When Shall We Three Meet Again...

In thunder, lightning, or in rain?
When the hurlyburly's done,
When the battle's lost and won.

My 'O' Level English teacher once said that I must have been a witch in a previous life because when she took us to see Macbeth at Stratford-Upon-Avon I could interpret what was being said. Ummm... a strange way to encourage a teenager to embrace Shakespeare!

Originally today was called All Hallow's Eve, in preparation for Hallowmas which is tomorrow and All Soul's Day on Wednesday and the date (as with many religious dates) probably harks back to Pagan times as a celebration of the end of the autumn harvest and the beginning of the shorter, darker days to come. We put our clocks back an hour in the British Isles yesterday, so it will feel like winter come teatime.

I have to admit I'm not a massive fan of celebrating Halloween. When I was little it was practically unheard of in England. We all looked forward to bonfires and fireworks on Guy Fawkes Night, which is next weekend. My cauldron recently bubbled over when I saw, hope you are sitting down for this, "Happy Halloween" cards, in my local gift shop. What on earth????? All that said this is another nature table type photo, as I couldn't resist this little stripy pumpkin that I found locally - more cute than scary!  I've seen some wonderful photos of carved pumpkins in the past few days, some are real works of art. The wonderful colours on my back lawn and are also displayed in the basket, I'm not looking forward to raking them up though.

So watch who you cross this evening if you are out trick or treating.
Fire burn and caldron bubble...

Flora's Feast...

This illustration comes from a book called Flora's Feast by the English illustrator and designer Walter Crane and is one of a pair of framed originals on my kitchen wall. I've had them for over 20 years but have to say I regret that the book they came from was cut up to make them.  For a while now I have wanted to find and own a copy of the complete original to save it from the same carnage. A few people have thought they are prints of Flower Fairies but I am quick to point out that they are illustrations of the Arts and Crafts movement as this wonderful illustration of a Daisy shows. There is a beautiful naturalist flow in Crane's work, which must have influenced the Art Nouveau movement, although he is quoted as having referred to this movement as  "the decorative disease known as L'Art Nouveau" - umm, I beg to differ Walter!

He served an apprenticeship as a wood engraver, or woodpecker as the tradesmen of the time were called, was a student of John Ruskin and worked with William Morris illustrating publications for Morris' Kelmscott Press. Walter illustrated many books including one about the New Forest, Hampshire's National Park and a place I love.

Like many of the artists of his group Crane also worked in other media and produced wonderful designs for stained glass, pottery, textiles and a mosaic frieze in the home of artist Lord Frederick Leighton. The house in Holland Park, London has been restored in the past couple of years and is well worth a visit if you are in Kensington and, like me, are a fan of the Pre-Raphaelite movement. I think  you will be totally enthralled by the beauty of the Arab hall.

The web site www.waltercrane.org.uk is very decorative and gives an good idea of his wonderful designs if  you are interested in seeing more.

Pig's breakfast...

I drove down to Salisbury on Saturday. It was a gorgeous, warm day and the elegant early Gothic spire of the cathedral looked lovely in the sunshine. The autumn colours were gorgeous in Wiltshire, but my eye was caught but this shocking pink Cyclamen in the market square. I love the dainty smaller versions of the flower compared to its, slightly chunky, bigger brother.

Apparently the old English name for this little beauty was Sowbread as it was thought to be a favourite food of foraging pigs. Now I knew that pigs love acorns and of course if you go down to the woods today, with a piggy-wig on a lead, you might be in for a big surprise if it roots out a nice, profitable, truffle. But it would be a shame to lose this autumnal burst of colour to a hungry hog.

I think this one will be safe on my kitchen window sill and will certainly make me smile for many weeks to come when I open the curtains to make my porridge for breakfast!

A sad day...

I'm not usually moved to public displays of sadness, however when I heard the BBC news this morning I felt I had to comment on the untimely passing of a man who has made an enormous impact on the past twenty years of my creative life, without even knowing him - Steve Jobs.

When I started out as a designer twenty three years ago I worked on a drawing board and spent my days cutting with a scalpel and pasting up pieces of text onto layout boards. A slow, fiddly and messy process. Seventy years previously my Great Grandfather was a compositor for the Hants & Berks newspaper, even more fiddly, setting text, letter by letter, to print on a press. I am told his spelling and punctuation were beyond perfect, as not only did he have to place each individual letter onto a board to make up the words, but he had to do it all back to front so that when printed the copy would read the right way round. I digress - one day I was taken from my drawing board and sat in front of a very basic Apple Macintosh, given 20 minutes instruction and then left to "have a play" and learn as I went. Twenty years later I am still playing, with what is probably my best ever toy, every day, and still learning. I've only been blogging for a month for example, using my Mac, and loving a creative process that is new to me. So yes you can teach an old designer new tricks - my Great Grandfather would be amazed at what I can do using only the small box sat by my side and, of course, spell check making sure I get it right!!

When I set up on my own and invested in my very own Mac it really felt like a great achievement to have one sitting on my kitchen table. In those days they weren't the household toy that everyone coveted, but pretty much only used by creatives. When people talked about their PC's I did cock a bit of a snoop as I knew my Mac was by far superior, a Rolls Royce by comparison, both in looks and performance. I confess I was a Mac snob and I didn't care! Of course I have days when, like most designers, I have to give it a good stern speaking to if I feel it's not keeping up with my creative flow and the deadline is tight! But then as my creative hero, William Morris, once said: "you can't have art without resistance in the materials".

When William Morris died, on the 3rd October 1896, Robert Blatchford wrote in the Clarion:

I cannot help thinking that it does not matter what goes into the Clarion this week, because William Morris is dead. And what socialist will care for any other news this week, beyond that one said fact? He was our best man, and he is dead... It is true that much of his work still lives, and will live. But we have lost him, and, great as was his work, he himself was greater... he was better than the best.

I think that today the same can be said for Mr Jobs and his vision for Apple.

So I, along with many other lifelong creative Mac users, would like to thank him for creating one of best ways I have found to express my creativity over the past twenty years.

I love my Mac and always will.