A Little Tour of My Brain, Part 22 - Rupert Annuals

Last April I did a blog post about some foil numbers that I picked up at Paperchase in London many years ago. You can read it here. Each letter had a British inspiration to go with it. Number seven was the Rupert Annuals. Here are some of the annuals that I have collected over the years. I didn't realize that a lot of my posts over the last couple of years have so much in common with the spirit of the Rupert Annuals, they really have been an inspiration to my work. Throughout this post I will have links to previous posts that tie in with each of the images that I have chosen.

Every year at Christmas beginning in 1936 a new annual is published. The front and back of this annual is from the 1960 edtion.

I love fireworks and I love an artists depiction of the exploding fireworks as well as his/her interpretation of the fireworks casings. Guy Fawkes Day is on the fifth of November and has made an appearance in one of the annuals. The very first "a little tour of my brain" blog post was about fireworks. This illustration is from the 1958 annual.

The covers of the annuals have characters and situations from the stories appearing in a vignette. This is the cover of the 1958 Rupert Annual.

The 1984 annual has this page of the residents of Nutwood where Rupert and his family live. We are in the 21st century but Rupert resides in the 1930's. This literary and artistic device gives way to some great mechanical inventions, almost "Kiddy Steam Punk". Besides these characters Rupert visits Father Christmas, the imps of Spring and Autumn, Jack Frost, mermaids and mermen and other creatures under the sea, as well a host of other characters from around the world on a regular basis.

The way that I think about the characters that I create has been greatly influenced by the annuals. They are from an ongoing cast and their interaction is very important to the pieces I create. I know and understand who they are and what they will do and say.

This 1976 Rupert annual shows an airship with a flying saucer styled structure hanging underneath it. Rupert is always dressed in his yellow and black trousers with a red sweater.

After each story are games, puzzles and activities. This 1972 annual has a game with pictures of leaves and their corresponding fruits or nuts that you must match.

The British picnic, this time held on tropical shores. There are two cakes, jam tarts, and fresh fruit, all to be washed down with hot tea. There are two posts about pastries for you to check out - Cakes, Cookies, and Pastries and Cakes and Pastries - Inspiration Results.

This annual is from 1975. Rupert often goes to exotic locales in his adventures. The clever device of having Rupert perpetually in the 1930's makes the locales that much more exotic. You may want to check out another post that I did in the little tour of my brain series called "Far Off Places".

The conjurer and his daughter, Tigerlily, live in a Japanese pagoda in Nutwood. This illustration is from the 1976 edition. I love stage magicians so much that I did four posts about them - Le Plus Grand Cabaret Du Monde, Magic Apparatus, and Stage Magicians, Kellar, Thurston, andStage Magicians, Assorted Posters

This cover is for the 1974 Rupert Annual. A perfectly normal winter day in Nutwood; snow on the ground, everyone making snowmen, Gregory the guinea pig on a sled flying beside Jack Frost to see His Majesty King Frost in his palace in the clouds.

Every issue has an origami design for children or their parents to fold from a square sheet of paper. The directions for this paper water lily design appeared in the 1958 edition.

The King of the Birds also lives in a castle in the clouds. Rupert has visited him in various stories. This is the 1977 cover for the Rupert Annual.

I know I have used this phrase before but I love paper crowns, party hats and noisemakers. The illustrations for this story appeared in the 1978 edition of the annual. Visit my post about party hats and noisemakers here.

The costumes for the characters are wonderful. The attention to detail is another of the characteristics that draw me to these books. The landscape in this 1978 annual and all of the annuals is realistic. The fantasy is grounded in the real world.

This illustration from the 1978 Rupert Annual shows fairground rides at a funfair. There are three posts that I did earlier this year about fairground rides and architecture - Wowie Zowie! Carters Steam Fair, Midway Rides at Centreville Amusement Park, Fairground Architecture and Midway Rides and one post about country fairs, Country Fairs, Metchosin Days, and the J-O-Lity Fair.

The endpapers of the annuals are as interesting as the rest of the book. This is from the 1976 Rupert Annual.

Hello! I am back in the land of Blog.

