PP8, Film Farm

We decided that we ought to photograph everything in the Piper archive and do some talk overs before I delivered it back to Goldmark Art, but in the usual manner of things this took longer than anticipated so a return home scheduled for Friday was delayed until Saturday, at which point Libby was despatched well nourished with the traditional Piper Forensic Kipper. But some good work under our belts and that's it for this year. About 5 afficionados we'd like to interview early next year and then it's down to editing.
Hope you join us again in 2009!
Best wishes, Libby and Charles (or should it be Charles and Libby? I'll try to work that one out by next year)

PP8, Aldeburgh

Beautiful morning and although pretty chilly and frosty, I couldn't resist a run along the coast, fresh air, fishermen already put in a day's work, sky the colour of Piper's Snape Maltings print. So cold, even the pebbles had frozen together on the beach. Following yesterday's early start (for Charles type characters anyway) he was allowed a later start today - 9.45 - positively sinful by my books.

Having packed the car we drove the short distance to the parish church where we photographed Piper's memorial window to Britten.

Thence to check out Maggie Hambling's beautiful shell (also a Britten memorial) and get some super 8 film of the Martello tower, bought some herrings and potted shrimps for supper from a beach shack (CM INSISTED I include their logo - see below) and on to Snape to replicate Piper's print. Unfortunately the sun was just at the wrong angle so we retired to the Granary for a delicious and most welcome hot courgette and herb soup, had a look in the shop to see if they had pencils to add to the collection (but too up market for that sort of malarky). Back to the grindstone and this time the sun had moved behind the trees so we more or less got the view we wanted. And you can see my trusty steed China (silvery Alfa Romeo) in the right hand photo - she who has performed such sterling work this summer taking us all over Britain.

And back to Film Farm, a delighted Pepper (the feline) and some yummy herrings in oatmeal cooked by Chef Charles @ Hare in the Gate (an excellent restaurant, well recommended).

PP8, Curwen Studio

Stanley, Libby and the Piper archive (only Libby's on the left but I couldn't put my name before Stanley's!)

Poor Charles was absolutely horrified because we had to leave at 8.30 this morning which meant getting up in the dark with the resident Film Farm owls (real ones, not just a BBC sound effect) a-hooting. A somewhat chilly morning and it took Libby a good 10 minutes to scrape the ice off her car windows. Anyway we succeeded in setting off almost on time and arrived at Curwen Studios, Chilford Hall, just outside Cambridge a mere 5 minutes late.
Stanley Jones, a legend in his lifetime, possibly the most important man in the history of printmaking in the 20th century, was the sweetest, gentlest, most modest of men and absolutely captivated us. He is also, fairly obviously, hugely knowledgeable and seemed delighted to see the Piper archive which he discussed in detail in a very approachable manner (i.e. without being unduly didactic). We left the Studios absolutely over the moon with our filming work.
But rather chilly after the insidious creeping chill of the Studio. Sainsbury's appeared to be about the only quick option available so Charles devoured a hot panini whilst I embraced a large cappucino. Then on to Aldeburgh, but by this time it was dark and we were driving along narrow country lanes with no lighting, no cat's eyes, lots of scary wide lorries and it has to be said that Libby was by this stage a decidedly unhappy bunny (unlike yesterday).
However the hotel was great and a reviving glass of red wine soon did the trick.

PP8, part 1

Monday 8 December set off for Goldmark Art in Uppingham to collect some Piper prints to show our guest star Stanley Jones at the Curwen Press tomorrow. Unfortunately they only had 2 of the 4 I'd asked for - but FORTUNATELY Mike was there and we had a chat (as one does) and I told him about the next exciting interview - at which point he just happened to mention that he owned the Piper archive from the Curwen Studios! An absolutely amazing treasure trove with photographs, initial ideas for prints, colour separations. So I set off for Film Farm an exceedingly happy bunny.

