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Cavendish Mews is a smart set of flats in Mayfair where flapper and modern woman, the Honourable Lettice Chetwynd has set up home after coming of age and gaining her allowance. To supplement her already generous allowance, and to break away from dependence upon her family, Lettice has established herself as a society interior designer, so her flat is decorated with a mixture of elegant antique Georgian pieces and modern Art Deco furnishings, using it as a showroom for what she can offer to her well heeled clients.
Today however, we have headed north-west from Cavendish Mews, across Marylebone, past Regent’s Park, the London Zoo and Lords Cricket Ground to the affluent and leafy residential streets of nearby St. John’s Wood. It is here that Lettice’s Embassy Club coterie friends Minnie Palmerston and her husband Charles reside in a neatly painted two storey early Victorian townhouse on Acacia Road that formerly belonged to Charles Palmerston’s maternal grandparents, Lord and Lady Arundel.
Having taken her future sister-in-law, Arabella Tyrwhitt, to her old childhood chum and best friend Gerald Bruton’s couturier in Grosvenor Street Soho for her initial wedding dress consultation, Lettice has left the two together to discuss designs whilst she visits Minnie in St John’s Wood. Minnie, a highly strung socialite, has redecorated her dining room in a style not to her husband’s taste, or so she was told by Minnie over a luncheon Lettice hosted for Arabella last week. Known for her melodrama, Lettice quietly ponders whether it really is as awful as Minnie implies as she pays the taxi driver the fare from Soho to St John’s Wood and alights the blue vehicle onto the street.
The day is bright and sunny, and the street is quiet with only the occasional bark of a dog and the distant rumble of traffic from busy Finchley Road in the distance as Lettice strides across the road and walks up the eight steps that lead up to Minnie’s black painted front door. She depresses the doorbell which echoes through the long hallway inside and waits. Moments later, there is the thud of Minnie’s hurried footsteps as she flings open the door dramatically.
“Lettice darling!” she cries, standing in the doorway in a beautiful may green day dress which compliments her red hair and green eyes, with cascades of green and black bugle beads tumbling down the front. “Come in! Come in!” she beckons her friend with enthusiastic waves which make the green, black and gold bangles on her wrist jangle noisily.
“Minnie.” Lettice leans in for a whispery kiss on the cheek as she steps across the threshold and follows Minnie’s indications and steps into a drawing room off the hallway, the room filled with diffused light from a large twelve pane window that looks out onto the street. Looking around her, she quickly takes in the overstuffed cream satin settees, nests of occasional tables, clusters of pictures in gilt frames in every conceivable space on the William Morris style papered walls and the potted parlour palms. “Oh yes,” she remarks as she removes her green gloves. “I do see what you mean. Very Edwardian.”
“Isn’t it ghastly, Lettice darling?” Minnie asks as she steps into the drawing room. “Here let me take your, umbrella, coat and hat.” She helps her friend shrug off her forest green coat and takes her rather artistic beret with its long tassel. “I think Lady Arundel could walk in here and not find a thing out of place!”
“It could be worse,” Lettice remarks, looking up at the crystal chandelier suspended from the ceiling high above. “It could be decorated in high Victorian style and lit with gasoliers*.”
“True darling.” Minnie calls from the hallway where she hangs up Lettice’s things on a heavy Victorian coatrack. “But you have yet to see my dining room faux pas.”
“Now Minnie, no matter what I say, I want no histrionics today like we had over luncheon last week,” Lettice chides her friend with a wagging finger. “Poor Bella didn’t know where to look.”
“Oh I am sorry.” Minnie apologises. “Coming from the country, she probably isn’t used to our London ways.”
“Your emotional outbursts have nothing whatsoever to do with London ways, so don’t go foisting it off.” Lettice replies, cocking one of her delicately plucked eyebrows at her friend.
“You sound just like Gladys.” Minnie says.
“Well, I hope I’m not as shrill sounding as her,” Lettice replies with a chuckle.
“And how is the beautiful bride-to-be?”
“Happily ensconced with Gerald in his Soho atelier, no doubt talking about all the finer details of the dream wedding frock I have already heard about from dear Bella.”
“She seems quite lovely, Lettice darling.”