We have been shopping and are still not finished. We still have baking to do. I did soak the Christmas cakes again with more liquor. Unfortunately the mincemeat will be made but will have to be used for next year as it has to mature. The liquid that is used is brandy and the longer it keeps the better it gets! We will be using store bought mincemeat this year but I will fortify it with a little extra liquor.

The last week of October I was contacted by a shopping centre that I occasionally do work for asking me to do some Christmas displays. I asked when they wanted them by and the response was "last week". Normally there is a lead up time for Christmas work. I had five separate displays to get ready in about three weeks.

This is a small display for what they refer to as "The Curio Cabinet". They wanted it to tie in with the Visit Santa area in the centre court. I love the lettering that I used for the North Pole sign, it's called Tilt-A-Whirl. The candy canes are made from cardboard tubes that I have collected over the years with florist ribbons wrapped around them. They were then wrapped in cellophane. Other cardboard shapes were wrapped in pieces of dollar store plastic tablecloths and cellophane, tied off with wired mylar ribbon.

This area is the gift wrap area housed in an empty store. They wanted people to be aware that Christmas is coming and that this is the place to bring your gifts to have them wrapped. I love the colours that the cheap dollar store table cloths come in. The counter and the large cardboard boxes are all wrapped in the colourful gaudiness of these plastic pieces of happiness. How is that over the top flowery speech, but where else can you get such instant beautiful colours?

"Please Mum" is a store in the shopping centre that sells children's cloths. They were pleased as punch to have their clothing displayed in this empty window by the children's play area. In January this will be boarded over and torn down for the beginnings of the major expansion that the shopping centre will be undergoing.

After ten days I changed the cloths on the mannikins. The mall had all of these pointsetta plants, snow flake, and pine branch in storage from a previous Visit Santa display. I used some of the batting that is used for the Visit Santa area and finished it off with some gift boxes from the store because there was no signage available. The window is simple and very eye catching. You don't have to fill a window with merchandise.

Last Thursday, December 16th to be exact, I got a frantic call from the marketing manager asking me to come in and do some damage control. A shop that was leaving in January ended up going into receivership and had vacated the premises. This was in the very visible centre court area. Fortunately all of the fixtures and manikins were left behind.

I went to Suzanne's, the shop that was going into this area in the new year and gathered merchandise to crate the displays. This photo and the following one are on one side of the store.

I put together seven groups of clothing and gathered up a bunch of necklaces and hand bags and headed down to the store.

There were two posters available to use so I grabbed those as well.

This photo and the following one are on the other side of the store.

These two displays as well as the previous two displays are side by side. I probably should have taken a long shot of the entire window but it was a very busy Saturday afternoon when I finally finished the displays.

The front store entrance had hoarding up and the shopping centre will be putting graphics on it telling of the new store to be there in January. Beside the front entrance was this one small area that I put this bust form in. I used bracelets and necklaces, as well as a few well placed straight pins, to hold the scarves in place because there were no brooches in the shop for sale.

I will do a separate post about the big window display. The photos didn't turn out so they have to be redone. I am also going to show some of the other Christmas windows in Victoria. The small independent stores do some very nice displays. Department store windows no longer seem to be important at Christmas. The bottom line dictates that it doesn't pay.

Don't forget to visit SpookyTimeJingles if you haven't been there already. My blog and website links were posted but I forgot to put a contact link on my guest artist page. If you would like to purchase ilexander or any of the other pieces contact me at lenbenny@shaw.ca.

Pierre is ready for the Christmas party with his hat and party horn. His head is hollow so lots of treats can be placed inside.

 Miles is a candy container ornament. Treats can be put in his head as well a his pumpkin treat pail.

I am the surprise guest artist on SpookyTimeJingles!

I can now tell everyone what I have known for quite a while, I am the surprise guest artist on SpookyTimeJingles! I was very surprised and honoured when asked to be a guest artist. Thank-you, Dani! Here are a few more ornaments for sale similar to what I have on the SpookyTimeJingles site.

"Antoine"

Antoine loves marzipan and has taken two of those tasty tablets. "One for now and one for later", he says with a twinkle in his eye. They will last all of ten minutes if I know Antoine.

