Amazing Portraits & Caricatures by My Mate Dave

Introducing the portrait and caricature work of my very good friend David Wilson.

David is a very talented graphic designer who has been working freelance for several months now. He's just started offering portraits and caricatures to people as another source of income. He's asked me to ask around and see if anyone I knew would be interested in commissioning him. This blog is my way of 'asking around'.

If you've always wanted an professional portrait of someone in the family, he's your man. Of if you need a caricature that really looks like someone, he's also your man too. He's also really affordable.

Family, friends, kids, pets, he can do it all.

Here's some examples of his work. Prices and contact details are the end of the post.

Click any image to enlarge. 

Black and White Portrait of a Five Year old Girl

Original Photograph

Colour Portrait of a Baby

Original Photograph

Caricature

His prices:

£70 for a black and white portrait

£100 for a colour portrait

£30 for a caricature

(Prices do not include P&P or framing).

He's based in North Lincolnshire, but as you can see all he needs to work from is a selection of photos; you don't need to travel and pose for him, sorry if that disappoints any of you :)

If you want to know more please email him by clicking on this link, or you can put a comment on this blog and I'll let him know, or you can contact me through Twitter and I'll put you in touch with Dave. My Twitter page is here.

Hope you agree he's pretty good at what he does!

Angela

The Dent Du Midi Sketched in 1895... lost... then found

This charcoal sketch was found in the wash house of my childhood home, wedged between sheets of wood and glass. It had clearly been discarded and forgotten decades ago, and we have no idea how it did not suffer from damp or mould out there.

The wash house did not survive. When my dad pulled the ivy from the walls, the walls came down with it. But the picture did. Framed and cherished, it now hangs in my parents' new home.

My childhood home was a Georgian farmhouse that had put on airs and graces as posher residences sprung-up around it. Located in Abbey Road, Grimsby, it was quite the time capsule, with owner after owner barely maintaining it. This picture was our greatest find.

The location of the sketch is given as The Dent Du Midi, from St Maurice. The artists is Mabel Chard and she has dated the picture 1895.

St Maurice is a little town in Switzerland, squeezed into a narrow pass in the Rhone valley, south of Lake Geneva. Somewhere I'd like to go.

I wonder what the street looks like now? No goats I suspect, and the Swiss version of Health & Safety will have knocked the romance out of it.

As for Mabel Chard, I suspect she lived in my old home through Victoria's reign and this sketch was completed in St Maurice on her Grand Tour. I hope she rests in peace knowing it has a safe home after all those years in the wash house, and is now enjoying a flutter of fame on the Internet.

If you know anything else about this sketch, St Maurice or Ms Chard, please let me know with a comment or through my Twitter page. Thank you.


UPDATE 1: My sister Louise has just emailed added her recollections

"Dad remembers a shirt box behind the boiler to Dr Chard so think her and a this doctor lived there I think I found them when I did research into who had lived in our house at Grimsbyy library (who have records of ownership / occupation) and map showing the house as a stand alone farm house on a "turnpike" road into town."

UDPATE 2: Christine Farmer has located a Mabel Chard born in Louth in 1880, the daughter of a solicitor's clerk who went on to marry John Gilbert Jones. Louth is about 12 miles from Grimsby so the date and location all fit. This Mabel would be 15 when this sketch was completed. As talent can be well developed by that age, I would say this could be the same woman. Christine has kindly contacted Mabel's descendents, now living in South Africa, to see if they can shed more light and confirm if this Mabel is my Mabel. I will update the blog again should any new information come in.

Found: the Chantry, the Church and the Artist!

Yesterday I posted a blog that asked the good people of Twitter to help me find  the real location of this etching, with an inscription "St Catherine's Chantry, in St Michael on Wyre" the only evidence to go on. 

They came back with armfuls of information!

First to respond was Ricky Bee, saying there was both a River Wyre and Wyre Forest in Worcestershire - might these be a clue?

The Lancashire Tourist Board also kindly RT's my blog to ask if any of their followers could help.

Then Christine Farmer, a fine artist researching her family history at the moment, gave me this amazing link to an online version of the

HISTORICAL AND LITERARY REMAINS CONNECTED WITH THE PALATINE COUNTIES OF Lancaster and Chester. COUNCIL FOR THE YEAR 1891. By The Worshipful RICHARD COPLEY CHRISTIE, M.A., Chancellor of the Diocese of Manchester.

