In the late 80's I was what was then called a house husband. I did it for a year, looking after our 3 year old daughter in Germany, whilst the Missus brought home the schinken.
I can't say I found it easy at all especially in another country but me and the kid got on with it.
We did creative arty stuff on the kitchen table, potted up seeds, grew flowers and played things like Barbie and Ken climbing up chairs on ropes with small karabinas, an attempt to relive my Action Man glory days!
I was young back then. Still in my twenties. I hadn't discovered toy collecting yet. Too soon I suppose. When I got time off with the help of two Oma's, to occupy my still curious mind I discovered two things, English poetry (yes that!) and painting watercolours. I'm kultured me like!
The poetry thing was largely to do with being away from Blighty I think now. I read all I could, buying books from back home and raiding the German library's poetry section. Poets of the Fifties and Sixties became my thing - Larkin, Gunn, Lowell, Ginsberg - but above all I fell in love with Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath.
The watercolouring was done on the kitchen table too. Huge splashes of mad colours flecked with realistic birds more often than not - I was still a keen birder too back then. I did Snipe, Crested Lark, terns and Nutcracker to name a few.
I know one of my Snipe paintings used to hang in the administrator's office of the British Ornithologist's Union. Don't be impressed. The administrator was my nephew! I sent him it!
I know most of the pictures I did from my 'bird period" (ha ha) are rolled up with a laccy band and gathering dust in the attic. Nearly 40 years. That's a lot of dust!
So I was amazed to see one of them hung in our friend's house where we are staying at the moment in Germany.
It's of a poppy (no bird this time) and is even framed! I know it's mine from back then coz I signed and dated it. I gave it our friend as a gift in 1988 so I made extra effort not to splash paint everywhere and produce a decent poppy for her.
Weird being transported back like that by an object you made in the past. Alas, my paints all dried up in the early Nineties and I haven't touched a single brush since then.
I saw on ebay recently, an old model kit of the Liberator from Blake's 7 for sale, it still contained the flyer for the fan club that it came with. The artwork on it was by me! I hadn't seen one for decades.
ReplyDeleteWow! Send us a pic if you can Kev! Your'e a talented artist!
DeleteThanks very much. Will do.
DeleteVery elegant and delicate poppy picture Woodsy, airy and weightless
ReplyDeleteThank you so much Arto.
Deleteand thank heavens for the discovery of poetry, you became my muse and mentor so many years on. You should get those paintings out and frame a few, art is for sharing, not hiding away.
ReplyDeleteAw shucks Wote but you didn't really need much help. You're a natural wordsmith and poet!
DeleteI love your creative history!
ReplyDeleteIt's nice you can take encouragement from your past works and say, "Yeah, I did that!"
As far as old things popping up, I worked on a (pretty awful) rock fantasy movie in the late 80s called Sons Of Steel. It sank onto oblivion and was quickly forgotten. When the Ozploitation craze of the late 2000s unearthed those old Aussie movie "gems" for a new generation, it barely rated a mention.
Now it appears it has attained true Cult status with a US 1500 unit limited edition Blu Ray release and everyone still hasn't heard of it!
Cheers Looey. That Sons of Steel sounds great. Very Mad Max. I looked it up on IMDb! What did you do on it?
DeleteI write a bit of poetry myself. Anyone interested can jump over to my blog and type I'll See You In The Morning into my blog's search box.
ReplyDeleteCheers for that Kid. I'll have a look.
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