Antoine is a composition candy container with papier mache covered wire arms. His  green party hat is made from a double layer of hand painted rice paper. The party horn in his right hand is created using hand painted papers. The top of his head is open to place treats inside.

"Antoine" - $65.00 U.S. - 1 only

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"Lucien"

When you are small everything is bigger, including his paper hat that is waiting to slip down over his eyes! Lucien is eager to see what is inside this Christmas cracker but first he would like to pop that chocolate flower into his mouth.

Lucien is a composition candy container with papier mache covered wire arms. His party hat is made from a double layer of hand painted rice paper. He is carrying a handmade Christmas cracker in his right hand. That Christmas cracker is also candy container. Gently hold it at the top and lift the cracker end out of the cracker body to reveal what is inside. It is created from hand painted papers, vintage fringed cellophane candy wrappers from Spain, vintage cake foil trims, vintage holly and gold chenille. The top of his head is open to place treats inside. In his left hand is a chocolate flower cast from a vintage chocolate mould. In flower's centre is a vintage floral pip.  The top of his head is open to place treats inside.

"Lucien" - $85.00 U.S. - 1 only

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"Chic Shoes" proudly presents the "Sugar Toes Collection" just in time for the festive holiday season.

"The Mistletoe Shoe"

This composition candy container ornament is covered in raspberry glass sugar crystals. A sprig of vintage mistletoe, its stem wrapped in vintage ribbon, rests on the front of the shoe. The edge of the shoe is trimmed in  vintage chenille. The ornament is approximately 6" from the top of the wire ring to the sole of the shoe and approximately 5 1/2" wide from the toe of the shoe to the farthest point of the wire ring. Treats and candy can be placed in the ornament.

"The Mistletoe Shoe" - $55.00 U.S. - 1 only

Go to my Etsy shop to add "The Mistletoe Shoe" to your collection.

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"The Diamond Berry Shoe"

This composition candy container ornament is covered in blue glass sugar crystals. Vintage green lacquered ivy leaves with frost encrusted berries cascade from the top of the shoe down covering the vintage silver leaf. The edge of the shoe is trimmed in vintage chenille. The ornament is approximately 6" from the top of the wire ring to the sole of the shoe and approximately 5 1/2" wide from the toe of the shoe to the farthest point of the wire ring. Treats and candy can be placed in the ornament. 

"The Diamond Berry Shoe" - $55.00 U.S. - 1 only

Go to my Etsy shop to add "The Diamond Berry Shoe" to your collection.

Happy (American) Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is celebrated in Canada on the second Monday in October and the U.S. celebrates it on the third Thursday in November. Here are a group of Thanksgiving postcards that were specifically meant for the American market.

This turkey's tail becomes the frame for a painting of the landing of the pilgrims at Plymouth Rock.

A cute Pilgrim boy and girl carry baskets laden with the bounty of field and garden.

Nothing symbolizes Thanksgiving more than a pilgrim boy and a turkey.

The turkey on this postcard is surrounded by God's bounty that also includes bananas and watermelon.

A turkey, apples, plums, corn, a chrysanthemum all symbols of the harvest.

This card shows the tom turkey with his mate surrounded by more seasonal produce.

I love the liberties that designers take. This turkey is perched on the bunting without the least bit of sag in the fabric.

Another image of the turkey in a field surrounded by seasonal produce. A pineapple, the symbol for hospitality is also pictured with the produce.

A very straight forward patriotic Thanksgiving postcard, just a turkey and the flag.

I love the panoramic autumn view of the farm with the corn standing in field. All of this is viewed from beneath a tree in beautiful autumn foliage.

The image on these two postcards is the same. The old image at the top has been reworked and updated to produce the more modern version below.

 Happy Thanksgiving 

 to all of my American friends. 

 Enjoy your Thanksgiving dinner. 

A Last Good-bye to Autumn.

I love Autumn. I love the colours of the leaves and flowers. I love the colours and shapes of squash, gourds, and pumpkins. I love the crispness of the autumn air. As a last hurrah here are some of my favourite images from this year. They range from late summer/early autumn to the end of October. Good bye Autumn and hello Winter.