FRANK BRANGWYN

Edinburgh

2010-12-31T02:20:00.000-08:00

Well, it's not glass but it is rather spectacular, so I thought I'd share it! On my way back from Christmas in the Cairngorms (and yes, even though everyone has been claiming they couldn't get to work because of the snow, we actually drove there from the south coast and back again) - I stopped off in Edinburgh to see the huge Confession of St Peter in St Peter's, Falcon Avenue. Amazing church in itself, designed by Robert Lorimer, paid for in the main by Andre Raffalovich, and the first incumbent was Canon John Gray (think Silverpoints and the inspiration for Dorian Gray no less) - Raffalovich and Gray both being part of the Oscar Wilde set before converting to Catholicism.

FBSG the book!

2010-12-31T02:13:00.000-08:00

OK, for those luddites amongst you who aren't sure how to print from PDF files or haven't got good colour printers, I've published the book separately. A4 size, 112 pages, loads of full colour illustrations and details of the windows. £20 including post and packing, OR a special bargain offer - if you buy the book and the DVD you can get the bumper bundle for £30 including p&p. As before payable by cheque or PayPal - just contact Libby.

FINITO!

2010-07-10T00:52:00.000-07:00

After a long week editing, compressing, all sorts of techy stuff, the world's first DVD Catalogue Raisonne is finally finished. It's been a long haul, I'll never recoup my money, but I'm proud to have done it! Apart from Charles occasionally tweaking a button or staggering under the weight of his light meter, it's all my work - the research, the writing of the book (12 chapters) and films (11 films with a total running time of 210 minutes!) and the design.

Anyone interested in purchasing a copy, it's £20 including post and packing, payable by cheque or Paypal. Just contact me.

PS I could not have produced this without Charles - so THANK YOU!

Techy Stuff

2010-05-18T13:00:00.000-07:00

Charles and Mike at Martini Towers ...

The music written by Mike Westbrook and performed by the Miscellany Choir was recorded using a Soundfield SPS422B surround sound microphone system feeding a B format signal into four tracks of a Sound Device 744T multitrack recorder, with a stereo feed also going into a Tascam DA-PI portable DAT recorder.

During the initial period of the FBSG films, we have been using stereo recordings of Mike Westbrook's 'preferred complete takes' of the seven pieces of music. However, the choir had also recorded numerous pick-ups and patches of several parts of each recording, and it was now time to edit these together to form a B-format surround master.

Mike Westbrook lives in Dawlish and I (Charles) live in Lincolnshire so we agreed to meet up in London at my colleague David Martin's edit suite (David is a feature film editor with titles such as Sid and Nancy, The Chamomile Lawn and School for Seduction under his belt).

Fortunately Mike had made and kept copious notes from his initial listening to the session tapes, so was well prepared for the edit. We played each recording element in the required order, Mike following the music on his score bar by bar and telling me precisely at which point we should cross over to the next recorded element. These joins were then played back, adjusted if necessary, and usually a quick mix was applied so that the reverberation sounded convincing. Some of the music pieces had half a dozen or more cuts, whilst just one was a complete take.

Now that we have a four track B-format master of the seven pieces of music, the next challenge is, using suitable software, to convert the music to 5.1 surround sound and then to edit it back into the completed films, replacing the initial preferred complete takes which we have been using as temporary markers. This may require some small adjustments to the picture if the durations are not exactly the same. Then we will have to do a final sound mix on each of the films.

(Ed) Tell me about it ... !

Done and dusted

2010-03-11T13:44:00.000-08:00

Japan trip very successful, wonderful exhibition, very well hung, opened with aplomb (see photos) and had a great (and relaxing) trip to Mashiko afterwards with my friend Teruko (Mashiko being the pottery centre of Japan if not the world!).

Back to reality and to editing at Film Farm (8-10 March) in which time we managed to complete the MUSIC section and do some tweaks. So now all that is needed is my proof readers do come up to scratch, change PDFs accordingly, check the DVD myself, Charles and Mike Westbrook to edit sound recordings, and then Charles has to re-author the entire work. So the end really is in sight!

Libby and Teruko at Slow Time Mashiko, a wonderful minimalist Shaker inspired hotel in the town (recommended)

Manic

2010-02-20T02:55:00.000-08:00

Snow drift - see Thursday below - that's supposed to be a hedge in the background!

That is the only way to describe the past 2 weeks - Libby becoming more hyperactive than normal!
Saturday I delivered my Piper lecture (my first on this topic) to the SGFA and it seemed to go down pretty well and I returned with a lovely bunch of flowers which are still doing very well thank you.
Sunday tried to catch up with mail etc, then got down to writing the lecture for Japan because they need it urgently for translation.
Monday finished the lecture, timed myself, exactly an hour if I don't speak too quickly.
Tuesday started the PowerPoint show, carried on with this Wednesday (most of the Brangwyn lectures I've given to date have been slides, so much extra work involved scanning slides and books and working from CDs of FB images Paul has supplied me with in the past).
Thursday woke up to a white out, and it continued snowing throughout the day, also very windy so the snow has once again drifted across our little country lane and I'm marooned! Realised that it would be more sensible to finish the PowerPoint next week and start supplying Charles with the information he needs for the DVD, so re-read all my catalogue, changed some photos and formatting, made some new logos for buttons on the DVD, designed the disc and sleeve.
Friday everything seems to be going wrong, the PDF files are arriving on Charles' desk without images, logos pixelated etc etc. By nightfall I was completely stressed out - the deadline for getting the DVD finished is 2pm Sunday because Charles is then going to a techy conference in London and the DVD needs to be sent away to Crash Test Dummies or similar to be processed. And the more stressed I became the more mistakes I made. A sleepless night.
Saturday I was due to go up to London for Patrick Reyntiens Open Day in the studio. More or less decided I couldn't spare the time, but since I was making so many errors (still) determined to go - despite the snow. Did get stuck and had to be pushed out of a drift, but somehow managed to get through the village and on to the main road which was clear. London did me a power of good (see sister blog) so returned revitalised. In the evening made a break-through - very simple really, if I used Adobe PDFs instead of PDF factory it all arrived on Film Farm's crowded desk looking hunky-dory!
Sunday - wow, what a day! Much sending to and fro of PDF files, discussions on sleeve and disc design, then my email crashed, the laptop crashed twice, I got it restarted but had to use a different mailbox to send everything to Charles. By 3pm he'd got the DVD finished and then let Mr Mac make a copy before he had to dash off to London. First time ever he hasn't had time to check that everything worked properly. Cross fingers.
Monday no connection on the interweb - tends to do this when it snows or the weather is unseemly - one of the joys of living in the sticks. Concentrated on my slide show and more work on the little booklet I'm making to give as gifts in Japan - it's to show details of FB's stained glass, will be titled Quiddity which means the essence of something, its distinctive qualities, will be printed on hand made Nepalese Lokta paper and contain a design abstracted from one of FB's glass panels duly coloured in by hand in bronze and gold paints. And I've decided to make a limited edition of 50, all signed and numbered by myself. I must be barking!
Tuesday finished the slide show thank goodness. Whizzed down to Guildford to a fantastic shop called Fibrecrafts to buy the Lokta paper - actually whizzed is the wrong description, because it poured, cats and dogs by the kennel full, spray coming up from the road almost blinding at times. Frightful conditions.
Wednesday had a look at the sleeve design and found a mistake - when I went to alter it in In-Design discovered that I'd deleted that file! Ugh. So had to re-design. Meanwhile the printer is gobbling up inks like there's no tomorrow and there isn't time to order ink over the interweb so had to drive down to Ashford and buy more inks for Quiddity and sleeve.
Thursday and Friday organised our next 2 Reyntiens outings. Finished Quiddity, wrapped them all in different coloured tissue papers, Japanese style, sealed with one of my Moo stickers. The 20 processed DVDs for Japan arrived, checked them out, wonderful! Congratulations Charles! Put sleeves on boxes. Packed. (Don't order your copy of the DVD yet - because we're going to make some additions before publishing the final version)
Saturday wrote this blog - in 3 hours time I'm off to Japan! Yippee! I think I deserve a break - I'm thoroughly exhausted just reading this!

Are we nearly there yet?

2010-02-06T01:56:00.000-08:00

Well, hold your horses, have patience and you'll find out in due course!
Saturday 30th the packers collected a couple of works for the Japan exhibition, then I drove up to Bluewater for a rare shopping expotition - mainly because my sheets and towels are so old they are full of holes. Precious little remuneration in this art business, don'tchaknow! Thence on to mea mater for a couple of nights. Same old, same old, don't get me started.
Monday 1st drove down to Film Farm. Charles appeared to have survived the Bear's visitation, so we got straight on with work - first thing to record Libby outside for the beginning and end of the Overview sequence. Not the warmest of weather, Zooty started off wanting to be the star of the show but then decided to chase Pepper instead, so that involved a number of takes, then the local dog began barking at me. Having decided I wasn't an alien he then also wanted to be filmed but walked off in the middle of a take. We finally got the chat in the bag, Libby warming herself with a glass of red. Cheers! Thence to the edit suite.
In the evening Ray Leigh of the Gordon Russell Museum rang - looks like we've landed ourselves another joblet! Although we don't appear to have sufficient hours in the day as it is - still the money will be useful (think of those sheets).
Tuesday: Some old maps I'd ordered arrived, a 1924 one of the UK and a wonderful yellowed one of Bruges, undated. We're using these as chapter headers for each church in the Overview. More editing but by the close of the day were nowhere near completion and Wednesday was a Reyntiens meeting in Cambridge (see Reyntiens Revels blog) and I was planning to return home Thursday.
Wednesday: Charles woke up with the Bear's cold, which worsened exponentially as the day progressed, so by the time we returned home in the evening (snow on the ground) he was in a dire state and fit only for red wine and Lem-Sip (a delicious combination). So no work that evening.
Thursday: The man felt somewhat better this morning so we decided to plod on with the editing, finally giving up for the day at 9.30, after which we ate and wrote up yesterday's minutes.
Friday: Up to the edit suite first thing. By 1.30 we'd more or less finished the Overview, apart from sound tweaking etc, so, after a quick espresso, I started the drive home (which took 6 hours this time). Then cooked, then checked Saturday's lecture, massive headache and worried I've caught the dreaded cold.
So, in answer to the question - sort of! The Japanese would like me to take some copies of the film to sell in the shop, but we haven't done the Music sequence yet and there are some minor chapters I wanrt to add to the written catalogue. We've decided to crank something out - which means poor Charles has a dreadful job ahead of him this next week, checking all the sound levels, going through each sequence making sure there are no errors, then making the menus, authoring the DVD etc. I feel hugely guilty landing him with this, especially when we'll have to author a final DVD in due course. :-(

pocket rocket

2010-01-29T03:37:00.000-08:00

Wowzers - I just cannot believe how much I've accomplished in the last 8 days since I returned to Kent - even for me it's prodigious! I completed and submitted two articles to the Japan Society for their forthcoming Biographical Portraits publication (on FB of course and Urushibara Yoshijiro - I really enjoyed writing the latter because it was a semi-new subject); finished the Overview sequence for FBSG; had a day's research in London at the BM and libraries; wrote a lecture about Piper to be given at the Society of Graphic Fine Art AGM on 6 Feb (of which I'm an Honorary member!); transcribed our interview with Andrea Argent; wrote the Music section for FBSG; started the lecture I'm due to give in Japan at the opening of the exhibition; had a dental appointment and gave blood, plus all the usual housework, cooking, runs, exercises etc. Oh, and I planned a little booklet to give as gifts in Japan and designed some new name cards and sticky labels which I ordered from moo.com (they really are fantastic, thoroughly recommended!)
Poor Charles meanwhile is coping with Jo the Bear trying to complete Charlotte Bach, and has a working weekend ahead - which he dislikes intensely, since one of his New Year resolutions is to take life a little easier. And it's not just the work but the play that's exhausting - 3am they got to bed Wednesday, and 1am yesterday - chatting and downing a glass or 3 of red. I just hope young Charles is still firing on all cylinders next week because I arrive Monday for a 3 day sojourn in the hopes of completing the Overview editing (and one of those days is already forfeit to the Reyntiens saga).

Progress

2010-01-21T12:46:00.000-08:00

Well, since the last posting Libby has more or less written two articles for the Japan Society and Charles has done one of his many and variegated VAT accounts and sorted magazines.

I arrived back at Film Farm 17 January, and from then to my departure Thursday 21st we recorded my Bruges words and edited the film section for same - pretty good going since the film lasts some 20 minutes.

In between times we had brief interludes and despite the fact that Caroline Conran famously declared that life is too short to stuff a mushroom, Libby persevered and stuffed numerous calamaris - and very yummy they were too.

Charles lives in a not insubstantial house (a mere 13 rooms plus 2 kitchens, 2 bathrooms, 2 extra toilets, a shower room, a darkroom and a workroom) but he finds himself continually pressed for space, hence the magazine sorting and the arrival on Wednesday of a second load of very useful boxes in which to store same.

Personally - I despair!

PS The shadowy figure in the 1st floor right hand window is me, waving and nearly drowning because my bed is being subsumed by magazines - a la Day of the Triffids!

I've started so I'll continue ...

2010-01-07T04:08:00.000-08:00

Well, I said we'd get on with FBSG, and as soon as I had taken my mother back home, I whizzed down to Film Farm, arriving 3 January. We recorded my words for the Dublin section and started editing the following day, actually managing to complete the film before I left on the 7th, so not bad going because it was quite a lengthy script.

Meanwhile on the 6th I helped take down the Christmas decorations - that is after we'd take a photo of same - a very minimalist soul Charles with exquisite taste!

PS If anyone can translate the Chinese comment on my last blog I'd be grateful - looks suspiciously like SPAM to me!

