78 Derngate a centenary celebration – The 1920’s Hall Lounge recreation

At number 78 Derngate in Northampton there is a small house which is celebrating this year the 100th anniversary of its refurbishment by a very famous architect. Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

I had the great privilege to work with the exhibition team and my role was to recreate two of the heritage stencilled scheme… Not seen for many years they are bright and bold again welcoming the exhibition visitor adorning the original furniture …

I have created a stencil available on My Etsy shop from this border. Its a simplified yet striking border, very much an Art Deco border. Its stunning.

I will be running one day stencilling workshops in Northampton during the Centenary exhibition on the 29th of April. If you would like to take part please contact 78, Derngate to book see here .

In 1917 its owner Mr Bassett Lowkes commissioned Charles Rennie Mackintosh a young promising architect to refurbish his newly bought house before moving in with his young bride. The scheme was daring and exciting…. Today 78, Derngate is ran as a charity and opened to the public. The original scheme was refurbished in the early 2000 and an exhibition of Bassett Lowkes’s entrepreneurial life is there to inform the public about local life.

A Centenary celebration is on between 1st February till the end of April 2017. An exhibition about Mackintosh’s work, Talks about the refurbishment of the house, stencilling workshop, talks about stencilling recreation.

I had the great pleasure to be involved in the making of the celebrations. Recreating two of the original schemes was a great pleasure and I am looking forward to see the scheme in situ next week. I hope you will have the chance to visit the exhibition while it is on. But in case you don’t here are some images of the work I did there.

In 1917 the house was fitted with a very striking scheme of bright triangles and squares on a black background very ahead of its time. Story tells that Bassett Lowkes was colour blind and Mackintosh in an experimental phase.

However only a few years later, a new design slightly calmed down replaced it. Very geometrical still but on a pale grey background it was designed again by Mackintosh. With the recreation of the 1920 Hall Lounge the centenary exhibition will give visitors the unique opportunity to see what Mackintosh designed in the 1920’s for Basset Lowkes.

Key to a good recreation is the quality of the archival elements available. In the case of the 1920 scheme there was a plethora of sketches by Mackintosh’s hand available in the archives of the Hunterian Art Gallery in Glasgow, in the RIBA in London as well as being fully documented with black and white photographs, an period article as well as being fully documented in Roger Billcliffe’s “The Complete Furniture, furniture drawing and interior design”.

A copy of the original stencil plates were available to view in the RIBA, and finally photos of the scheme on the wall discovered about 15 years ago gave a good clue about colours.

After 6 months of research, and 50 hours of work to prepare the stencils I travelled to Northampton on the 10th of January to stencil it again on panels in 78 Derngate using household paint. Each panel takes 9 stencil plates, careful lining of each plate takes time and careful planing.

The stencilled panels are being used to display original furniture from 78, Derngate. I hope you get to see the exhibition.

Best wishes.

Betty

The Big Banner project, an art project #crmackintoshbanner2017

2017 #Thebigbanner

If you need further information about the #thebigbannerproject email me @ bettysbeautifullife@gmail.com

If you want to read the diary I keep during the run up to the project click here

Here you can view the program of the Mackintosh Festival 2017

During the Mackintosh Festival in Glasgow, I will be running a number of Free drop in “Banner making” events , you dont need bookings for those… just turn up ! There you will be able to have a go at stencilling while make a small contribution to the making of a communal banner

26th September – private event @ The Mack Club Helensburgh with the pupils from Hermitage Academy

1st October 12.30 to 4.30 @Dysart St Clair Church in Fife (suitable for families) read about it here

7th October 11 to 4pm @ The Lighthouse in Glasgow

17th October 12 to 4pm @ Scotland Street School Museums

18th October 11.30 to 4pm @ Kelvingrove Museum

19th October 12.00 to 4pm @ The Hunterian in Kelvinhall

28th October 11.30 to 4pm @ Kelvingrove Museum

I will be running two paid workshops where you will learn out to design a stencil and stencil it to a tote bag. (Cost £25.00 for day with tea and coffee).

