Sunday, December 16, 2012

Sprouts

Sprouts:
A Cautionary Pome for Christmas, penned by Yours Truly...

copyright: Paul Bommer
A young man addicted to sprouts,
Despite all caution'ry shouts,
Vast quantities would massacre
Of that small, hard, green brassica
And then suffer from flatulent bouts.



Thursday, December 6, 2012

Great Fire of London delft tiles (cont.)

Great Fire of London delft tiles (cont.)

Here are final 11 (of the 48) limited edition delft tiles designs that I produced for the Artists of Spitalfields Life exhibtion at Ben Pentreath Ltd, Rugby-street, London. Those unsold have now relocated to the Town House gallery on Fournier-street, Spitalfields until the end of December. Hurry and catch a bargain!

The tiles are inspired by the Great Fire of London 1666 - food, fire, pestulence, carnality and the Merrie Monarch!

 


Oysters, from Colchester, Wallfleet or Whitstable. Food of the common man.


Pie Corner II. Named for the Magpie pub that once stood there.


Poultry. A Norfolk Black turkey (Meleagris Gallopavo)


A Ewer of Water (London's burning)


Pudding Lane II


Arms of the Salters' Company.


Stew Lane. The 'stews' were actually bath-houses of ill-repute beside the Thames.


Sugar Loaves.


Three Crowns, representing Scotland, England and France (Charles II claimed all three!)


Vine Street

Wine Office Court

Full Fathom Five limited edition delft tiles

Full Fathom Five limited edition delft tiles

These are the final 6 of the 18 limited edition delft tile designs I created exclusively for the Full Fathom Five exhibition (A Celebration of the Nautical World), at Hornseys' - the Gallery in Ripon, North Yorkshire and featuring the work of Jonny Hannah, Michael Kirkman, Ed Kluz, Emily Sutton and yours truly.

Available only from Hornseys' - the gallery, Ripon. http://www.hornseys.com/



Queequeg, the South Seas noble savage from Melville's Moby Dick.


An example of Scrimshaw, the name given to scrollwork, engravings, and carvings done in bone or ivory. Here a ship in full-sail has been etched into a whale's tooth by a scrimshander of great skill.


Moby Dick, or The Whale, by Herman Melville.


The Turk's Head, a nifty nautical knot with no end.


When the Boat Comes In. The traditional lines of a sea-shanty from the North-East.


Zephyrus, the gentle West Wind.

A Fantasia on a Theme of Christmas

A Fantasia on a Theme of Christmas

A Page of Note-book Sketches concerning the Customs, Folklore and Traditions of Yuletide

Click on the Image to Enlarge

copyright: Paul Bommer

A new start...

A new start...



A Salmagundi (or Salmagundy or Salmi, for short) is an elaborate Elizabethan salad (sallet), a grand plated presentation comprising many disparate ingredients, arranged in layers or geometrical designs on a plate or mixed, and typically including cooked meats, seafood, vegetables, fruits, leaves, nuts and flowers (broom, violet and rose-petals for example) and dressed with oil, vinegar and spices.

In other words a hotch-potch. Salmagundi is now used figuratively to mean just that, a mixture or assortment of things. Much as I hope my blog will develop...

The title script is based on that I saw on an early 18th Century side-board in Rye.



Full Fathom Five limited edition delft tiles

Full Fathom Five limited edition delft tiles

These are another 6 of the 18 limited edition delft tile designs I created exclusively for the Full Fathom Five exhibition (A Celebration of the Nautical World), at Hornseys' - the Gallery in Ripon, North Yorkshire and featuring the work of Jonny Hannah, Michael Kirkman, Ed Kluz, Emily Sutton and yours truly.

Available only from Hornseys' - the gallery, Ripon. http://www.hornseys.com/


Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson. A National Hero and Norfolk's proudest son. "Kiss me Hardy"


A Mermaid or Siren. An early form, commonly found in Medieval church architecture, and better able than the one-tail type to seduce and drown the sailors they are famous for.


