Many, many moons ago when the world was teenaged
and I was about eleven or twelve years old,
"The Courtyard of a House in Delft" by Dutch artist
Pieter de Hooch (pronounced duh Hoke - rhymes with bloke)
was the first bit of printed canvas work I ever tackled.
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| Strange choice for one so young - weird even! |
From early on I have always refused to start with something
simple and, as I recall, it was a real buggerbo to do
because it was nigh on impossible to work out where one
colour ended and another began.
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| Not a proper Dutch gable I grant you - but close! |
The consequence of which was a very menopausal looking woman,
two slightly inebriated men and an emaciated child holding
what could have passed for a long dog puppy.
All in all not a bad attempt.
It hung for many years in my parents' breakfast room but
I suspect it left home at around the same time as me
because I haven't clapped eyes on it since.
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| I bet they'll start counting the park benches when they spot this. |
But why am I bothering to tell you all this?
Why, because it must have had a profound effect upon me
as I seem to be subconsciously trying to recreate the scene
here at the Lock-Up!
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| Water lillies all ready for the plunge. Firecrest (right) and Barbara Dobbins (left). Sounds like a name for a sampler. |
Courtyard - tick.
For house read bungalow - tick
For Delft add also the words china galore - tick
Seating alcove change to wooden arbour - tick
Add a bench for good measure - tick
Still no drunken men or a lurcher pup but I'm working on it.
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| He looks as if he might have "green" paws. |
The pond should be intrpreted as artistic licence on my part and
will, when it matures, I feel certainly not detract from the original.
Thank goodness I decided against doing
The Last Supper in glorious needlepoint as I shudder to
think where that might have led me!
In our house (we were Yorkshire folk) de Hooch always rhymed with pooch (for the dog). Not that you would want to know this, but just thought I'd say..... your garden is looking lovely!
ReplyDeleteThis is why I prefer counted designs rather than working of stamped or painted canvas. Like you, I can never be quite sure the edges really are!!
ReplyDeleteI had a nearly finished piece of two sweet chocolate box kittens with bows, that ended up looking like they were possessed by Lord Voldemort himself on a bad hair day.
ReplyDeleteI think it got tossed into the corgi's bed to add insulation one winter. Hey it was expensive good quality wool we are talking about here. The dog wasn't interested in finishing it though. He chewed it to bits.