Re Embellishments
Ian Hillbeck IHILLBEC - GBVSEL00
jeff-f...@pipemedia.co.uk (Jeff Dennison) wrote
>
>The artist is Christina Wright who I first met when Josher (the boat
>dog) chucked up on the floor of her studio in Hay on Wye. Since then
>we have become firm friends and I would commend her work to those
>looking for a fresh approach to the Rose and Castle theme. (email me
>for details if you want to contact Christina). I will take some
>photo's of her work and put them up on the web pages in a couple of
>weeks time.
>
>I have shown several ex working boaters her work and they have all
>been very complementary. They were happy with the idea of the
>tradition developing rather than being encapsulated in a time warp.
>
>Which is one of my doubts about the new guild of crafts persons for
>the canal arts is it going to allow the tradition to develop? Or
>given that it seems very closely linked to the two main museums is it
>going to stifle artistic creativity? Perhaps Chris could check with
>Jan on this question please? I personally love talking to Ron Hough
>but I don't like his roses especially when compared to the work of the
>Atkins yard and the knobstick roses of other yards.
>
I wholehearted agree in preserving our traditional crafts and styles
for the benefit of present and future generations but agree with Jeff
the such preservation should not prevent our crafts from developing
new styles and traditions which can compliment the changing face of
the waterways themselves. Who knows, maybe future generations may
find out modern efforts worthy of maintaining too.
I love to see a well turned out boat of any age but an old
traditional craft even more so. Personally I find that a modern
cruiser can over-do traditional adornment to the effect that it
appears tacky and artifical. (Sort of like a Hillman Imp with a
spoiler and go faster stripes.) This of course is just my opinion
and if everyone thought the same it would be a sad place.
One style of painting that has developed to a noticable degree
on The Lancaster Canal is the painting of animals like Horses,
Swans, Ducks and such like as decoration on many boats rather than
the more traditional roses. Is there any other such trends developing
in boat decoration on other canals which would indicate that the
craft of boat painting is evolving?
The overiding rule of boat decoration must be, If you like it,
do it.
Ian (Merlin) Hillbeck
Maintainer of "The Lanky"
Web Site of The Lancaster Canal Trust
http://www.hillbeck.force9.co.uk/
Bruce Peckett
In article <1998011419...@troy.blacksheep.org>, Ian Hillbeck
IHILLBEC - GBVSEL00 <mer...@e-mail.com> writes
>I wholehearted agree in preserving our traditional crafts and styles
>for the benefit of present and future generations but agree with Jeff
>the such preservation should not prevent our crafts from developing
>new styles and traditions which can compliment the changing face of
>the waterways themselves. Who knows, maybe future generations may
>find out modern efforts worthy of maintaining too.
Yes, crafts can evolve but in the particular instance of canal
decoration what is tending to happen is that the technique is being
modernised for speed - this means cutting down on presentation, cutting
down on content and spreading the work out so that you can reduce the
number of layers required.
For example, with absolutley no disrespect to Ron Hough WHAT-SO-EVER ..
If you look at early examples of Rons work you will see that the swags
of flowers are tightly bunched with the leaves, bases, petals and
finishing touches overlaying each other in (roughly!) that order. This
means that, if you are working on relatively small jobs with no other
work to do, you are going to be spending quite a bit of time waiting for
paint to dry.
If you look at Rons style today, you will see that the leaves are
seperated from the flowers and that the flowers are more widely spaced
so that petals of one colour do not overlap those of another colour.
This cuts down dramatically on the delays involved waiting for paint to
dry. As Ron had to find a way to make money out of this skill when the
dockyard work dried up, developing this quicker method made sense.
(There is an excellent example of this in Lewery's Narrow Boat Painting
on page 77 - if you have access to a copy compare the plate at the top
of the page which is modern Ron Hough with the work of Dennis Clark
below. Dennis Clark was trained by Frank Nurser at the same time as Ron
and Rons early work was very similar in style)
However, it is *not* the traditional style (I'm talking *general* style
here not that of any one painter) and therefore I do not like to see it
applied to historic craft. If you look at the work of many modern
painters, it exhibits this open layout that is faster to do.
(BTW, Ron is perfectly capable of painting swags much tighter and more
like his early style as he proved when he painted a 2 gallon can for
Kildare - really nice it was).
Modern work, decorative and sign writing, tends to be "thinner", smaller
and more spread out than the dockyard painting that was applied to
working craft.