2010

2009-12-31T00:55:00.001-08:00

Goodness, here we are at the close of 2009 - what has and has not been achieved in the last year?
POSITIVES: Well, I revamped my Brangwyn website at the start of the year using Dreamweaver, Ferens Art Gallery launched their From Victorian to Edwardian book and exhibition in June (all Brangwyn stuff by MOI), the Piper film was VERY successfully launched on the 27th September, Manuel Auad's beautiful publication of Brangwyn's Way of the Cross with a commentary by MOI (replacing G K Chesterton's original - walking in the feet of the gods here) came out in November, the article Gareth and I wrote for the Journal of Stained Glass appeared in Volume XXXIII and I've given countless Gourmet Art lectures which have been rather fun and certainly got the audiences laughing. Meanwhile much time has been spent writing an essay and cataloguing works for the forthcoming Japanese exhibition.
NEGATIVES: Unfortunately FBSG is still awaiting completion! However it WILL be finished next year - PRIORITY! Didn't get back into cycling and swimming but have been jogging regularly (although my hip won't let me get beyond about 2 miles at a time) and started an out of date Canadian Air Force fitness regime which I discovered amongst my papers!
NEXT YEAR: As stated FBSG will be completed (come whatsit or high water), Charles and I will hopefully be making a film about Patrick Reyntiens, hopefully I won't have to take a job shelf stacking at Tesco and hopefully I won't let the oldies drag me down - keep smiling and Carpe Diem!
HAPPY NEW YEAR to you all!

lateral thinking

2009-12-20T04:58:00.000-08:00

Arrived at Film Farm late afternoon Monday 14th after another lecture. Tuesday we recorded my sound for the Elveden film and Charles did his Brangwyn voice again, then we buckled down and got yet another section of the film completed - we're positively racing through editing these days - without loss of perfection I hasten to add!
On Thursday it started to snow and by Friday we were surrounded by a veritable winter wonderland (unfortunately I'd left my camera at home, silly girl). Also unfortunately this was the day I had to drive up to Thornton to collect my mother for the Christmas festivities. Lincolnshire was pretty snowed under but once I got to the A1 it was fairly clear. By the time I neared York it started snowing again and the windscreen washer froze. Arrived at my mother's house to discover that not one, but TWO cars had slid off the hill into her not insubstantial stone front wall the previous evening. The wall didn't look too happy - heaven knows what the cars looked like.
It snowed even more overnight. Friday morning I cleared the drive of snow and ice pulling a muscle in my back in the process (not on purpose you understand), loaded up the car and we set off at 10.30 for what is usually a 5 hour journey. The windscreen washer still wasn't working despite my filling it up with de-icer and the roads were throwing up slushy grit mix. A filthy windscreen combined with a bright low sun makes for hazardous driving conditions and necessitated frequent stops to clean said windscreen. The roads weren't too awful but everyone was being cautious and taking it fairly slowly. Finally arrived at Cambridge Waitrose an hour later than anticipated for a re-fuelling (us, not the car) and a quick shop for fodder. We set off again as the sun started to set, making the snow covered fields glow warmly, and dusk wasn't as bad as usual because the white countryside lightened everything. Delays on the M25 due to roadworks, slow moving traffic on the QE2 bridge and then back to Kent where there were huge problems. The radio had alerted me to the fact that parts of the M20 were closed for Operation stack (when they use the motorway as a lorry park when ferries are delayed or not sailing), and as a result the A20 was congested. Minor delays were reported in Dover. So I decided to take the M2 and the A2 down to Dover and back home on the M20 northbound. However as we approached the outskirts of Dover we were gridlocked. Nothing moving, cars and lorries solid on a dual carriageway with no way out - not even a hard shoulder to drive down illegally. Drivers were walking along the road comparing notes, some locals caught in the queue reckoned we could be stuck for at least 4 hours if not overnight. By this time it was back down to freezing and I obviously had to get my 91 year old mother out of this predicament.
So I thought up a cunning plan - I put on the hazard warning lights, told my mother to lie back and look grey, and then approached the drivers of cars ahead of me explaining my anxiety - they all kindly moved over so I could drive past, then I approached the drivers in front of them etc etc and it worked like magic until a white van man was sceptical about my passenger and plan. At this point the traffic moved marginally enabling me to squeeze off the road at the next junction. It transpired almost every road in Dover and Folkestone was blocked, stationary - after many illegalities (U-turns on roundabouts, driving the wrong way along a dual carriageway, weaving in and out of parked lorries) we finally made it home exactly 10 hours after setting off. And half an hour later I'd cooked roast smoked salmon, couscous and broccoli served up with more than a dash of much needed warming red wine!
Now to put up some Christmas decorations and prepare 4 festive meals for 12 people before we set off for the west country on Christmas eve where I'm chief cook (but hopefully not bottle washer)!
Have a good Christmas - and next spring we WILL finally complete and publish FBSG!

Blue Peter (take 2)

2009-11-28T04:37:00.000-08:00

Life is becoming somewhat frenetic - Sunday 15th November I drove down to Ramsbury for a lecture in Swindon Monday morning. Tuesday up to stay with my mother in Thornton-le-Dale and then give a lecture for the Scarborough NADFAS group Wednesday, another lecture in Huddersfield Thursday and on to Film Farm Friday to complete the educational 'How to make a stained glass panel' film. Which we succeeded in doing by the time I left on Monday morning (23rd). We also had great fun putting together some 'glass music' to separate the different processes - we mixed sounds of broken glass, chimes and rubbing the top of wine glasses with varying amounts of water inside (unfortunately not wine - that would have made the process FAR more fun but might have got out of hand!)
23rd I left for Leicester Museum and Art Gallery to catalogue the Brangwyn works and then drove back to Thornton. Tuesday a lecture in York, Wednesday another in Leicester, followed by a further couple of days at Film Farm during which we made the Miscellaneous film section - which includes the memorable wet suit incident! (see blog dated 19 November 2007)
Now for an entire week at home followed by 3 lectures in 3 days - Southport, Nottingham and Bisley. A mere couple of days at home and I'm off once again, this time to Norfolk followed by another editing session. No rest for ....

Here's one I made earlier ...

2009-10-18T09:09:00.000-07:00

Returned from another week's editing session yesterday. Didn't get quite as much done as hoped, but we were waylaid by a new project.
Monday 12th:
Visited 3 churches in Buckinghamshire which have Piper windows made by Patrick Reyntiens - this for my first ever Reyntiens lecture in Swansea 6th November. Then called in at the Goldmark Gallery to collect 50 Piper DVDs to be distributed to those who helped with our Piper film and the galleries which allowed us to use their works. Arrived at Film Farm late afternoon.
Tuesday 13th:
Made freeze-frames from our filming of Reyntiens, John Burder's film and Shell's Crown of Glass using Charles' new software - DV Kitchen. Excellent except that it doesn't include the facility of finding a particular frame from a time code, so the time I spent last week finding the exact time codes was rather a waste! And I don't have time to waste! Also put the Manaton section of FBSG on the web, again with DV Kitchen using H264 compression, uploaded to Vimeo - you can find it by clicking here: http://vimeo.com/7086441. What fun!
AND we started editing the 'How to make a stained glass panel' section of FBSG. So all in all a productive day.
Wednesday 14th:
Finished editing our session at English Antique Glass (see entry 13 December 2007) and rather wonderful it looks too. Started work on the first stage of filming Gareth actually making the stained glass panel.
Worked out logistics and budget for a possible new commission.
Thursday 15th:
More work on editing Gareth. Great progress, only 2 sections to complete - hopes high that we might finish this sequence before I leave on Saturday.
Friday 16th:
Spent most of the day reviewing the budget we had worked on Wednesday and wondering how we could trim it without making a loss - which we definitely did with the Piper film - where we were on a fixed budget but kept on wanting to make the whole package better'n'better! No-one can claim they don't get value for money with our films!
However, did succeed in filming the intro for the Elveden film (Libby pretending she likes Guinness again - see above) and also the 'Making stained glass' sequence (Libby driving along a country road - see below)
Saturday 17th:
Wonderful news! We are going to Cochem, Germany for the unveiling of Patrick Reyntiens' and Graham Jones' new windows in St Martin's church - which is hugely exciting, so the morning was spent booking flights, working out how much baggage would need to be checked in, if there will be space for 2 toothbrushes; organising car rental; booking a hotel etc etc. Got this all sewn up by 1pm, quick espresso and Libby was on the road south once more, leaving Charles to pack for a film session in outer Manchester tomorrow - people drawing canines at a dog show! For some strange reason all funded by Mandy's department. You know, the chap who hasn't been elected but runs the country.

finito!

2009-10-01T05:33:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I received a photo from Gareth - the panel is complete - and isn't it just beautiful?! Gosh I can't believe it!

Having signed off on the Piper DVD I'm now concentrating hard on FBSG - this morning I finished transcribing the first of our interviews with Gareth. Charles and I have only got 4 sessions booked before the end of the year which is when I wanted to finish the DVD - but quite honestly I can't see it happening because we've still got Elveden, Dublin and Bruges to edit plus the FB bio and the 'how to make a stained glass panel' section and a brief extra about the music. Ugh, I need more time!

Gareth

2009-06-20T06:48:00.000-07:00

Friday we drove down to Llandeilo, Charles trying valiantly to stay awake after his Venetian and Mexican jaunts (don't worry Libby was driving). The websites implied that Llandeilo was a 'happening' place so we expected lots of restaurant choice in the evening - zilch! Charles idly murmured that it would be lovely if there was a little Mexican cantina - and you'll never guess what, abracadabra, round the next corner there was the one and only cafe in town - Caffi Salvador, serving Mexican/Spanish dishes. Completely unpretentious, a lovely jolly owner chef, great food, and exactly what the doctor required. Even Charles perked up - well, a glass of wine and some interesting food usually does the trick.

This morning we set off early for Gareth's studio where the glass panel is coming along famously and we filmed him putting the leading in place, and also making a perfect circle of lead for one of his apples - posh French mustard jars come in useful. This is the last filming sequence with Gareth so he can happily shave off his beard now!

Back to the hotel to deposit the equipment and a relaxing lunch at Nigel Williams Barita and Deli. Couple of hours left in the afternoon - what to do? Charles shyly suggested that he'd been overworking and deserved a treat so what about the Gwili Steam Railway a mere 20 minutes away.

Gwili it was, and as luck would have it a train was about to leave as we drove into the car park. A dash to the ticket office - 'certainly, 2 senior citizens tickets' said the man looking at my youthful companion and I. So stunned was I that it was not until we were safely seated on the train that I exploded! To be taken for an old age pensioner - GRRRRRRR!

Injury to insult - it then transpired the fireman had turned up missing that morning so no steam trains allowed, and then the old diesel engine had broken down, so we were being pulled by some ordinary diesel engine. However at Llwyfan Cerrig stop Charles did get a chance to pretend to be a train postyman and Libby (still managing to smile) posed in front of a very old carriage - predating Libby herself.

Tomorrow it's back to Film Farm for a 2 day Piper session (see http://piperpapers.blogspot.com)

in the meantime, in between time

2009-06-18T06:31:00.000-07:00

No, not Venice - but Teotihuacan, Mexico

What's been happening since Venice I hear you ask? Well, perhaps not, but I'm going enlighten you anyway.

It's been frenetic - for both of us. No sooner had Charles returned home than he had to pack for Mexico and process the Venice photos and rushes, which I collected on the 5th June en route to the opening of the Victorian and Edwardian exhibition at the Ferens Art Gallery, Hull. The exhibition was accompanied by a very weighty tome featuring every single work in their collection over this period - a fantastic resource and well worth having (only unfortunately not available outside their own shop at present). Contributors were Christopher Wright, Paul Goldman, the irrepressible Donato Esposito and yours truly who did the Brangwyn section (now there's a surprise!) Book and one of the Brangwyn double spreads below.

I then spent a few days with my mother in North Yorkshire before returning home to sort out all the Venice photos and rushes and put together my new Gourmet Art lecture.

Meanwhile Charles left for Mexico 6th June returning to Film Farm Sunday 14th, having worked even longer days than we did in Venice and in greater heat and without a Libby bag lady. He then had a mere 3 days to recuperate and repack bags before I arrived June 18th having given what appeared to be a very successful and fun lecture. The only negative comment I received was that I didn't allow the audience sufficient time to laugh! And the Gourmet nibbles went down very well!

So, after that minor preamble - on to the purpose of this trip. We're off at early light to drive down to wild windy west Wales again, this time to film Gareth leading the stained glass panel.

Venice

2009-05-30T12:00:00.000-07:00

Above: The old gondola yard in Venice, which Brangwyn painted

Just spent a glorious week in Venice, mainly to film Piper stuff, but also Rigby Graham and Frank Brangwyn - so to follow the FB in Venice trail see our sister blog http://piperpapers,blogspot.com
Happy hunting!

Above: Libby jumping for joy!

Banana skins and Brangwyn

2009-05-18T00:49:00.000-07:00

These two items may seem unconnected. However, back in 1911, the vicar of Bucklebury church, Berkshire, complained mightily about the mess in his church, pea shooters, nut shells, orange peel, defaced prayer books etc etc. We felt behoven to re-enact this scene and luckily Pepper agreed to act the part of the church cat (Zutty being far too posh looking for the part).

We had from Wednesday afternoon to Sunday morning to edit the Bucklebury film and work out what we required in the way of equipment for the Venice trip, and despite Mike Goldmark hauling Charles off on Friday to film Brian Aldiss climbing on and off a helicopter and interview same personage (Mike is publishing Brian's latest book Walcot), we actually succeeded in accomplishing our goals. Amazing Grace!

April update

2009-05-01T01:00:00.000-07:00

Amazing how much work one can get done when staying in one place for a number of weeks. In the past 5 weeks I've succeeded in writing the film sequences for Dublin, Elveden, Bruges and Miscellaneous little bits and bobs together with putting together the relevant images, and tackled some Piper related work.

Plus I've met Peter Blake ( a hero), done lots of gardening, running and exercises and painted a picture for elder son who's getting married 9 May - sunglasses obligatory for viewing!

Meanwhile Charles has been working on putting his Robert Dawson video on to DVD and enhancing and making a grand master DVD of all his Rigby Graham films. He had also started preparing for the Montezuma/Mexico trip, to be undertaken with Anna B-G and a pile of worthies from the BM, when of course the epidemic/pandemic put a stop to such activities.

So he's got to suffer an editing session with little old me instead!

Post budget Paxo was screened against a word cloud - you too can create one by going to www.wordle.net/create - they are fantastic fun and a great time waster - especially if you start mucking about with the final image in Photoshop (this was just a quickie, made by putting in the blog URL).

A Big Wet Adventure

2009-03-29T10:01:00.000-07:00

As if the previous day were not sufficient excitement, a problem was spotted with the fuses which led Charles to investigate the cellar - AWASH! The house is built on top of a stream (not the cleverest plan known to man) and the cellar naturally fills with water, necessitating the aid of a full-time pump. Unfortunately the cord fastening the pump to the beam and maintaining the pump's position had snapped and said pump had tipped into the water and for some reason stopped working, hence the deluge. Obviously all electricity had to be switched off before a wellie clad Charles ventured forth to assess the situation. Much sloshing around in water with the aid of a torch, removal of said pump from scene (of crime), check that wine bottles not affected etc etc.
Sometime or other we managed to complete the Manaton film which is rather glorious and atmospheric with the pianola and the rainy, windy, thundery weather.
Libby returns back home Sunday, meanwhile Charles anticipates the arrival of the Bear on the 30th for another week of Charlotte editing. And then yet another guest (Anna B-G) after that.
No rest for ....
However Libby is keeping out of his hair for about 6 1/2 weeks or probably even longer if Anna secures a Montezuma related trip to Mexico. Ole!

Filmmaker helps police with their enquiries

2009-03-27T09:36:00.000-07:00

About 4am Friday distant sounds of planes could be heard. Charles, in a delusional state, decided the Air Force were practising a royal fly-past in secret. However the noise gradually became louder, until at about 5am it was obvious that a helicopter was circling overhead. Police cars with lights blazing drove round the drive countless times - it should be remembered that this is a pretty remote part of Lincolnshire. The cars could be seen negotiating the small roads in the area and the helicopter appeared to be hovering over the neighbouring church. Having ascertained that both of us were still alive and safe and the doors well and truly locked, we hunkered down until morn, when we discovered (via the local radio station) that some gangsters had driven a fork lift truck into the wall of Barclays Bank in Spilsby, thereby removing the ATM machine, and, for some strange reason had made their getaway to East Kirkby church, an isolated spot to be sure but also a dead end. Here the felons had been located by the helicopter (borrowed from Yorkshire since amazingly enough Lincolnshire do not own one) and finally apprehended by the constabulary.
A very attractive young blond officer of the female persuasion came to the house later in the day to ensure everything was safe and no-one was hiding out in the barns. Youthful Charles was only to happy to help with enquiries.
We had to make a fleeting visit to Spilsby that day (since we came from the 'big 'ouse' we were waved magisterially through the crime scene and dozens of police-personages and forensics) and actually saw the 'Hole in the Wall' (literally), excited townspeople describing the 'wild west' character of their sleepy little township!
More progress on Manaton despite the broo-ha-ha! And in the evening Libby devised a rather splendid Bread and Butter Pudding for Soundbites.