14th October 12 to 4pm @ Kelvingrove-Museum (Book here)

22nd October 12 to 4pm @ Scotland Street school Museum (Book Here)

2016 #thebigrose

2016 saw #thebigroseproject ! For celebrating the 20th anniversary of The House for an Art Lover I outreached to “people” anyone from anywhere to stencil a bright pink Mackintosh outdoors. It was much fun and so accelerating to see tens of participants take to the ground with a large stencil and a brush…

This year will be as exciting with my Big Banner project ! It is based on a linen banner I found in the archives of the Glasgow based Hunterian Art Galleries, It was designed by Mackintosh, its over a 100 years old and it is stunning, a tall elegant lady head in a bunch of roses on a silver background… designed for The Willow Tea rooms which off course is in full refurbishment this year having been rescued by The Willow Tea Rooms Trust and in the hands of a Trust and a team of experts to be reopened next year for the big 2018 celebration to everything #Mackintosh.

I have enlisted a good number of Glasgow Mackintosh venues in Glasgow and elsewhere to take part, together we will outreach to the public once again to recreate banners. Many banners… using stencilling, recycling, mixed media and others… I will run workshops like the one for the Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum but also some drops in days… Free events where you can just have a go during the month of October 2017.

SO KEEP IN TOUCH IF YOU ARE INTERESTED… send me an email if you would like to take part… or volunteer for it @ bettysbeautifullife@gmail.com The project will take place in October 2017 for the Mackintosh Festival but before hand much work has to be done and there are ways to get involved….

But before that… read all about how I connected with this beautiful objet…

In 1903 Glasgow, a lady entrepreneur Miss Kate Cranston commissioned a young promising architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh with the refurbishment of her new tea room in Sauchiehall Street… The Willow Tea Rooms. He was to refurbish it to a hight standard with themed rooms. It was a success… The ground floor back room was called “The Back Saloon”. For it, Mackintosh designed sets of stencilled “banners” … They were linen inserts in the wooden paneling. On each panel, a tall elongated lady on a silver background, her head in large bushy roses. In each panels ladies were facing one another.

Four of those panels together with some black and while photographs are in the archives of The Hunterian Art Gallery I have been researching them over a long period of time. Their history, their making, the technique used, the design, material… They are of great beauty, delicate features of the faces, soft shades of the roses.

I have had the great privilege to work on the recreation of one of those panels recently for display at the Centenary exhibition of 78, Derngate the property Charles Rennie Mackintosh refurbished in 1917 in Northampton, showing the process of recreation to the public I made two panels showing different stages in the process. I used for the test panels linen fabric and hand stencilling as the original shows. I worked to the highest standard of recreation. I researched extensively before deciding on which method and which paint to use. I used period painting and decorating manuals which would have been available when Mackintosh created this piece. Those are the photos of my very first sample. Hand cut stencil of oiled manilla card… a mix of paint but mainly acrylic (instead of the oil used at the turn of the century), beautiful full quality of Linen fabric. completely done by hand including the stencil cutting.

The back saloon, The Willow Tea room period image

Period illustration the banners in site

Upper section of the banner, photo The Lansdowne House of Stencils 2017

Banner, photo The Lansdowne House of Stencils 2017

Banner, Photo The Lansdowne House of Stencils 2017

To recreate the stencil, I used a tracing of the original on tracing paper before transferring on oiled manilla card and hand cutting it.

I tried a good number of paints on linen to check on technique and aspect… will the paint cover the fibres of the fabric? is the colour matching the original? Will it be colour fast? Does the colour run? Is it flat or shady.

A small video shows how I used natural pigments mixed with an acrylic medium to recreate the rose petals. Photographs of the original banners are not of a high quality enough to show the original colour and shading but give an indication. Out of the 4 original panels in the archives of the Hunterian each of the 8 figures shows different shades of pink. A decision will have to be made before the panels are recreated for the Willow Tea-rooms.

The result is a cluster of roses with delicate shades of pink and a lovely shading creating by the pigment mixing with the medium. Painters manuals from the period shows this medium being used for stencilling on fabric.

Time to unveil the result and by peeling up the stencil you access the beautiful cluster of roses for that willow tea room banner

Only a delicate face is missing for the lady to be complete but this is another project, the drawing of the faces will only appear once I am completely happy with the rest of the banner. But this will be for another day.

These samples of the banner were displayed at 78, Derngate within the Centenary exhibition until the 29th April 2017.

