New Project Time - The City of York ... and accents ...and ...

My wife, Pat, isn't one for letting the grass grow under her feet.

During this current reincarnation of me, as 'artist', we'd talked casually not only about launching the pictures on the internet, but also into the terrestrial world - and we haven't done the latter for years. Further more, we had never sold pictures up here in the north either.

Whereas I was simply trying to make up my mind if it were all worthwhile ... she went off and did her thing!

"OK", she said, "I've got you booked into a 'function' or two each month for all of the summer."

"You've ... booked - ....?" 

"Yes, so we are going to need scenes that are local to Yorkshire. York is popular with everyone - so you can put them on the net as well."

Now York was built by the Romans in about 200AD, about 2000 years ago, so it's got a bit of history. The Vikings rampaged and many settled there - and they had an influence on the Yorkshire accent. Even now they pronounce 'flour' as 'floooaa', which is straight Vikingspeak... according to the course my granddaughter and I are studying.

As you may know, Britain is made up of many accents. The Romans played a part here, they pushed us native Celts out into Wales to become the Welsh - the Welsh language is an ancient tongue. They built Offa's Dyke to keep the Welsh in Wales, and Hadrian's Wall to keep the Scots in Scotland.

To complete this accent thing: the Romans didn't do all the fighting themselves, they hired mercenaries. They hired the North Germany tribes of Angles and Saxons ... who decided to stay (Anglo-Saxon ring a bell?). Now the Mercian Saxon accent, and the Normans from France, were perhaps the biggest influence of all. When the 'posh' English accent is detected - it's the direct result of the Mercian Saxons.

So, York it is! I shall start with a drawing of York Minster.

York Minster

The 'present' Minster was built in the 14th Century, it's predecessor was built on the foundations of the original Saxon church,  it was wooden and burnt down.

The city was surrounded by a wall, with entrance through four bars. Not pubs, but gates, bar being the Yorkshire word for gate. So my next move will be to draw the four bars: Bootham Bar, Monk Bar, Walmgate Bar, and Micklegate Bar. I suppose having people barred from an entering, plays a part here, don't you?

I also want some street scenes, like, 'the Shambles.' Although this street is medieval, it has, as you can see

The Shambles, York

been modernised to the point of identity destruction. Fortunately I have a 1909 photograph, which shows the street as it was, warts and all - needing a coat of paint and repairs. It could be a lot of fun.

Having written all that, I've started with the Shambles!

Bend down turn around, Pick a bale of cotton Bend down turn around, Pick a bale a day Oh lordy, pick a bale of cotton Oh lordy, pick a bale a day

My Picture uses as reference, a 1900 photograph of bales of cotton and other cargoes being loaded onto the Mississippi Steamboats. During that era, the US Southern States were producing  eight million bales of cotton each year - all of which were transported up river by the Paddle Steamers.

 Loading Cotton      9" x 13.5"     Pen & Ink  
                                                                                    John Simlett, Shipwright (2012)
  

Although the flat bottomed Mississippi Paddle Steamers had a shallow draught (draft) ... they still needed 2 fathoms (12 feet) of water for as a safe working depth. They used a leads-man - a crew member - to test the depth of the water ahead of the steamer. He had a rope that was marked with coloured ribbons, one for every fathom. The rope had a lead weight on one end. Swinging-the-lead was considered an easy job compared to other on-board tasks. 

The leadsman would throw the lead ahead of the boat and then call out the depth according to the ribbon mark at the surface, "By the mark, one!" or, "By the mark, three". The number being the depth in fathoms. Of course they didn't say the number in clean cut English, for each mark had it's own unique name. 

In 1857 when the 21 year old Samuel Langhorne Clemens became a "cub" pilot on a Mississippi Steamboat, he was intrigued by the leads-man's chant as he called the depths, "HALF TWAIN!"; "QUARTER TWAIN"; "M-A-R-K  TWAIN!" The latter being two fathoms, the safe working depth.

In February 1863, Clemens became a journalist in Nevada - here, for the first time he signed his name, Mark Twain. He was born during a visit of Halley's Comet, and he predicted that he would "go out with it" as well. He died the day following the comet's subsequent return. He was lauded as the "greatest American humorist of his age".

