My Museum: Gallery 1
The early years
Artwork, early 1950s
These works of art date from 1950 to 1955. Most were created for the delectation of my absent father, away in the RAF.They therfore often bear my mother's identifying or interpreting notes. I am rather proud of most of them!
My father was away in the RAF, so these drawings were sent to him, sometimes annotated, by my mother. From the hat, I guess that this was a female, perhaps my mother.
"Dat" My father smoked a pipe. Not sure about the cap, and my spelling was somewhat approximate!
A locomotive ("puller kind") complete with engine driver (minimalist, head and legs only) and coal. Only four wheels, but smokestack and steam dome in the correct positions! Not sure why my mother differentiated between locomotives that pulled and pushed (see below)
Another steam locomotive ("pusher kind"), with even more minimal engine driver but with smoke stack and steam dome and whistle on the top of the boiler.
A basic, wheel at each corner, "big car." Not much else to say about this!
I managed the mane of the "orrible lion", and the ears aren't bad, but the lack of a leg and the length of the animal's tongue leave something to be desired. The victim/prey leaks a little blood? Or perhaps is a small animal with a tail. Unlike my mother, I interpret the presence of wheels to represent a circus cage rather than a zoo. Two figures stand on the right, one pulling the cage, the other with a dog on a lead.
Lots going on mysteriously in this image! Some kind of vehicle (a caravan?) riding along a bumpy surface with one animal in the cab and another in the back. There appears to be a fire. Another animal balances precariously on a pile of something in the foreground.
I bet I copied that writing! Dad, complete with pipe as usual, leaps over a rock in order to avoid me, who is about to run him over as I speed downhill on my bicycle, which in turn is about to hit a large bump and presumably hurl me into the air! Exciting! A not-bad car and caravan at the base of the hill. I appear to have had a thing for caravans.
I especially like the millipede (left) with a walking stick, and the three birds wearing hats, plus the mysterious creature, also wearing a hat, that has apparently landed behind them. The largest bird also has a walking stick. Note my economical way of depicting leaves. There's a bird's nest in the tree, and perhaps a little door?
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My representation of a ship sailing though the Suez Canal. Note the palm trees, a crane, a house a large sand dune and perhaps two pyramids. I travelled though the canal in 1954 and 1955, to and from Aden.
Colour! A saw fish as well as a sword fish!
Not a particularly convincing image I have to admit. The ship appears to have hit a mine.
A first-nations village with tepees and residents wearing feather head-dresses. Three canoes are being rowed across the foreground, and one character has a speech bubble, and seems to be shouting "EO!" perhaps a war cry? There is some sort of plump animal in the centre. Can't imagine why my mother thought this had anything to do with Christmas!
One of my favourite drawings. A portrait of a schoolgirl drawn while I was at Wilshere Dacre Primary School, Hitchin, Hertfordshire, in 1955. There is an attempt at perspective, with distant figures much smaller than the main subject. There is also the earliest known representation of someone in England on a skate board (just left of centre)! And I like the boy at the drinking fountain (right).
Last updated: 5th April 2018
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