Best wishes…

Betty xx

(all photos in this article are copyright The Lansdowne House of Stencils 2017)

1000 !!! Of you came to read Those pages this month :) Thank you

When you write about niche subjects it’s always a bit of a gamble on whether you will find readers but I guess this month STENCILLING has become main stream !

A Big thank You !

See you soon back here.

Betty xx

Mackintosh ‘s 78 derngate … watch this place for great things are happening !!!

Did you know that Mackintosh designed a house in England ? In Northampton and it’s opened to the public ? At 78 Derngate its the most jazzy interior I have seen… despite being a Mackintosh building … not a rose in site … triangles and bright colours as in the stencilled scheme … dark scheme reminiscent of the 20´s another side of Mackintosh to be discovered.

Well i hear there might be celebrations ahead as the house will be a whole 100 years old next year and I might just be taking part !!! How exciting.

So plop yourself on their website Here tomorrow morning to discover the program …

And come back here if you want to hear my version.

Good day to you.

Betty xx

New Stencilling class at the glasgow city heritage trust

Learning a new skill is a good way to … pass the time during cold winter weekends but also make friends and giving yourself the tools to tackle home improvement !

I will be running a one day stencilling workshop at The Glasgow City Heritage Trust on the 19th of November.

During that day we will look at stencilling recreation and your own project if you live in a period property and want to renovate or recreate a design that might have been on your walls. It will be a fun but very informative day with a lot of hands on moment and you will cut your own design and learn to apply it.

For information and bookings look Here but if you have any questions come back to me @ bettysbeautifullife@gmail.com

Have a great Sunday.
Betty xx

Mackintosh and his technicolor dream stencil or 24 #bigroses at The Lighthouse !!!

Sometimes one image says a thousand words !!!

Here are our words @ The Lighthouse yesterday when I made colours available to the stencillers of #thebigrose !!!

In Helensburgh 24 #bigroses lead the way from the station to The Mack Club

This week saw #Thebigroses back in Helensburgh but this time right in the centre of the town when The Mackintosh Club hosted a masterclass in stencilling in its glorious premises at 40, Sinclair Street, 2 up…

Local ladies arrived at 10am on the dot, two of them were local artists Lesley Carruthers and Mary Batchelor. They had come to support the project and discover The Mack Club a newly opened Art venue in a Mackintosh designed building right in the centre of Helensburgh.
#Thebigroses at The Mackintosh Club is just a very special thing. I met Nicola and Bruce as they had just taken over this building. A dedicated young couple of architects, so very keen about their project of opening in this Mackintosh designed premises a gallery celebrating the work of the Glasgow Four (that would be Charles Rennie Mackintosh and his wife, her sister and her husband).

Nicola and Bruce Jamieson decided to join The Glasgow Mackintosh Group as The Mackintosh Festival kicked in beginning of October and what a treat it is to be able to work in their gorgeous premises. It was a last minute addition to the program but they put their heart and soul in making this day possible. I am so very grateful to be here.

A great hall, roaring fire, large tables covered with stencils, tubs of paint and brushes and loads of paper, ready to start the day… One of the participants ho ho !!! surprise is Moyra who took part in the first event at The Hill House. Stencilled the first rose on the carpet, probably stencilled the last one on the pavement today. What a great compliment to the project to see someone liking the idea so much as to come back a second time…

I always think its interesting to see how one’s artistic technique can be so different to another one. A fine art painter and an sculptor on top of their game still have to learn the basic steps of stencilling like any other participant… But an artistic mind can take a new technique and turn it on its head and a set design suddenly becomes something else. So we spent two hours stencilling the same roses and tulips again and again until reaching perfection.

Lunch arrived in good time for tired participants. A beautiful bowl of home made soup (what a treat) and rustic bread before fresh brewed coffee and cookies were welcome by the participants and the door bell rang… A local photographer had heard about the party and decided to make his way to take a few snaps… For the local paper… What a treat to read about our day in the local paper the next day… Such a good story to tell…. The Helensburgh Advertiser told the story as it should and even better featured a good deal of photos. What a fun day !

So we stepped outside as the sun was shinning and passers by were on the lookout for something to see. In an organised row, kneeling on cushions … we stencilled roses all the way from The Mack Club to the train station. Great big cabbage roses ready to show the way to the Club to any visitors who would have come from town (Glasgow) by train. 21 in total, one after the other, separated by 2 meters… I even believe that Bruce woke up extra early the next day to stencil the 3 missing ones on the road as the traffic was to frenzy that afternoon. So today 24 roses stand proud in their pink glory… ready to be admired.