In which the following description can be read:

Thomas Butler, at the altar of the Blessed Katherine within the pishe churche of St. Michaell-upon-Wyre " lately dissolved, together with all the lands, tenements, and appurtenances now or late in the tenure of Robert Styham, and situate in Great Eccleston, being part of the said chantry ; and the said Henry Butler agrees to sell the said so acquired lands and tenements in Eccleston to the said John Wilkinson. 1 The chantry itself continued in the Butlers holding, and subsequently went to the France family, one of whom repaired it and erected a tablet in it bearing the following inscription : "This oratory, known before the Dissolution to have been a chantry dedicated to St. Catherine, and competently endowed with lands in the neighbouring town- ships, was repaired by John France, Esq., of RawclifFe Hall, A.D. 1797, being an appendage to that ancient mansion house." This chantry is at the eastern end of the north aisle, and is raised two steps above the rest of the floor.

Raised by two steps above the rest of the floor – exactly like my picture. My heart skipped a beat!

Then my good friend Sarah Ballans sent me a link to Google Books.

There I could search through a scan of A history of the Chantries within the county palatine of Lancashire, by Francis Robert Raines.

On page 217-218 in delightfully antiquated language it told me of

The Chauntrie in the paroch church of Saynt Myghell Upon Wyre

Where

Willyam Harryson pst Incumbent ther of the ffoundacon of John Butler to celebrate ther in the saide church for his sowle and all chrysten sowles and the Incumbent therof to teach gram skole…

And

At the alter of saynt Katheryne within the poche churche saynt Myghell upon Wyre and the same priest doth celebrate ther and kepe gramer skole accordinglie

So there was a grammar school!

Sarah also pointed me to three Flickr accounts which included current photographs of the church – but frustratingly none showing the chantry reconisable in my etching. 

These are here:

nige820

rasmusthepod

animall68


Then Chris Hale posted this wonderful comment on the original blog, summarising his research brilliantly. I reproduce his text here in full

I have ascertained from a report dated 1871 that St-Michael's-in-Wyre was (and is) 'A late Perpendicular church of rather coarse architecture, comprising nave, with aisles and chancel, with south aisle only carried to the east end, a west tower, and south porch. The north aisle, after the first two bays to the west, is expanded, but without arcade, into a chapel, but only extends four bays in all, and is not carried along the chancel. The north chapel is dedicated to S. Catherine, and belongs to the Butlers.'

I have also discovered that one John Boteler (Butler), who was born at Rawcliffe on 16 Aug. 1489, and baptized at St. Michael's, 'had begun a chantry and service in St. Michael's Church.' This was probably on his death in 1534. It is likely that he would have left money in his will for a chantry priest to say masses for his soul.

There now. I have too much time on my hands!

So the chantry is definitely at St Michael on Wyre church, in Lancashire, England.

Finally Sarah came back with an amazing breakthrough on the artist that created the etching.

My C G Coperman is in fact Constance Gertrude Copeman.

Born in 1864, she studied at the Liverpool School of Art where she was awarded a silver medal and was a Queen's prize winner. Elected an associate of the  Royal  Society  of  Painter-Etchers and Engravers in 1897.

Here’s another of her etchings unearthed by Sarah, with her distinct signature matching the one on my picture.

According to artnet, six of her works have come up for auction recently, but they won’t tell me the price unless I sign up to the site. Buggeration.

So, within 24 hours of my original post I know the exact location and history of the Chantry depicted in my junk-shop find, and I know the name of the artist, a little of her background, and that her work regularly comes up for auction.

I cannot thank you enough. A picture I love anyway has gained a whole new level of enjoyment.

And let this tale waggle its bare bum at anyone who thinks Twitter is just about broadcasting what you had for breakfast.

So now to my next mystery picture… watch this space!


As ever, do please leave a comment if you've enjoyed my ramble. 

Is this St Catherine's Chantry in St Michael on Wyre Church?

I bought this etching at a junk shop in North Wales a few years ago because I love the Edwardian and the Gothic. I wondered if the good people of Twitter or Blogland could help me in locating the real chantry that it depicts.

 

Bottom left on the frame, the signature seems to be C G Coperman, 1911. The place St Michaels on Wyre? Or am in not reading it correctly? 

Google tells me there is a church with this name in Lancashire, England, but the description of its interior does not mention a chantry dedicated to St Catherine. I cannot find any pictures of this church's interior either that confirm this is indeed the chilly corner where Mr or Ms Coperman sat in 1911!

Bottom right of the frame it says St Catherine's Chantry. Google offered me very little on this when searched alongside St Michael on Wyre. There is nothing else in the picture or on the frame to give me a clue.

