CROWNS OF CHRISTMAS LUNCH BY ISSY ODDIE

These are my pictures for reminisce.....

Initial sketch is based on 4 paper christmas cracker crowns.
To me they are the crown of family xmas gatherings and the impending excess that makes a traditional holiday so brilliant, good times, good times :)

So I went from a pen and watercolour picture, to a basic hard ground etching, then I accidentally did a really heavy Aqua tint... So then I had to sand it back, and then I added some chine colle for a little bit of colour. I like how they’ve ended up a little abstract, could almost look like a mountain scape.

MY OLD LPs BY ANNE HOODLESS

I had an idea about reminisce and it involved all my old LP’s.  When I hear music from the 70’s and 80’s it transports me back to a special time or just bring back memories of where I was or what I was up to when the record was out. So I tried to hang some of the LP’s on to a circular washing line so I could spin them around to show you what meant the most to me when I was growing up, but they the line wasn’t strong enough so I have photographed them individually.

 ‘Baby James’ was my first LP I ever bought in1970.  I was just 15 and working in Playtex where I heard the songs on the radio.  It was a big purchase for me then, but I played it to death and got my monies worth. My favourite songs were ‘Sweet Baby James’ and ‘Fire and Rain’. I also had the album poster on my bedroom wall, as I thought he was gorgeous!

The next one on my list was Carol King’s ‘Tapestry’,it was released in 1971. I was 16 and remember going to Glasgow clothes shopping and heard the album in Miss Selfridges and asked the girl what was playing and I went out and bought the album. I loved every song on the album and played it over and over again on my new white stereo record player. The one song that I used to sing all the time was ‘So Far Away’.

The next album I have picked is ‘Diana & Marvin’it’s a duets album by soul musicians DianaRoss and Marvin Gaye and was released in 1973. It was the start of my love for Motown sounds. It’s a great collection of songs harmonized by two of the greatest soul singers of all time and I loved the whole Motown sound.

My first ever single record I can remember buying was Elton John’s‘Rocket Man’ in 1972. I met my husband at the start of 1973 and his love for Elton John introduced me to his first album ‘Elton John’ and his biggest hit ‘Your Song’ came from this album, which we still love to this day. ‘Elton John’ was released in 1970.

The last one is by Rod Stewart, what can I say? Another legend for me! I bought ‘Every Picture Tells a Story’ album in 1971/72. I loved his style, and the fact that he thought he was god, his songs were powerful and rich and I was hooked to his music. It was very exciting to grow up in the 70’s as there were so many music legends that have lasted.

“The morning sun, when it's in your face, Really shows your age.

But that don't worry me none. In my eyes, you're everything (Maggie May).”

We’ve all danced to this song over the years and still do even to this day!

TARAX CREAMY SODA BY BELINDA ASHE

I was allergic to everything as a child. So there were a few special treats afforded to my brother and I, as we had to forgo standard household staples like ice-cream, green cordial and those pickled gherkins in a jar. My favourite treat was the now (sadly) unavailable Tarax Creamy Soda from a can, not a bottle (they taste different!!). You could buy them in a slab of 24 cans and the flavour is still far superior to anything you can purchase in supermarkets today.

CROCHET BIRD BY KAREN NIX

Being a teacher I guess that my daily goal is to make a difference for the kids that I work with - to connect with them and help them discover something new about themselves and what they can do.

 

When reminiscing about the teachers that did that for me, I thought of my Year 5/6 teacher, Sr Rose. Sr Rose had a real love of birdlife which she passed on - in fact, imposed on all the students in her class. We wrote about birds, drew birds and embroidered birds. She talked about birds with a passion that had along term influence on me. She was also the one who had the patience to teach such a young group of girls how to crochet -not with wool, but with cotton as we pain-stakingly crocheted around our bird embroideries.

Even though I probably had little appreciation of Sr Rose at the time -all those years ago, I know that she passed on skills and passions that I have loved and shared over many years. So here is my reminisce project.

 This is an embroidery and crochet piece that I made with Sr Rose when I was in grade 5/6.

REMINISCE BY FI NIX

Welcome to the lovely Fi Nix who is submitting her first piece for Art Club!

Here is my offering for Reminisce this month. It is an old meat safe I found that needed some floral additions. It brought back early memories of my grandmother and wonderful times in rural Victoria. She was an amazing cook and when I was young there was always food food stored around the kitchen and loads of familythere to enjoy it.

REMINISCE BY GILLIAN NIX

Here is my submission for this month's theme.  I made two separate lino carvings and printed them together on one piece of paper.  Hope you like it!

 

For this month’s theme I started to think back to my earliest memories as a child.  I have two very vivid memories from when my family lived in Union Street, Greenock in Scotland.  I don’t know how old I was, but I was able to walk about and I can remember my line of vision being quite low down, so I must have been quite little.

The first memory relates to the image of the fish. Dad had been fishing and had brought home a big dead fish, it was night time and the lights were on in the kitchen.  He lifted me up on the side of the kitchen bench and I began examining the dead fish.  To my surprise dad lifted out the eye of the fish and pretended to eat it, yuck!  I remember that I started squirming and squealing and then there was lots of laughter because of my reaction.

The second memory relates to the key.  Two policemen came to the front door one day enquiring about a young woman who had been murdered in the local area.  I remember peering through the legs of my parents and feeling a bit scared of the men in uniform.  Mum and dad said they didn’t know anything but the told the police about a key they had found when they were gardening a few days earlier.  I remember my parents giving them the key and that was the end of the conversation.  Keys have interested me ever since. 

I was telling my parents about these memories recently and mum told me that the case of the dead girl has still not been resolved.  It was strange having the conversation with my parents about my earliest memories as neither of them remembered the fish, and they said they only vaguely remembered the police coming to the front door. 

REMINISCE BY JIM SAMON

Thank you to Jim who submits this beautiful image for the 'Reminisce' theme.

'To remember is to seek the truth of our lives from our experiences
and relationships, forming the personal truth of who we are becoming'.

I have been working on images with my silhouette and shadow walking,
in connection with my recent travels. So I played with this image with
the idea of walking back into a dreamy space which casts a shadow
towards the viewer.

Mixed media on paper.