The Monkey's Paw, a clever nautical knot.


A Narwhal, 'Unicorn of the Sea'
 

Nelson's Blood. After the Battle of Trafalgar, Nelson's body was brought back to England, preserved in a barrel of brandy, which sailors call Nelson's Blood ever since.


On a Sailor's Grave No Roses Grow. For all those lost or buried at Sea.

Full Fathom Five

Full Fathom Five limited edition delft tiles

These are 6 of the 18 limited edition delft tile designs I created exclusively for the Full Fathom Five exhibition (A Celebration of the Nautical World), at Hornseys' - the Gallery in Ripon, North Yorkshire and featuring the work of Jonny Hannah, Michael Kirkman, Ed Kluz, Emily Sutton and yours truly.

Available only from Hornseys' - the gallery, Ripon. http://www.hornseys.com/


Bobby Shafto's Gone to Sea (Silver Buckles on his Knee...)


A delicious Cromer Crab


England Expects that Every Man will do His Duty. Nelson's famous message to his men at the Battle of Trafalgar.


A Flying Fish, of the family Exocoetidae (after whom is named the Exocet missile)


Full Fathom Five Thy Father
Of his bones are coral made;
Those are pearls that were his eyes;
Nothing of him that does fade,
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange.
Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell:
Ding-dong,
Hark! Now I hear them – Ding-dong, bell.
(The Tempest, W. Shakespeare)



King Neptune, god of the Seas and of Earthquakes.

Great Fire of London delft tiles (cont.)

Great Fire of London delft tiles (cont.)

Here are 11 more of the 48 limited edition delft tiles I produced for the Artists of Spitalfields Life exhibtion at Ben Pentreath Ltd, Rugby-street, London. Those unsold have now relocated to the Town House gallery on Fournier-street, Spitalfields until the end of December. Hurry and catch a bargain!

The tiles are inspired by the Great Fire of London 1666 - food, fire, pestulence, carnality and the Merrie Monarch!

 


 Beer Lane


Billingsgate Fish Market


Boar's Head Court


Bread Street


Cock Lane I


Coffee House. The first coffee houses in London appeared at this time.


Corn Hill


Grocer's Hall Court. The word grocer means 'one who weighs'.


John Tradescant, botanist


Milk Street I

Milk Street II

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Old Town: News Extra

Old Town: News Extra


An A6 promotional postcard design I did for Old Town clothing, to advertise their tumblr blog 'News Extra' http://oldtownnews.tumblr.com/

The fella with the bugle is based on a World War I 'poilu', or French infantryman - literally 'a hairy one', as they had earned the reputation of rushing into battle rough, ready and unshaven - resplendant in his buttoned-back blue coat and helmet and red breeches.

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Great Fire of London delft tiles (cont.)

Great Fire of London delft tiles (cont.)

Here is my introduction on last week's Spitalfields Life for the Artists of Spitalfields Life selling exhibition that starts to-night:

Come and see Paul Bommer’s series of forty-eight delft tiles inspired The Great Fire of London 1666 at The Artists of Spitalfields Life opening at Ben Pentreath Ltd on Wednesday 7th November

Like Pieter Breughel, George Cruickshank and Ronald Searle, Paul Bommer’s work is firmly rooted in the European grotesque and populated with distinctive specimens of humanity – conjured into being through his unique quality of line, waggish, calligraphic and lyrical by turns. Fascinated by culture and lore, Paul celebrates the strange stories that interweave to create social identity and the fabric of history, turning his attention to The Great Fire Of London in this latest series of limited edition Delft tiles.


Bull Wharf


City of London


Pudding Lane III


Garlick Hill


Pepys' 'Parmazan' cheese, which he buried in his garden to avoid destruction by the Great Fire. Whether or not it survived is lost to History...


Nell Gwynn - actress, beauty, courtesan, oraNGe seller and mistress to King Charles II, the Merrie Monarch.