Non Stop

2009-03-26T09:13:00.000-07:00

I returned home from the FBSG/Piper trip Monday 16th, had a busy week catching up on mail, attending the NADFAS Directory meeting, ensuring I had everything ready for the next editing session and then departed again Sunday 22 for my monthly mother visit prior to another FBSG session at EKH starting Wednesday 25th. Poor Charles was similarly busy - Joe the Bear was resident to help edit Charlotte Bach - Charles also taking on the duties of master chef and plongeur.
We made a great start Wednesday, not only recording all the words for Manaton and Bucklebury but actually making a start on putting together the Manaton sequence.
Thursday more progress on the Manaton film. In the past Libby has sat in the edit suite dumbfounded and full of admiration for all the techy stuff. However over the months she's learnt a thing or two, and being of an impulsive and hasty nature, has begun to interrupt with 'Why don't you do such and such?' or 'Aren't you going to whatever?' just as the eminent filmmaker was about to perform said miracles. She was deservedly threatened with the ceremonial taping of the mouth thereby preventing such intrusions, and spent much of the day hoping to avoid censure and raising her arm whenever she had a question: 'PLEASE SIR ...'
Over the evening meal the pair tackled the thorny problem of the Piper film composition and structure, put together a list of all they had filmed last year and all the interviews and decided that Libby should make a list of the Piper works to be included together with dates, before they proceeded further.
Tip from my mother - I squeeze fresh oranges each morning and she suggested drying out the skins and then using them on the log fire - they burn well and add a citrusy aroma. Environmentally correct and might save the odd penny. She recalls drying oranges as a child 90 years ago!

Orange skins awaiting chilly weather - image added 1 May 2009 after much orange squeezing and drying!

pianolas

2009-03-12T08:37:00.000-07:00

Now this may at first sight appear to be an odd entry for a DVD on stained glass, but bear with me. The window at Manaton is a memorial to a young lad who had Down's syndrome, died in 1927, and wasn't educated in the usual way of things - but his parents did buy him a pianola and hundreds of rolls which he played endlessly. In the hopes of enhancing our project further we made an appointment to film at the Cambridge Pianola Company where a delightful young Polish man, Greg, agreed to perform Elgar's Salut D'Amour (see above). We were absolutely entranced by the player pianos and the staff and proprietor, Tom Poole, were all so welcoming. Great start to our current trip which is actually Piper based - so I'm now going over to that blog - toodle pip!

cunning plan

2009-03-06T08:49:00.000-08:00

Yippee! I think the cunning plan was successful - herewith Libby's version of Brangwyn's design for Tiffany - Flute Players, complete with opalescent glass effect! Whadyathink?

Gareth, Slaughter, Tiffany and the AGA saga

2009-03-05T02:24:00.000-08:00

Having done my dutiful daughter act, it was on to Film Farm on the 25th March. We put the final images into the Northampton film and generally charged batteries (animal, vegetable and mineral). The following morning it was the long 6 hour slog to Mumbles, calling in on some friends near Cardiff for a restorative cuppa and a look at their super new Brangwyn painting. Friday morning I had a run along the front (unfortunately not the beach itself because the tide was up) and then met Charles for a leisurely breakfast before setting off for Carmarthen and Gareth. The stained glass panel is coming along superbly - see detail of delicious apple and foliage and Gareth with his kiln. Four hours solid filming, most of it hand held so poor Charles was suffering by the end, and, having eschewed lunch was in a pretty dismal state by the time we returned to Mumbles. However a Dick Barton special (see entry 23 September 2008) did much to restore the parts others etc (I didn't think the fish and chips were up to much this time actually, but then I'm not an F&C connoisseur). See below one happy bunny - almost in focus!
Saturday back to Film Farm. As we drove up the drive we noted scattered white feathers. Fearing the worst we leapt out and followed the trail - and a long trail it was too, round the copse, across the drive, past the terrace, over to the long pond, another pile of plucked and bloodied feathers by the vegetable garden - and a dead hen neatly deposited in the small pond. The second hen was not discovered - probably carried away by the marauding animal - we reckon a dog because the hunter was obviously playing with his prey.

A restorative drink was required to recover from the shock.

The following few days were spent putting together the Tiffany film and I managed to squirrel away some time for letterpressing. At the end of each film we have a grand finale - Miscellany performing their Ella meets the nuns choral activity accompanying a visual extravaganza of the particular window. However the stringent contractual obligations of the American galleries who own the 2 completed Tiffany panels preclude their use in such a format and the only images available are black and white sketches from ancient tomes - not hugely exciting. BUT, on my return journey yesterday I hatched a cunning plan. Let's just hope it's successful.

Staggering downstairs to make himself a cup of tea on Wednesday morning Charles discovered the black hole of Calcutta re-enacted in a smoke filled kitchen - the Aga was spouting noxious stuff like there was no tomorrow and no shortage of oil. The cats weren't too happy either. Every surface was covered with a greasy black grime and the cobwebs looked decidedly the worse for wear (not that there are any in such a pristine kitchen of course).

It seemed best to escape to Kent and leave him to it!

And then today another sadness - the little black hen, Dot, who was terrorised by Gin and Tonic (better known as the Hooligans) died this morning, a few days after her tormentors from whose battering she never really recovered.

We've both got a week of catching up with mail and jobs before a Piper foray starting next Wednesday - it's all go!

Meracious Machicolations at Manaton

2009-02-19T01:16:00.000-08:00

Crikey, wowzers and goodness gracious me - I've finished yet another film sequence - this time for St Winifred's church in Manaton, Devon. At this rate I'll be finishing projects before I've even started them! However there will be a brief hiatus now because am about to depart on my monthly mother trip to Yorkshire and then we're off to film Gareth in Welsh Wales and then hopefully get some editing done when we return home to Film Farm.
The worst thing about the Manaton film was the incessant rain - I felt frozen just watching the rushes!

Bucklebury Beastly Beatitudes

2009-02-15T07:33:00.000-08:00

Wowzers, what a week. After finishing Tiffany I then read Ingrams book about Piper prior to our interviewing him in March, finished off a drawing of Galerie L'Art Nouveau (because permission to use the photograph would be exorbitant), and today have completed the film sequence for Bucklebury. Am I chuffed or am I chuffed. Oh, and I've also started a painting for my son's wedding in May!

Meanwhile poor Charles has been having hellish problems with some new software and reinstalling Final Cut Pro so he's been walking backwards the last couple of weeks.

Tiffs of Tiffin at Tiffanys

2009-02-11T04:34:00.000-08:00

Following on from my comparative success of 17 January, I decided to rejig the Tiffany film which I had originally written last April, so fingers crossed that this will pass muster when we do some editing after the Gareth trip end of Feb. Just hope I've got the correct roll numbers, timecodes, chapter headers, image sizes (they HAVE to be TIFFS) etc etc.

Brangwyn Website

2009-02-06T02:32:00.001-08:00

The Brangwyn website has been dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century with a brand new sleek, sophisticated format and oodles more images and oodles more info. So much for those detractors who, observing me reading Dreamweaver for Dummies at Christmas (good gobble book dontchaknow) looked at me askance. Anyway I did it, all by myself! Check it out on http://www.frankbrangwyn.org/ and let me know what you think! Here's the opening SPLASH page to whet your appetite:

And since everyone has their SNOW picture, here's the lane outside my house a few days ago - reminds me a bit of FB's etchings, Trees in Snow or The Storm:

Animal Farm

2009-01-17T04:28:00.000-08:00

Just returned from a week at Film Farm where the population has doubled within the last month, the new arrivals being Zutty, a very laid back purr-box named after Zutty Singleton (1898-1971), jazz drummer who worked with Fats Waller et al - and two Lincolnshire/Sussex cross hens named Gin and Tonic (Gin, who is a tad larger than Tonic was too busy laying to be photographed). Pepper (the existing feline) has not taken kindly to her new companion and they regularly eat each other's food, and poor Dot (the existing hen - keep up!) seems to have been unceremoniously shoved into bottom place in the pecking order, with the result that her feet have been severely pecked by her raucous new companions. Hopefully things will have calmed down by the time I make my next visit. Anyway, I didn't really go to inspect the new menagerie - but to WORK! Those of you who recall (and who wouldn't) the blog dated 29 April 2008 will understand my apprehension about a second attempt to put together the Northampton film. However, I've learnt a lot in the last year and it transpired that my preparations were sufficient unto the day and (apart from a tiddly section where I need some of Peter Cormack's valuable input) that particular film section is bagged - and not only that, the wondrous filmmaker pronounced it 'jolly good' (considering!) So I feel vastly heartened and ready to tackle the next episode.

So we celebrated by making a batch of marmalade on Friday - named Prohibition Marmalade in honour of the date - and possibly ironically since we always seal the amber with a slurp of whisky! See label below:

I DO NOT BELIEVE IT!

2009-01-06T01:18:00.000-08:00

All the positive thoughts about leaping back into FBSG have already been scuttled, and we're only 6 days into the year! Gareth rang last night, his water supply has been broken since New Year and he can't get any work done until the broken pipe is mended and the Council appear to be saying it's nothing to do with me mate. So we've had to cancel the projected trip the end of January and are hoping to re-schedule for the end of February. Since this whole project is self-funded I just hope the hotel doesn't charge a penalty or it'll be bread and dripping for my esteemed filmmaker colleague and a lettuce leaf for me.
Watch this space.
A heartfelt AAAAARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009

2009-01-01T00:57:00.000-08:00

Looking back at my 2008 entry - what has changed? Much the same story, achieved a lot but not necessarily what I'd intended.

I did complete Christ's Hospital Murals and rather good it looks too (though I say so as shouldn't) with it's hand made and hand bound Lokta paper cover, a limited edition of 250, specially designed illuminated letters one of which is hand tinted, and a letterpress sheet. A bibliophile's dream. And I published the history of the William Morris Gallery (see below), wrote the article about Stations of the Cross, did quite a lot of work for the Brangwyn exhibition to be held in Tokyo 2010, started the libbyhorner.com website, tried my hand at podcasting (great fun), learnt the rudiments of letterpress printing (I'm hooked), delivered my first Gourmet Art lecture and taught myself how to use Power Point.

The main thrust of the year though was the commission to make a film about John Piper with Charles Mapleston. We decided to concentrate on his architectural and topographical work and to this end realised that to 'bag' all the sites we wanted we'd have to be out and about filming virtually every other week during the so-called summer months when the light was good. Exhausting stuff which didn't leave much time for other projects.

And FBSG - well that got sidelined by Piper and other issues beyond my control. BUT this year I am even MORE determined to get the DVD finished and we look to be off to a good start with an editing session mid January and a 2nd visit to Gareth to film the glass making at the end of January.

So 2009 - complete FBSG, complete Piper, write a couple of chapters for the Japanese book, teach myself Dreamweaver and bring my Brangwyn website into the 21st century, get more variety to my exercise by adding cycles and swims, carry on cooking, try to get the most out of life, be positive despite the gloomy outlook. Cheers all and Happy New Year!

Porkus Pieus

2008-09-27T06:08:00.000-07:00

Guess what arrived in the post this morning - a box of 4 pork pies from Blasau - so some went in the freezer and 1 was kept for CM's lunch together with a Jamie Oliver Mothership Tomato Salad with red, yellow, black, plum and baby tomatoes and tomatillos from the greenhouse.
Worked on organising the next Piper trip and editing stained glass films to show Patrick Reyntiens (which should be in the Piper blog I guess!)

Found missing

2008-09-25T06:03:00.000-07:00

Immediately after breakfast we rushed round to Blasau for CM's pork pie, but the delivery hadn't arrived, so we packed the bags, packed the car, and returned - still no pies. We then checked out of the hotel and drove past the deli - but still no pies! :-(
Apart from being stuck behind an Eddie Stobart lorry all the way from Machynlleth to Shrewsbury, an uneventful journey back to Film Farm, where Charles again worked on the Aidan Dun DVD whilst Libby caught up on emails.

A Piper interlude

2008-09-24T05:50:00.000-07:00

Another early run along the beach which probably won't do my hip much good but it's just so beautiful and the air is so fresh. Charles highly delighted at breakfast by discovering a cereal named JUST RIGHT (which of course he is all the time). Libby saw some innocuous looking olives in Newton Street which she couldn't resist (she's an olive freak) which transpired to be THE most expensive olives EVER @ £1.25 per olive! YIKES! Having pulled herself together we then drove through some wonderful Welsh countryside getting general panoramas for the Piper film.
And we still had time left in the day to visit the Centre for Alternative Technology near Macynlleth which was hugely disappointing - we both anticipated leaving feeling truly inspired - but it's all geared at children, half the exhibits didn't work, the gardens and polytunnels were not well tended - just an air of neglect where one would have expected youthful enthusiasm and technological advances. Libby deemed the wooden seat with coins between the slots worthy of a brief R&R though.

Called in at the Blasau deli in Machynlleth run by Edward Hammond to check they'd have pork pies for CM's lunch tomorrow (see http://piperpapers.blogspot.com 10 July 2008).
Good evening meal at the Wynnstay Hotel c/o Chef Gareth (no relation) although CM had been hoping the wood fired pizza oven would be operational.

Gareth

2008-09-23T05:31:00.000-07:00

I couldn't resist a run along the beach this morning - and it was joyful, so clean, fabulous rock formations, seaweed strewn as if by hand evenly across the rolling outcrops and between rockpools. After a stroll down Mumbles pier and along Newton Street we drive to Carmarthen area to film Gareth, and Charles has already spotted his lunch - a fish and chip shop by the name of Dick Barton - unfortunately we drove past before it opened so much grumps from himself.

Gareth has produced a truly beautiful sensitive cartoon from the scruffy photocopy I sent him of Girl with a Bowl, and has made a great start on cutting and putting together the glass pieces. We filmed him drawing on the cartoon and then he did his 'here's one I made earlier' routine, and also explained about different sorts of glass, colour balance, lead calmes - all highly successful. I'm hugely excited about my Bing/Tiffany/Brangwyn panel! The next episode will be sometime January 2009. Photos show work in progress.

Dick Barton was open on the return journey so CM INSISTED on stopping, buying a bag of chips, and being photographed with same. Unfortunately he was SO excited by the quality of the produce that he wouldn't stay still, which explains the slight blur (that's my story and I'm sticking to it). Actually, I'm not a chip lover by any stretch of the imagination, but have to admit they were truly scrummy - in fact I ate 2!

Superb evening meal in the hotel.

Andrea

2008-09-22T05:06:00.000-07:00

Since all the filming we'll be doing this week is indoors, the weather promises to be glorious. An uneventful drive down to Clevedon - I don't think Charles made more than a couple of navigational errors - apart from the horrendous hold up on the Avon bridge where they appeared to be putting down a red carpet - presumably prior to some dignitary's arrival. This delayed us by something like 1/2 hour which was a shame because Andrea had kindly fitted us in between the various piano and languages lessons she gives. Anyway we needn't have worried about time because Andrea didn't need any prompting whatsoever - she was brilliant, a natural, chattering merrily away, some tinkling of the piano, all delivered with a cheery smile and much hilarity - watch out for the dong with the luminous nose.
Having already had sandwiches for elevenses and a pork pie for lunch, Charles' appetite was assuaged by Andrea's lovely fruit cake (getting up at 7.30 does CM's constitution no good at all).
Thence a drive down to Langland, staying at Little Langland, a beautifully appointed small hotel near the coast. We walked along the beach to Langland's Brasserie for a meal and actually sat outdoors, the weather was so balmy - what bliss.

