JOY PARADE No.33
A Symphony of Pinks! Toes Like Crocus Bulbs! A Duck Stuck In An Unusual Place!
Pssst! If you are reading this via an email, the JOY PARADE might be a smidge too long for you to see all of it. If so, just click the title and it’ll take you to where you can read the whole thing with your eyeballs online!
OH HELLO!
Firstly, Happy Lunar New Year!
Well, here we are- we’re fire horses thundering towards our goals with renewed energy - q. a thrilling thought! I will say it would be slightly easier to gallop energetically if the weather would improve and we weren’t all thigh-deep in mud 24/7. There was about half an hour of blue sky the other day and for that 30 mins I honestly felt like someone had connected me to an electric pylon.
Now, I must thank you all for your lovely and very kind response to my NEW BOOK announcement on Monday.
Bit of an odd one to shout about a Christmas book in Feb, but you took it all in your stride and I’m so very grateful for the lovely support you gave the post.
As I said in the announcement - as we get closer to publication I’ll tell you more about the book with behind the scenes sneak peeks etc. I’m particularly excited to show you the final cover! In the meantime it’s available to preorder from all your favourite bookshops, including our very own Pigeon Post bookshop!
What else have I to tell you? Not much really - bit of a quiet week. I’m going like the clappers on the illustrations for another book and the deadline is a week today. Can I do it all in time? WHO KNOWS!
Last weekend I tackled a task that I’ve needed to do for ages. I cleared out the bureau in my dining room. It was a wedding present from my grandmother to my grandfather in the early days of their marriage and it was where he wrote many of his articles and stories. I inherited it some years ago, but over the last twelve months the contents of it has become WILDLY out of control.
Last Sunday I sat down and sorted it. A large part of this involved pulling out all the pens and art equipment and testing them all, before discarding anything dried out or used up.
The result was this page of scribbles which for some reason I find incredibly joyful. I’m tempted to frame it.
I wonder if it’s a result of having to do a lot of very careful drawing for work at the moment that this sort of free, scribbling mess itches a part of my brain that’s a bit fed up of order? Either way - LOVELY.
Now the desk is tidy and ready for me to start writing correspondence at it immediately. If you know me IRL - be warned: the tidy desk has me wanting to rattle off letters like I am from the olden days. It also makes me want to sit each morning and organise the day’s menu like chatelaines in old books did before they handed their meal plans to their cooks.
Of course in my situ this involves me writing “beans on toast” on a post-it note, grandly carrying it into the kitchen before quickly switching roles with a costume change into a pinny then thanking myself and telling myself that the kitchen staff (also me) will get straight to work…
Oh- the other thing I need to tell you is that Dear Gladys, my Edwardian taxidermy duck, has suffered a moth attack so to kill the bugs she is currently residing in my parents’ chest freezer. Sigh…there is always SOMETHING going on here... Will report back how she copes with this temporary change of situation.
Now really we MUST get on with JOY PARADE…
1. As is tradition- some BEHOLDING! and EXCLAIMING!
Firstly - THE CAMELLIAS ARE OUT!
I really love camellias. So cheerfully pink in the midst of grey, moist Feb- heavenly!
Secondly, more lovely pinkness! This beautiful bouquet was a surprise delivery to me the other day. So much to enjoy here!
THIRDLY, just look at these roses I spotted in M&S. I love a slightly tattered, antique type rose and these lilac ones really got my eyebrows waggling.
2. These tiny, sweet embroidered characters are very DELIGHTFUL!
3. I want/NEED to befriend this woman IMMEDIATELY. (Click to see the full image!)
4. My head is starting to turn towards Easter and I feel that this would make an absolutely stunning outfit to wear for Easter lunch.
5. On the Year of the Horse theme: slap your eyeballs on this.
Four Interlaced Horses (Safavid period, Iran, early 17th Century) Isn’t it great? I think this would make a great repeat pattern on fabric or wallpaper.
6. Over the last few weeks on here we’ve been really getting stuck into admiring paintings featuring potted geraniums (one of my favourite ever things). Here’s another corker! A watercolour by Matthew Rice. (Click for full image)
7. I haven’t seen this yet but am planning on doing so this weekend - Becoming Victoria Wood, a two hour documentary about the late comic (and I’m going to use this over used word because in this context it’s the only one suitable) GENIUS.
And whilst we are on the subject of VW let’s look at this sketch.
“Every gusset a memory…”
8. I think the best colour combo is red and pink. Specifically a glacé cherry sort of a red with a strawberry ice cream pink. It’s glorious to me and just LOOK how it’s been applied here at Villa Palladio Jaipur…
Totally gorgeous! Also - notice the chicken motif! IDEAL!
I need to visit it in person As Soon As P.
More info here.
9. One of my dreams is to become an “adopted Parisienne”. I love the place so much and would love to live there if for nothing else but to always have a croissant at arms reach. So imagine how thrilled I am by the late Jane Birkin’s homes in the city! Am particularly delighted by this living room!
More here.
10. Just take a few mins to kick off your court shoes and join Cissie and Ada as they take a break from their waitressing shift…
“I’ve got toes like crocus bulbs…”
FINALLY…
We’ll finish, as always, with a song…
With Emerald Fennell’s new movie making headlines and Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi playing the doomed lovers “Cathy Wuthering” and “Heathcliff Heights” or something (I’ve not read the book or seen the film) the following feels appropriate…
“Ooh it gets reet dark!”
Thank you for reading this week’s JOY PARADE.
I hope you have a lovely Sunday. I’m back working on these illustrations that need doing, but I’m also going to get out for some fresh air. I’ve got cabin fever here. I’ve bought a large format sketchbook and I’d like to get out to find something to put in it. What are you all up to? I like to know because I’m nosy.
I’ll be back next week with our MARCH FULL NEWS BRIEFING (March! Already! Can you believe it?!). In the meantime, if you’ve enjoyed this JOY PARADE I would simply adore it if you were to hit the heart button ❤️ below and do please follow me on Instagram (I’m mralextsmith over there) and also subscribe to and share this newsletter to all your chums.
And keep those eyes peeled tomorrow…
Thank you so much!
In Tearing Haste,
HEAD PIGEON.
Love this all, and especially the Ukulele orchestra x
I thought you might like the fact my fat ( fluffy or big boned in their eyes ) buff orpington hens are called Cissie and Ada because they walk just like them !!!!!