Oh, Steamboat Bill, Steamin' Down The Mississippi

I wanted to do a series of unusual pictures of late 19th. early 20th. century working boats, rather than fancy passenger liners. In my research I came across photographs of  'Mississippi Paddle Steamers."

Steamboat Bill was the pilot of the Whipporwill. He was under orders from the vessel's owners to try to beat the record of the Robert E. Lee.

Now I had images in mind of the Paddle Steamers as floating Casinos ...the film, 'Showboat,' comes to mind But that's all Hollywood. It seems that those types of craft were simply barges with flat roofed houses on them - pulled by a 'tow-boat.'

Oh, Steamboat Bill, steamin' down the Mississippi
Steamboat Bill, a mighty man was he 

Oh, Steamboat Bill, steamin' down the Mississippi

Gonna beat the record of the Robert E. Lee.

The REAL paddle steamers were, what we in the aviation world called, PCF: Passenger Cum Freighter. Whilst the passengers occupied the upper deck(s) the freight travelled below. Also, directly below the passengers, were the massive steam boilers that drove the paddles.

Up then stepped a gambling man from Louisville 

Who tried to get a bet against the Whippoorwill

 Billy clasped the roll and surely was some bear 

The boiler it exploded, blew them up in the air. 

 The gambler said to Billy as they left the wreck 

"I don't know where we're going but we're neck and neck."

 Said Billy to the gambler, "Tell you what I'll do; 

I'll bet another thousand I'll go higher than you!" 

Exploding boilers killed many thousands on the rivers. In the first 40 years over 4000 people died and 500 vessel sunk. The worst was the Sultana, which in 1865 was ferrying  home Union Troops, recently freed from Confederate prisons. The boilers blew! 1700 died - still the largest loss of life on the rivers.

There were/are two kinds of Paddle Steamer: Side Paddle and Stern Paddle.

Here's my impression of the Side Paddle Steamer, Arabia, probably about 1885.

Paddle Steamer, Arabia (c1885),                  John Simlett, Shipwright  (2012)
Pen & Ink   15" x 12"

"S for Sugar"

A dear friend of mine, Ann Bihan, and I flew for many years on 10 Squadron. Ann has recently been deeply involved with a 10 Squadron Halifax bomber and it's crew who were shot down during World War Two. She asked about my involvement with S for Sugar: the last surviving Halifax.

I drew S for Sugar quite recently:

'S for Sugar', The World's Last Halifax                                                 John Simlett

Pen & Ink on Cartridge Paper
Picture Size: 12 inches x 16 inches
(300 mm x 410 mm)

However, I first drew the aircraft over thirty years ago, and here, and particularly for Ann, I republish the story, first posted here a few years ago:

Click on Picture for best result

Pen & Ink, Etched Onto Copper Plate and Mounted on Brown

Hessian in a Gold Banded Mahogany frame.

14" x 10" John Simlett 1983

In 1983, just before I left the RAF to become a professional 'Artist', I read of the discovery of the last known Halifax Bomber of World War 2.

The aircraft, 'S for Sugar' of 35 Squadron, took off from RAF Kinloss on the 27th April 1942 as part of an operation to bomb the German battleship Tirpitz; which was anchored in Trondheim Fjord in Norway. Having completed its task the aircraft turned for home, but was hit by anti-aircraft fire which shot away her starboard outer engine and set fire to her wing. The young Canadian pilot, Pilot Officer Don MacIntyre, managed to land the aircraft on the ice of Lake Hoklingen, where the aircraft slid for well over a mile through three feet of freshly fallen snow, before coming to rest. The crew all evacuated the aircraft before it broke through the ice and sank into the lake. The Flight Engineer, Sergeant Vic Stevens RAF, had to be left behind, as he had broken his leg, whilst the rest of the mainly Canadian crew escaped into neutral Sweden from where they were later repatriated to England. Vic became a kreigie: Air Force slang for Kriegesgefangenen, the German word for prisoner of war.

The aircraft lay in ninety feet of water for thirty years, until it was discovered by a RAF Sub-Aqua club. As a consequence of this discovery, a whole collection of enthusiasts, including Vic Stevens, gathered in the hope that the aircraft could be raised and restored. They succeeded in raising and beaching her in Norway.

That's when the problem started. The government of the day (spits) would not give financial backing to the shipping of the aircraft to the UK or for its restoration. Which really annoyed me, I threw the newspaper down in disgust and reached for the phone. Although there was a lot of successful fund raising under-way, I volunteered to help, and started by doing the drawing - the easy bit.

Next, I asked Vic Stevens to get his crew to send their signatures from Canada in order that they could be superimposed on an etched plate that my drawing would be reproduced on.

Secondly, I took my drawing and the signatures to the company that produced this type of etched metal picture for me.  They printed 100s of the pamphlets I had designed - which included an order form - also I got them to advertise with an order form in all the International Aviation magazines.

I sent the pamphlets to all the Air Force establishments and Veteran organisations.

Each picture sold had a unique number on the back, and, at the end of the project, one of the picture numbers would be randomly selected and the winner would get the original. All proceeds would go to the Sugar fund.

And then ... the orders started rolling in. Obviously the biggest market was the UK, but they were closely followed by, Canada, Australia and ... California! Britain went into World War 2 in 1939 and by 1940 there was only Britain (and her Commonwealth) left fighting. People flocked to join the RAF including a lot of Americans who joined the RAF's Bomber Command. From the sale of the etchings it seemed that most of the surviving Americans ended up retiring to California.

In Conclusion....

...S for Sugar can be seen in the Royal Air Force Museum, Hendon, London. 

Although I hadn't helped for personal gain, a year later I ended up with a years contract with that Museum, designing Philatelic First Day Covers.

More importantly ....

... Vic Stevens, the wartime Flight Engineer of Sugar, now frail and almost blind, got to take his seat in Sugar once again, and wept.

I knew it had all been worthwhile.

Harry Potter in the Hobbit Shires

Although my career in the Royal Air Force took me all over the world for 20+ years, my home base was usually in Wiltshire. In fact my kids still think of Wiltshire as their home county. When I left the Air Force to become an artist, we moved back to Wiltshire for six years

Wiltshire folk are mostly good solid farming stock. After all, this is the Hobbit shire!!

They tend to push the image of themselves as, "Wiltshire born and Wiltshire bred

strong in arm, and thick in 'ead".

They often talk in letters rather than words. For example,  for,"I have just arrived with the hay..." they might say,  "I B 'ere we the A, I B"

They love to think of themselves as Moonrakers, that is too say they hide their shrewd sharp intelligence behind a slow, straw-in-the-mouth, rambling accent. It seems that one moonlit night they were out smuggling brandy when they were ambushed by customs officers. They threw the barrels into the village pond, and to hide the ripples and bubbles they kept stirring the pond with hay rakes. When they were challenged by the customs officers, they explained that they were trying to rake the moon's reflection off the pond to stop it harming the water.... Moon rakers!

A lot of people know Wiltshire for the tragic scenes which flashed around the world, of events in the village of Wootton Bassett. Here the streets are lined  for every single Service Person who's body is repatriated from Afghanistan. The bereaved  families are taken into the bosom of the village and supported as the funeral passes through, en route from my old home base to Oxford. Despite the weather, not one serviceman who died in Afghanistan or Iraq has not been greeted by streets packed with people dressed up in their Sunday Best. My kids went to school here. I nice place to go to school!

But most of you will have seen the village of Lacock, although you might not know that you have. They have a scarecrow contest every year, but that's not what they are famous for! Lacock have been used as a Film and TV set since the 1950s. Early Robin Hood films were made here: Emma,  Pride and Prejudice and The Woman in Black, not to mention Warhorse. Lacock was also used for the TV series Cranford. ...  and.... Lacock was used for Harry Potter films.

 Click on Pictures for best results

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The High Street, Lacock, Wiltshire, England
Pen & Ink  12" x 9"   John Simlett

The village of Lacock was five miles from where we lived, and next to the Bowood Estate of Lord Shelbourne. It was in the Estate shop that I sold prints of my Lacock pictures. Once again I had used my secret weapon, Pat, to get my prints into the shop. No good being married to an ex-actress if you don't let her chat-up the aristocracy - and she did!

"The Sign of the Angel," the Village Pub.
 Lacock, Wiltshire, England
Pen & Ink  12" x 9" John Simlett

I did a few others, but I haven't got the pictures on this machine. But this gives you the flavour of the place.