Film Farm

2008-09-21T05:22:00.000-07:00

Arrived at Film Farm to find Charles deep in the midst of editing his recording of the King's Cross poet Aidan Dun (with one N) which was required urgently. We watched it together, had a discussion, then he squirreled away again completing same until about 9pm - so a late evening meal - and we've got to leave at 9am tomorrow to drive to Clevedon to interview Andrea Argent - who you will recall is leader of the most wonderful Miscellany who sang for us last autumn (see entry 18 November 2007). We want to get her take on the difficulties of performing Mike's music as a companion piece to Mike's interview.

glass faces

2008-09-02T00:35:00.000-07:00

The final piece of the jigsaw hopefully - a quick dash to Castle Loppem just outside Bruges to examine 3 faces of saints painted on glass which relate to the saints depicted in the Chapter Hall of St Andrei's Abbey, Zevenkerken (also just round the corner so to speak). Unfortunately one of the faces was broken, anyway we did our level best to photograph them against the light without too much of my hands showing and without dropping them. Castle itself designed by Jean-Baptiste de Bethune who was a chum of Frank's dad, but we thought it was rather an ugly pile.
En route back to England for some Piper filming we had to stop at City Europe of course to enable Charles to stock up on wines, mayonnaise, mustard and pate - and buy something for a late lunch - which turned out to be the largest crevettes we have EVER seen!

BSMGP

2008-08-02T08:40:00.000-07:00

British Society of Master Glass Painters to you. They held their Conference on Aspects of 20th Century Glass at the Glaziers Hall 30 July/1 August and very good it was too. Some super lectures, interesting slides, lively audience, much more varied than the usual art historical crowd because many of these people were hands on artists and practitioners/craftspeople. And I learnt so much! I gave a lecture about FB's stained glass based on my current research which seemed to be well received (I hope they weren't just being polite!) - the first time I've used digital and I have to admit that it has convinced me that this is the way to go - it was wonderful being able to take small details of the stained glass and show them together with related works.
The 2 day conference did make me think about the responsibilities of a lecturer, especially a paid lecturer, so for what it's worth:
1) have good images
2) prepare well, work out the logistics of the speech, the forward motion, think about what you want to say and how to say it
3) engage with the audience in some way - show enthusiasm, add some humour, emphasise words - don't drone
4) don't um and ah every few seconds - if you can't ad lib successfully then write a script
5) keep to the alloted time scale, don't over-run, especially in a conference situation

Gareth's Glass

2008-07-16T09:07:00.001-07:00

Brilliant news! I rang Gareth today, dreading that family problems and ill health may have delayed the Brangwyn/Tiffany panel further and, not only was he writing me a note at that very moment, but he has started work on the cartoon, and he sounded his old enthusiastic self. I am just so relieved. Unfortunately August is now booked solid for both Charles and me, so we've tentatively agreed to visit and film the first part of the glass making process in September. YIPPEE!

Meanwhile Piper has taken up most of my waking hours!

old hats

2008-06-12T12:09:00.000-07:00

Dear FBSG
I fear that hours spent on you will be few and far between over the following few months due to the fact that if we are to film Piper on location it has to be during the long summer days, the research needs to be done in tandem, and there are basicaly no hours left for you since I work 8-10 most days anyway. And someone is paying me (minimally) for this work, which helps lubricate the wheels etc - so, huge apologies FBSG, but you are going to have to lie dormant for the next few months - but if people want to know what is happening in Libby's hectic life meanwhile you might discover an inkling on http://piperpapers.blogspot.com.
More anon, doubtless,
Libby et al

New project

2008-05-26T12:05:00.000-07:00

Well, the good news is that we are definitely 'on' for the John Piper film, commissioned by Mike Goldmark of the Goldmark Gallery, Uppingham. The bad news, to a certain extent, is that if we are to accomplish all the filming we want to capture before the dark days creep in, we'll have to film on location once a fortnight from now until late September - which doesn't leave a toadstool of space for FBSG. I'll try to continue logging FBSG and writing the film scripts but the main problem is that having left a project for a certain length of time the exact visual recall of the hours of film becomes dimmed, so if something proves to be not quite right, you can't necessarily recall a tidbit which would suffice or improve.
Nevertheless, we aren't complaining, it keeps us busy and the brains ticking over, and we now have a sister blog which records progress on the new project, to be found on: http://piperpapers.blogspot.com/

Coping?

2008-05-14T13:44:00.001-07:00

Work, the garden, everything is beginning to overwhelm me!
Garden - I'm a fair weather gardener and the weather has been so lousy that I've hardly been out this year until the current heat wave, and then I suddenly realised the weeds had taken over, so had a mad splurge the last few days and it looks tolerably better, but with 1/2 acre to tend tout seul (although I draw the line at mowing the lawns) it's a bit of a facer.
Work - Returning from the last trip to Film Farm I worked flat out for a few days on our new project and then an absolutely hectic week on the Tokyo Brangwyn Exhibition 2010 for which I've been appointed consultant curator. Plus lectures, meetings, general catching up - FBSG hasn't had much of a look in. And in recording Driftwood #3 I mistakenly let myself in for completely revamping the Reproductions page of my Brangwyn website and adding all 100 illustrations - something I've been meaning to do for ages, but takes a tad longer than a few minutes!
But I did get a break to celebrate Labour Day and we had a walk round the Saxon Shoreline north of Folkestone with views of Sheppey and then back inland to Luddenham, windswept and pleasantly bleak (contradiction in terms?) and one could almost imagine what the coast would have been like centuries ago with just a few dotted farmsteads, sheep grazing, birdlife flourishing. then on to the Sportsman at Seasalter, which I believe is the only pub in England to have a Michelin star and it was EXCELLENT. Nothing pretentious, plain decor, scrubbed oak tables, mix of chairs, relaxed but knowledgeable waitresses and good quality fresh food superbly cooked - so if ever you are in the region - make a detour! (beachuts at Seasalter above)

Off again Saturday to visit my mother, travelling via Northampton armed with tripod and the new Olympus E510 - very swanky! Then a few days at Film Farm either discussing the new project or getting on with FBSG. Our projected trip the first week in June to interview Andrea about Miscellany's approach to the music and thence on to Gareth to film him making the stained glass panel has had to be postponed unfortunately - probably until August.

(below: Bluebell woods, Kent, 1 May 2008)

Northampton again

2008-04-30T00:20:00.000-07:00

Ruth has emailed that the prototype is the Mansfield Road Baptist Church in Nottingham - which is really odd because it stated a West Bridgford church in the Abington Avenue Minutes. I've already arranged to visit Northampton on my next trip up north, together with tripod this time so I don't get camera shake. I'm feeling a new camera coming on - something with SLR possibly. And then I'll check out the Baptist church. Phew, academic rigour!

Quarters

2008-04-29T13:35:00.000-07:00

Go on, you're kidding me - we're 1/4 way through the year already? Aaaaargh!
Well, the 2nd edition of DRIFTWOOD is published, and I've written the script for the Tiffany section. When we met up at Film Farm 24 April we recorded all my dialogue for that section and re-recorded Northampton because I'd enlivened it a tad - hopefully. Unfortunately it transpired I hadn't got sufficient images to keep the dialogue going in the Northampton film so when we started editing, the whole thing sort of unravelled and we didn't get very far, and my photo of the memorial plaque had camera shake, so I was somwhat in the doghouse - hey, give me a break, I'm comparitively new to this game. Anyway another lesson learnt and good job this isn't the Apprentice - otherwise I'd have been FIRED!
However we did produce a rather lovely opening page which will be used for each section, including the Brangwyn Portfolio wrapper design (rather Batik looking), a relevant quote and a logo which identifies each window in both the film and the PDF files.
The good news - there is some? - is that we've been commissioned to produce a DVD about another artist (NOT Brangwyn) which is all rather exciting but under wraps at the moment, but needless to say, it ended up monopolising most of our precious few days, brainstorming and so forth.
Meanwhile Gareth has family problems so the project could possibly be delayed yet again on the Welsh front. Another heartfelt AAAAARGH!

Northampton

2008-04-21T00:13:00.000-07:00

On my monthly trip up north to visit my mother I dropped in to the United Reformed Church to take a photo of the photo they have of the Minister at the time of FB's window (long winded sentence), take a photo of the plaque in memory of those killed during WW1 since the window commemorates them and one soldier in particular, and photograph the atrium behind the east window. Ruth very helpful as usual. I mentioned that I was then progressing to West Bridgford, Nottingham where the architectural prototype of this church is rumoured to be. I was under the impression that said prototype was CofE and so had narrowed down my list of churches in that area. Ruth wasn't so sure, tried ringing the previous Minister but unfortunately he was out.

Arrived at Nottingham. St Giles was castellated so no good, the church on Boundary Road too modern, but a URC I happened to drive past looked a possibility. Unfortunately didn't have time to return because was due in Thornton.

Winter Wonderland

2008-04-07T03:50:00.000-07:00

I set out from Kent yesterday morning in bright sunlight and wearing only a T-shirt (well, plus jeans) all set to visit Rachel in London and collect my newly purchased set of The Studio magazines. As I left I noticed a few drops of rain - within half an hour the countryside was blanketted in snow and the fast lane of the M20 was white. London was just the same, all the suburban rooves frosted like fairy cakes, tree branches drooping under the weight of the snow. Under Rachel's expert guidance the car was soon loaded with my 108 volumes plus two index volumes, and after a jolly lunch I set out again for Kent. By this time the snow had disappeared in London but as I entered Kent it started snowing again, almost blizzard conditions at times. By the time I reached home the landscape was a winter wonderland, and with that glorious silence which comes with snow.

Today the bookshelves were emptied and The Studio given pride of place. Also provided an excellent opportunity to re-organise my books, but there just isn't sufficient space for everything!

Accompanying photos show the snow in the garden and my wonderful new acquisition (left hand side of the bookshelves).

Mad March

2008-04-03T04:18:00.000-07:00

It certainly was a wild one, wet and windy, and an endless Operation Stack (that's when they use the M20 as a car park for lorries - this time it lasted weeks partly due to the frightful weather and partly due to French strikes).
Work continued nonetheless, and my latest booklet, 'A Humble Offering to the People of Walthamstow'. Being a Short History of the Formation of the William Morris Gallery and Brangwyn Gift (certainly not a short title) went into production the middle of the month (pictured above). If you'd like to purchase a copy email me (£4 plus 50p post and packing). I also completed the film script for the Northampton window and the 1st DRIFTWOOD script (first mentioned in blog dated 2 February 2008).
And then it was Easter, rather an exhausting process, collecting the grandparents from Bristol and Scarborough areas, feeding 8 for a period of 5 days, and then delivering the oldies back home again afterwards. The highlight of the weekend was my elder son announcing his engagement - a due cause for celebration.
And then on to 3 1/2 days extremely intense work at Film Farm. I managed to get my daily run in before breakfast, but after that there was no let up - one evening we finished at 11.30 (way past my normal bedtime!) However we did succeed in launching my new website http://www.libbyhorner.com/ and also the podcast DRIFTWOOD which I think is great fun, but then perhaps I'm biased! Go have a look and a listen and let me know what YOU think! If you'd like to make any contributions, highlight local exhibitions, a book publication, a musical event or have a rant about the art world - just let me know. It can't be all bad because it was immediately accepted into the illustrious iTunes Podcast Catalogue (Arts). Wowzers! (Just click on the word Driftwood above to access)

We also succeeded in recording my blurb for the Northampton film and going through the script in detail, but did take a small break to visit the Tastes of Lincolnshire fair in nearby Horncastle, where I was introduced to the delights of smoked eel c/o Smith's Smokery and bought myself some Lincolnshire Poacher - a superb cheddar which was first produced in 1992 and was named Supreme Champion at the British Cheese Awards in 1997 against 500 other cheeses!

February

2008-03-04T11:53:00.000-08:00

Gosh, here we are, beginning of March, there's a bitter wind blowing up from the marshes, the snowdrops have faded, the daffodils are coming into bloom, we've had some truly outstanding sunsets here in Kent (probably pollution more than anything else) and even a lengthy 29 day February has flown by and where are we regarding progress? Well, lots of interviews and filming earlier this month, some more Ferens work completed, the William Morris Gallery booklet ready for publication save a final photograph, the design layout for FBSG accomplished, a couple of other projects nearing completion (of which more come the close of the month) and now I'm into transcribing all the interviews we conducted, which is a lengthy business. Today I transcribed the half hour interview with Peter Cormack and it took me roughly 2 hours plus breaks in between to stretch my back, go for a run, have a coffee, keep my mind alert etc - so basically the whole afternoon. I can visualise long long days stretching ahead of me, good basic production work but nothing creative, which tends to numb me, so I'll have to invent other carpe diem strategies for the remainder of each day to keep me happy.

Are you happy? :-)

Complicated or What?

2008-02-17T05:22:00.001-08:00

Well, having completed all the filming (except for Gareth making stained glass), I decided the time had come, the time that shall surely be, to draw up a DVD Menu - a moment I appreciate you had all been awaiting agog.

When one opens the DVD there will be a title and a jolly rush of images of windows, which leads into the mission statement and 3 buttons. With one of these you can skip the intro, the other 2 allow you to enter the catalogue raisonne or the film options.

Let us assume you want to look at the Cat Rais (of course you do). This is basically just like a book, and copiously illustrated, but you can either read it on screen or print it yourself from the PDF file. The window (as in computers, not glass) will show 8 buttons which lead to - Acknowledgements, Bibliography, Introduction (containing a brief history of stained glass, how glass is made and stained glass panels are made, and Brangwyn's involvement in general), Glossary of terms, Glass makers (details of the glass makers with whom FB worked), a printable index, a copy of this Blog, and Stained Glass Windows. This latter button leads to another window with 8 further buttons which give one the catalogue raisonne details for Small Works (small or shelved commissions), Tiffany (details of six panels), Bucklebury, Northampton, Manaton, Bruges, Dublin and Elveden.

If however you decided to investigate the Film Options you would be presented with a window with 6 buttons titled something like Main Film (this gives an overall history of all the windows together with interviews with experts and practitioners and parishioners and will be about 30-40 minutes long), Making Stained Glass (an educational film devoted to Gareth's work producing a stained glass panel from a design Brangwyn made for Tiffany in 1899 and also showing how stained glass is produced at English Antique Glass), Biography (a 10 minute film with commentary including shots of places FB lived and some of his works), Stained Glass Windows (eight 10-15 minute films providing more detailed descriptions of the windows, together with interviews with such luminaries as Brian Clarke, Peter Cormack, Martin Eidelberg, Martin Harrison and Patrick Reyntiens), Slide Show (eight slide shows containing 20-30 slides of each window or group of windows). The last button, Music, leads to yet another window with 2 buttons entitled Sound Tracks (of the Miscellany recording) and Interviews (with Mike Westbrook and Andrea Argent).

And if we still have the energy there may be an Easter Egg (which, for the uninitiated is a hidden file)!

So that's a fair bit of work for both of us and lots of complicated structural techy stuff for Charles. I feel absolutely exhausted just contemplating it. Sit down Libby, have a break.

