JOY PARADE No.1
Cheering things that I've enjoyed this week!
HELLO!
Do you work in the children’s book industry?
Have you been in Bologna this week?
I haven’t.
I think I am perhaps the only person who hasn’t been over in Italy. I was there last year though. It was a bonkers trip where I arrived late one evening, had a quick promenade around the main square, went for an even quicker kip then I was off to the fair for five and a half hours which were full of meetings. I had no time to eat anything other than one small square of chocolate, but I did meet lots of my co-edition publishers which was lovely . It turned into almost a speed dating type event with me and my agent Tamlyn (aka Wonder of Wonders) perched on a sofa on my publisher’s stand and them coming to see me one after another in half an hour, back to back sessions.
Then I ran for the train to Paris.
But I’ve not been there this week and I’ve been feeling glum about it. I’ve looked exactly like this since last weekend
So here is a list of things I’ve looked at/enjoyed/coveted this week in an attempt to jolly myself up whilst going hell for leather trying to finish the art for a book which is due next week.
(Will I get it done in time? WHO KNOWS!)
This week’s ✨JOY PARADE!✨
BEHOLD THE WONDER AND MAJESTY OF THIS MAGNOLIA TREE I SAW!
Like a casual little something Barbara Cartland would have worn. After writing in the main PIGEON POST News Briefing the other day about my own Land Girls (my chickens) I got thinking about the work of Evelyn Mary Dunbar.
I found her work through the cover of this book (excellent btw!) and then like a little truffle hog I dug out more.
I’m such a huge fan. So illustrative and characterful and really wonderfully observed - I particularly like the slightly bored woman at the back of this painting (below) at the emerald green desk. Personally, I think there should be more paintings of village halls.
This painting below is called A Knitting Party - the title alone gets my eyebrows waggling. Tag yourself. I’m Mustard Hat on the right picking up a dropped stitch.
This beautiful work by Helena Hafemann. I can’t explain why but I find these ceramic and thread pieces oddly moving.
This photo of Gloria Swanson in her New York apartment in 1972 aged 73.
The colours! Her eyes! The metallic court shoes!
Celine Dion dressed as a cat singing Memory from CATS. HIGH CAMP!
This photo of The Party Camel
PARTY CAMEL WITH CONFETTI. Sarah Illenberger. Fashion photographer Tim Walker is on Instagram and showing behind the scenes images, journals, scrapbooks etc of how he created some of his incredible images. Fascinating stuff!
In am absolutely PANTING with anticipation for this series about the Mitford sisters out this summer!
Scented pencils from the wonderful Imogen Owen (whose cafe I MUST visit for an almond croissant)
Scented Pencils. Photo: Imogen Owen I have gone absolutely NUTS ordering armfuls of this cheerfully unruly plant. I have visions of me in mid summer walking around the garden in slow motion running my hand through billowing clouds of the tiny daisy flowers. (In this fantasy I’m dressed as Marie Antoinette when she was cosplaying being a shepherdess on her pretend farm.)
I’ve just bought this little 1900’s etching of a Japanese Spaniel.
Look at that smushy face! ❤️
Thank you for joining this week’s Joy Parade! I hope you all have a lovely weekend. My plan is to be busy doing a final push to get these illustrations finished. I’ll also be in the garden repotting two fruit trees aka procrastinating.
I’ll be back at the end of April with a full PIGEON POST News Briefing but I’ll probably sneak in before that with more ✨Joy Parades✨ and/or something about Easter.
In the meantime do follow me on Instagram (I’m @mralextsmith over there) and also subscribe and share this newsletter to all your chums. Thank you so much!
In Tearing Haste,
Alex T Smith
HEAD PIGEON.
Thank you for introducing me to Evelyn Mary Dunbar's work! ❤️
What a wonderful joy parade! I especially love Gloria Swanson's eyes. They remind me of when people paint open eyes onto their closed eyelids. There's something surreal about them. Tagging myself in the knitting picture - I'm the one by the window looking at my watch and wondering how long it's going to take for people to notice I've accidentally tied my legs together.