A Little Tour of My Brain, Part 1- Fireworks

It is over a week and I haven't let you know how the ornaments are coming along. I have been very busy with the little guys. I am going to give you a little tour of my brain and the things that influence the finished pieces. So here goes with part 1 - Fireworks.

This is a very distorted photograph of a poster in my studio. It is about 3' high so I guess that is why the photograph came out distorted. This Standard Fireworks poster was on the wall of a place that sold fireworks. They were kind enough to give it me when I asked for it. Standard Fireworks is a British company.

I love the fireworks graphics. The older items tend to be more interesting. These photographs are from a British book "The Unsophisticated Arts" published in 1951. Sadly the graphics on most of the new fireworks are poorly designed.

My wife and I went down to the Inner Harbour for the Canada Day fireworks display. They were fantastic. Fireworks can be bought in Toronto for Canada Day, but not in B.C. I don't know if they are available anywhere else in Canada for our nations birthday. Let me know I'm curious.

Fireworks are sold in southern B.C. at Hallowe'en. This is the only time that fireworks are sold. The ink drawings above are from a 1966 reprint of a 1938 book "Holiday Handicrafts" by Nina R. Jordan.

British Columbia was very British in the beginning. That is a dumb statement otherwise it would have been called "Something Else Columbia". Anyway they greatly influenced the way holidays were celebrated.

Hallowe'en was influenced by Guy Fawkes Day. For those of you that don't know about Guy Fawkes and his dastardly deed of trying to blow up the houses of parliament well now you know. November 5th is "Guy Fawkes Day".

All good Brits construct a "guy", think scarecrow, stuff fireworks into his clothes pop him on a huge pile of wood and set the whole lot ablaze. All of this is done to celebrate the fact that he was caught, his plot foiled and then executed for treason. He wasn't burned at the stake but hung. If someone knows why the bonfire started let me know. I am definitely rambling. Guy Fawkes Day I think is the reason that we have fireworks on Hallowe'en.

I cut this ad from the 1990 Times/Colonist. I don't know of anywhere else that has fireworks on Hallowe'en but I am that glad we do.

President Fireworks shown in all of their glittering frenzied glory to be used with caution.

This photograph of novelty fireworks is from George Plimton's book "Fireworks a History and Celebration" published in 1984 by Doubleday.

This image is also from George Plimton's book. It shows various indoor fireworks and party bombs that shoot out trinkets for the guests. When I was in London years ago the Christmas dinner that I was at had Christmas crackers with miniature fireworks in them. There was a tiny fountain that shot sparks about 5" in the air and a roman candle that shot one tiny ball of fire about 3 ' into the air. They were wonderful.

When we were in Switzerland indoor "Party bombs" were available everywhere. They came at various price ranges. You could also buy them in undecorated brown cardboard ready to decorate to your own personal party theme. There is a wick at the bottom that is lit and the contents shoot out the top for everyone to gather. There was no real explosion unfortunately. The contents of our bomb consisted of thin card mustaches, red plastic clown noses, red lips that had a siren/whistle in them to blow, and conical party hats.

This preamble was just to explain why two of the candy container ornaments are holding fireworks.

Christmas is Coming!

Christmas is coming! I love Christmas!

During the Victorian era people complained that Christmas was too commercial. Hasn’t changed much has it? I love the commercialism of it all, but I also realize that that is not what Christmas is about. If it wasn’t for the birth of Jesus there would no Christmas no matter how commercial it has become. Come to think of it Easter would be out of the running as well if Jesus didn’t rise from the grave. Anyway, I love all of the tradition and family customs that go with any holiday. Christmas is one big birthday party with lots and lots of decorations.

I love the shopping. My wife and I usually take one or two days where we treat the shopping as a date. Our "shopping date" originated when the kids were small and my parents babysat them for the day. This was one of those rare times that we had the whole day together. It was a date by default. We continue our "shopping date" now by choice. Making it a date it takes away the dread of Christmas shopping and turns it into an experience that is fun.

We start around 9:00 A.M. hitting various malls and stores, stopping for a coffee and rest, and then off again to do more shopping. We will stop for lunch, go over lists and then on again. It is tiring, I won’t say it isn’t, but it is fun and I look forward to it each year. One tradition is to stop at a book store (sometimes several) and browse. It is very relaxing to stop for the moment and enjoy some time to slow down and look for something that we might like. By the time we get home around 5:00 or 6:00 P.M. we are exhausted. All of the shopping is not done in these shopping safaris; there are always the jaunts off here and there for various gifts and also the ones that we just remembered that we had forgotten to put on the list. As you know it does all get done.

Enjoy your pre-Christmas shopping, decorating, and parties with friends and family.

Favourite Books

As an artist I like picture books, some of those books are children’s picture books, but I am referring to books with lots of pictures. I always look at what I believe is the best design, the best people in their field of endeavor. (This sounds great when it is written down in black and white but how do I qualify my love for 1950’s and 1960’s sci-fi/horror flicks. They are so bad. Some of the special effects aren’t very special. I love the giant rats that are dogs dressed to look like giant rats and actually just look like dogs dressed to look like giant rats.) Back to the books. Here is a list of books that have been an influence to my work and I hope that you may enjoy if you can get your hands on them.

There are a lot of books from my childhood that have had a big influence on my work. My mum had a Dennison Party Book from 1929 that I loved to look at as a child. The front and back covers as well as a few of the other pages are gone. I did manage to find a complete copy in good shape several years ago but I still own the original copy that my Mum had. I also own several other of the dennison books.

Another book that my mum had and I now own is “Mrs. Beeton’s Household Management”. I love the beautiful colour plates of the cakes.

This colour illustration is for “Fancy Cakes”.

This colour illustration is for “Sweets and Gateaux”.

My grandmother gave my brother and I a copy of ”The Road in Storyland”, published in 1932. The illustrations are beautiful vibrant colour outlined in black and are the work of Lucille W. and H. C. Holling, edited by Watty Piper.

This illustration is for the story "The Easter Rabbit"

Margaret Schiffer’s book, “Holidays - Toys and Decorations”, is the one book that has had the most influence on the direction that my art has taken.

The book “Carolyn Quartermaine REVEALED” is about the British textile artist of the same name. Her use of colour is wonderful.

Trisha Guild is another British textile artist and interior designer. She is extremely influential world wide in interior design. Her book “Trisha Guild – Pattern” is absolutely incredible. Her use of colour and pattern is mouth watering.