FFFF Thursday and Friday

2008-02-08T09:09:00.000-08:00

John Tennant and part of the Nativity window at St Mary the Virgin, Bucklebury.

The sundial and fly.

Great excitment Thursday morning because in loading up the car we discover that mine hosts have a whole gaggle of beautiful hens, some of which lay blue eggs, which got CM thinking about expanding his flock again.

A short drive to Bucklebury to interview John Tennant about the windows in the church and take some more shots to supplement the filming we had done there a couple of years back for ART? It's just a job! (the Brangwyn film commissioned by Goldmark Gallery, Uppingham) - but you all knew that I guess. Another good session and I took a photo of the fly in the glass reminding us that tempus fugit! A good reason to carpe diem!

And thus back to Film Farm, two rather weary souls, but all is not over yet, because on Friday CM has to put all the film rushes onto DVD for me, together with built-in timecodes, and the stills on to a CD, and we also had a telephone interview with Martin Adams about the iniquitous events at the William Morris Gallery for DRIFTWOOD's first rant session. And we recorded some links and CM made the most wonderful intro from the sound of the sea and gulls at Dawlish and the harp and hang we taped in Dublin (see 12 September 2007). AND he treated himself to a coal fired Fish and Chips from Stickney for lunch, the latest 'find' (I succeeded in ducking out and opted for anchovy fillets and artichoke hearts and some killer Lincolnshire Poacher).

Farraginous, Falemic, Flapdoodle February.

FFFF 8 bags Wednesday

2008-02-06T08:22:00.000-08:00

Expressive or what? Brian Clarke and the ever youthful Martin Harrison

We always knew this would be the killer day and so it proved.

Early starts are not on Charles' agenda but I had to bang down his door at 6.30 so that we could pack and be at the Royal Academy by 8am. No breakfast but at least the pre-ordered taxi was prompt - 8 bags checked in. We were in the RA Library again, a beautiful room, looking at sketchbooks FB had left to the RA which included sketches for St Andre's monastery outside Bruges, and also photographing a large study for the Northampton window. We succeeded in finishing before the 10am deadline and somehow struggled with our 8 bags to the nearest coffee bar for a much needed shot of caffeine and croissants.

8 bags - check, and the next taxi which took us to Martin Harrison's house near Sussex Gardens where we set up the green screen and interviewed Martin (an art historian and authority on Victorian stained glass) and Brian Clarke (an artist and stained glass designer of renown). As you can see from the images, both sessions were lively events as well as the gentlemen being very erudite and good speakers.

8 bags - check. Martin kindly helped us lug them to Sussex Gardens where we flagged down a taxi to take us to Imperial College where there is a cartoon for the Youth and Age window FB designed for Tiffany. Last time I went to see this work I waltzed in happily through the Prince Consort Road entrance. Now however they have installed security devices making it impossible to enter. A guard finally took pity on us and led me to the office of my contact. He wasn't there of course so then we went looking for the Prof but he wasn't there either. Then we went to the Common Room and luckily spotted the contact en route so raced after him. It transpired that he knew nothing about our visit but, having read my email confirmation, kindly let Charles into the building and helped us carry 8 bags to the room in question. We had only been there a matter of minutes when a rather flustered lady marched in and demanded to know what we were doing, announcing that she had millions of hopeful students about to descend on the room. We smiled graciously and made due obeiscance and I waved the magic email once more. Slightly mollified she allowed us to remain for the 20 minutes it took for CM to set up and photograph said cartoon. Then - 8 bags - check and a slow and tired walk through the college to Exhibition Road and another taxi ride, this time to Temple Lodge, Hammersmith, Brangwyn's home from 1900 to the mid 1930s.

CM was by this time 'faint for lack of nourishment' so we popped into The Gate, the vegetarian restaurant in what used to be Brangwyn's studio. We each had a fabulous fruity/veggie drink and CM had a morsel to fill his hollow legs. Then some filming of the front and back of FB's house and the river for the bio section. I'd hoped to be able to leave London by 4pm but this turned out not to be the case. For one thing, trying to hail a taxi in Hammersmith proved impossible, so we finally had to ring for one. 8 bags - check, back to the multi-storey car park where China had stayed overnight - the charge wasn't quite as horrifying as anticipated luckily. 8 bags into the car, and off we head for Chieveley.

We had promised ourselves a really good meal for this evening at The Crab at Chieveley and had booked a taxi from the B&B. Unfortunately by this time it was rush hour and we just crawled out of London. Then there was a hold up on the M4, we tried diverting via Slough (also busy), and we anticipated having to give up our repast. However we did finally arrive with sufficient time to spare for a wash and brush up and a change of clothes.

And it was all worthwhile because the meal was EXCELLENT (if expensive). Strange company though - one lady managed to pour a glass of red wine all over the white tabelcloth and her dress, and at the next table a couple spent the entire meal consulting their matching laptops! I think if I had been the management I'd have told said offending couple that if they didn't appreciate my food sufficiently to eat it, observing the niceties, then they could take their trade elsewhere!

View through Brangwyn's front door - wonderful streaky yellow glass!

FFFF Monday and Tuesday

2008-02-05T05:19:00.000-08:00

Having sorted out the equipment, charged batteries (mechanical and human) and girded loins, we loaded up the poor overworked car and set off for Steyning, an attractive village just north of Brighton, but not over blessed with eateries open on Mondays.

As we prepared to set off on Tuesday morning I discovered that Charles' hat had fallen out of the car the previous evening (apparently my fault of course). Lying as it was on the ground, said headgear had experienced more than a little rain during the night. It was sodden, and the weather still being of an inclement nature, CM wished to keep his head warm and dry. I was not the most popular bunny.

However we decamped to Ditchling and for safety's sake parked the car next to the wonderful little museum in that village. Although the museum is officially closed at present, not only was Hilary (the curator) there, but also a gentleman who was giving a demonstration of the Stanhope press which used to belong to Pepler (dated 1805). Now CM owns miles upon miles of typeset and a couple of presses which will come into their own in the next but however many house renovations, so he was absolutely delighted to be able to see the press in action (as was I actually, it was fascinating) - DAY SAVED!

We also trudged round Ditchling in the wind and the rain getting film and photos for the bio of Brangwyn to be included in FBSG, and even went up to the Jack and Jill windmills where the wind was so strong we nearly got blown away.

Next port of call, Lewes, to interview Martin Eidelberg, Professor Emeritus of Art History, Rutgers University, an expert on all matters Tiffany, and a lovely, lovely man with a great sense of fun (see photo). Not only did he give us lunch and do the agreed Tiffany/Brangwyn/Bing interview but he also talked about the Clara Driscoll book for DRIFTWOOD! (See also Crackers, 13 Janaury 2008) What a STAR!

Followed by a V E R Y L O N G dark, wet drive to London, catching the rush hour traffic. UGH!

FABULOUS FEBRUARY FLYABOUT FORAY

2008-02-02T04:51:00.000-08:00

Got the chair - where's my crew?

With abject apologies for flagging the incorrect title previously!

Armed with my special FFFF folder (FFFFF) mit pretty pink label, I arrived at Film Farm (FF) on a wonderful sunny Saturday to be greeted as usual by Muriel and Dot. After catching up with their news, Charles I had lunch, over which he expounded on the recent techy exhibition he had attended (Broadcast Live & Video Forum at Earl's Court 2), in particular the podcast seminar. I had been contemplating how I could reach a wider audience with my lectures (since the fees marginally lessen the hole in my pocket resulting from my independent research projects). Would a podcast be the answer?

We mulled over possibilities whilst making marmalade for Hare in the Gate enterprises, this particular batch being named Groundhog Marmalade in honour of the day.

Like Topsy (not Morris) the idea grew, became totally unassociated with the initial scheme, took on a life of its own, and by Sunday evening we had evolved the idea of a general arts podcast along the lines of a radio magazine programme, taking in art exhibitions, book revues, poetry, music, food, the inevitable Brangwyn soundbite, and a rant. It is to be titled DRIFTWOOD.

Being incapable of resisting a challenge has led me into many strange activities including marathon running, triathlons, frisking round in Dawlish cove in distinctly cold weather, and writing film scripts. I have more than sufficient on my platter as it is without taking on more responsibilities. Am I completely barking? Answers on a postcard.

Have you noticed the favicon on my website? Isn't that fun? A design FB stencilled on the exterior of Bing's Galerie L'Art Nouveau in Paris, 1895, no less!

Progress

2008-01-29T13:23:00.000-08:00

Progress - what progress?

Well, the article about the Stations of the Cross was posted today, so hopefully that is done and dusted, provided the client likes the product. Writing the catalogue notes is almost finished, following which it's the long winded polishing and double checking, plus a bio of FB and a brief history of stained glass. So, as a result of back to back 9-9's, almost on the new course as predicted at the start of this year.

A minor hiccup occurred when Gareth announced that his health was suffering following an operation last autumn. However, he's sticking with the project, albeit with an extended deadline, so we are now looking towards the end of the year (literally) and loads of extra visits to Wales to record progress, before the DVD will be published.
More exercise, more water, continuing to cook up storms and enjoying myself also on course, and next week Charles and I embark on the Fantabuloso February Flying Foray taking in Ditchling, Lewes, London, Bucklebury and a Waitrose near you, after which the filming (apart from Gareth) is complete.

the good, the bad and the ugly

2008-01-27T13:01:00.000-08:00

The good news is that the book we wrote for the Brangwyn exhibition last year, Frank Brangwyn 1867-1956, has been nominated for the William M B Berger Prize forArt History 2007. So, 2nd year in a row for Brangwyn!

The bad and the ugly is that the news in the paper today is that small schools may be threatened with closure.

I just hope that this does not include Elveden School, which Ofsted listed as outstanding last year within the 'personal development and well being' judgement and 'spiritual, moral, social and cultural development' criteria. It also gained the International School Award from the British Council.

Bright and Beautiful

2008-01-23T10:37:00.000-08:00

When Gillian Turner mentioned the hymn All things bright and beautiful on 16 May last year (see blog entry), little did she know what she was letting herself in for! But, being Gillian, she set the whole thing up, and the next thing I know we are off to Elveden, to record the children at Elveden CEVA Primary School - an old fashioned village school with 3 classrooms and a hall and a wonderful ethos and friendly atmosphere.

All 52 pupils assembled in the hall and sung their hearts out for us, for which we are hugely grateful. Afterwards Charles and I fielded questions from the older class, and very intelligent and insightful questions they were. Some budding filmmakers there. And for the young man who asked how many windows Brangwyn designed - the almost definitive answer is: 28 panels were designed of which about 22 were produced.

Following the recording C&I fell back on a reinvigorating cup of tea at the Elveden Estate shop and then fell foul of retail therapy in the form of wonderful cheeses and oils etc etc. Plus a visit to the Paper Mill Shop at Spalding where Charles did his 'kid in a sweet shop act' and gaily amassed coloured paper.

Eureka moment!

2008-01-16T13:44:00.000-08:00

It suddenly struck me to check all the birds and animals FB had managed to squeeze into the British Empire panels, and there's a superb little booklet produced by Swansea Museums Service in 1987 which names just about everything - and hey presto, I've found my crested white bird - it's a white peacock and appears in Panel 10. Yippee!
There's still the 4 petalled flower to sort out and some pretty pink and blue love birds which Swansea say are leadbeaters but I can't find them on the net or even in the RSPB. Never say never. Tomorrow is another day the last I heard.

Crackers

2008-01-13T02:39:00.000-08:00

Well, what a cracking start to the year. Read four books, including the rather wonderful and very illuminating one by Martin Eidelberg et al about Clara Driscoll and the Tiffany girls - turns out they produced many of the designs Tiffany took credit for! Re-read lots of articles, finished Tiffany and Manaton notes apart from fine tuning and polishing, spent some time in Photoshop tweaking images for the catalogue, visited Hurstmonceaux to look at a Brangwyn, the RA to check on sketchbook images, saw Tim Wilcox when working at the V&A Library (another contributor to the Brangwyn book 2006) - he's putting together what sounds to be a super exhibition about Laura Knight at the Lowry and Nottingham Castle - the circus and all the fun of the fair.

Thinking about books did you see the article in the Grodian Thursday - apparently 1/4 people in the UK haven't read a single book in the past year. I just cannot credit the fact - what are they doing instead? Wallowing in soaps? Sounds like intellectual poverty.

Anyway, back to work after that quick aside - examining the Manaton window in detail and describing the wildlife and vegetation involved much work with the Observer's books saved from my childhood days plus other references, but I cannot decide what this red four petalled flower is, nor the white bird with blue crest. One of the problems is that FB's nature and animals frequently became generic and the bright orange fruit in the window are actually apples (I have a letter from FB himself to prove it) so one cannot necessarily go by colour either!

Any sensible suggestions as to identification gratefully accepted.

2008

2008-01-01T00:36:00.000-08:00

God bless her and all who sail in her.

Christmas is past (although the decorations are still up, see above) - feeding between 5 and 15 for 6 days is no joke and even the 6 bedroom house was pushed to the limits, but I got the sofa by the log fire so was a happy bunny - and needless to say FBSG work was halted for the duration.

What will the new year herald? Last year's plans got somewhat delayed, didn't finish Christ's Hospital monograph, didn't finish FBSG, BUT did achieve many things I had no intention of doing in the first place. And I'm not even Irish.

So here goes. In 2008 I am determined to finish FBSG (we've already got some interviews fixed for February) and Christ's Hospital - although now I have another project to complete by the end of this month about the Stations of the Cross, and, rather excitingly, have been pulled on board for a Japanese exhibition about FB. Don't get sidetracked Libby - I hope to finish the academic writing by the end of this month, the design work by the end of February, review the rushes and plan the editing and script Libby verbiage in March and perhaps get Charles started on the editing April. We've still got Gareth to film May(ish), so possibly get everything completed end of July? Writing this down makes it seem more possible or at least gives me something definite to aim for (ah, the wonderful sound of deadlines swooshing past). I also want to find sponsorship for the Reyntiens project (see 17 November, Glory of Glass), and get my SGFA and William Morris papers published. And I'm going to return to taking more exercise and doing more art work, drinking more water, drinking less wine. And listening to more music, and continuing to cook up storms. And continuing to enjoy life to the full. How's that?

Rhetorical dear boy, rhetorical.

MEMO: Never start a sentence with AND or BUT! :-)

Glass and Glory Holes

2007-12-13T06:33:00.000-08:00

We have had some super experiences in our quest to pay tribute to FB's stained glass, but today was probably the most exciting - colour, movement, heat, light, skill, artistry, burning cauldrons (well furnaces actually but cauldrons sounds more exciting) - this took the proverbial Rich Tea. This had energy, which accords with the rather Tiggerish nature of your scribe - stained glass windows have an unfortunate habit of standing still for long periods of time.

Ah, sorry, you want to know what we did? I will keep you in suspenders no longer - we made a visit to English Antique Glass Limited near Alvechurch, Brum area, the ONLY firm in this country producing glass by the traditional methods. In fact one could count the number of similar facilities in the whole of Europe on one hand.

It struck us that if we were to include an educational film about the making of a stained glass panel (by Gareth Morgan AMGP you recall) we perhaps ought to go back one step further and show how the glass sheets themselves are made.