two wheeled pedal driven vehicles

Left: David Gent, Charles, Chuck the Truck. Right: Oli/JP cycling

Those of you who are avid readers of this blog will recall that on 10 June this year we interviewed the Rev Ian Browne at Oundle School. We mentioned en passant that we were on the lookout for a young Piper clone, late teens, long and lean, whom we could film cycling along idyllic country lanes a la Piper in the 1920s.
And the gentleman in question came up with just the young blade we were searching for in the form of 14 year old, 6ft1in Oli Gent, long and certainly lean. He and his parents, David and Carolyn, tooled up at Film Farm on the 19th October, a delightful family, Oli kitted out magnificently by the Oundle School Drama Department. We introduced him to Charles' old uncle Frank's old bicycle fitted with spanking new (but suitably old fashioned) bell and they got on famously. Oli even named the bike - it is now 'Harold'. We then cranked up Chuck the Truck who was overjoyed to be seeing some of the action again, all piled in, plus bike and cameras and off to the chosen locations.
The great thing about the countryside where Charles resides is that it is stuck in a time warp (as is the renowned filmmaker himself) - no road markings, no street lights, no cat's eyes, real hedges, small fields divided by hedges and copses - in fact pretty much as rural Surrey would have looked in Piper's day.
Oli was an absolute STAR. Not only did he look the part (probably not facially but we didn't need close ups) but he entered fully into the spirit of the thing, even riding the bicycle with a ram rod straight back. After various locations we ended up at the church next door to Charles where Oli/JP rested his bike against the railings and entered the churchyard, sat on a bench and sketched architectural details, before trying out his No 3 Folding Pocket Kodak Camera (1912).
Lunch was the inaugural outing for the new venture jointly owned by Chef Eliza of Pomegranate and Chef Charles of Hare in the Gate, namely Sound Bite Location Catering, as a token of our gratitude for the family's efforts. A hugely successful day.

Oli/JP arrives at a church with Harold and takes some snaps.

Libby even managed to do some Letterpress printing (the new thrill in her life) with what was left of the afternoon - this is printed on hand made Nepalese Lokta paper and is the title sheet for her latest tome, Christ's Hospital Murals, to be published next month.

PP7, part 3

This morning we returned to Portland Bill in glorious weather, found an old stone crane, photographed Chesil Beach from above and then in the flesh, and Charles did some Super 8 work (we intend to introduce each section with a smidgin of old fashioned filmwork).

Back to Weymouth, change the equipment in the car, grab a quick fish and chips for Charles (he liked the box), photographed the amusingly odd Jubilee clock, and off down the road to interview Patrick Reyntiens who interpreted most of Piper's stained glass designs and almost single-handedly revolutionised stained glass design and making in this country. Unfortunately we got held up behind a HUGE trailer which was transporting 3 ENORMOUS blocks of Portland stone to Salisbury and which was impossible to pass - so arrived somewhat tardily, which is something I hate doing and so was getting very frustrated and irritated.

Patrick was his usual ebullient self. We showed him the roughly edited films of Oundle, Coventry and Liverpool and he just started talking, describing, discussing - brilliant stuff for which we were hugely grateful.

Arriving back in Weymouth we set out with trepidation for some fodder and chanced upon Vaughan's which really turned up trumps. The decor was understated, the waiter attentive and knowledgeable and interested, bread rolls were baked freshly continuously throughout the evening, the food, well - excellent ingredients, cooked simply and to perfection, just as we like. Imaginative in a good way. And an excellent way to end another trip - back to Film Farm tomorrow.

PP7, part 2

Charles duly primed with his cooked breakfast, we set off for the small village of Grateley and the church of St Leonard's where there is an old window (originally in Salisbury Cathedral) depicting the Stoning of St Stephen - Piper claimed that copying this window taught him as much about colour as any art course - so we had to 'bag' it. Beautiful colours.

