Ancient Scent

As summer draws to a close and Autumn has firmly set in I've looking back at all the things I've done and woweee has it been busy. August was especially packed. I had the Happy Tat sale which was a delight and then a mammoth car boot sale, and I'm now entering the new season feeling a whole lot lighter and brighter. 

 I've also been knee deep in preparations for Ancient Scent which is coming up at the beginning of October (7th-10th). We've had so many wonderful and fortuitous things happen around the project. The launch evening will take place on October 8th and will include a full programme of discussion, readings and performances. We're very lucky to have Richard Shillitoe and Marcus Williamson (both Ithell Colquhoun experts and enthusiasts) lending us some real deal Ithell Colquhoun's for the evening and holding a short discussion alongside member of Ancient Scent, Steve Patterson. 

About month ago my mum, Penny MacBeth, who is also a part of Ancient Scent, received a forwarded email through a curator and friend at Penlee House Gallery and Museum detailing that Peter Owen Press were soon to re-launch Ithell Colquhoun's two travelogues The Crying of the Wind and The Living Stones with a new foreword by Stewart Lee.  Penlee held the first retrospective of Colquhoun's work last January but weren't looking for any further Colquhoun events. After many emails, a trip to the Peter Owen offices and a few calls we arranged to also host the launch of the two books at our launch of the exhibition. It's incredibly exciting that the books will be re-launched, and we feel very honoured to have them present at our evening. The Living Stones is how I first discovered Colquhoun, through a dusty old copy from the library. It had me gripped from beginning to end, it is beautifully evocative depiction of Cornwall in the early-mid fifties and indeed it has much that we could learn from today in it. I think I've quoted this passage here before but it's still my absolute favourite, Ithell Colquhoun on fox hunting:

If I can explain my feeling on the subject of 'blood sports' without priggishness, I would say that the human race can never enjoy the freedom of the cosmos until it ceases to exploit the other races with which it must share it's life. In other words, you cannot count on benevolence in your surroundings unless you practice harmlessness yourself. (The Living Stones, 1957, p.119)

My own work for Ancient Scent has been progressing very well. I've spent lots of time in the studio immersed in my alter ego, Hector Nit's, World. This foamy, cavernous landscape will provide the backdrop for the animals I've made to stand against. 

I've been worrying a lot what I might wear for the evenings proceedings, I have grand plans for a watercoloured outfit. However, I did also just buy this magical Bella Freud suit from ebay and it might just be my favourite ensemble ever. It had its first outing to some old friends' wedding last weekend and it was a joy to wear. 

As well as making the rocky landscape I've been busy making t-shirts to sell. I'll probably put most of them up in my shop, Happy Tat, afterwards so I'll let you all know!

The final, and extremely delightful, piece of fortune that was handed to us was this beautiful photograph of Ithell taken by Alastair Thain in 1985. We received an email from the same curator at Penlee stating they'd found it just after a phone call we'd made about the exhibition to them... We'll now have it on show for the duration of the exhibition!

If you'd like to visit Ancient Scent, details are below. Anyone wishing to attend the launch party or interested in more information about the project/launch please email me.

Outfit Details

1990s pink velvet suit - Bella Freud via ebay

Cupie doll t-shirt - Meadham Kirchoff X Topshop 

Brogues - Nicole Farhi via charity shop

1950s pink velvet turban hat - vintage shop

Postcards from Europe: Cyprus

When I plucked Cyprus from the hat I struggled to think of anything I knew about the country... haloumi? beautiful stamped coins? That was about it. A little investigation led me to a number of intriguing details, including the use of kohl on their eyes to detract flies and the sun's glare. I also discovered their wonderful laces made in the town Lefkara and most excitingly of all their wonderful folk dress. Cypriot folk dress is quite different to any other European dress, it's very Turkish in its influence... even the Greek Cypriot dress has touches... but let's slide over that...

The element I liked most was the pantaloons that poke out from beneath the dresses

Greek Cypriot: source 1

Turkish Cypriot: source 2

and the waistcoats that the men wear. The waistcoat I'm wearing was a gift from my mum earlier this year, she picked it up in a local chazza. I'm pretty sure it's a genuine Cypriot one, it's very lovely thick green velvet with a wonderful braid around the the edging. I think it's early 19th century, quite a bargain for a tenner!

Source: 3

During the course of this post I have been reading an awful lot on the history of Cyprus and it's utterly fascinating, it's definitely somewhere I need to read lots more about to fully understand it's history. It's very long, and quite checkered.

I'll be taking a break from Eu postcards for a short while as I have two upcoming events that require a fair amount of attention. First up is my Happy Tat sale at the end of August, if you're in Cornwall please do pop by (email me for more details), and of course Ancient Scent in early October. Ancient Scent is shaping up to be a great thing indeed, I'm fresh back from an open air oil drum firing in Lamorna last weekend. A truly magical affair. We fired pinch pots, and other weird and wonderful objects in an old oil drum, it was very wild and wonderful.

I hope you are all well, and I promise to try and post in between making, travelling and what not over the next few weeks.