Harry Prior, a Master Glassblower and fellow North Easterner, explained the whole process for us; we watched enthralled as he and Walter Pinches blew glass cylinders and placed them in the glory hole (above); and David Gwilt flattened the writhing almost anthropomorphic glass into sheets. Mike Tuffy, the MD, explained more about the business side whilst Alison Hensey and Sue Eggleton supplied us with information sheets and coffee. And Barney bounced around and sat when instructed so to do. Such a welcoming, amenable band of people it would be hard to meet. Harry was the star of the show though, giving up most of his afternoon for our filming and providing us with a most professional introduction to glass making.

If you want to know more go to http://www.englishantiqueglass.co.uk/

Below left to right: Walter blowing a glass cylinder, Harry in attendance; flattening a glass cylinder; a small sample of the many and varied colours of glass produced by the firm

Left: Charles working hard as ever!
PS It didn't rain!

Wot, no breakfast?

2007-11-21T04:37:00.000-08:00

We were informed by the owner that she was going out in the morning and would not be able to cook a breakfast but we should help ourselves in the dining room. We found a few boxes of cereals, some milk, slices of unappetising processed bread in a tupperware box, but no tea and no coffee or even the facilities to make same. Unfortunately I'd already paid for the rooms the previous evening, and there was no-one around, but we were less than impressed, it has to be said.

Thence to Kingsland to take photographs of the cartoon for the Bucklebury window, and back on the road - this time heading for Film Farm.

And what a joy to be sitting in the cosy Aga heated kitchen once again, drying out for what feels like the first time in days (including those Gore-Tex boots).

The next outing? Filming glass making in December near Wolverhampton. I just pray it doesn't rain.

And the rain it raineth

2007-11-20T04:19:00.000-08:00

St Winifred's, Manaton.
Below: Charles filming inside the church, with the early 16th century roodscreen behind, defaced (literally) during the Reformation.

Knowing that today would be a long, tiring day, Charles decided on a large cooked breakfast - bacon, sausage, poached egg, tomatoes, fried bread, mushrooms - I think that was all, the right decision as it turned out but it nearly defeated him. Our genial host noted that this was his small size cooked breakfast - he could perform greater feats with even larger plates. Goodness gracious me.

And so, having piled up China once again we sadly said goodbye to Dawlish and headed up to Manaton, a fairly tiddly village near Bovey Tracey (a large proportion of FB's windows do seem to be hidden in obscure parts of the countryside - is there anything relevant in this one might ask onself). We filmed the inside of the church and the FB window (dedicated to Esmond Moore Hunt, the son of one of Brangwyn's friends) and my blurb but I kept getting my murds wuggled up (I blame the cold). I scoured the graveyard for Esmond's grave to no avail and got rather wet in the process. We filmed the outside of the church, me trying to cover Charles and the camera with an umbrella (not easy when the cameraman is 6ft 3in and I am a mere 5ft 2in (although I did actually stretch to 5ft 3in when living in Hong Kong and doing loads of sports). We then bundled into the car, all soggy and wet and back on to the moors for location shots (wet and grey and misty).

And with excellent timing arrived at our next venue nearby to interview a relative. Unfortunately the gentleman was one hour late and no explanation was forthcoming, but he was absolutely charming so we bagged that bit of film and set off again for Leominster area, still exceedingly wet and damp (more so than yesterday's swim in the sea) and by this time rather tired and a little miserable. The B&B didn't 'do' food but we scraped together some picnic goodies at an M&S service station. We finally arrived at our destination about 9pm after a horrible drive in the dark through the rain, and then of course spent the next 30 minutes emptying the car of it's precious load before attacking our picnic with gusto (who he).

Art History Plumbs New Depths

2007-11-19T03:25:00.000-08:00

I tried to explain to mine hosts at the B&B that I was a serious academic historian but each time I started uttering broke into gales of laughter, and today proved exactly the point. Donning the wetsuit I had collected Friday we drove down to the front at Dawlish and thence proceeded to Coryton Cove where I put on my flippers, mask and snorkel in order to dive down and find the wreck of the SS Empress of Britain, for which FB had designed some stained glass panels. Unfortunately at this precise moment the rain decided to descend in buckets full and Charles wimped out claiming that his camera would get wet. Meanwhile I frolicked on the beach, did some jogs, beachcombed for interesting stones, found a long stick and performed a Charlie Chaplin act, and sploshed about in the water (my wild child act). After 3/4 hour I realised Charles had completely disappeared but finally found him sheltering under a beach hut. We decided the rain had eased off sufficiently and he tiptoed onto a little promontory with trepidation whilst Libby floundered around in the water, rose from the depths (her Nereid act) and did her words to camera (brilliantly if I may say so) but the filmmaker kept getting things wrong and demanding more takes, which served him right because at one point a rather large wave topped the little pier and poured water into Charles' Gore-Tex boots, about which he was none too happy.

The wetsuit was wonderful (c/o Scuba Solutions) and even after an hour I didn't feel cold. Charles did!

Coryton Cove was known as Gentleman's Cove in Victorian Times, and gained the ENCAMS Quality Coast Award 2007 and Marine Conservation Society Good Beach Award 2007. It is backed by Brunel's railway line and the trains trundle through (unfortunately not puffers) regularly which is rather fun.

Old postcard of the Cove above.

Having treated my colleague to so many wonderful meals during our filming ventures he decided that it was time to reciprocate, and so we ended up at ... (wait for it) ... the Rock 'n' Sole Fish Bar where we (yes, even me) devoured pollack (very good and environmentally correct) and chips (well I left some of the latter which were immediately hoovered up by CM).

James Dean lookalike?!

In the afternoon we interviewed Mike Westbrook, a fascinating shoot, where he sat at his grand piano and explained the thinking behind the FBSG compositions. And in the evening Kate cooked us a meal - without a doubt the best meal during the west country expotition.

Techy Stuff

2007-11-18T06:26:00.000-08:00

For those of you interested in such things, here's some extra details about the sound recording:

Soundfield Technology is based on the principle that all acoustic events can be represented by four basic elements. These are 'X' which is front/back information (depth), 'Y' which is left/right information (width), 'Z' which is up/down information (height) and 'W' the central point from which the other three elements are referenced. Collectively, W, X, Y and Z are entitled B-Format. Soundfield are the only microphones in the world which deliver B-format which can be stored on four tracks of any recorder.

The Soundfield microphone itself contains four capsules, mounted in a tetrahedral array. The Soundfield System relies upon B-Format and its processing at its core. B-Format is a 3 dimensional representation of acoustical events, all referenced from a single 'virtual' point source. The 3 dimensions are: X, Y, Z as noted above. B-Format offers these 3 dimensions as an individual output plus the point source reference W, across 4 channels. It is possible to alter mic position within the recording after it was recorded and generate a final stereo output. B-Format also provides multi-channel output capability.

So there. FBSG has the distinction of not only being the first ever Catalogue Raisonne to be published as a DVD but also the first ever to be recorded in 5.1 surround sound! Wowzers, whatever next - don't ask!

Art History Scales New Heights

2007-11-18T02:43:00.000-08:00

Mike Westbrook and Andrea Argent conferring
Mike with Miscellany: Andrea Argent , Audrey Barnes, Marianne McAleer, Ann Seabright, Helen Hill, Carolyn Morgan, Alison Pemble, Julie Taylor, Christine Parfitt, Patricia Pimm, Wendy Sergeant, Cynthia Dobson

Today was the day - the great Miscellany recording in St John's church, Clevedon. We piled up the car with all the filming and recording gear, collected Mike Westbrook (still not in the best of health) and zoomed off to Clevedon, where we met Andrea Argent, the highly efficient Musical Director of the group (as well as press officer, secretary, treasurer and musical dog's body), who possesses a wonderful turn of phrase and a good sense of humour. In fact the whole group do - between each take the choir broke into peals of laughter - one of the joys of working with the girls is that they are highly professional, obviously enjoy their music greatly, and have all been good friends for years. Charles set up his wonderful surround sound recording gear in the vestry, the girls ranged themselves in the sanctuary, the piano was trundled up to help with fine tuning, and we were off. Mike has written seven pieces for the film, and Miscellany started with the ones they were most familiar and at ease with. Andrea and Mike talked way above my non musical head, and the collaboration worked well, the choir's abilities growing exponentially as the afternoon progressed, so that when they came to the last (hardest) work they practically sailed through same, although Charles is left with some stitching to perform. And the afternoon was so well organised and well paced that the recording was completed in four hours.

The recording was made using a Soundfield SPS422B microphone system, recording onto a Sound Devices 744T hard disk digital 4 track recorder; the recording was also recorded in stereo onto a Tascam DA-P1 DAT recorder and monitored on Fostex 6301 loudspeakers. The 4 track B-format master will eventually be processed into a 5.1 surround sound audio track for the DVD.

Helen Hill, Andea Argent, Ann Seabright and Marianne McAleer listening to a playback in the vestry with Charles

Andrea wrote afterwards that 'at the end of the day, I felt as if we'd climbed an unfamiliar mountain, reached the top against all odds, and glimpsed a fascinating new world beyond.'

Helen Hill and Carolyn Morgan (my highly revered sister-in-law)

We returned to Dawlish in the wind and rain, took Mike home, emptied the car yet again, and went out in search of food. Unfortunately Dawlish out of season is not the best place for culinary delights and nothing was open. We ended up buying a rather limp pizza (CM) and a tub of coleslaw (me) which was washed down in the B&B with a bottle of red which almost made it palatable.

The Glory of Glass

2007-11-17T02:20:00.000-08:00

Having devoured a ginormous cooked breakfast (CM) and a delicate bowl of grapefruit (me), we took a stroll through the town, decided on a venue for Monday's extravaganza, didn't spy a single black swan (swizzle), and then walked up to Mike and Kate Westbrook's house to say hello and have a coffee. Mike and Charles have worked on a number of projects together and go way back. Unfortunately Mike was suffering from a dreadful cough but says he will still accompany us tomorrow (recording Miscellany). Kate has a wonderful studio in the attic and is a hugely talented painter, not completely abstract, not completely naturalistic, and very multi-layered, like looking at life through gauze or blurred glasses.Midday we packed the car and headed off to interview Patrick Reyntiens (above), Britain's pre-eminent stained glass designer and maker. He was absolutely charming, talked about Brangwyn's glass design, his collaboration with John Piper and his own work, showing us some beautiful autonomous glass panels, his delightful sketchbooks (tea bags and turmeric) and his wonderful library where he declaimed some of the Idylls of Theocritus for our benefit. Amazing how contemporary they sound, proves something about human nature. I would just love to be able to catalogue Patrick's stained glass windows and panels - but can't afford to without some sort of backing or sponsorship. How come thicko footballers get book deals but when one wants to do some serious work nothing is forthcoming? Rhetorical possibly.

West Country

2007-11-16T02:02:00.000-08:00

The great west country saga began on Wednesday when I travelled up to Film Farm. The following day Charles charged batteries and sorted the gear which was duly piled up in the hall ready to go first thing Friday. And what a phenomenal pile it was too - all the usual paraphernalia PLUS the new microphone in a huge metal box, mike stand, the new 4 track digital surround sound recorder and miles of cables. Packing the car on this morning was reminiscent of 'how many policeman can one fit in a mini' and worthy of a Guinness record. Packed to the gunnels is no exaggeration but somehow or other I managed to leave space for the driver (MOI) and Charles' very long legs. The worst aspect of travelling with all the film gear is that we dare not leave the car, so coffee and lunch and other breaks have to be staggered. Six hours later we arrived in Dawlish (our base for the next 4 days), collected a wet suit (of which more anon) and booked in to our superb B&B, beautifully appointed, views of the sea, and, as it transpires, cooked breakfasts to die for. If ever you are in Dawlish, the Lammas Park House is the place to be.

Fellowship is Life ...

2007-11-12T08:50:00.000-08:00

Lack of Fellowship is Death - so wrote William Morris. Unfortunately the London Borough of Waltham Forest don't see things in the same way and have decided to sack the staff and close the unique gallery which is complete and utter intellectual vandalism to my mind - don't get me started! Anyway, the highly esteemed curator, Peter Cormack, is due to leave mid December, so we had to get in quickly to interview him about stained glass in general and Brangwyn's efforts in particular. He was great, so knowledgeable, very articulate, but all conducted with a wry sense of humour. I think all three of us enjoyed the morning hugely. And here is the man himself in front of a green screen so that we can project him in front of any of the stained glass windows we have filmed!

on the road

2007-11-03T01:52:00.000-07:00

No, not Kerouac, but the FBSG leviathan! A week Monday we interview Peter Cormack, then the following weekend my slangam friend and I have a bumper bundle and will be giggiting about the west country. We interview Patrick Reyntiens no less, to which I am greatly looking forward; record Miscellany performing Mike Westbrook's composition; interview Mike about his inspiration; film in Manaton church and do a couple more interviews and photography sessions.

Meanwhile the hunt for illustrations has borne fruit and I've been spending some happy hours in Photoshop!

curious incidents

2007-11-03T01:46:00.000-07:00

There's a fascinating article about Brangwyn and art collections by Peter Duffy in the British Art Journal, Vol VIII, No 1, amusingly titled 'Frank Brangwyn (1867-1956) and the curious incidence of the art in the Tate'. Unfortunately the article went to press without Peter being able to proof read, so Fig 6 went out turned through 90 degrees and without the measurements supplied, and the last sentence is missing - it should read 'accommodate both reception and critique' - you heard it here first. Some extremely interesting revelations, and it's good to see people standing up against the authorities - but I doubt Peter will be allowed through the portals of the Tate again!

A RANT!

2007-11-03T01:34:00.000-07:00

This is YOUR Post Office they say - USE IT! Well, I do, but feel I'm being ripped off and just wonder whether there are, in reality, any standards and do I have faith in my post arriving at its destination? For example, when based in a small Yorkshire village during the summer I had occasion to send two A4 envelopes to a colleague. I went to the PO and had them weighed and the PO man himself stamped them. The post did not arrive, but about 2 weeks later my colleague received a note saying that two envelopes were awaiting his collection - they had been underpaid! So HE had to pay extra to recover them from bondage.

A couple of days ago I needed to send a parcel speedily to Dorset (not exactly the other end of the world) and since I was working in the V&A Library that day, popped into the S Ken PO. The lady told me the parcel would cost £20! I nearly shrieked (well, OK I did shriek!). She then said it could go for £9 if I wanted but it would take up to 2 weeks - for crying out loud I could run it faster! Pressed further she said there was a 3rd method of postage whereby it would cost £14 and may arrive in 2 days. I compromised and went for the £14 which involved her in taking down the address. At that point she announced there was no such post code. For the next 10 minutes she and another member of staff reiterated their stance that the post code did not exist, therefore the package could not be accepted. By this time the queue was out into the road and I gave up, waltzing out in a distinct huff.

Yesterday I took same parcel to my local PO in Kent. £7 she said - my eyes opened wide in astonishment - but how long will it take? Oh, couple of days tops! You could have knocked me down with a feather.

Oh, and the postcode is completely and utterly bone vide - I've checked.

FREEDOM!

2007-10-16T03:55:00.000-07:00

I took my mother back to Yorkshire this weekend, after a 3 week stay with us in Kent. Whilst there we also attended the funeral of her younger sister, so this year is not the best ever. However, I'm now a free agent again after 10 long weeks, and hope to recover my inimitable Tiggerish ebullience, bounce, energy and enthusiasm and return to work with a vengeance.