From there to Weymouth where we booked into The Esplanade run by an enthusiastic and enterprising young couple who used to work in the City but have returned home and although they haven't managed to get rid of all the dark red patterned carpets as yet are working their way through the hotel making it more sophisticated - good luck to them. After a quick lunch in a nearby Italian (ENZO) it was off to Portland Bill which captivated us with its huge limestone rock formations, seaweed swirling below, the old lower lighthouse Charles decided he wanted to live in when he grows up (but it belongs to the RSPB) and the fact they were celebrating our arrival - someone had already scrawled my name on a wall! By the time we finished it was dark, very cold and windy, and we were tired but promised to warm ourselves up with a good Italian - how can you go wrong with an Italian - 2nd day running it was dreadful - again TOO 'cheffy'. We should have returned

to the lunch-time place (i.e. ENZO).

PP7, part 1

We departed from EKH in rather miserable weather and dreaded a repeat performance of Brighton/Romney Marsh. Today's itinerary, Stowe and Farnborough. However, out luck changed and by the time we arrived at Stowe it was pleasantly mizzly which suited the architecture and landscaping. Both the National Trust and Landmark Trust kindly waived their fees since the film will be distributed freely to schools in an effort to instill an interest in arts and crafts in today's youth.

The great excitement of the day (since neither of us are particularly potty about formal gardening on this scale) was the Batricar which Libby commandeered - terrific fun (seen above by the Palladian Bridge). And covering the distance we did with the usual amounts of equipment would have been almost impossible. Whilst Charles filmed the sights from Piper's viewpoints, Libby photographed trees and flowers, carefully avoiding the architectural delights (despite her architectural background).

What we did both enjoy hugely was the Pebble Alcove, almost every sq cm of which Charles made me photograph - oh look at the butterfly, that bunch of grapes, the zodiac signs etc etc. Here's the man himself enjoying the experience - I greatly fear Film Farm may sprout some similar oddity in due course!

Stowe took longer than anticipated (these things always do) but we HAD to get to the tiny village of Farnborough before dark to film the window Piper designed in memory of his great friend and colleague John Betjeman. The window was a delight, fresh, brightly coloured, absolutely joyful and fits so well into its surroundings. here's just a tiny part to whet your appetite for the completed DVD.

And thence to Chieveley where we had promised ourselves a big treat. Those of you who read our sister blog (frankbrangwyn.blogspot.com) will recall that on 6 February 2008 we dined at The Crab at Chieveley and considered the meal excellent. For those of you who have been there since on our recommendation - massive apologies! A change in management has introduced 'cheffy' food, lots of ingredients for the sake of it, and the result is just silly, a waste of time, not particularly tasty and not good cooking. If you've got good ingredients don't mess them up. Par example, I had traditional scallops for starters (OK) whilst my 'blonde' companion had scallops with 201 ingredients including white chocolate! No way Jose! VERY disappointing.

PP6 day 2 Art Historian and Filmmaker Suspected as Terrorists

I actually managed a run in the dry first thing this morning, and after breakfast we set off to record the glories of the Romney Marsh and Dungeness. We bagged East Guldeford church, a forlorn barn of a place, without too much trouble from the itinerant sheep and proceeded to Dungeness - which is where the trouble started. I didn't park prettily at the end of a layby but there was no one around in such grim weather - by now it had started raining again and the wind was howling without obstruction across the wastes. We lugged the gear along to the beach and set up the tripod and camera on the highest bit of shingle with the power station behind us and the lighthouse of which Piper had made a collage in our sights. I was wearing a fluorescent yellow raincoat and Charles is well over 6ft, so we weren't exactly camouflaging ourselves. The weather was so remorseless we actually had to give up without filming anything and staggered back to the car with wet equipment and damp us. A police van was awaiting us - 'Oh gosh, sorry, are you going to reprimand me about my parking' was my opening gambit. 'I'll disregard that this time' responded the fully equipped policeman - think flack jacket, gun, god knows what else strung round his waist but it all looked exceptionally frightening. Did we realise that one required permission to film here, what were we doing, did we appreciate that there was a power station behind us? We tried to explain about Piper and that he created is images before the power station was even there and we desperately DID NOT want said building in our film, and anyway we hadn't managed any film due to the lousy weather, and I hadn't realised one required permission (which is odd because I've checked just about everywhere else we've been, politeness being my middle name). One would have thought that if we were dangerous criminals we would not have stood on the highest bit of shingle for everyone to see, together with large tripod and camera, let alone the yellow peril raincoat. Anyway said policeman had to fill in the relevant Stop and Search form (he did put my hair colour down as dark rather than grey which was flattering!) after which he took Charles' details and then said they'd have to do a check on the car. Why couldn't his mate have done this while we were waiting? No wonder policemen don't have time to catch the real criminals. In all we were at the mercy of the LAW for about 90 minutes. UGH!

