Dancing shoes


I had some grubby pumps from Primark, with huge black bows on them. When I bought them, a year ago, I thought they were very 'Breakfast at Tiffany's'. But they got mucky and frayed, and they looked silly. So I yanked off the bows, and I drew on them with permanent marker. I'm pretty happy with the end result, so here you are.

Hampton Court Palace


I found some photographs, which I took two summers ago, of the resplendent Hampton Court Palace. I think they do it some justice. These reminded me of a poem I've studied, a mock-epic by Alexander Pope, called 'The Rape of the Lock', in which the Palace is described:

'Close by those meads, for ever crown'd with flow'rs,

Where Thames with pride surveys his rising tow'rs,

There stands a structure of majestic frame,

Which from the neighb'ring Hampton takes its name.

Here Britain's statesmen oft the fall foredoom

Of foreign tyrants and of nymphs at home;

Here thou, great Anna! whom three realms obey,

Dost sometimes counsel take—and sometimes tea.'

I am, of course, eating strawberries today. And I've had the scoring system explained to me, because it's the Wimbledon finals. And so, I have a tennis-themed post. It's a piece of
archive footage, showing the tennis fashions of 1968. It's incredible, and very endearing, to see what was - in 1968 - the most up-to-date, man-made equipment. And the narration is also funny to listen to.

Painting

I did a painting last weekend, and thought I'd share. At first I was inspired by Picasso's 'Woman in a Chemise', which is a very lovely image. And then I was looking at old family photographs, and decided to paint this. And, by the way, the little girl is holding a handbag around her neck.

Hands

Now that I've done my palm portraits post I have a new obsession: hands. Above is a little sketch that I did of my own hand. But far more scintillating than my scribbles is this film clip. I'd never really thought about hand puppetry, I can do the dinosaur-y swan thing that everybody can do (beak made of the thumb and forefinger, eye made of the other fingers curled over), but that's it. Whereas Edward Victor, who features in the clip, is mesmerising.

People watching

Whilst mooching around London on a rainy day, with a camera, I took some photographs that I think are sweet enough to share. Walking in cities is way of feeding my visual greed, there are extraordinary things. And there is also beauty in the mundane.

Palm Portraits

Much inspired by the beautiful work of Meridith Mcneal, a a little bit obsessed with the relationship between clothing and identity, I decided to make a 'palm portrait'.

 Mcneal uses vintage gloves of sheer fabric, and uses embroidery and beading to make copy the palm lines of her friends (a 'palm portrait' as she calls it). I found some old gloves in my dressing up box and traced the lines on my palm onto the glove, before embroidering - a little messily- my palm lines. The end result is actually pretty cool, and makes a witty addition to the otherwise princessy evening glove. I'm totally going to wear these to my first ball. 

Top image courtesy of: http://humantextilewellness.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/gloves1231.jpg