On my return journey south I dropped in at Film Farm to scan a tranny, choose some images of Bucklebury for my catalogue and catch up with Muriel and Dot (shedding their feathers everywhere so not looking their finest). Great food as usual, including the excellent Cote Hill Blue*, the wine flowed and we viewed Charles' latest film about the superb potter Phil Rogers (see http://www.philrogerspottery.com)

*(Made by Osgodby farmers Mike and Mary Davenport who only started making cheese 2 years ago but have received their 3rd gold medal at the British Cheese Awards for the Cote Hill Blue, whilst not a single Stilton was rated as highly)

Midi

2007-09-16T06:35:00.000-07:00

Mike Westbrook has completed composing the music, and very fine it is too. We got a midi file made of it to help the Miscellany girls, who are slightly nervous because it's very close harmony and, without accompaniment, they have to grasp notes from thin air so to speak. But I'm sure they'll perform brilliantly when we record 18 November. Which is the next time the show (well a diesel filled China) takes to the road and I must think about planning a trip to Manaton at the same time to bag our last window and fix up some interviews. It's all go!

Liver Birds

2007-09-13T06:26:00.000-07:00

Went to see the Peter Blake exhibition at Tate Liverpool (see Albert Dock above) - wonderful work they've done on the docks and warehouses and the exhibition is great fun, really inspires me and makes me feel all creative again - cannot understand why it isn't being shown in London.

The drive back to Film Farm is uneventful apart from an episode at the Dunhalm Bridge toll. Charles picks out the requisite 30p for me - 30 1p coins! As I hand it over I note in an apologetic tone that it is rather a handful. The chap looks at the coppers in disgust and opines: 'I should slap your legs for that!'

The number of slow moving caravans was also a hindrance - SCRAP enforecement required!

As they say, it's great to go travelling, but it's oh so good to come home. One regret and niggle - I was promised a drink at The Shelbourne hotel in Dublin but Charles somehow managed to eliminate this from the itinerary. He claims it's my fault.

Ggggreetingggs ffrom Llllibbby!

(For strange words see Christopher Foyle's delightful Philavery!)

Ireland 5

2007-09-12T05:56:00.000-07:00

Genevieve Fry from Australia on Harp and Asha Calik from Germany on Hang

Wednesday: Charles tries for kidneys again at breakfast but there are none to be had - the cupboard is bare.

We return to Iveagh Gardens and, despite being hounded by a large grass cutting machine, we succeed in filming my havering. Thence, to placate Charles, we take a ride on the super dooper tram and back, before dashing down to Grafton Street to film the ambience and buskers including some Polish violinists and a duo who play harp and hang (a Swiss metal flying saucer, played like a drum) - the sounds complement each other perfectly. Just time to fit in a quick cappucino at Bewley's Oriental Cafe (beautifully decorated - both the building and the coffee) before returning to the hotel and driving to the ferry (see windswept passengers) and then driving to Liverpool.

Ireland 4

2007-09-11T13:40:00.000-07:00

Charles on the move!

Tuesday: At breakfast Charles decides on the kidneys but after a 15 minute wait is told they are OFF!

Today we are bound for St Patrick's Cathedral and require more than the usual amount of equipment so load up my car (known as China).

Jinx #4: En route we spot a garage selling Diesel and join a queue for the pumps. Being early morning it is fairly busy and the owner, standing on the forecourt, directs me into the out lane. She then announces that she will fill the car and shooes me off in the direction of the shop to pay, but part way there a warning bell sounds in my head and I race back - sure enough - she's filling China with PETROL! Aaarrrrgh! All 17 litres of it.

I have to say this for the lady, she is exceptionally contrite and exceptionally helpful. We pile our luggage into her car and she drives us to St Patrick's, finds us at midday to give a progress report and finally collects us at 4pm when we find China sitting quietly in the forecourt gazing at the Grand Canal, having had the petrol siphoned out and a full colonic irrigation before being filled up with DIESEL. Inside the car is a jolly carrier bag with 2 bottles of wine and a large box of chocolates! So, from experience, I have to concur that Irish fuel is exceptionally cheap.

Despite the crowds, filming in St Patrick's goes very well, thank goodness, and Gavan Woods, the Cathedral Supervisor, proves to be very jolly and most helpful. Vertigo kicks in when I attempt the spiral staircase and I wimp out of the second set even though they provide good views of the Brangwyn window.

Jinx #5: Roadworks et al. We then move outside and set up in St Patrick's Park to take some external shots of the ediface and record my usual galimatias. However the hedge trimmers are out in force and some men are digging a very large hole in the adjacent road. I dash off to enquire how long the work might take or when they next anticipate a tea break - ah, this is an emergency, but they might be finished within the hour. So we move on to the Iveagh Trust buildings but they are plagued by the same noise and the traffic, so move on again to the Iveagh Market. Here a van conveniently parks in front of the camera, almost mowing me down in the process (Charles has a knack of positioning me in the middle of the road for my babbles - could this be coincidence or malice aforethought I wonder?!) Having relocated the camera, the dreaded road menders appear from nowhere and start drilling with gusto.

Returning to St Patrick's and the Iveagh Trust we discover that the hole in the road is now being shored up and the noise has abated. We manage to complete by 4pm as arranged with the garage proprietor.

I then drive into the City and Charles films the Liffey and O'Connell Bridge whilst I sit in the car in an illegal space and hope the garda don't appear. On to St James's Gate for film of the Guinness Brewery, and some more illegal parking.

Jinx # 6: Back to the hotel for a quick wash and brush up and book a taxi because this evening we have promised ourselves a treat - a meal at the Alexis Bar and Grill in Dun Laoghaire. We tell the driver quite clearly that we want the Alexis Bar, St Patrick's Street, Dun Laoghaire and are slightly confused by the route he takes. When he arrives at St Patrick's Street, Dublin we politely point out his error - and, to be fair, he is also contrite and helpful - rings up the restaurant, explains that we will be late, resets the meter, and when we arrive reduces the fare!

The meal is superb especially the freshly caught tuna, the waiter produces 2 spoons for Charles's dessert without prompting, and the prices are less than in Dublin itself. Highly recommended.

This time we state very very carefully that we wish to return to D U B L I N - 'oh', says the taxi driver, 'no worries, I'll take you to Timbuctoo if you really want.'

Ireland 3

2007-09-10T04:20:00.000-07:00

Monday: I realise the car needs diesel but decide to wait until I can fill up with cheaper Irish fuel. We set off for Holyhead via Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch (which, roughly tanslated, means The church of Mary in the hollow of the white hazel near the fierce whirlpool and the church of Tysilio by the red cave - but you already knew that). Whoever invented the Welsh language was provided with a disproportionate number of Ls and Gs and Ys when given the basic typeset!

The Guiness family commissioned the Brangwyn window in Dublin and they were a remarkably philanthropic and humanitarian lot so we embark on a series of clips indicating their good works - St Stephen's Green, Iveagh Park, Iveagh Trust housing, Iveagh Market and of course St Patrick's Cathedral.

Jinx # 1: Monday afternoon we phone for a taxi and sit on the hotel steps in the sun awaiting same (see Charles with baggage and FBSG clapper board). Meanwhile three Europeans drag their voluminous cases down the steps and wait on the pavement for a taxi to take them to the airport. A taxi arrives, they speedily load up, I descend the steps and ask politely which room number the taxi driver has come to collect - he responds with mine - the other travellers now neatly ensconced in the vehicle claim vociferously that this is their room number! I gve up and we await their taxi - a huge affair more suited to transporting bags to the airport. The driver is none too plased at the prospect of his small fare.

Jinx #2: I ask for Iveagh House on St Stephen's Green but the driver takes us to the opposite side of the park, and, due to the vagaries of the one-way system, it would take another 30 minutes to get where we want so he drops us near the tram stop - fortuitously for Charles who is like a little kid when it comes to trains and similar, and from that point on trams take the place of the horse drawn carriages in Bruges!

After filming the trams from all angles (see above) I drag Charles away to the park itself, thence to the exterior of the large house the family used to occupy facing the Green. Managing to spout my words in between bursts of noisy traffic is not easy (a minor and anticipated jinx until it begins to escalate the following day). Armed with tripod, cameras and bags we trudge along to the Iveagh gardens and are transported by a wonderful waterfall.
Jinx # 3: Happily filming in the Iveagh gardens we are accosted by a uniformed gentleman ringing a bell - time's up apparently. We depart without having completed our work and the gates clang behind us.

Another longish walk (well, believe me it is when armed with heavy camera equipment) interrupted by photo opportunities presented by the elegant Georgian doorways, to David Byrne's pub in Duke's Street where, with my feet on the Ulysees plaque, I manage somehow to maintain a cheerful smile whilst being filmed sipping a Guinness! NOT my favourite tipple.

After returning to the hotel we wander round looking for a bistro (not having eaten since breakfast Libby's stomach is performing its borborygmus act with gusto). We finally loacte something suitable near St Stephen's Green but it proves to be tremendously noisy. When we enquire whether the noise level is usually this high, our waiter responds - 'Well, this is my first evening so I could not comment with any degree of certainty.' Wonderful place Ireland - even the waiters are literary!

Ireland 2

2007-09-09T04:15:00.000-07:00

Sunday: We arrive in Beaumaris early evening and have another excellent meal at the Bulls Head Inn - the antipasta starter is a delight, with juicy sun dried tomatoes (not your usual normal dry as leather variety), some divine preserved figs which are neither sweet nor vinegary and very tasty bread.

Ireland - 2nd time lucky? (Well, almost)

2007-09-08T13:00:00.000-07:00

Sunflower in honour of Oscar of course and purchased in Grafton Street!

Saturday: I leave my mother with strict instructions not to fracture another hip. Second time lucky we hope, although the jinxes are still apparent (see enumerated below).

I am greeted in usual enthusiastic fashion at Film Farm by Muriel and Dot (Croad Langshan and Norfolk Grey).

the 759 mile dinner date

2007-08-12T12:56:00.000-07:00

Well, the best laid plans etc, etc. I set off from Kent 7am 4th August in high spirits, visited Peter near Bury St Edmunds, looked at his super litho collection, proceeded to Lincolnshire, chez Charles who was almost recovering from having had 3 Polish builders resident for the past 3 weeks renovating his bathroom. Looks great but probably not an experience to be repeated. Sunday we loaded up the car with film equipment and drove across country to Bangor, where we met Jeremy and Pam for an evening meal - great fun (see above). Thence for a walk along the cute dinky pier (see below).

So far so good. But next morning I received a phone call to say that my 89yr old mother had broken her hip. Brief soul searching and decided to abort trip so then had to drive back to Lincolnshire with all Charles' equipment, before then driving up to Scarborough to visit mea mater. And then a short drive to her house to collapse on a much needed bed. All in all a 759 mile journey just to have dinner in Beaumaris. I'm not saying it wasn't fun you understand - just a long detour!

So FBSG may be delayed further due to parental problems. In fact life feels like it is on hold at present. But I will attempt to keep smiling - always look on the bright side etc. (see below)

Oh I do like to be beside ...

2007-07-18T13:41:00.000-07:00

the seaside, as I was today, in Hove, visiting my co-editor on the Brangwyn book - Gillian Naylor (see above). A wonderful, wonderful, vibrant, enthusiastic design historian, great intellect, great sense of fun, great style, northern directness - she just inspires me!

The Brangwyn book (Frank Brangwyn 1867-1956) was republished last month with glitches removed. I just wish we could have revamped the index. There was a very limited budget for the first edition, and I insisted on commissioning top class art historians who were also familiar with Brangwyn's work - which took the entire budget so Corinne and I worked for free. Towards the end I mentioned an index - no money left, but you cannot have a book of that calibre without - so I set about doing it myself - gratis of course. Unfortunately, at that stage, I didn't have indexing software, had a week to complete the job and was in Oman at the time with final page layouts for all essays bar one - so there are mistakes. There was no money available for my re-editing of the 2007 publication, I still couldn't afford the requisite software, so the indexing faults remain.

Odd business - publishing - still haven't got my head around it!

music, music, music

2007-07-16T10:08:00.000-07:00

Wonderful - Andrea emailed me today to confirm that she has booked the recording venue for Sunday 18 November and she has a full choir ready to stand on a horseshoe. Charles will be there manhandling his sooper-dooper new surround sound microphone with which to perform recording justice. Mike Westbrook will be on hand to give the young ladies a final fillip, and I'll be there as bag-handler extraordinaire. Did I lose my vocation in life, or have I just found it?

So, a sudden burst of adrenalin! Although another delay in my self imposed timetable!

Plus I've got the Dublin filming trip sorted (5-8 August) - living near the Channel I'm used to rather better deals than appear to be available Holyhead to Dublin (no point in going by air because we'd have to pay a second mortgage on the weight of the camera equipment). So it's Kent to Lincolnshire, thence to Anglesey (meeting Jeremy - great guy, long, lanky, drole, dry sense of humour - helped me massively with Bangor collection), across to Dublin where Charles has challenged me to sipping a Guinness (not exactly my tas de the unfortunately so be prepared for a GRITTED TEETH smile), mad dash round the Iveagh related sights and FB's stained glass window, back to Linolnshire etc etc.

See you in Dublin - if not before. If you spot us - we'll treat you a drink!

2 July 2007 Life Class

2007-07-02T02:36:00.000-07:00

Listening to Andrew Marr (one of my heroes) whilst doing the housework this morning (Monday = kitchen and breakfast room) - one of his guests was Pat Barker, also from Tees-side and born in 1943 (a good vintage). She was talking about official war artists. That got me thinking (rare policy). So many writers have stated that FB was an official war artist as if it were a badge of honour. But FB wasn't.
a) he was not a propagandist

b) he would not have prostituted his art for filthy lucre, and a cause he did not believe in (or in which he did not believe)

c) he wouldn't have towed the party line, far too individual and stubborn for that!

He did, however, produce over 80 designs for posters during WW1 - but the majority of these were given freely to charitable organisations..

1 July 2007 Frustration, frustration, frustration

2007-07-01T01:54:00.000-07:00

Or should it be rabbits, rabbits, rabbits, and a pinch and a punch. Mike thinks the music will be ready by the end of July (a capella, interweaving melodic lines with passages of dense chromatic harmony - sounds wonderful), so time to organise a recording session. All I have to do is liaise with Mike, Andrea and Charles. Poor Andrea has to co-ordinate the diaries of her eleven choir members, book the church where they usually record, and liaise with me. And we are going round in proverbial circles which reminds me why I like working alone, had my fill of committees and reinventing the camel years ago. Artist in the garret syndrome for me - actually a ground floor room with a beautiful unhindered view past my yellow flowering hypericum and yellow clambering roses across poppy filled fields! Bliss.

Sad news yesterday. Ruth Artmonsky rang to say that Brenda Rawnsley had died suddenly of a heart attack. Brenda sounded such a character and we had been hoping to film her. Ruth wrote a wonderful book and curated an exhibition about Brenda's forays into art - The School Prints. A Romantic Project (2006).

27 June 2007 Task Sorted!

2007-06-28T06:39:00.000-07:00

So I emailed Gareth, who sent me the name of the only company in the UK which blows Antique Glass - the eponymous English Antique Glass Company and they were perfectly charming and we can film any Monday/Tuesday when they are flattening glass. Brilliant news - only when can we find a Monday/Tuesday when either of us is free?!

And the other good news this week is that Martin Eidelberg, Professor Emeritus, Art History, Rutgers has agreed to be interviewed - he's an expert on Tiffany and has a wonderful impish sense of humour, reminds me of Robin Williams!