Outfit Details

Cypriot velvet waistcoat - charity shop

1970s Indian block print dress - car boot sale

Bloomers - vintage sale

Scarf - Zara

Earrings - birthday gift from a friend

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Postcards from Europe: France

Bonjour! Here is the second installment of my Postcards from Europe series (read here for info about the project). The second European state I decided to tackle was France. I love France, I've visited twice; once to Paris and once to the south. I want to go back a thousand more times. The glorious food is enough on it's own but coupled with the weather, beautiful fauna and copious amounts of delicious (and cheap) wine it really has taken my heart in a big way. I'm hoping to take another trip there next summer, my boyfriend is currently learning to drive so the hope is us and a few friends will trek over there.

Of course another of my major interests in France is it's fascinating textile history; from silks to linens to printed cottons, it has a long and tangled history. I constantly find prints that I love and find that they originally hail from the French, for instance the fabric of this dress.* I knew it was French in style (it reminded me so much of Provencal lavender bags). However, it turns out it definitely is French and is a fabric designed by Charles Demery who designed for the French house Souleiado (read this article for more info on him). They sold (and sell) their fabrics wholesale so it seems very likely that Susan Small used their fabrics. In recent years Cath Kidston has ripped them off in a major way, I hadn't really realised (doh) until today how similar her prints are to Southern French cottons. 

*As you might of guessed this dress is the counterpart to the other Susan Small dress. 

I took inspiration from a couple of images but mainly the below, I loved the black scarf against the Fleur print dress and the yellow flowers (I used St John's Wort because they are my birthday flower and are currently out in abundance):

Source: 1

Behind me you can glimpse a tiny bit of our newly mosaiced cob oven (thanks ma!)

I've also begun a mural in the garden, so I'll put together a little post on it all soon.

My mum has also been working hard on her 14 countries, a few of you asked me to share hers too so here they are:

Romania (Penny MacBeth, 2016)

Spain (Penny MacBeth, 2016)

I'll be back very soon with another postcard from Europe, until then Au Revoir! 

Outfit Details

Provencal 1970s Susan Small dress - Ebay

Printed cotton shirt - Celia Birtwell for Uniqlo

Black shawl - Zara 

Straw hat - Topshop

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Body hair

I took these photographs on a long hot day last summer as part of a project that subsequently didn't happen (I won't name names...) Anyway I didn't ever post them because I for a while held out that it might happen and then it was Winter and it felt terribly unseasonable to post such sunny photographs. I was pretty happy with this set of images; the theme was the biggest insecurity in your body that you've overcome. I wrote a little piece at the time to go alongside it: 

I've spent years taming it, struggling to get it under control; my biggest insecurity is my body hair. A small amount of very prominent Italian genes means I'm blessed with quite a lot of it. I've felt impossibly awkward about it since  hitting puberty and have spent far too much time obsessing over it. Over the last years I've started to deal with my demons. I've grown my underarm hair for extended periods (I still sometimes cave and shave it all off). Under arm hair has always been the most scary for me. Mine is very dark and fairly noticeable. What made me have a change in heart? Seeing women like Petra Collins, Molly Soda and Miley Cyrus wear theirs with pride and promote a positive attitude towards it. I've started to slowly realise that everyone has it, it's not gross or scary but part of being a woman. Many chose to rid themselves of it completely. I find shaving such a bother, in fact I find it completely tedious, that it's such a relief to no longer feel the pressure to have to ALWAYS do it! I really only ever shave it so others don't stare but recently I've started to care a lot less about that too. I bought this dress last year and a year ago I wouldn't of dreamed of wearing it out without shaving my armpits. Now I'm throwing caution to the wind and doing just that... I appreciate that body hair isn't for everyone but for me relaxing my routine has made me much more comfortable in my body.

A year on not a lot has changed I still feel like it's good to be chiller about these things, sometimes I rid myself and that's fine, other times I can't be bothered and that's fine too. Either way I think nobody should be made to feel gross//uncomfortable//sad about their choices because both are great! It's all about what makes you happy in this life, so embrace your right to choose - we are after all very lucky have that right (which is not afforded to all women out there).

This dress is pretty magnificent I purchased it from a friend and vintage seller in Falmouth, she told me it had been specially made for a dear friend in Mexico in the 1970s. On buying it I wasn't sure if it would fit but it did/does and I couldn't be happier. It's the perfect summer dress, I'm so looking forward to parading around the South of France in it (I'm off there in June- send me tips for St-Paul de Vence!) The embroidery is amazing, very intricate and SO vibrant - my favourite sort.  It does have a couple of stains on the top and skirt and I had planned to embroider over these but I actually rather like them, (I always like garments that show their history)...maybe in time I'll cover them up but for now they're safe.

I'm interested in everyone's reactions to this, body hair is always a conversation divider...  Whatever your choice I think you are all delightful, thank you for always reading and commenting such lovely things, I always read them all and feel honoured to know so many fab and vivacious women!

Outfit Details

1970s embroidered dress - Kitty Gubbins Vintage Flea Market

Gold hooped earrings - Urban Outfitters

Floral headdress - Penny MacBeth

Backgrounds

all paintings by me

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