The situation was marginally improved for Charles anyway by a sighting of the Romney Hythe and Dymchurch train!

By now we were late for our meeting with Sir Donald Sinden at St Clement's, Old Romney at midday and I wanted to dash but didn't dare add a speeding fine to my sins. The churchwardens had been in and the place looked spotless, flowers everywhere. Sir Donald was his usual exemplary professional self and I tried manfully or even womanfully to play my part asking him about the Romney Marsh Historic Churches Trust, of which he is a Vice President and discussing generally the features of the church. This was followed by lunch at the Woolpack during which he kept us vastly amused with his hilarious stories all delivered with such aplomb. C&I tried the same jokes out on each other during the afternoon but our renditions fell completely flat.

We tooled back to Old Romney and tried to do some outdoor shots in the drizzle, and were just about to call it a day when I fancied I saw a flash of blue sky so we then dashed over to St Mary in the Marsh and Ivychurch but by then the rain it was a-raining again! Photos indicate the bleakness and the wind.

Back to Film Farm the following day, a drying out session, a play with the letterpress which I can quite see I'm going to get completely hooked on, and thence back to Kent. About 10 days of grace before the next outing during which Charles has 2 sets of work related visitors and I have to drive to Yorkshire for another of mea mater's 90th birthday celebrations and want to work on the Christ's Hospital monograph. It's all go as someone once opined.

PP6 day 1

A 2 day dash to Bruges to do some Brangwyn filming (see http://frankbrangwyn.blogspot.com/) and we are already in Piper mode on the return ferry - watching Pink String and Sealing Wax on the laptop (they used a Piper drawing of Brighton for the titles). No rest for the wicked.

And so to Chichester and its cathedral, a delightful small sized friendly and light edifice with some stunning art works mainly commissioned by the Very Rev Walter Hussey, including of course the Piper tapestry which just glows with colour, quite sensational and reminds one very much of his collage work, even some bits of marbled paper here and there. One of the guides, Alan Bradford, was brilliant so we cajoled him into doing a spot of talking for us. Unfortunately when the day chaplain did his hourly spiel and asked for some reverential quiet Libby dropped her lens cap on the encaustic tiles, which clanked resoundingly. I made my apologies later and he was a super chap, very friendly and jolly. In fact everything went swimmingly until it was time to go - and then we needed to swim, literally - because in the meantime the heavens had opened and it was fair bucketing it down. No chance of getting all the kit into the car without it becoming seriously damp. So were were marooned for about 90 minutes.

It was supposed to be one of the wettest weeks of the year (along with the week we chose to visit Wales of course) and it certainly wasn't kind to us. We travelled on to Brighton to match up the Brighton Aquatints images, the journey punctuated by sudden showers. Arriving at Arundel Terrace we could see the rain advancing across the water but set up the tripod and camera anyway in the hopes of filming before the rain caught up with us - no such luck. We had to dash to the car, dry the equipment as best we could and wait for the storm to pass. This became the procedure as we slowly moved along the front towards Hove - Royal Pavilion, Metropole Hotel, Regency Square, Bedford Square, Brunswick Terrace, First Avenue Hotel - it was completely and utterly miserable, cold, and the wind buffeted us and the camera. Charles soldiered on and gamely tried to cheer Libby up periodically but she went into a cold and damp despond and was a very unhappy bunny. Finally at about 7.30 in the evening, with the light starting to go, we finished - or at least we hope we've finished - only the rushes will tell. A dismal drive back to the hotel with low visibility, the windscreen wipers working overtime, and then a careful drying out of kit - and ourselves!