“Oh, I adore Bella.” Lettice agrees with a wave of her hand. “Given we grew up running in and out of each other’s houses, living on neighbouring properties, it was inevitable that she would marry one of my brothers, or Lally or I marry one of Bella’s brothers. I’m just glad that it wasn’t the latter. All Bella’s brothers, whilst charming, take after their grandfather, and he was not a handsome man. Bella has her mother’s delicate and pretty genes and she and Leslie are well suited. They both love the country, and as you know from luncheon last week, Bella likes the county social round. As Pater says, Bella will one day make a wonderful chatelaine of Glynes**, supporting Leslie as a dutiful wife, hosting important county social functions like the Hunt Ball, opening fetes and awarding prizes at cattle shows.”
“How does Lady Sadie feel about her usurper?”
“Oh Mater loves Bella as much as we all do.” Lettice replies breezily. “Of course, Pater doesn’t dare express his appreciation quite so volubly in front of Mater, but I’m sure she is silently thinking the same thing, not that she would ever share that with any of us. No, the problem will be if Pater decides to pop his mortal clogs before she does. I don’t know how happy she will be to hand over the mantle of lady of the manor to her daughter-in-law, even if she does love her.”
“Well, let’s hope we don’t have to worry about that for a good while yet.” Minnie says soothingly.
“Indeed yes!” agrees Lettice. “Now, show me this dread dining room of yours, Minnie darling. I’m famished, and I’m intrigued to see just how much of a faux pas it really is.”
“Come right this way, interior decorator to all the great and good of this great country of ours,” Minnie says rather grandly as she walks towards a door that leads from the drawing room to the next room. Suddenly she pauses, clasping the brass doorknob in her hand and turns back to Lettice who has trailed behind her. “Prepare yourself my dear for l’horreur!” And she flings the door open.
Minnie and Lettice walk into the townhouse’s dining room, which like the adjoining drawing room has a high ceiling. Lettice is surprised that after the grandeur of the drawing room, it’s a much smaller room, perhaps more suited for intimate dining rather than a large banquet. She glances around and quickly takes in the mixture of old and new. An Edwardian dining setting in Queen Anne style fills the majority of the space, whilst a late Victorian sideboard and spare carver chairs press against the wall. To either side of the new Art Deco gas fireplace stand two modern stands on which sit rather old fashioned urns. Modernist paintings in bold colours hang on the walls, but Lettice can barely see them for the bold wallpaper of red poppies against a black background with green and white geometric patterns.
“Oh I see.” Lettice remarks, neither enthusiastically nor critically, but in a rather neutral way.
Lettice walks around the dining table on which stands a Georgian Revival tea set with steam snaking from the spot of the pot, a small carafe of water and glassware, crockery and cutlery for two at the head of the table. She stands before the Streamline Moderne fireplace surround and runs an elegant hand over one of the bold red blooms, feeling the slightly raised pattern. She sighs as she contemplates what she sees.
“Do you think it looks like something out of Maida Vale, Lettice darling?” Minnie asks hesitantly.
For a moment, Lettice doesn’t answer as she traces one of the green lines towards the gilt edge of a frame holding a painting of a tiger. “Tyger Tyger burning bright***,” she murmurs the beginning of the William Blake poem.
“Yes,” Minnie acknowledges her friend with a sigh of pleasure. “He’s rather glorious, isn’t he?”
“He is,” Lettice agrees. “However his gloriousness is diminished somewhat by the wallpaper which draws away attention from him, and the red fox.” She points to a larger canvas hanging over the sideboard.
“So you do think it’s middle-class Maida Vale then.” Minnie pronounces in a downhearted fashion.
“No, I don’t.” Lettice clarifies, turning around and placing a comforting hand on the slumped left shoulder of her friend. “And I think it was very unkind of Charles to say so. The wallpaper is beautiful, Minnie. It just doesn’t suit this room.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, this is quite an intimate room: taller with these high ceilings, rather than wide. This wallpaper would suit a longer room with low ceilings, where expanses of this pattern could be exposed uninterrupted.”
“Like a mansion flat?”
“Exactly, Minnie! I did something similar for the moving picture actress, Wanetta Ward last year. She had a long, exposed wall and the bold pattern I used worked beautifully. And this wallpaer does nothing to show off yours and Charles’ beautiful paintings. It detracts rather than enhances. The paintings and the wallpaper vie for attention. Think about the National Gallery, or the Tate Gallery****. When you see pictures hanging on the wall, what do you notice about the surrounding to the painting?”
