The bridge at the end of the Balk over the Calder & Hebble Canal, Addingford, and a mooring ring on Beeston Bridge, by the Strands, Horbury Bridge.
Month: December 2021
Christmas in a Box
It was a close thing, setting up The Night before Christmas display the Redbox Gallery’s telephone box on Queen Street, Horbury, this morning but with a few adjustments we were able to fit the sleeping dog, cat and mouse on the wedge-shaped space by the hearth.
The Christmas stockings that Barbara ran up at short notice work well with knitted characters from her late – and much missed – mum, Betty.
We were tweaking and trying to plan for every hidden snag we might meet but it all went smoothly, thanks to the help of Graham Roberts of Horbury Civic Society (who run the Redbox Gallery project) and Sarah Town who brought along the paper chains and baubles made by the local Brownies.
We particularly liked the clothes peg/paper doily doll angel they made which presides over the whole affair hanging in the crowded airspace amongst the paper chains.
Cat and Mouse
I’ve drawn the sleeping dog and the cat and mouse as cut outs today but it looks as if we won’t have room for the dog.
‘S’ is for the Stocking
Our Christmas card in a telephone box is taking shape but we had a setback when members of the local Brownie group, who’ve been busy handcrafting Christmas decorations for the show, had to call off their final crafting session because of two cases of Covid.
Barbara came to the rescue and ran up the Christmas stockings and the Bonsai frosted fir trees, which, along with the Christmas card byline, we’d hoped to get the Brownies to make at a crafting session.
Cat Napping
‘Not a creature is stirring . . .’ in my Night Before Christmas scene but how do I imply that the mouse isn’t going to end up as a midnight snack for the cat?
I’m going for more of a cartoon look for the mouse.
Although I’d follow Beatrix Potter’s method of not adding much in the way of costume when she needed to emphasise the animal nature of her character.
Sleeping Dogs
We’ll be setting up the Night Before Christmas display in the Redbox Gallery on Friday and, as a break from constructing the scenery out of foamboard, I’ve moved on to the sleeping dog character.
‘No creature was stirring’, says the poem, so that’s the mood I’m going for here.
The Curtains were Drawn
The curtains were drawn but the Ektorp sofa was real.
With apologies to Spike Milligan and Ikea. And a shout out for Plumbs, who supplied the curtains.
Wakefield Centenary Tea Towel
Looking for a paint rag this afternoon, I picked out this relic from the Wakefield Centenary celebrations in 1988. Alan Brook was in charge of promotions at the Wakefield Express. I’d previously produced a Wakefield calendar so I stuck to the same landscape format throughout, drawing each on location around the city.
I think that Alan’s original intention was to produce a calendar too but for some reason that never happened, so he suggested the tea towel instead.
He later used the same artwork, with a few tweaks from me, for some commemorative china for the Millenium. As I’d sold the originals in an exhibition, it never occurred to me to ask for a royalty. If I’d known that the Express would have such success with the range.
Barbara was driving with her mum near Hornsea and came across the pottery where they were made. The man there said that I must be making a lot from them, as they were such a success he had to keep producing more.
If only I’d known that they’d turn out to be bestsellers, I’d have asked for a royalty!
Chimney piece
We walked across Thornes Park to B&Q before the retail park got busy with Christmas shoppers this morning and tracked down those last few essential items for my Redbox Gallery Night Before Christmas display including an LED spotlight to pick out the fire and adjustable legs for the base board.
For the final coat of paint for the fire I thought that I’d be limited to whatever tester pots of emulsion they had in stock, but the – helpful as always – B&Q assistant pointed us in the direction of the Valspar colour range.
For £3.00 they were able to mix us a 236ml test pot of matt emulsion from the Valspar range, which will be more than enough for my mock-up fireplace. Using the swatch cards, we checked out ‘Prague Purple’ and ‘Crown Jewels’ against the rough sketch on my iPhone and decided the punchier one would give the greatest contrast with the yellow flames in the fireplace.
Small S-hooks to hang the Christmas stockings from were the only items we couldn’t track down at B&Q, but we came across them in Dunelm’s, next door but one on the retail park.
Fireplace
The Night Before Christmas fireplace for the Redbox Gallery show is taking shape with the hearth and the chimney breast to add. I’ve been able to recycle some of the foamboard from last summer’s Addingford show. I’ve already half a roll of decorator’s masking tape, along with al- weather clear tape for the critical joints, so hope that will keep the structure intact during its time in the phone-box.
I’ll go for more of a dark heather colour for the final coat of paint, so that the yellow of the flames will stand out more in contrast.