Farnborough

En route back to Kent took a detour to recce the John Betjeman memorial window in Farnborough church, Bucks - we finally discovered the church on the rhs of the road despite the AA directing us to the lhs - anyway, well worth the detour, because the window is beautiful, vibrant. Although I had seen images in books the window in the flesh was astounding and gave me a happy feeling all the way home!

Stowe

I had to drive down to the West Country for my f-in-l's 90th birthday celebration so decided to take in Stowe on route as a recce. Astounding landscaping but not to my liking really, too full of self-aggrandisement, too contrived and manicured despite the fact it was meant to look natural. Huge swathes of countryside were manipulated in the name of art - huge swathes are now manipulated in the name of money by farmers - but is the latter any worse? I visited the follies etc which Piper sketched and have worked out a route by which, hopefully, if we attain a 4 minute mile average, we can capture all in the minimum time since the National Trust charge so much per hour and we are working on a set budget - any fees come out of Charles's pocket!
Gothic Folly illustrated above.

Narborough Hall

Early departure from Kent to Film Farm, thence Charles drives us to Narborough Hall in Norfolk, an exceptional, dreamy country house with a superb and developing garden and Victorian kitchen garden. Anyway, the main point of the visit was to see the Piper exhibition put on by owner Robert Sandelson - some exceptional pieces we hadn't come across previously including a wonderful vibrant tapestry of plants and sunflowers. The Perfect Spot cafe, run by his pre-teenage daughters, Fennel and Mermaid, and wife (in that order apparently) was just delightful, wonderful home made scones with jam and cream, good pot of tea, and all in aid of charity. How good can it get. See www.narborough-hall.co.uk for more information.

Brighton Recce

Took the train down to Brighton to compare the present buildings with those illustrated in Piper's Brighton Aquatints - more trees these days, and Piper had used artistic license in squishing buildings together, but doesn't look too difficult to film - or find convenient parking space nearby. Not that I was car bound today - far from it - I took the train and consequently walked for 3hrs 40 mins from the station, along the front to Hove, back to Arundel Terrace at the east end of Brighton and then a return through Kemp Town. Slightly weary of limb by the close.
A lady sat next to me Eastbourne to Brighton and commented on the drawings I was perusing (inwardly digesting Piper in Brighton) - aha, she had heard of Piper, mainly because she receives catalogues from a gallery in Leicestershire (actually Rutland but many make the mistake) - but that must be the Goldmark Gallery I retort - and sure enough it was - she praised the quality of the catalogues and the individual approach and I told her about Mike's philanthropic vision re the art DVDs being given freely to schools to inspire current students in arts and crafts. Spread the good word!
Meanwhile Charles is busy downloading all the rushes to date and putting them on to the new Piper hard drive, ready for editing; plus dealing with the usual pack of visitors, the garden, the remaining hen, Charlotte Bach and Phil Rogers.

The tragic West Pier above, Pavilion rooftops below

PP5

An early start today to get to the Tate Library and Archives by 9am where we are to film some of the Piper sketchbooks. Unfortunately communications had broken down somewhere along the internal line and although Chris Webster was there to greet us, the Archives staff had turned up missing, back from holidays, delayed by punctures etc. Anyway, we finally got going, I think I made some semblance of sense despite having had a sleepless night, and we managed to finish just before the public were due in at 11am.
And after a breather we're off again, this time to interview Martin Harrison who regards Piper as something of a mentor, and is an authority on stained glass (and more recently Bacon - not the frizzled variety). Great interview with unexpected twists and turns - who would expect less of Martin?!

Great train journeys of the world

Now Charles may be rather an anorak when it comes to trains, besotted is another word which comes to mind - but today was the grand-daddy of all train journeys. We travelled from the joys of Baker Street to the nether reaches of the Diccapilly line, the final outpost - Cockfosters. The train was empty when we arrived, the final survivors having left at Arnos Grove. From the station we then marched to MoDA (Museum of Domestic Design and Architecture) to see the exhibition, titled The Shell Guides: Surrealism, Modernism, Tourism (Piper and Betjeman both having edited the Guides) - and excellent it was too - we were at first rather daunted by all the explanations but soon fell under the spell and came away envigorated and inspired. See www.moda.mdx.ac.uk/shell%20guides. Thence the marathon walk and train ride back to civilisation (the train was empty when we departed Cockfosters but people began to trickle on post Arnos Grove).