Minnie thinks for a moment, screwing up her pert nose with its dusting of freckles. “Well, I can’t say I’ve ever actually noticed the walls, Lettice darling.”
“Correct again, Minnie. No-one thinks about the walls because you’re not meant to. Your focus is meant to be on the paintings.”
“So you think I should strip the walls and paint them? Is that what you’re saying?”
“Well, you could, Minnie.” Lettice replies. “Or you could paint the walls and decorate the upper edge with a nice frieze paper.”
“Then it really would look like Maida Vale.” Minnie argues. “Only people who can’t afford wallpaper get friezes hung.”
Lettice considers her friend’s remark for a moment. “Mmm… yes, you’re quite right Minnie. Well, Jeffrey and Company***** do stock a range of beautiful papers in vibrant colours with pattern embossed into them. They look very luxurious.”
“Oh!” Minnie clasps her hands in delight. “I do like the sound of that! What colour would suit this room do you think?”
“Oh I should imagine a nice warm red or orange to go with this.” Lettice taps the top of the tiled fireplace surround. “And that colour range would also compliment your polished floors.”
“And I could get black japanned furniture like you, Lettice darling! I do like your chairs.”
“Oh no.” Lettice shakes her head. “Black japanned furniture is fine, but not my chairs. They are far too low for this room. You need an equivalent high backed chair.” She reaches out and pats one of the dining chairs. “Lady Arundel chose these well as they echo the height of the room. Perhaps if you had something high backed padded with a complimentary fabric to the paper: say red or orange.”
“Oh Lettice you are so clever!” enthuses Minnie. “When can you start.”
“Don’t you want to ask Charles before you go spending his money on redecorating, Minnie?” Lettice laughs. “Surely he’ll want a say.”
“Oh Charles told me today when I reminded him that you were coming for luncheon before he left for the office, that he’ll happily pay for anything you recommend, or better yet your services. So you don’t need to worry on that account.”
“Well, I would have to finish Dickie and Margot’s.” Lettice tempers.
“Oh, of course.” Minnie agrees.
“Well, I don’t have another redecorating assignment after them, so let me contemplate it.”
“I’ll go and get luncheon whilst you contemplate.” Minnie exclaims with a clap of her hands before scuttling away through a second door to the left of the fireplace.
With her exuberant friend gone, Lettice looks around the dining room, contemplating what she has suggested, picturing what embossed wallpaper in a rich red or vibrant orange would look like as a backdrop for the paintings. “Pity.” she muses as she again runs her hands over the stylised poppies in the pattern on the wall. Turning around she looks across the room. “Sorry Lady Arundel,” she remarks, tapping the top of the nearest dining chair again. “But it looks like your granddaughter-in-law wants to modernise.
“I’m afraid it’s Cook’s afternoon off today,” Minnie says apologetically as she walks back through the door through which she went, carrying a tray of tomato, ham and cucumber sandwiches. “So we’ll have to settle for these.” Looking down at the plate of appetising sandwich triangles as she places them on the dining table’s surface she adds. “I do hope she remembered not to make tongue****** ones. She should remember that I can’t stand cold tongue.”
Lettice peers at the fillings of bright red tomato, vivid green cucumber, and pink ham. “I think we’ll be safe.”
“Well, there’s half a trifle left over for dessert just in case they aren’t nice.” Minnie adds hopefully.
Lettice is suddenly struck by something. “Minnie?” she asks. “Minnie, why are you carrying the tray? And come to think of it, why did you answer the door? Where is Gladys?”
Minnie blushes, her pale skin and smattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose reddening. “She handed in her immediate notice the week before last.”
“Oh no! Not another one Minnie?”
“She said she couldn’t work for a woman who had such histrionics as I do, and she’s gone back to Manchester.”
“Oh Minnie!” Lettice shakes her head dolefully.
“See! I told you, you sounded like Gladys, Lettice. I’ve been getting by with the tweeny*******, but Cook grumbles, so I can’t keep pinching her. That’s why I’m so grateful you gave me that telephone number for that domestic employment agency in Westminster. I’ve a new maid starting next week. Her name’s Siobhan, so I figured that she can’t complain about my histrionics as she’d be used to them, being Irish.”