Can anyone help solve the mystery? Do you know anyone who lives in St Michaels on Wyre who might know?

I would love to see a photograph of the chantry now.

Thanks for reading, and if you can help, have a big kiss x.

Get in touch through the comments on this blog, or by Twitter where I am @angpang.

Gormley's Field in a Shoe Box

I do love Anthony Gormley's Field for the British Isles.

I think I first spotted it in The Independent when it was unveiled back in 1991, and spent a long time staring at the photographs of it in poor quality newsprint, clear proof I needed to see it for real.

If you don't know it, I suggest you put it into Google Images and have a real good look, but if you're in a hurry here's the jist. It's a sculpture: 35,000 small, unglazed terracotta figures packed tightly together in a huge space. More that you can count, many disappearing out of view, all staring at one point: the small doorway you are standing in. A few – stargazers – stare upwards. It can be set-up in any large room, and has indeed toured the UK and the globe. If you get chance, go and see it.

Field for the British Isles gets you in a lot of ways.

Firstly, biologically, because you cannot help but perceive those lumps with two holes at the top as faces, bodies, heads, eyes and personalities. Spend long enough with them and you'll be picking out the lovers, family groups, gangs, loners and elderly among them.

And what’s more, they’re a huge crowd, which gets you psychologically. It makes your hairs stand on end. Crowds do not gather lightly, there has to be spectacle, protest, exodus, battle. A crowd that big suggests world changing events, or at least an event the world sits down to watch.

But wait: this crowd are all staring at you. Silently. We’ve all been unnerved by a portrait watching us as we walk across the room, and Field multiplies that feeling by 35, 000.

Is this what it feels like to be a monarch, rock star, messiah, dictator? Do you feel scared? Humbled? Are you looking behind you to check for Elvis? Or do you find yourself thinking home at last?

And answer me this: If one of the figures at the front waddles towards you, tugs your sleeve, and ask a question, what is that question?

For me it's: Why did you use so many plastic bags?

Whatever your question is, I'll bet it reveals some inner obsessions.

And aside from the Field's bio-psycho-social mojo, my sister, Louise, was one of the volunteers that set the little figures up when it was displayed at The British Museum a few years ago, so now it’s not a major work of art, it's part of the family.

I finally got to see the Field at Lincoln’s Usher Gallery in 2003. I recall the comments book in which one disgruntled visitor vented: “I have travelled 30 miles to look at the paintings of Peter De Wint only to find I cannot get in to see them because this pile of rubbish is here”.

Now for The Field in a Shoe Box...

So this summer holiday I decided it was time to introduce my kids to the Field through the medium of a shoe box and modelling clay. Here’s what we did.

Total spend £1.98 on two packs of modelling clay (the stuff that does not dry out) and an adult sized shoe box. We got our clay from The Works for 99p, woot!






We cut the clay into tubes about one inch long, each a blank waiting to be moulded into a little figure. My sister told me the terracotta figures were called Gorms, a term we happily adopted for our sculptures. In this raw state we called them Gormless.





Using fingers and thumbs, we squashed the tube into head and shoulders plus a flat bottom, so it would stand up.







We used a cocktail stick to make the eyes. Some were evil slanted eyes, others big round goblin eyes.










Our first Gorms waiting to be put in the shoe box. Note Ruby's alien Gorms with several eyes, and Emelia's super tall ones with Dr Seuss wobbly grins. It does take a while to do all the Gorms, so the more hands you can get involved, the better.






We cut a letterbox style hole in one end of the shoe box. A crucial part of the real Field is you are only allowed to look at the Gorms from one viewpoint. This is ours.






We positioned the Gorms in the box, facing the hole. You have to press them down quite a bit to get them to stick, so all our Gorms ended-up with quite fat bottoms. We decided to mix all the colours together rather than segregate. Dad joined in at this point. Perhaps, like barbecues, Gorm planting is a Dad thing.

We then cut a large window in the shoe box lid to let the light in. You can cut round holes to make spot lights, or a big square hole covered in tracing paper for big, diffused light.



We looked through the hole, and this is what we saw.


And what did the kids think? Well we had a happy hour making the thing and all the whole family got involved, so smug-parent points earned there, I think. They loved the little Gorms like the colourful little munchkins they are, and soon made mummy and daddy Gorms and lots of little kiddie Gorms (which may be hard to see in the picture, but they are there).

They have also showed Field in a Shoe Box to every visitor that has come to the house since, and have told everyone that Aunty Lou Lou made the real one (sorry about that, Anthony).

So, as you can see, it's very easy to do. So have a go. And let me see the photos, too!