Victoria Hignell of NB Otley has done a wonderful job of painting my laptop computer's clip-on cover. I wrote last week that I'd asked her to paint the cover with a canal folk-art theme - 'roses & castles' - and she's given me a cover to be proud of.
It cost me £20. That's pretty much the going rate for a piece of production-line waterways souvenir art, but I think I got off lightly; I'm so pleased with it. Still, perhaps this little bit of free publicity for Otley will serve as an adequate grautuity for Victoria & David.
The only drawback - I now need a second, transparent, cover to protect it. I'd not thought of this drawback until I held the cover in my trembling hands! (Actually, the clip-on cover for my Dell Inspiron 6000 was already an overpriced £41, so I've paid handsomely in total, albeit that Victoria deserved more money than Dell. The cover is a way to try out customising your laptop if you are nervous about the result or don't want to leave your computer with the artist for a week).
But roses & castles, like signwriting, ever were only functional and decorative, artwork rather than art. They were always doomed to be pawed and scratched and worn away. That's probably why there's so little of it left. Roman friezes are sometimes better-preserved than the work of the early canal folk artists. If you want to learn how to do it, the London Canal Museum is running instructional courses this autumn, or ask one of the Guild of Waterways Artists.
She's the second Victoria in a month to adorn Granny Buttons. Last month it was Victoria on The Fender Boat', Vox Stellarum who made me a superbly decorated bow button.
Comments