Tuesday 27 November 2012

... don't you just love it .....

.... when you find an artist that you love and have never heard of before.  We've just discovered 

William Brooker  1918-1983


Brooker was born in Croydon, Surrey, and attended Croydon School of Art between 1936-39His training was interrupted by army service during World War II, but his art studies resumed in 1947 and following completion of his studies in 1949 he became a lecturer in painting at several of the top English art schools and exhibited his own work widely.He began teaching BAA during which time he shared a house with Wynter and later Frost. His students included Howard Hodgkin: ‘He was the only real teacher I ever had. . . he made one feel that painting was a very important occupation. Quite unique. No one else seemed a bit like that. He was a great teacher.' 




William Brooker enjoyed painting familiar objects from an unusual perspective and presented his audience with a seemingly transient image of an everyday scene or object, arriving at an unconventional view of the conventional. His early work was located within the broad framework of English anecdotal impressionism, continuing a tradition established by Vuillard and Bonnard, and translated to the English idiom by Sickert.






He used a light palette generally; cool greys and whites, enlivened with blue, became his favoured colours, and as his work developed they were used constantly. His interest in the juxtaposition of shape and form, and composition of tonal harmony, appear to surpass his interest in the subject matter and can be seen as a  precursor of the abstracted, minimalist, still-life painting which he later developed, and which was to occupy him for many years.








Friday 23 November 2012

...all the fun of the fair...


For those of you who couldn't make it to the Selvedge Fair at their fab new venue in Chelsea Town Hall a couple of weekends ago, here are a few pictures of our favourite stalls!


Starting with Les Soeurs, of course








The hilarious Julie Arkell was there



 As well as the delightful Jessie Chorley with all her goodies



 Susie and Carol have had enough of answering questions!



Our beautiful mugs and soaps dishes , hand made for Les Soeurs  were a huge success.

Friday 9 November 2012

... moving on up ...

Every little girl's dream is to have her own shop and les Soeurs will be a step closer this Saturday when we dress our stall at the Selvedge Fair, Chelsea Town Hall between 10am and 4pm next Saturday, 10th November.  OK, so it may not look quite like The Conran Shop but we have been collecting decorating ideas for quite some time now and we'll be highlighting our  reversible pinafore apron design for 2103.  If you'd like one but can't make it on Saturday we'll take email orders, to arrive before Christmas.


Shop interiors we like!: