My dad, now long departed, was an amateur artist and I remember when we were living in South London in the early 60's he would quietly retire to what is generally known in South London terraced house parlance as the 'Box' room...the smallest bedroom normally used for storing junk. It was his studio, and he created to my mind some gems. He was much into horticulture too so it was not surprising that his paintings were mostly flowers of all kinds spilling out of vases. I have all the paintings he did - not many as each took an age. As an engineer by day he was meticulous about most things! Here's the one I like the most, which even now adorns my hallway wall. It will be about 50 years old now. I take no credit for this work of art of course, but thank him for passing on to me inspiration for my own creative adventures...
As to my own efforts, here's another little story.
I've always had an interest in architectural things - mainly vernacular. As a modelmaking enthusiast, but not as a dolls house fan particularly though most house models are built by men in their backyard workshop, I set myself the challenge of creating a typical English country cottage and shop of Dickensian era. In the usual 1" to 1 foot scale, it has full lighting and even at one point had a wurlygig musician sitting outside the shop turning the handle as music rung out hidden from under the cobbles.
The house was finished about 1985 and I still have it stored in my 'box' room. It has also travelled a bit. It has been used in model shop displays in Wales, and also was sited outdoors in a small woodland setting on dry days at a public model railway attraction...again in Wales. It survived all of this handling and moving around on a wheelbarrow!
All the wall bricks are individually applied as are the ivy leaves climbing up the end wall. It has a living room, hall, kitchen, bedroom, nursery, bathroom and shop. The rear chimney smokes when a lit incense stick is dropped down it into a metal receptacle. Preferably smelling of roses! The model weighs in at around 30kg and requires two people to lift it comfortably.
And here it is, but as I say, now retired to the spare room...
...and on the subject of model railways, this is the indoor one (4mm:1ft) I currently play with. The intention was not for a realistic scenic setup, but just a shameless toy railway. It is DCC operated and has at the moment five locos, three rakes of coaches and a couple of long freight trains. Anything more in the way of rolling stock added will have to be introduced from shelving as required by the Big Hand In The Sky...
Pete