“Well, let’s hope so Minnie.” Lettice chuckles as she pulls out her dining chair and takes her seat. “I can’t keep up with the revolving door of maids that come in and out of this house. How long have you been here for now?”
“Seven months or thereabout.” Minnie replies vaguely as she takes her own seat in the chair at the head of the dining table.
“And how many maids have you had in that time?”
“Nine.” Minnie replies with a guilty gulp.
“No wonder Charles feels his club is better suited to entertain prospective business associates.” Lettice shakes her head disapprovingly. “A tweeny waiting table.”
“Well hopefully, with Siobhan starting next week, and you agreeing to redecorate my dining room faux pas,” She looks around the room with glittering, excited eyes, as she imagines the possibilities. “Charles will be happy to start entertaining here.” She pauses and thinks for a moment. “You will won’t you?”
“Will I what, Minnie?”
“You will redecorate my dining room, won’t you?”
Lettice reaches around Minnie’s teacup and squeezes her friend’s hand comfortingly. “Of course I will. I’ll come up with some ideas of what I think might suit this room and then I’ll show you and Charles. Charles has to have some input, even if he has told you that you that I have carte blanche when it comes to redecorating.”
*A gasolier is a chandelier with gas burners rather than light bulbs or candles.
**Glynes is the grand Georgian family seat of the Chetwynds in Wiltshire, and the home of Lettice’s parents, the presiding Viscount and Countess of Wrexham and the heir, their eldest son Leslie.
***”The Tyger” is a poem by English poet William Blake, published in 1794 as part of his “Songs of Experience” collection and rising to prominence in the romantic period of the mid Nineteenth Century. The poem explores and questions Christian religious paradigms prevalent in late 18th century and early 19th century England, discussing God's intention and motivation for creating both the tiger and the lamb. Tiger is written as Tyger in the poem as William Blake favoured old English spellings.
****In 1892 the site of a former prison, the Millbank Penitentiary, was chosen for the new National Gallery of British Art, which would be under the Directorship of the National Gallery at Trafalgar Square. The prison, used as the departure point for sending convicts to Australia, had been demolished in 1890. Sidney R.J. Smith was chosen as the architect for the new gallery. His design is the core building that we see today, a grand porticoed entranceway and central dome which resembles a temple. The statue of Britannia with a lion and a unicorn on top of the pediment at the Millbank entrance emphasised its function as a gallery of British art. The gallery opened its doors to the public in 1897, displaying 245 works in eight rooms from British artists dating back to 1790. In 1932, the gallery officially adopted the name Tate Gallery, by which it had popularly been known as since its opening. In 1937, the new Duveen Sculpture Galleries opened. Funded by Lord Duveen and designed by John Russell Pope, Romaine-Walker and Gilbert Jenkins, these two 300 feet long barrel-vaulted galleries were the first public galleries in England designed specifically for the display of sculpture. By this point, electric lighting had also been installed in all the rooms enabling the gallery to stay open until 5pm whatever the weather. In 1955, Tate Gallery became wholly independent from the National Gallery.
*****Jeffrey and Company was an English producer of fine wallpapers that operated between 1836 and the mid 1930s. Based at 64 Essex Road in London, the firm worked with a variety of designers who were active in the aesthetic and arts and crafts movements, such as E.W. Godwin, William Morris, and Walter Crane. Jeffrey and Cmpany’s success is often credited to Metford Warner, who became the company’s chief proprietor in 1871. Under his direction the firm became one of the most lucrative and influential wallpaper manufacturers in Europe. The company clarified that wallpaper should not be reserved for use solely in mansions, but should be available for rooms in the homes of the emerging upper-middle class.
******Beef tongue (also known as neat's tongue or ox tongue) is a cut of beef made of the tongue of a cow. It can be boiled, pickled, roasted or braised in sauce. It is found in many national cuisines, and is used for taco fillings in Mexico and for open-faced sandwiches in the United States.
*******A tweeny is a between maid, who works in the kitchen as well as above stairs, assisting at least two other members of a domestic staff.
This rather bright dining room is perhaps a little different to what you might think, for it is made up entirely of pieces from my 1:12 size dollhouse miniatures collection, some pieces from my own childhood.
