Illustrator Chris Wormell

Today I'm sharing the art of Christopher Wormell. Perhaps because I grew up with old books around me, I have an abiding love for the art of wood engraving. I've blogged about Thomas Bewick, one of the greatest wood engravers of all time, and about Elliott Banfield, whose pen and ink drawings resemble wood engraving. Now it's time to showcase the multi-talented Chris Wormell of England.

Graphis, January/February 1992

To fully appreciate Christopher Wormell's engravings, it helps to know that he had no formal art training. Early on, Wormell worked a series of manual jobs, including road sweeper and factory worker, earning just enough to take breaks to paint landscapes.

Graphis, January/February 1992

When Wormell decided to take up wood engraving, he bought the tools and taught himself. Working in reverse, which this art form requires, came quite naturally to him, and the results were elegant and soon much sought after — both in England and the United States. These first two images are from the book English Country Traditions, published by V & A Publications.

Graphis, January/February 1992

I like how Wormell has achieved the house's reflection in this engraving for a property development company.

Graphis, January/February 1992

 Here's a Christmas card Wormell designed for Alphabet Typehouse — see the "A?"

mendolaart.com

mendolaart.com

mendolaart.com

Christopher Wormell also creates distinctive images with linoleum. Their highly graphic quality are in the great tradition of English pub signs.

nydamprintsblackand white.blogspot.com

Here's an image from the first of many children's books Wormell has illustrated, An Alphabet of Animals. I like the light green shadow on the zebra's body, or perhaps it's a reflection.

http://blaine.org/sevenimpossiblethings/?p=1906

Today, Christopher Wormell is a hugely successful and well-loved illustrator of children's books, now working primarily in watercolor.

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Collecting Cobalt Bottles

Have I mentioned that I'm a collector? Two years ago, my friend Sandy gave me two cobalt bottles from an estate sale, and that was all I needed as an excuse to start another collection!

I have one of those garden windows in my kitchen, and because I'm not a green thumb like so many of my blogging friends, I filled one entire shelf with cobalt bottles. (Notice the Spanish Moss hanging in the background.)

My favorite is this violin bottle. I'm not sure what filled it originally, but I'm guessing that it was a liqueur. Collectors call these "viobots" and they're hugely popular among bottle collectors, in fact there's even a Violin Bottle Collectors Association. Below is a sampling of other violin bottles.

www.icollector.com

This 23 fl. oz. bottle of George Washington was definitely a liquor bottle, issued to commemorate the United States bicentennial.

Here's a milk bottle with the name "Brookfield." The neck has a double baby face, so now we have a good idea of what the god Janus might have looked like at an earlier age.

The last time I was in New York, I ran into Scott Jordan, a man with a most unusual pastime. Scott goes to New York building sites and gets permission to excavate before the heavy work begins.

Back in the 19th century, folks would regularly dispose of trash by throwing it into a backyard pit (researchers hit a bonanza when they dug up Thomas Edison's Menlo Park grounds), and of course bottles and china have survived. 

Scott's holding a cobalt bottle that I bought from him. He dug it up at a New York City building site and it dates to the 1890s. It says 8 OUNCES, S.S. STAFFORD INKS, MADE IN THE U.S.A., and it has a spout.

The bottle is referred to as a "master ink," and was used to fill smaller ink bottles, like the one on the right, which is from the same period.

Collecting cobalt bottles is very satisfying. One might spend a lot of money on early hand-blown bottles, but one can just as easily find lovely examples for just a few dollars.

One Man's Passion — Sunken Gardens

One of St. Petersburg, Florida's favorite landmarks started out as a private garden. In 1903, a plumber and avid gardener named George Turner, Sr. bought a property with a shallow lake. He discovered that the lake had formed over an ancient sinkhole. Turner drained the lake, which then allowed him to create winding paths and garden areas that reach as low as 15 feet below street level.

There are surprises at every turn.

 

And there are beautiful flowers.

