My uncle’s art

Today I thought I would put up some more of my uncle’s art since I’ve been going through some more of the house and finding more things.

I learn a new word

Today, thanks to a blog I visited and enjoyed https://fullfrontispiece.wordpress.com/ I have learned a new word, Frontispiece.

A frontispiece in books generally refers to a decorative or informative illustration facing a book’s title page, being the verso opposite the recto title page. While some books depict thematic elements, other books feature the author’s portrait as the frontispiece. In medieval illuminated manuscripts, a presentation miniature showing the book or text being presented (by whom and to whom varies) was often used as a frontispiece. (source – wikipedia)

Here you can see a frontispiece from the book I found that used to belong to my great-aunt and where it fits into the book.

Though I never knew what it was called I’ve always enjoyed these images, and it’s nice to find a blog dedicated to them. If they’re something you like then go to https://fullfrontispiece.wordpress.com/ and see the collection they have, complete with some amusing captions.

Two birds, one stone

Today seems to be a day for doing lots and accomplishing little; at least that’s how it feels, I’ve probably accomplished more than I think. Since that’s the case I thought I would make a brief list of what I have done today to make myself feel better, plus there’s a few things I was planning on posting here anyway so I can kill two birds with one stone, as the saying goes.

1:- I got myself to the opticians for an eye test, which was overdue; the result, I had to order some new glasses, at an unpleasant cost.

2:- I got a little more work done on clearing out and tidying up the house.

3:- I created a new header for the blog, see above (it’s not the best, I shall have to work on it some more and try to come up with something better)

4:- I’ve put in an order for a cover for the novel I’m writing, should receive it in January in time for release.

5:- 5,000 words typed up from the first draft of Where There’s A Will

6:- Started re-drafting the short story I found the other day.

7:- Got to work on organising an anthology of classic gothic and horror stories I’ve been thinking about doing for a while.

8:- Posted three new chapters from my story to Wattpad 8-10 – https://www.wattpad.com/story/84259729-where-there%27s-a-will

9:- Got around to sorting out some more of my great-uncle’s art – see below

10:- And lastly, I transferred a couple of pictures I took the other day of a guy in the town centre doing some sand art.

Art in the park

There was a festival (a bit of a grand description for the event) in my local park over the weekend, and while heading to the charity shop to drop off some things this morning I decided to take a detour through the park to look at the results. There was a few really good pieces and I took pictures, which are here for you to enjoy.

Amazingly, the bench was carved with a chainsaw, I saw the artist in action but couldn’t stop to see the finished product. I would never have believed such delicate work could be done with such a tool.

A kinky little offering

I hope no-one will be offended by this but I stumbled across it amongst the various drawings and paintings done by my great-uncle – I had no idea he had done anything like this; it’s not the only one either, and was amused by it and thought I’d shared it.

I’m not sure when he painted it but he was in his 80’s when he died a couple of years ago and he painted throughout his life so this could be from any decade after the 1930’s, and may even have been a memory from his childhood, though I hope not.

Thankfully the majority of the drawings and paintings I have found so far as ordinary landscapes or of horses or something similar.

That time of life

This is going to sound a little dreary but it seems as though I’ve reached that time of life (40 is approaching with the speed of Usain Bolt) when family members start to pass on with a distressing regularity; I’ve had three leave for the next life (I don’t know what it might be but I hope it’s a nice place) in as many years.

Losing family is bad enough, but when they go you have to clear out their things, decide what needs to be kept, what you’d like to keep, and what should really have been gotten rid of many years ago. This is what I have been doing for the past week or so.

I came home from a few years away to settle down and get serious about my writing, hence this blog, to discover that the family home has become a haven for all the belongings of those family members who are no longer with us, and it seems as though my family is a group of pack rats, hoarders and collectors, so there’s more than you might imagine to sort out. A few of the things I’ve discovered in just the few days spent on the task so far include a book presented to my great-aunt in the 1930’s for perfect attendance at school, commemorative items from the queen’s coronation, a vast abundance of collectible cars and bears (my step-dad was a big collector), a small library’s worth of books, and a birth certificate dating back to 189- I’m not sure exactly because it’s hard to read.

Some of these, obviously are well worth keeping as mementos of people no longer with me, while others, like the charity shop books my great-uncle liked to buy but never read are not. Occasionally, however, you come across something really special, something that needs to be shared; among the items I’ve discovered is some of my great-uncle’s artwork – he was never famous as an artist but he was incredibly good.

He never made money off his paintings, that I know of, which focused mostly on landscapes, horses and WWII aircraft scenes (though I did discover a few more salacious pictures that he did, some of which could be considered artful and others which are a little kinky) but he did make a lot of money from his cartoons, which featured for many years in the national newspapers.

Since I’ve found these treasures, which I have to admit has given me great pleasure, I remember with fondness the hand painted Christmas cards I used to get as a child, I thought I would share some of them with you all. I hope you like them.

Please do let me know what you think, it would be nice to know that others think them as good as I do.

 

I’ve had to do a bit of editing to deal with my poor photography, I hope Roy won’t be upset, wherever he is.