Fun things to look for in this tableau include:
The Queen Anne dining table, chairs and sideboard were all given to me as birthday and Christmas presents when I was a child.
The three prong Art Deco style candelabra in the sideboard is an artisan piece made of sterling silver. Although unsigned, the piece was made in England by an unknown artist. The vase of flowers to the left of the candelabra is beautifully made by hand by the Doll House Emporium. The carafe to the right of the candelabra is another artisan piece made of hand spun glass. I acquired it as a teenager from a high street dollhouse stockist.
The ornately hand painted ginger jar is one of a pair and comes from Melody Jane Dollhouse Suppliers in Britain. The tall stand on which the ginger jar stands was made by the high-end miniature furniture maker, Bespaq.
The paintings on the walls are 1:12 artisan pieces made by Amber’s Miniatures in the United States. The stylised floral and geometric shape Art Deco wallpaper is a real Art Deco design which I have sourced and had printed in high quality onto A3 sheets of paper.
On the dining table the tray of sandwiches are made of polymer clay. Made in England by hand by former chef turned miniature artisan, Frances Knight they are very realistic with even the bread slices having a bread like consistency look. Her work is incredibly detailed and realistic, and she says that she draws her inspiration from her years as a chef and her imagination. The water carafe came from the same high street stockist as the carafe on the sideboard. The Art Deco dinner set is part of a much larger set I acquired from a dollhouse suppliers in Shanghai. The Georgian Revival silver tea set on its tray I acquired from Smallskale Miniatures in the United Kingdom.
The Streamline Moderne pottery tile fireplace surround I acquired from Kathleen Knight’s Dollhouse Shop in the United Kingdom.
IC 1396, 26 hours and 25 minutes of integration in SHO with Takahashi FSQ-106EDX4 106/382 telescope, f 3/6, QHY 600M Pro camera, are 317 shots of which in Ha 114x300 seconds, in OIII 101x300 seconds and in SII 102x300 seconds, processing with Pixinsight and Photoshop. All data and shots were captured with Telescope Live. IC 1396 is a very sparse open cluster associated with a large diffuse nebula, visible in the northern constellation Cepheus; it is located in a stretch of the Milky Way partially obscured by dense banks of dark nebulae, in a galactic region rich in neutral dust and gas with associated young and hot blue stars. The gases of the nebula complex of IC 1396 are excited by the stellar wind of the blue giant HD 206267, belonging to the Cepheus OB2 association. It seems that the expansion of this H II region created a large ring of molecular gas with a radius of about 12 parsecs, over a period of at least 3 million years. The ring structure extends for about 3° and is surrounded by a large number of dark blood cells, inside which the formation of new stars probably takes place due to compression by ionization, the shock wave front of stellar winds and radiation pressure; The largest blood cells are located on the northwestern side of the nebula region. In the eighties, 32 globules were identified, which received a numerical designation from 1 to 32 with the prefix GRS (Globules of Radial Systems); four radial systems of globules have been identified near IC 1396, while one of these is centered exactly on the nebula. Among the blood cells there is also the famous structure known as the Elephant trunk (see B 142). In the infrared, on the other hand, research has been conducted for the localization of young stellar objects associated with blood cells; It was thus discovered that only six sources associated with globules have a structure and luminosity such that they could have been caused by external heating, while most of these would not be related to star formation phenomena. In 2005, through a near-infrared study, 25 blood cells were identified, of which four had not been reported in the SIMBAD catalog; For all but four blood cells, it was possible to determine the mass, while it was not possible to measure the diameter for seven of them. Five globules contain a rich population of objects with reddened light, probably stars in formation; These five globules have the highest extinction rate, which would suggest a relationship between the intensity of star formation activity and the mass of the globules themselves. In blood cells with the smallest mass, star formation is often believed to be influenced by the radiation pressure of a bright star nearby; in a study conducted on one of these, illuminated by the bright blue giant HD 206267, a link with the distance of this star was highlighted, suggesting that evaporation due to photoionization affects the distribution of the mass of the blood cell around the blue giant. The influence of the star is given by the compression of the gases by the radiation pressure.
