Helen

Bonny and Blyth in Northumberland

A  couple of weeks ago a friend told me that he enjoyed taking his grandchildren to the sea front at Blyth in Northumberland.  He said "They have fabulous beach huts, a great playpark and an ice cream parlour".  Well the play park was of no interest to me although I was impressed when I did see it...but beach huts and ice cream parlour are five words that will get me into the car and heading for the coast.

beach huts at Blyth beach

The huts could be hired for fifteen pounds a day, they have a tiny fenced in garden to the rear and the front faces the beach. 

The roof is planted with sempirvirens which will look lovely in bloom.

I would want the interior to have nautical stencils and brass lamps similar to this hotel that I decorated further along the coast.

Breakwaters stretch into the sea. They were broken, with handy holes to make arty shots through.

We walked along the sands, sat amongst the dunes and watched dogs chase things. Then it was time for fish and chips and ice cream.

Blyth is a few miles along the coast from the much busier resort of Tynemouth.

Tynemouth has a weekend flea market and some very good shops and cafes.  It has a beautiful ruin of a priory and it also has a thriving surfing scene.

My mum told me she remembers swimming in this pool on her holidays to the north east. Back then Tynemouth was glamorous. It's not bad now but I would love to see the pool and the beach hotels restored in to their Art Deco splendour.  They could be decorated with art deco stencils from us!

Tyneside folk are known for their ruggedness. I watched the surfers and marvelled at the hardiness of bare legged famillies building sand castles....it's early winter. 

Helen

 

Chanticleer. A beautiful garden

In the summer of 2011 my friend Betty from took me to Chanticleer in Wayne, Pennsylvania which is around a half hour drive from Philadelphia. It was a humid day and the temperature bubbled in the high nineties. But we had water, sensible shoes, paper fans and a picnic. We had a delightful time exploring the garden. Here is a little of what we saw. 

There are many garden rooms at Chanticleer which are just that....rooms in a garden.

I call them 'sitooteries' because you sit out in them.

Stencilled chairs anyone? Similar chestnut leaf and bamboo designs can be found at The Stencil Library. There are many sitooteries at Chanticleer, I like the outdoor floral arrangements that feature in many of them.

Water is another big feature at Chanticleer, there are fountains,

and water features that mirror the sky,

I call them sky pools and have mini versions in my garden made from shallow, dark bowls.

I'll stop writing now as this is becoming a long post. I can sum up Chanticleer Garden in two words...

"Bloomin marvelous!"

Chanticleer is not open every day, so please check first. I would hate you to be disappointed.

All photos my own, to see better ones visit their facebook page.

Helen.

When was the last time..

When was the last time that you did something for the first time? This was a question posed by an advert that I saw this morning. I thought that it may be an interesting thread to share.

I'll start because I had quite a few firsts last week.  I visited Luxembourg for the first time.. verdict? Fab.

I had never drank Cremant which is Luxembourg's 'fizzy'.. Verdict? Also fab.

Another first was cooking on a raclette grill ..verdict? I have ordered one in the hope of cooking in the garden this summer.

I watched Britains Got More Talent for the first time.  Now, I have to admit I was looking forwad to this as I rarely see TV at home... verdict? Awful and I don't want to do it again.

Played with a Wii for the first time ..verdict? Fab and silly.  Who waterskis on their friend's sofa whilst wearing scotty dog pyjamas?

Another first was sardines cooked on an open fire washed down by Mojitos.. for breakfast.

Verdict?.. I can't remember.

Now it's your turn.

Helen.