I was talking working in wood with Linda

I've stopped drawing my dock scene because I came across some old photographs of Mississippi Paddle Steamers. The Shipwright-me and the artist-me, ganged up on simple-me ... mes' took a vote on it, and I am to draw a series of  the 'old gals'  (walks off whistling tunes from "Showboat")


Linda (from L.W. Roth, Out On a Limb) and I, both love furniture making, and as I am now some way off posting my next picture I thought I would show you  'another side of me' (multi-faceted  John). This will allow me to chat with Linda at the same time!

OK, so I'm called Gatepost Pictures because Pat drove the car through the gate whilst she was learning to drive in the 1960s - I should add the gate was shut at the time. I carved the remains of a gatepost into Maka Tiki, the Polynesian Tiki who looks after families - we called it a Gatepost Production, then later we became Gatepost Pictures.


It's the only thing I ever carved, but I am a fully trained boat builder (Shipwright), so working in wood is second nature.

But I'm also a writer, whilst Pat is an avid reader ... as we have miles of books I decided we needed a library. I turned the round facings on my lathe, and churned out bookcases. (There are a lot more bookcases since these picture were taken... these photos were WIP.

                                                 Click on Pictures for Best Result

I also made the panelled ceiling to make it all very light for reading. I'd started panelled ceilings in 1998 in response to being written off by the medics. Here are a few:

This one is Brazilian mahogany and Sapelle in the sitting room. (above)

An American White Oak ceiling in a bedroom. With a glimpse of a four poster bed, below, which I made in Hemlock (the tree not the poison)

Below is the hall in Californian Black Walnut

Here's a Welsh Dresser I made for the dining room. Notice the shaped pelmet on it, which is my signature (you can see it replicated on the bookcases)

These custom built units also have my signature, I made them to fit the breakfast room that I have built; it faces east for the rising sun)

I have just completed the master bedroom ceiling and made period shutters at the same time

You can see the shutters below

My current project is a four poster bed for the master bedroom - below are the posts I turned on my lathe, and then varnished. Each post has to be made in two parts and the glued together. The wood is my favourite - mahogany. 

Monschau - and marketing prints

Nicola over on Pointy Pix, started a discussion on how to price your work. Well being a jobbing artist who will never grow rich on the sale of originals, I can only relate how I made a living on the margins by selling cheap prints of my work. I don't pretend to be the expert nor do I want to teach my grandmother to suck eggs ...

             ...nevertheless....

           

                                       ... My most successful pictures, commercially, not necessarily artistically, were the two scenes of Monschau. I confess these were drawn to fit what I considered to be a niche market, albeit I loved the subjects.

   CLICK ON THE PICTURES FOR BEST RESULTS

Stone Bridge in Monschau, Eifel, Germany
 Pen & Ink  10" x 6"  John Simlett  1981

Let me explain. Monschau is a delightful village in the Eifel mountains in Northwest Germany. In the summer it was full of hikers, canoeists and tourists. In the winter it was a ski resort. 

I noticed that the rich tourists crossed the Stone bridge to use the hotel. The less affluent, ate their picnics down by the Metal bridge in the area to the front right (see picture below).

I drew the pictures in pen and ink and had 100 prints of each  made, across the border in Roermond, Holland (Judy's neck of the woods). Pat and I then bought really nice but very cheap frames in Germany and framed the lot. They sold like hotcakes! We only took £5 ($8) profit off each. 

We then repeated the exercise, over and over again.  

Metal Bridge in Monschau, Eifel, Germany
Original Pen and Ink etched onto metal plate
10" x  6" John Simlett 1981

The only reservation customers had was that the glass could get broken when flying home. I therefore had them reproduced as metal etchings by an English company that employed physically disabled people, and that made Pat and I really happy. I still only asked £5 profit off each ....and they sold and sold.

The other idea I had was to display both pictures alongside each other, amongst all the other pictures. People didn't want to spend a lot and so they would ask how much the metal bridge was - they were so pleasantly surprised at how cheap it was that they bought both pictures - spending far more than they had intended - and went  away delighted. I was told by all the experts that I was underpricing. But if the customer was happy and we were happy, who could ask for a better outcome?

Now I'm not going to lecture here. That's the story take from it what you want. There are lots of ways making a living from art, but don't wait for the markets to come to you.