Skeleton in the Cupboard, Money Down the Drain

Never thought I'd see a REAL skeleton in the cupboard, but here he was, the other day.  We were exploring woodlands near Guildford, Surrey, and dropped in at the Watts Gallery Artists' Village.  

I think it's a real skeleton, or at least it was a real artist's studio.  The Watts Gallery has been hidden in the Surrey woods for as long as I can remember.  My memory is of a forgotten, charming little museum with a very nice cafe run by local ladies and owned a slightly decrepit gallery crammed with the Victorian paintings of G.F. Watts (1817-1904)

Watts' paintings were very popular in their day. Between you and me I was never a great fan, but I loved the gallery. So, some years ago, when I learned it had appointed a dynamic new director, I feared its atmosphere might be spoiled.  Mostly, though, the changes have been good. The place is still delightful but now the buildings have been repaired and updated, many have been reopened, and as well as Watts' pictures there's now a gallery of contemporary work with ever changing exhibitions and a really interesting programme of events and activities - way better than most galleries I know.  Oh, and the cafe and shop are also good.  Here is the website. so consider it for a visit if you are in reach of Guildford. 

  I'd actually intended a flying visit in order to see a large detailed map which one of my favourite illustrators, (and a friend), Peter Cross, had made in aid of a crowdfund to erect Watts' statue "Physical Energy" nearby.  Here is a photo of, well, some of  the statue, but it's big and not easy to photograph it all inside the sculpture studio.

I find Watts' sculpture more energetic and powerful than his paintings and I think this will look good on a hillside. In the background, you can spot a cast of another of his sculptures. This one depicts the poet, Alfred, Lord Tennyson - the finished statue was installed outside Lincoln Cathedral in 1905. 

The volunteer in the studio told me that the map  is everyone's favourite thing, and it is very typical of Peter's quirky and original work.   It's based on the punning idea of Watts and Energy, and features a wholly imaginary transport network and many local landmarks including an image of Watts' house, Limnerslease.  (Also, nearby Loseley House, built around 1568, a grand Elizabethan pile. I haven't yet seen around the house,but must.)

And... the map also features Mary Watts' chapel just down the road from the gallery.

Mary was G.F. Watts' second wife, and she sounds as if she was a lovely lady who doted on her (much older but very dynamic) husband.

Mary was very interested in art and design and started a pottery to give employment to the local villagers. (In those days, more than a hundred years ago, Surrey was full of hard-up farming folk - unlike today, when many local residents are wealthy).  Her biggest project was a cemetery chapel just up the road, using ceramic tiles from the pottery and designed in her unique style which is something between Celtic and Victorian. 

You can see what the outside of the chapel looks like from Peter's drawing - tall, thin, cruciform and made of decorative red brick.  Inside, it's a mass of multi coloured glazed saints covering the walls and ceiling, and saints in the same teardrop shape as in Peter's picture. 

Apart from the interior of their home, Limnerslease, this is the only surviving major work of Mary Watts. 

On our way home, we dropped in at the nearby church at Elstead, where we met the churchwarden who was just locking up. Here's a photo of the interior of the church. We were immediately struck by the massive beams at the far end,  hewn from oaks of gigantic size hundreds of years ago. This bit of the church is directly underneath the tower. 

The churchwarden pointed out something we would never have found.  On the right corner, there is a very old doorway, halfway up the wall and built on one of the beams. 

It is so narrow and hard to reach (impossible without a ladder) that you can tell it is very old. Peeping behind the huge beam, you see the door gives access to the tower up huge steep stairs cut directly into the oak.  I've never seen anything like this before, and can imagine that climbing those steps in such a confined space must have been very hard.   I took the photo below craning my neck looking upwards and so the perspective is strange, but take it from me that those maintained the bells or went to the belfry for any other reason, would need to be very agile indeed! Why, I wonder, did people in the past make life so difficult for themselves?  

On the way home we bought some eggs at a roadside stall. I liked the way the eggs were displayed on straw and there were some interesting cuttings and photos to look at. The stall is unmanned and you fill up the second-hand egg boxes yourself.  I think the owner had a sense of humour because ...

....payment for the eggs was made by an honesty system which involved literally throwing money down the drain!

Illustrating Surrey

I don't know what you think, but to me, this little signpost in the forest has a magical look, as if a gnome or an elf is about to trip past on some mystical errand.  I don't think it's because the orange-berried mountain ash trees shown here are thought to be magical trees  (I wrote a post about mountain ash - rowan - once, here). I think it's because rural Surrey, the county where I took this photo a couple of days ago, can seem a little bit apart from modern life.    

Admittedly, its current inhabitants are often pretty wealthy and have top jobs in banks, because the county has become prime commuterland now.  But Surrey was the home of many of the artists who created gentle, magical picture books in the late 19th and early 20th century.    Cycling through the narrow lanes on our own trips, does in some ways feel like going into a vintage illustrated book.   

Arthur Rackham, for instance, lived in Surrey and was famous for his gnarly trees.

I sometimes expect to see Rackham with his sketchbook in the steep sided lanes, worn away over the centuries.to reveal the roots of the trees that shade them.

Cicely Mary Barker lived in Surrey. She created the exquisite Flower Fairy books - here is her Mountain Ash fairy.  Later, her books were commercialized and franchised, so if you like this style of illustration, try to find the original pictures. They're so subtle; look at the colouring here.

...and Margaret Tarrant illustrated some of my favourite books.  Again, she was keen on fairies. 

Something about the colouring in my photo reminds me of her, though those people in my picture are not fairies (unless they are fairies in modern clothes)

I noticed a little display about Margaret Tarrant in the church at the Surrey village where she lived.  She painted some of the church banners  and there's a painting of one of the woodland scenes that inspired her.... and I suspect she might have decorated the church organ with flowers too. 

I once interviewed the illustrator, Peter Cross, author of that quirky masterpiece, "Trouble for Trumpets" in his home in deepest Surrey. He told me that his illustrations were inspired by both the landscape around him and the illustrated books of his childhood.

The illustrated books that had most impact on me as a kid are Alfred Bestall's picture-strip illustrations for Rupert Bear.   Bestall divided his time between Surrey and Wales.

The charm of these illustrations is cumulative, there were four per page

I remember noticing how the seasons were faithfully portrayed, and the small rolling fields and lovely deep woods which even then made me think of Surrey.  Bestall died too long ago to have a website. But google his Rupert Bear pictures, or, better still, find an annual or two, and you'll see what I mean.

More "serious" artists lived in Surrey and one day I'll write about the recently renovated Watts Gallery, which deserves an entry to itself. 

This photo, of course, was taken at bluebell time, in the Spring, but I like it.  And here is T, unpacking our bikes from the car, so we can explore the evocative woods and countryside of this county ourselves.