Entrance to the 9th Street PATH Station in New York City. I got a little excited when I saw all those pipes overhead. Had to sit and wait a few minutes so those pesky people would be out of my way. ;)
Went to NY last night and met one of my fellow flickr PACtards at a fancy barber shop in Tribeca. Why would I do that? Because they had a little party to showcase some artwork and one of the photographers whose pictures were shown there is also a flickrite. But he wasn't there so I didn't meet him.
After the show my friend and her friend kindly dropped me off by cab at the PATH station. But it was way too nice of a night and too early so I walked around, had 2 hot dogs, looked at used books for sale and finally decided to go home. Was glad that I got to take at least one picture before I made my way back to NJ.
I have to thank this guy. I smell his influence on this shot. If you like this go look at his.
The lovely Dani and Bray, always a pleasure guys!
**Diffuse is hiring! I'm desperate for a competent photog to come join us at Diffuse, I have more work than I can handle right now! If you're an experienced photog who can hold your own artistically and understand the nature of the business (i.e there are slooow weeks and then CRAZY CRAZY weeks) please pop me an IM in world. You do NOT have to be exclusive to us, you just need to be available for appointments.**
Diffused lighting
The diffused lighting from a lightly overcast day brings out the delicate colors in this water lily at Longwood Gardens
2013_08_11_EOS 7D_4595_6_7_fused_V1
Part of the Daily In Challenge on Pentax Forums
Day 19
Lens: smc MACRO Takumar 50 mm f/4.0
shot at f/4.0
Try it on black.
A quick trip after work to a local beach I ofem end up at resulted in some nice diffuse light. I though I would break up the Norway adventures with something a little closer to home. The patterns in the rocks are just fantastic. I used a 3stop nd grad and a polariser with a 0.45 soft grad over the sky.
If you would like further information about the 1 to 1, and small group workshops I run in Cornwall, then please contact me through my website. Links to which are on my profile page. www.flickr.com/people/24562498@N03/
With the Easter break fast approaching, it would be a perfect time to book! I am making 1 year workshop vouchers available too so you can choose the right time.
Camera Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Exposure 40
Aperture f/18.0
Focal Length 23 mm
ISO Speed 100
This is pretty much straight out of camera, except for some toning just to play up the shadows and highlights.
The lovely Dani and Bray, always a pleasure guys!
**Diffuse is hiring! I'm desperate for a competent photog to come join us at Diffuse, I have more work than I can handle right now! If you're an experienced photog who can hold your own artistically and understand the nature of the business (i.e there are slooow weeks and then CRAZY CRAZY weeks) please pop me an IM in world. You do NOT have to be exclusive to us, you just need to be available for appointments.**
A lowering fog envelops the Golden Gate Bridge and Lime Point, Marin County and San Francisco, California.
despite the fact this shot looks super imposed......it's not, this is my son James standing in front of my cars headlights, up a country lane last winter talking on his mobile!...................View On Black
D800 2 seconds iso50
Tamron 17-35 f/2.8-4 @ 24mm f/11
Lee 0.9ND and 0.6GNDh
The rising sun climbing out of the cloud, Claremont Pier, Lowestoft at low tide.
The Namie’s frog ( Limnonectes namiyei ) is an endangered species found only in northern Okinawa. It is currently listed threatened on the IUCN red list of endangered species. This amphibian is decreasing in numbers due to deforestation and the use of pesticides.
Photography by Shawn M Miller
Learn more about this endangered species- okinawanaturephotography.com/endangered-namies-frog-limno...
Photographed using the Light & Motion Stella 2000 studio light diffused with a small umbrella
Are you using my Flickr photos as a reference guide to help identify your finds? If so, please consider making a contribution. Help Me Make The Difference
www.patreon.com/MakeTheSwitch4Nature
Mission: To Protect & Preserve The Wildlife of The Ryukyu Islands for Further Generations
Canon 70d 100mm macro
copyright: © FSUBF. All rights reserved. Please do not use this image, or any images from my photostream, without my permission.
Some more photos from the shoot with the very talented Emilie.
I got some really heavy condense on the lens because of the humidity inside the building at the botanical garden, but it kind of added something to the shot I think.
Model: Emilie F.
Nikon D700
50mm f/1.4
High up on the moors near Malham in the Yorkshire Dales. The warm light from the rising sun was diffused by the early morning fog rising out of the valley below.
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