By 1924, word had spread of Turner's exotic creation, and visitors could stroll through the garden for a 25¢ admission. They could enjoy the carp . . .

. . . and later, exotic animals like Chilean Flamingos and Laughing Kookaburras from Australia.

Today Sunken Gardens has an amphitheater, a small shaded stage, and lots of areas to just sit and enjoy the surroundings.

The beautiful area below has become a popular spot for weddings.

In 1999, the Turner family sold Sunken Gardens to the City of St. Petersburg, which maintains it today. Many of Mr. Turner's original plants still exist.

I thought I'd end with a photo of this bench. It's fossilized limestone that was revealed when the lake was drained. Traditionally, every new Sunken Garden employee starts his first day at this spot.

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Thanks, Gina!

I wish to extend a special thanks to my blogging friend Gina, of ginaceramics, who surprised me with the antique button that's featured in my side bar this month.

Knowing my Swiss heritage, Gina sent a button that came, long ago, from a regional Swiss costume like the ones shown below.

One of the many things that makes the antique button special is that a close inspection of the filigree work reveals that it was all handmade. I'm delighted to have it in my collection! Thanks again, Gina!

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An Interesting Lesson From An Old House

Several weeks ago, my friend Sandy and I visited the Duval House, the oldest house in Citrus County, Florida. It was built in the mid-1860s, which just goes to show you how recently Florida was settled.

We were given a tour by Frank Peters, a former coworker of ours, and a most interesting storyteller. Frank is directing the renovation of the house, which entails undoing many 20th century "improvements."

Frank directed our attention to this old fireplace, which is very shallow in depth, as you can see. The style was known to the locals as a "French fireplace." Contemporary Americans who buy vintage houses with similar fireplaces end up not using such fireplaces because they'll smoke up the whole house.

That's because they don't know a secret, which is that the original occupants built fires with the logs stacked vertically.

Blogging friend Jim of Road to Parnassus has sent this image of the Farris House, built on the St. Johns River. The Duval House will probably look a lot like this when the renovation work is finished. Thanks, Jim!
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The Legends of Joel Nakamura

As I've mentioned before, one perk of working in the world of advertising and publishing (particularly if one loves paper) is to receive well-made paper sample books, also called catalogs.

Paper catalogs can often be inspiring because they're vehicles by which paper companies, design groups, illustrators, photographers and printers all show off their best work. The catalog above, from Georgia-Pacific Papers, also doubled as a calendar for the year 2000 — pretty clever when one considers that the client (myself) would carry around Georgia-Pacific's paper samples all year long.

The calendar featured the distinctive paintings of Joel Nakamura, who created more than a dozen works based on world mythology. His paintings are on metal, with richly ornamented borders that serve as frames. Here are some of Nakamura's paintings, along with text by Michael Koster:

The Egyptian legend of the sun. Each day at dawn the sun was born from the sky. He attained maturity by mid-day and aged by evening. At nightfall he entered the underworld. Each day, month and year, renewed the creation of the world.

The Japanese legend of the creation of land and sea. Kaumi created an enormous ocean resting on the back of a giant trout. He sent a bird to form areas of dry land by beating its wings and trampling the mud with its feet.

The African legend of fire. In African legend, the ostrich was the source of fire, keeping the fire under its wing when not in use. Mantis tricked the ostrich into spreading its wings and quickly grabbed the fire from the ostrich. That is why the ostrich never attempted to fly. Humans then tricked Mantis to obtain fire.

The Australian legend of rivers and mountains. The curving meandering of the Rainbow snake created rivers and mountains. Aborigines believed he was the spirit of creation and fertility.

The legend from India of the Lotus flower. The Hindu god Vishnu dreamed of the universe as a Lotus flower. Likening the solar matrix to a wheel, the expanded Lotus flower forms the rosette and the sun wheel of the perpetual cycles of existence.

The Navajo legend of the pollen path. To the Navajo, pollen is sacred. Pollen represents life. To walk in beauty on the pollen path is to walk in accord with all of nature. The path is often represented in the form of a spiral.
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