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QEII: Diamond Jubilee

It's the Queen's Diamond Jubilee this month. Diamond Jubilee! What a terrific anniversary that is. I hope to have a Diamond Jubilee something someday just so I can say "Diamond Jubilee" non-stop for a few months.  In celebration of this great sounding anniversary, The National Portrait Gallery in London is holding an exhibition of...ahem...portraits that have been commissioned for her over the years. Behold a selection of a few of these...Which is your favourite?

Images from a postcard book I have from The National Portrait Gallery.

Ten Great Years

I thought this poster by Argentinian graphic designer Max Dalton was pretty neat. You can see more of Max's work and posters here --> Max Dalton.

In other Beatles news, I see that Yellow Submarine has been cleaned up and restored. Ah! I have such fond memories of that fine film! When it was having a re-run at the Roseville cinema, my Dad used to take me to see it most weekends. It was a very enjoyable way to fill in a few hours together. The music's fantastic and the fab animation certainly appealed to a me as a small girl. You can see the trailer here.

Poster image from here. Yellow Submarine from here.

Kings Cross

Images from a great exhibition I saw last year at the Police and Justice Museum called Sin City: Crime and Corruption in 20th Century Sydney. Naturally enough, Kings Cross featured quite a bit in the archival photos and film. Here are some images of Kings Cross, or The Cross as us Sydneysiders like to call it, circa 1960, 1950, 1969 and 1970. 

Images from Sin City/ The Historic Houses Trust.

The Total Look

Peggy Moffitt (model and muse) + William Claxton (husband and photographer) + Rudi Gernreich (designer) = The Total Look exhibition at MOCA in LA. How beautiful are these photos?

All images from here.

Black Cat Auditions - 1961

Pussy cat central! Another gem from the archives of LIFE magazine via that swell site Retronaut.

Masked (penguin) Ball and other scenarios

So this is a drawing I did a few weeks ago: Masked (Penguin) Ball. I haven't really got much to say about this print as I think it speaks for itself.

However, I have been thinking about the sort of masked ball or fancy dress party I would like to go to and I have decided on these two themes:

1) A James Bond fancy dress party.

Can you imagine? Fine, fine John Barry/ Shirley Bassey e.t.c. music playing all night long and heaps of opportunities to be over the top silly. All. Night. Non. Stop! I suppose everyone would either come as Blofeld or James himself circa Sean Connery. I'd like to think someone would have the chutzpah to come as Jaws (Moonraker) or Christopher Walken (A View to a Kill). I wouldn't mind going as Solitaire in Live and Let Die (v.snazzy long haired Jane Seymour in '70s New Orleans/ New York Bond). I quite like Tiffany Case in Diamonds are Forever (favourite all time Bond film my friends - give it a watch - it is magic!). Then again, I think I'd like to come as Sean circa You Only Live Twice as in wet suit clad and arriving in a toy helicopter thingy. Or perhaps I'd come as Odd Job (Goldfinger baddy). Although, I wouldn't mind actually being Goldfinger, come to think of it, as I could go around all night saying "Goodbye Mr. Bond" in my best heavily accented German/ English. I'm just rambling now...pardon.

2) *Ahem* The other party I was thinking of would be a Beatles party and you'd have to dress as your favourite era of Beatle.

I think I'd come as John Lennon circa Hamburg with a quiff and a leather jacket and smoking a rolled up cigarette or perhaps a white suited Lennon with long hair and a middle part à la Abbey Road (favourite album after all). Then again, would it be permissible to come as George Martin? Hmmm...that's possibly a bit tricky...

 

Famous palettes X 3

Painting palettes of famous artists X 3.

Edgar Degas

Paul Gaugin

Georges Seurat

You can see more famous palettes here at Retronaut. Happy weekend all!

Love part 4 - Most Romantic Artwork

So, today is Valentine's Day and the last instalment of my love posts (read post 1, post 2, post 3). Apparently, this painting of Romeo and Juliet on their wedding night has been voted the most romantic artwork in Britain. It was painted by Frank Bernard Dicksee in 1884. I couldn't categorically agree that it is the most romantic artwork in Britain as I haven't done any thorough research into the matter myself, but I would say yes, it's on the romantic side. What are your thoughts? Second runner up in the romantic artwork stakes was Rodin's The kiss.

Image from here.

P.S. Happy Valentine's Day!

Love part 2 - Epic love triangle

When someone says "epic love triangle" to me I immediately think of George Harrison, Pattie Boyd and Eric Clapton. I'm sure there have been other epic love triangles, but none that are as recent or legendary as this one. Pattie had a thing for iconic guitarists and they had a thing for her. She had several love songs written for her by these two gentlemen; the three most famous being Something, Layla and Wonderful Tonight. Incidentally, Frank Sinatra said Something was the best love song ever written.

As you may or may not know, Pattie Boyd was a model and the "It" girl of swinging sixties London when she first met George Harrison. They met on the set of "A Hard Day's Night" and instantly fell in love. Two years later they were married. However, George was allegedly a bit of a philanderer and when he was not allegedly philandering he was meditating. Meanwhile, George's close friend Eric Clapton starting pursuing the lovely Pattie in a most romantic manner. Several years of the epic love triangle followed. Anyway, one thing led to another and Pattie ended up leaving George for Eric.

Pattie was with Eric for a decade or so before they too divorced. She is now a well thought of photographer and the author of a book about her famous loves and life called Wonderful Today: George Harrison, Eric Clapton and Me.

My first instalment of "Love" can be read here.

All images from here and here.

Collection

Something else I found in my ignored cupboard (see original post here): my collection of book marks. The avid collector strikes again!

These are a real find! I used to get these at Glebe Books when there was just the one store up by the church. I wonder if they still have them? I never used them as book marks. I used them to decorate various bare bedroom walls I was living in at the time. I have many more too, but these are the nicest.