This was a #thebigrose private party but as soon as we started as it had happened before the public was just there asking “what are you doing” “can i try?” “is that allowed” “how long before they go away”… We had some children kneeling down and having a go… and by some kind of magic Stuart Robertson, director of the Mackintosh Society arrived with two visitors a good time to inspect the work and give an interview.

What a glorious way to spend a Autumn day, At this stage I count a total of 144 roses and you? a whole of 144 participants who have enjoyed creating fake carpets, loved using good design and handling a brush and paint. Something completely low tech, hand made, convivial and so much fun… Gets you to talk to one another…

I believe our roses will have to be washed out within two weeks if they have not faded said the council man… but I have the feeling that the public will like them so much that they might just stay…

Oh!!! Did I say Lorna, the property manager from The Hill House was passing by as we were stencilling and she smiled knowing she already has one of our carpets in her garden… that up the hill at The Hill House. So when you have seen the roses in Sinclair Street why don’t you make your way up there… The carpet will be there until the 31st.

Enjoy your week end.

Betty xx

24 #Bigroses at The Lighthouse, down the lane and up the tower !

Right in the centre of Glasgow at the bottom of a Mitchell lane off Buchanan street you can find The Lighthouse. And that’s where I was on the 15th October for another #thebigroseday.

If you walk down the lane from the Buchanan street and follow a trail of bright large roses in the style of Mackintosh you get to the front door of this bright, narrow but tall building. I know that because … I stencilled them, one Friday afternoon in October.

Me, my pot of paint, my knee pads and a large stencil. It was magical fun, it took me longer than I though it would. Not because i was slow at it… just simply because the passers by kept on interrupting… “are you the lady who made the carpet at The Hill House? What are you doing? Could I try? Is this not messy? Are you allowed to do this? and so on…” by the time I reached The Buchanan street the rain was teaming down and I had to stop. But looking back there was a lovely trail of pink bright roses glowing in the rain and the neon lights.

“The Lighthouse, Scotland’s Centre for Design and Architecture, is a visitor centre, exhibition space and events venue situated in the heart of Glasgow, just off the Style Mile. Charles Rennie Mackintosh was a young draughtsman in the architectural practice of Honeyman and Keppie when he designed the Mitchell Street building, which now houses The Lighthouse. The Herald Building was Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s first public commission.” (The Lighthouse website).

The Lighthouse welcomed #Thebigrose project for a full day demonstration on the 15th of October. Elisabeth, Sula and Lee-Anne arrived with bags full of stencils, brushes, paint pots and masking tape, a few folded sheets of newsprint for the public to practise on and great trepidation. Michael and old friend and great photographer @Ruanaich popped along a little later to say ‘Hi’ for a short while, 5 hours later he was still helping stencilling pink roses on the flagstone and taking great photos which he would later turn into a great video of #thebigrose project.

A table covered with pink pots of paint, a pile of well used stencils, roses, tulips, squares designs in the shapes Mackintosh would have approved off just by the front door at the bottom of the steps. A good number of cushions to give the public a padded experience to kneeling on the floor before stencilling a large rose, everything was planned to the last detail. In previous days we had a timid if steady number of visitors. So we were ready for much the same.

The Lighthouse took us by storm, crowds after crowds walked past us on their way in or out and immediately without having to be coaxed picked up a brush to “have a go” … young, older, man, woman, many many children, visitors to the city, students, travellers, just passers by wanted to have a try at stencilling the rose. After all this building is the design centre by excellence… we had come to the right place.

I wonder why no one has ever discovered if stencilling was as good for the soul as meditating !!! There is something very relaxing in concentrating on applying paint evenly with a brush… gently ! The result is almost always perfect if the brush is dry and when you peel off the stencil plate, the bright rose appears contrasting on the dark flag stone bringing a large smile to the stenciller. Its absolutely magical.

So I had grand plans when planning the events and got the exhibition team to agree to allow me to stencil outside the Mackintosh interpretation centre and on the window of the viewing gallery, pink roses on the glass looking towards “people make Glasgow” pink building but I just could not find the time… to much of a crowd waiting to take part. So I went back this week to do exactly that! it was magical … I even managed to be there at the same time as Alan the volonteer piano player from #pianocity. Alan is a beautiful piano player he dots around playing piano in the most surprising places and his repertoire is stunning. See for yourself !

