Tuesday 31 January 2017

Honi Soit Qui Mal Y Pense


Years ago, I restored (helped to) this Royal Coat of Arms on the Theatre Royal, Bath. I made much of the replacement stonework, and the metal tails and unicorn's horn as well.

A few weeks ago I filled in a bit of missing plaster in the bathroom and have not yet got around to sanding it down. I wondered what it reminded me of for a while, then I remembered. An impressionist version.


31 comments:

  1. A case of " the cobbler's children having no shoes"?

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    1. It's only one square inch of Polyfilla. Having said that, the replacement bathroom door is leaning up against a wall outside, waiting for me to fit it. It's been there for 3 years...

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  2. I just went to a stone carver's exhibition at Norwich Cathdral. David Holgate. He left his mark all over the city in many ways. He lived in Bristol for a while.

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    1. I've just looked him up, and he seems to have died in 2014.

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    2. Yes he did. It was an exhibition to celebrate his life. He was also a musician and well known around the pubs here.

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  3. I like the impressionist version of the coat of arms. (I was at the theatre last week to see the ballet, it was not very good.)

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    1. You went in through the Victorian entrance. That photo is of above the old entrance. I hardly ever go there. The last time I went was for some version of Rupert the Bear. I was also not very good - more than that, it was 'crap', as our 9 year old grandson described it.

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  4. You can tell that we both went to the same college of plastering.

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    1. Yes. We make Art even when we are not trying to.

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  5. Wouldn't it be wonderful if Unicorns existed?

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    1. Anyway, you have to be a virgin to tame unicorns. There aren't many of them over the age of puberty any more.

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  6. Don't use this as an excuse for not using that sander and finishing the job - I don't think it will wash with HI.

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  7. Tom, your impressionistic plaster coat of arms truly does resemble the "original." It's so odd to have this sort of glimmer at how our minds work. Sometimes I will be drawing or painting something...or even choosing yarns for some knitting, when it will slowly dawn on me where my notion of using those colors arose. Always makes me smile.

    If I ever do again visit Bath, I'll have to visit that theatre, not for a performance, but to take a closer look at the coat of arms.

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    1. I'll give you a (De La) tour, Frances.

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    2. You are very amusing, Tom.

      I've been absent from blogging, too caught up in current affairs.

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  8. If you cover that plaster with thin gold, it will be a classy looking bathroom! Restoration of things gets on your head, I think. Especially if you are good at it, and you seem to be!! Speaking of archeology, we live in a county where they recently discovered settings from 12th century bc, when they dug for the new highway. Those findings will stir up a fuzz for a while and then the road comes along. Our pride is otherwise the dinosaurs, swan-something, plenty of bones laying around! Not so shiny and elegant though. Bath? No never got round to it,I'm afraid.

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    1. It's a classy looking bathroom in any case. Just 3rd class, that's all. Too much gold-leaf and things begin to look like a Trump Tower bathroom. Where do you live?

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    2. The garden of Sweden, Blekinge!! And ugh, no Trump Tower, use the sander!!! Recently they found the wreck of a battleship from 1682, now they have found two of the three made in the 17th century!!! Karlskrona. East Coast. Dinosaurs in western parts!

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  9. I had to google the blogtitle/inscription on the original crest to find out what it means. I can't believe that it is so very fitting for your impressionist version, as well! The way things work out sometimes, I tell ya!

    Good work on the plastering. Well. Sort of.

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    1. I try to make the evil thoughts positive.

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    2. It's old, Norman French, as I am sure you know. Old Norman passed away some time ago. I miss him.

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    3. Oh, dear! Did he pass away without me noticing? ��

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  10. I'm a nurse but I've been known to walk past my own bleeding family members. They're such babies. Your coat of arms restoration was stunning I'm sure. You deserve to rest on your laurels, or within the soon to be finished tub area.

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  11. I can't believe Rupert is still around. He seemed dated in the 1970s - he can't have much of an audience or readership in the 21st century.

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