Romney Recce

Having fed about 100 faces in the last few days c/o the joint 90th birthdays, I felt an indulgence was allowed and took my mother and aunt to visit Romney churches as a recce. Delightful, mainly because said edifices escaped the wrath of the Victorians and Vatican 2. Despite not being of that generation and both schoolmistresses and therefore prone to correct English, on walking into Old Romney, both squealed 'WOW!'. And WOW it certainly is, with beautiful old box pews, an idiosyncratic layout, a chancel wall which virtually obliterates sight of the sanctuary from the parishioners - but just wonderful! This just begs to be part of the Piper film.

BSMGP

The stained glass lecture seemed to go down OK, but since it's Brangwyn related have put my reflections in that blog (http://frankbrangwyn.blogspot.com)

Piper pullovers and sketchbooks

Eye and Camera, Plate II, 1983

After visiting my mother and celebrating her 90th birthday, it's back home to Kent, a weekend of hacking back the jungle (at least the weather was superb), then to the Tate Archive today. I got through 52 of the 58 Piper sketchbooks and notebooks in the collection before they closed for the day, looking for relevant images which we could film. What struck me most forcibly was that our whole premise for the film is that Piper lived in a romantic unpopulated dream-like landscape and we've waited patiently at venues until people have moved out of the way - and yet his sketchbooks from 1968 onwards become almost exclusively figure studies - mainly recumbent half dressed women with black stockings but also crossed legs with lace up boots, hand studies, copulating couples and 3 somes, together with photographs from life and lots of images from magazines of models. I get the feeling he preferred a rounder type of female. Studies for the Eye and the Camera series I suppose, but even so rather a plethora.

I enjoyed the comments Piper wrote about the Sitwells:

'I was an extremely late developer. Osbert, Edith and Sacheverell really (what you might call) brought me up. That is, they made me believe in a life I had always wanted to live but which, until I met them, I hadn't thought was possible ... they 'sophisticated' me.'
Edith was, apparently, an inveterate knitter and made at least 3 pullovers for Piper.

The next couple of days I must get my stained glass lecture finalised, then the 2 day conference is Thursday/Friday. Meanwhile Charles dashed off to Wales on Sunday to film the brilliant Welsh potter Phil Rogers opening his kiln Monday - this is the final piece for the film commissioned by Goldmark Gallery (see http://www.philrogerspottery.com/). He then has a guest Thursday to Monday, Jobear returning Tuesday to Friday. No rest for the wicked.

PP4 - Renishaw

Sir Reresby Sitwell and Renishaw Hall from the south

A rather pleasant, obviously lived in and loved, country house, without the heaviness of dated furnishings which one sees in so many of these grand houses, and a beautiful garden which was landscaped by Sir George Sitwell (the present incumbent's grandfather) but Lady Penelope has added colour. Sir Reresby and Lady Penelope a charming couple and Sir Reresby granted us an interview before he dashed off for a lunch date - we placed him by the fireplace in the entrance hall above which is a Piper triptych of Venice which made a good setting. After they left we were placed in the hands of David Bateman, the housekeeper, a sterling chap who took us round the house to photograph relevant Piper works from the HUGE collection, on to the roof of pinnacles and battlements with superb views over the surrounding countryside, round the gardens and the Gothic Temple (aka dog cemetery), into the museum, and then explained how to get to the lakes and Triumphal Arch - and all done with a sense of humour. By the end we were rushing like mad things trying to get all our filming completed in the allotted 4 hours before the penalty charges clocked in.

David Bateman and Charles outside the north front of Renishaw

And I discovered more about David Horner, known as 'Blossom' - Osbert's boyfriend - which was interesting!