I had done some testing on the floors and the glass, before the event … I found out it had inspired some instagramer and even a blogger how great is that ?

All through the day groups and individuals passed by many stopped… I even got an impromptu interview by a journalist from the French newspaper “Le Monde” …

4 o’clock arrived in a flash, my unopened lunch was still seating on the corner of a table. So we packed up, folded the table and went home, I was so very excited by the buzzing atmosphere of the event…

And the good news is … We are back this week on the Saturday 29th all day for more stencilling…

Hoping to see you there.

Best luck with Monday 🙂 I am off cutting stencils for another #thebigrose event… and you?

Betty xx

STENCILLING CLASS !!! 22nd/23rd October – The House for an Art Lover

Pushing paint through the holes of a template to produce a design, could be the most simplistic definition of stencilling but probably the most accurate ! Off course you use a brush !

The best thing about Stencilling is the beautiful result anyone can get without being specifically artistic. I love the way participants all using the same stencil produce so diverse pieces of work and end up with different art work at the end of the session.

I will be running a stencilling class at The House for an Art Lover on the 22/23rd October. Places are available for either of the days. For detail or booking check here

On the first day we will tackle stencilling from ready cut stencil plates, at the end of that day the participants will be able to tackle standard schemes. Wanting more, on the second day you will learn to design your own stencil.

The photos of our April week end will surely inspire you.

I hope to see you there.

Betty x

24 #Big roses at The Mackintosh Church A Pure Dead Brilliant experience !

Queens Cross Church in the Maryhill Area of Glasgow is the only church that Mackintosh fully built. Thats may be why locally we call it The Mackintosh Church. It’s located at the cross road of Maryhill and Garcube roads next door to Partick Thistle football grounds in a really popular area of Glasgow. Locals remember going to the services there and for them its a popular buildings.

So strange… as for the rest of the world this is the headquarters of The Charles Rennie Mackintosh Society… and for me … my very first job when arriving in Glasgow almost 30 years ago !

And there is a small triangle of land in the middle of it. Thats where #thebigrose project was happening this Sunday. With visitors to the city, Mackintosh Society members and many local children from the Queens’ Cross Area My volunteers and I spent the Sunday stencilling large roses on the ground. The weather was gorgeous as it often is in October a bit like it feels guilty for all the rain its been throwing at us all through the summer and it needs to make peace before the cold winter arrives…

It was only right that this project had a day there… After all this is where everything Mackintosh wise starts as The Charles Rennie Mackintosh Society has its head-quarters in the church building. A Squarish looking red sand stone building with a turret and a beautiful stain glass quite modern in the shape of a heart but so blue !

So we arrived first thing and planted our table in the middle of the triangle and traced a rectangle carpet 3.5 m x 6 x on the ground… getting ready for participants to turn up and fill it up with roses.

And they came, from China, Japan, Balloch, the South Side and … on the other side of the road. We had young and old on their knees, applied with their large brush and enormous stencil making sure the brush stayed dried to avoid mess. Many small children with their mums crossed the road from Springbank street to try their hand at stencilling on paper first then on the ground, in pairs sometimes three of them around a rose made sure to cover every area in pink paint.

A friend from an up-cycling class came along to have a go, a volunteer who was not on that day brought her daughter to have a try. A mature couple came along to try, both of them held the brush and left so satisfied to have had a go. An older lady who was sorry about having bad arthritis did not try but came to have a chat about the good old days in that neighborhood.

Had I missed something there. So busy thinking about the Mackintosh fans I had forgotten to speak to the locals. And they were so very keen to take part. Shame on me, I will need to address the local Housing Association at Queens Cross. I hear they are always very opened to new experiences and I bet the local children would love to have another go.

Thats the thing about Art projects as those. They are for the people not for the purists. They are for the little people like me and you to try their hands and be so happy to have tried. Those projects are not for the galleries and the posh openings.

#thebigrose project is all about exchanging and being nice to one another. They are for sharing and taking part. And they did share their roses when then were stencilling. Will you do this in pair? off course we will…. and there you are… two individuals who did not know one another are seating on the pavement stencilling a flower on the ground…