There is room for both traditional and modern styles - I tend to apply
the description "Roses and Castles" to the modern style of painting and
"Narrow boat decoration" or "Boat painting" to the more traditional
methods. However, there is a danger of the trad style being swamped by
the modern stuff as the latter is so widespread in shops and on modern
pleasure boats and is commercially more viable.
It's also fair to say that I have come to the conclusion in my study of
this subject that the standard of work has been in decline throughout
the most part of this century. Sadly, very little if any early work
survives and most of what is in the museums is not accuratley dated.
Never the less, from descriptions, the artefacts that are in
preservation and the study of photographs etc., it seems that in the
early part of this century the decorative work was much finer with more
detail and subtlety. By the late 30's and even more markedly after the
war, the work had become cruder and more stylised and, particulary on
the landscape panels, much less detailed.
Of course, the fact that little if any decorative paintwork was done
during WWII probably helped to accelerate this trend.
An exception to the above was the work of William Hodgson in the 1930's.
Hodgsons' style or roses was much more realistic than the stylised
southern pattern and led to the style we know today as "knobstick". It
takes much more effort to do well but is really attractive. You rarely
see knobstick work commercially as it takes significantly longer to
paint than the simple southern flowers.
Personally, I greatly prefer the more traditional styles
>
>I love to see a well turned out boat of any age but an old
>traditional craft even more so. Personally I find that a modern
>cruiser can over-do traditional adornment to the effect that it
>appears tacky and artifical. (Sort of like a Hillman Imp with a
>spoiler and go faster stripes.) This of course is just my opinion
>and if everyone thought the same it would be a sad place.
I'm inclined to agree with you. It takes a great deal of skill and a
very good eye to decorate a boat to the extent that Joe Skinners
Friendship was decorated for example. Very few modern boats have the
shape and style to carry it off and I'm afraid few modern painters have
the style and technique to do it right.
There are exceptions and I am positively *not* going to name names or
make recommendations about who is a good painter and who is a bad one.
The only recommendation I will make is choose a painter whose style you
like and try and have a look at a boat/can/whatever he/she painted two
or three years ago and see how the job is wearing. Quality of
workmanship and a personal liking for a style are the only critieria.
>
>One style of painting that has developed to a noticable degree
>on The Lancaster Canal is the painting of animals like Horses,
>Swans, Ducks and such like as decoration on many boats rather than
>the more traditional roses. Is there any other such trends developing
>in boat decoration on other canals which would indicate that the
>craft of boat painting is evolving?
Well on the Lancaster, as elsewhere oop North, roses and castles (sic)
have no place so it sounds like th Lanky is developing a new tradition
of boat decoration all of it's own! Go to it says I :-)
--
Regards
Bruce Peckett
Half Cut - Contemporary folk music & fun from the canals of England.
Reply to: Bru...@halfcut.demon.co.uk Website: http://www.halfcut.demon.co.uk
Michael J Wooding
In article <iY+1TKBo...@halfcut.demon.co.uk>, Bruce Peckett
<bpec...@halfcut.demon.co.uk> writes
>If you look at Rons style today, you will see that the leaves are
>seperated from the flowers and that the flowers are more widely spaced
>so that petals of one colour do not overlap those of another colour.
Not strictly true Bruce, if using signwriters paint (as many do) then
overlapping is quite possible before the previous coat is dry - I know
this cos Krystyna told me so.
I think Ron's change in style is evolutionary, nothing else. Krystyna's
has changed over the 30 years she's been doing it - it's sort of
natural.
Mike
--
Michael J Wooding - nb Wa'Na'Nee'Che
NABO Webmaster http://www.clearlight.com/~nabo
email: na...@clearlight.com
The Cutpics site: http://www.vhfcomm.co.uk/cutpics.htm
The Springer Owners Club site: http://www.vhfcomm.co.uk/springer.htm
Mike Clarke
<snip>
>
>One style of painting that has developed to a noticable degree
>on The Lancaster Canal is the painting of animals like Horses,
>Swans, Ducks and such like as decoration on many boats rather than
>the more traditional roses. Is there any other such trends developing
>in boat decoration on other canals which would indicate that the
>craft of boat painting is evolving?
>
Roses (as per narrow baots) were NEVER part of the decoration on Lancaster
boats. Besides scroll work, panels with scallopped edges and geometric
designs, pictures could be included - not of castles but of any subject the
boatman/painter liked. Perhaps, to some extent, the boat owners are
reverting to tradition, not changing it.
na zdrowie
Mike Clarke
Milepost Research
41 Fountain St, Accrington, UK, BB5 0QR
tel & fax: +44 (0)1254-395848