Friday 26 February 2010

Threads


This post brought to mind two moments from my day
and a hugely important chunk of my past.
I was talking with my friend Maddy about significant items of clothing -
things I wished I had kept, indeed, thought I had kept
and this jumper was one of them,


preserved only in this unfinished
oil on gesso painting from my art student days in Bristol.

The jumper was a brave purchase by my mother.
She laid it out on my bed as a surprise for me 
when I came home from school.
On first sight I hated it.
It was too loud, too brash, too different.
But I tried it on and it grew on me,
probably because people admired it
and then I wore it a lot...
Jane's post reminded me about 
all the Georgian windows that appeared
in my etchings and paintings and in my final year dissertation.
This one was in the freezing bathroom 
and the pink blobs
are part of an indestructible Bizzy Lizzy 
which I carted around with me from house to house.

The clogs were from Olaf's Daughters.
I longed to have some long green lace up boots like my friend Charlotte,
but could only afford these.

The mirror came from a skip,


and  still hangs in a bathroom.

And just to complete the circle,
the woodcut in the reflection
who started at  Art college with me
and became a very Fine Artist indeed.


5 comments:

  1. I now realise why you have such a good eye with your beautiful photographs.
    Memories, you reminded me I once had red clogs, of the window seat in my college room.
    Your painting is a wonderful memory of the jumper.

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  2. it's interesting what stirs our memories ...

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  3. Beautiful posting, Lucille. It a nice reminder that sweet memories and gentle nostalgia are more than ample solace for the lost intensity of youth.

    And speaking of lost youth, I haven't seen the houseboy since breakfast...

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  4. It's a beautiful bright jumper. I still use my clogs - boring old black ones from Denmark, but very practical.

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  5. How lovely to have a piece of work from years ago. I still wear clogs! I mentioned scholl exercise sandals in a post a while back (with reference to my own student days) and had an e mail from a gentleman who had had a pair for fourty years......

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