The bad news is that Peter Cormack isn't free to be interviewed when Charles is in London next week, and that the William Morris Gallery is absolutely definitely only going to be open 2 afternoons a week and Saturday and Sunday, and the staff will be reduced to practically zilch - this despite worldwide protests. Intellectual vandalism.

24 June 2007 - The aftermath

2007-06-25T13:58:00.000-07:00

Breakfast with Mike Westbrook (not literally but on a CD) which seemed apt. Those wonderful squiggly menu drawings I made last night, don't make quite as much sense this morning. Wonder why that is. I guess this is what CM calls a 'sophisticated menu structure'!

However, there will be an introductory page explaining the contents etc, and this leads to two buttons, Catalogue Raisonne (which leads to general information on Brangwyn's work and stained glass in particular; the academic information on each stained glass panel or window; slide show of all windows and studies) and Movie Menu. The latter will lead to another menu which has buttons for the main film of the windows; longer individual films of each window; filmed interviews with experts and practitioners; filmed biography. The music can also be heard without having to watch the film, and we're hoping to get Mike to talk about the composition, and Andrea the performance. And last but certainly not least, Gareth will be filmed making the stained glass panel - and then we thought, how about filming antique glass being made?

Fire, jolly colours etc - having just finished work on Elemental, the film about the Japanese potter, Ken Matsuzaki, Charles is into furnaces! So that's my next task to sort out!

23 June 2007 - Pushing the right buttons

2007-06-23T13:44:00.000-07:00

Here's Charles wearing his snazy FBSG T-shirt (designed and painted by yours truly), slaving away at the Bruges rushes in his edit suite.

Later, over a bottle of Crozes-Hermitage 1996 rescued from the flooded cellar, Charles and I discussed the layout of the DVD, the menus, how many buttons, whether there is a jolly musical intro before one reaches the first menu - it brought it home to me how the whole concept has expanded - bit like Topsy - but also how very exciting it is, how adaptable in format, how multi-layered. I feel a little like Oscar Wilde with his blue pots - am I worthy of this brainchild.

I had also become concerned that the words I'd done before camera encapsulated each project rather too succinctly not leaving sufficient room for manoeuvre, but these will go into the overall film, with more detailed expositions within individual sections.

All most confusing for a bear of little brain!

5-7 June Dublin's fair city

2007-06-07T12:57:00.000-07:00

And isn't it just! I'm told we spent a day here when I was early 20s but cannot recall a thing - and I wasn't high, honest me lud (not even taking the shot above!). Arrived c/o Ryan Air an hour late, to perform pre-filming recce and research (not your usual R&R), dashed to the Pembroke Townhouse - very comfortable, stylish, clean and not part of a dreaded daisy chain - walked back into town and caught the bus to the wonderfully named Representative Church Body Library where the staff were brilliant and patient and I got the info I needed.

Back into town and walked back to the hotel soaking in the atmosphere, the Georgian squares, the wonderful doors, the friendly people, folks sitting out in the sun having a pre-prandial. Perhaps I'm old fashioned but on my own I find it difficult to eat or drink out, so gathered myself a salad and some decent bread from a deli and ate same slowly during the evening whilst I caught up on work on the laptop. Gosh, what an anorak!

Following day 'walked' some of the town guide, taking in the sights then on to the Hugh Lane Gallery (thoroughly enjoyed the Francis Bacon studio - I know people who live like that all the time and not just in one room either - naming no names of course!) to see their Brangwyn collection - they have the amazing Mars and Venus, the chap being a rather lascivious looking devil!

Wanted to do more sight seeing on the way back but luckily forced myself to book into the National Library first. They were due to shut in 10 minutes for lunch and one needs a ticket. To get a ticket one needs a passport photograph. Ugh! Luckily the bookshop provides a service. Dash downstairs, polordoid type photo taken in a trice or thereabouts. Need identity. Passport at hotel. Joggle back to hotel, collect passport, joggle back to Library, fill in form, get ticket. The letters I want to see are next door, dash down road. Need another ticket. Luckily the guy was charming and we commiserated about Collingwood Library in North London. FINALLY got to sit down with the letters. Afterwards back to main library to read old newspapers. Waled back to hotel rather slower this evening! Won't let on about a meal!

Following day walked to St Patrick's where the other Brangwyn memorial window to Lord Iveagh is to be found. Took notes about important things like plug points in vicinity of window and what would be the best time of day to film - it's in the north transept (seen below centre). Statue of Benjamin Lee Guiness outside the Cathedral (below left). Thence on my pre-ordained tour of Guinness sights - Iveagh House on St Stephen's Green, the Iveagh Gardens, Iveagh Market Hall (the winking stone below right is said to be Lord Iveagh - good to know they had a sense of humour) etc etc (but not the Brewery - I'll leave that for Charles to investigate, beer not exactly being my tass de the, accents excused). Back to the hotel to pay the bill, collect my bags and then a few hours wait until returning to the airport. Luckily the weather still gorgeous, so sat in one of the parks, sunning myself and reading - that's multi-tasking for you!

Guess what - Ryan Air was one hour late again.

24 May 2007 SGFA (part 2)

2007-05-24T06:44:00.000-07:00

I kept on getting diverted by FBSG and Christ's Hospital and Ferens and daily events, but finally finished the article. Now to find some illustrations, like this one of FB wiping an etching plate with an American assistant, Edward D Trumbull in the background at the printing press. This is Brangwyn's Temple Lodge studio, Hammersmith.

Whatever qualities Trumbull had as an artist were forgotten when Brangwyn subsequently discovered the American was a bigamist!

17 May 2007 Abingdon

2007-05-17T11:05:00.000-07:00

Avenue that is, Northampton. And, with suitable Boris Johnson type apologies, the Northampton header wouldn't have produced the same excitement would it?! (And later I remembered it's ABINGTON Avenue after all! Oops!)

FB designed a window for what was the Congregational Church and is now the United Reformed Church (shown above, and detail below - isn't she lovely!). Obviously a very vibrant parish with daily events. We were welcomed by Ruth Redhead, Eddie and Joyce Jeyes. Ruth read us a piece written by a relative of Fitness who had commissioned the window, Joyce enlightened us as to the symbolism in the design, and Eddie was cajoled into taking his place at the organ seat and giving us a recital.

Filming outside the church, the net curtains of adjoining houses twitched - 'Ooh, who's that then, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie? Bill Odie and Kate Moss, it just must be, and its the starlings in the belfry they're after.' Well, we may be delusional but unfortunately none of those descriptions fit us 100%!

Back to Film Farm via Fired Earth showroom at Warmington Mill (a coffee shop there would be a great addition next to the canal?) and a superlative Waitrose cum JL at Rushden.

16 May 2007 Guinness country

2007-05-16T09:10:00.000-07:00

Well almost - Charles and I loaded up the Alfa and drove down to the church of St Andrew and St Patrick, Elveden in Suffolk to film the stained glass window FB designed as a memorial to Lord Iveagh (Guiness family) - the window is above the door in the photo. Gillian and Neville Turner (see above) were most welcoming and gave us the full guided tour including the graves of the Maharajah Duleep Singh and family (I kid you not), the original mediaeval St Andrew's church, the shepherds on the pinnacles of the Western Tower (they gave the money and demanded recognition!), the extension dedicated to St Patrick and designed by Caroe (the o should be topped by an umlaut but I can't find the symbol), and the magical cloister and bell tower (also Caroe mit umlaut) erected in memory of the first Vicountess Iveagh. Ah, there's love and devotion for you - recalls the Taj Mahal (which, incidentally, I always considered chocolate box kitchy - that is, until I went there, some twenty years ago, and, despite the crowds, it just took my breath away. It is beautiful and truly magical).

Back to basics after that detour. The church is, unfortunately, cheek by whatsit with the A11 along which traffic thunders in a never ending manner. The photo shows Charles trying to record bird song amid the traffic roar!

The other bird - me - wasn't quite on song, mind elsewhere or something so we had to retake my blurb rather more than a few times (and then afterwards, looking at the rushes, noticed I'd still got my sandals on instead of some slightly smarter black shoes - ***** - can't win 'em all as FB might have said).

Persuaded Gillian to talk about the window but then mortified her because we compared the feel of it to All Things Bright and Beautiful which isn't exactly her favourite hymn! It might be rather jolly to have some youngsters singing the hymn though - any offers of help? The church hosts a campanologists get together in the summer and Neville has promised to tape the ringing for us, which is splendid.

Recovered from our labours in the newly opened Elveden Estate Shop and Cafe (with accent) Restaurant which is excellent - well worth a visit.

Back to Film Farm through sheeting rain - ugh!

15 May 2007. Smokery

2007-05-15T08:59:00.000-07:00

Dear Reader

No, I haven't descended to the dreaded weed, or even Bill and Ben, but did give a lecture to a super NADFAS group at Cley by the Sea (Norfolk) and at the same time stocked up on smoked salmon and smoked olives and smoked cheese and kippers at the fabulous smokery there (surprise surprise), and purchased some lavender bread at the Deli (never come across this animal previously, but believe me, warmed in the oven and combined with the smokery delights was truly magnificent).

I was due to lecture to the group last year, but it happened to coincide with the opening of the BRANGWYN Liss Fine Art show at The Fine Art Society - and I just couldn't get from one to the other in time - and hey, I wasn't going to miss my first BIG Brangwyn show of the year! I had, therefore, been feeling frightfully guilty, but think/hope I redeemed myself.

And on to Film Farm to devour said goodies and discuss progress. Have decided to complete the film this year if possible, leaving Gareth's episode as a separate film which can be edited and added at the last moment.

11 May 2007 Spirals and knots

2007-05-11T07:08:00.000-07:00

Relevance? Well, possibly the spirals of the projected V&A structure, or spiralling out of control, or the position I find myself in viz a viz the designs FB did for Tiffany in 1898-99.

It's like this. Two finished panels are listed in the Grafton Gallery catalogue (1899), Music and Baptism of Christ. The former doesn't appear to exist but the latter does as does another panel, Child with Gourd. There are two designs which could possibly be Music - but which one is the right one? There are some obvious sketches and some cartoons (with leading shown) illustrated in contemporary magazines but might some of the latter be finished panels? Difficult to say. Wot [sic] a dilemma.

So I've been digging through various old magazines at the V&A Library trying to sort out this knotty problem. But I never graduated from Brownies, so my entanglement in granny, reef, slip and weaver, not to mention Gordian is overwhelming.

8 May 2007 Gareth's glass

2007-05-08T07:02:00.000-07:00

Visited Gareth near Carmarthen. What a super chap, hugely enthusiastic, similarly non PC, and could talk the hind leg off the proverbial donkey. He's obviously highly intelligent and was a teacher in a previous life, but luckily isn't didactic. Will come over superbly on film - the energy, the mobile smiling face, the character - and he loves Brangwyn - what more could one want! Rhetorical dear chap, rhetorical.

I had sent him images of all the known designs Brangwyn made for Tiffany and left it to Gareth to decide which one he wanted or felt most able to recreate - and he's chosen the one I secretly wanted him to choose, Girl with fruit bowl (see below) - so that's absolutely brilliant. Saw works in progress, took photographs of the studios (aka the spare room and the garage - here's one of Gareth, smiling of course) - agreed a price, always the heart stopping moment! Unfortunately he won't be able to start work until later this year and the panel won't be finished until about March next, which puts my whole timetable awry, but I feel it is worth waiting for. He's also agreed to be interviewed seperately as a practitioner about FB's approach to designing stained glass.

Also worked out logistics for filming 'how a stained glass panel is made' without negotiating multiple trips from Kent via Lincolnshire to west Wales which would deplete the budget more than a little - might have to do the Blue Peter 'Here's one I made earlier' tack.

Now occurs to me what a wonderful mini exhibition it would make - the new stained glass Tiffany panel, FB's original drawing (well, a photo of it anyway, location of original unknown), Gareth's working sketches, the film of the panel being made, and maybe we could have Miscellany and Mike Westbrook to perform at the opening. Wouldn't that be glorious?!

Got another donation towards the film from relatives!

17-19 April Crevettes, Oysters and Mussels

2007-04-19T07:19:00.000-07:00

The first filming for the DVD and we're off abroad - what fun! Dover-Calais ferry and then nipped into Cite Europe to stock up on wines, cheeses, pate, olives etc and something for a picnic lunch (crevettes, baguette and some superior mayonnaise since you ask - and there's Charles devouring the proceeds!). Thence on to Bruges, checked into the hotel, gathered portable film equipment (that's Charles carrying half of it below!) and out on the town to capture the atmosphere (Charles got hooked into the horse drawn carriages and was determined to record the clip cloppy sound of hooves on cobbles (a pair of coconuts was good enough for us students in Radio Sheffield turn of the 1970s), Arents House Museum where there is an excellent and varied permanent exhibition of Brangwyn's work (centre above), the canals etc.

After Charles finally agreed to stop for the evening we progressed to Den Dijver (just along from Arents House), an absolutely superb restaurant. This is about the 4th time I've been there and it just gets better. Not cheap, but wonderful food, including oysters, great atmosphere, friendly and communicative staff without being officious. No, I'm not getting a backhander for this plug!

Following day we again took to the streets, filming the house where FB was born, the fish market (probably because CM spotted some pretty girls behind the stalls) and then on to St Andrei's Abbey at Zevenkerken which boasts a small Crucifixion window in one of the chapels and 5 double lancets in the Chapter House, all designed by FB. Father Victor Broekaert was our very patient guide, seen here sitting behind the filmmaker. We persuaded Father Victor to speak to camera, I did my twirl along the cloisters and spouted outside and CM did his usual professional job on filming and photographing all the windows and everything else in sight until I stopped him filming the horses in a nearby meadow as just a step too far and not exactly relevant.

Back to town and back to more filming and recording, the Beguinage, St John's Hospital, the main square, chiming of the bells, those horse drawn carriages AGAIN, and it was only the fact that it was finally getting too dark which persuaded the man that it was time to pack it in. Phew! He may surface late but makes up for it the tail end of the day by which time your scribe (a lark) is dead to the world!

Occurred to me that we now had masses of film showing Bruges and maybe it would be a jolly wheeze to add an FB Bio to the DVD. Since Charles was hungry and I was paying, he agreed! We trotted along to a dedicated mussel restaurant only to be told they had run out! But got some in the end!

19th we set off for The Hague where some friends wanted me to inspect a Brangwyn painting. Despite me being somewhat dubious about it, they still gave me sponsorship money (they were aghast at the lack of funding for academic researchers in the UK) and bought us both lunch - that's faith, dedication, devotion for you - whatever it is, I was exceptionally grateful - true friendship probably.

And back to Calais, getting stuck in loads of horrible traffic round Rotterdam so that the last part of the journey was playing catch-up to make the ferry in time, possibly breaking a few speed limits, and CM keeping me awake with banalities and a constant stream of music from his ipod.

16 April 2007 Diversions

2007-04-16T06:16:00.000-07:00

No, not what you're thinking! I've been commissioned to write all the Brangwyn entries for a book the Ferens Art Gallery are publishing later this year on their Victorian and Edwardian collections. And I've until the end of August to write everything up - so FBSG may go on the back burner for a while - only NOT for the next three days!

20 February 2007 Tiffany Squared

2007-02-20T07:26:00.000-08:00

Brilliant - after months of correspondence with two galleries in the USA have finally got images of Baptism of Christ and Child with Gourds, two of the stained glass panels which Tiffany made from FB's cartoons. Smashing they are (probably not the correct word to use in the vicinity of glass).