Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Eloise philosophy and Crusade #6




First i should say i'm enjoying the challenges on the GPP Street Team http://michelleward.typepad.com/how_cool_is_that/ and this newest one - about collections.
i have a few things i collect. Ok i have a lot of things i collect. For today i'll admit to my love of eggcups.
When i was a little girl it seemed everyone owned eggcups. i think people ate more eggs. Maybe they still do, but not soft boiled eggs- who knows. But eggcups are just this wonderful little thing for me - brings on a wave of nostaliga i suppose? Sweet simple times? I can remember my mother and me having breakfast by ourselves (or maybe it just seemed that way as my younger sister was just a baby -she's almost 6 years younger than me). My mom would put that egg in the eggcup in front of me, crack off the top, add a little scrap of butter and a sprinkle of salt - it was just delicious. And we'd sit and talk and eat our eggs and it was a nice little mom/daughter time. My little sister was too good of a baby to interrupt us. Yup, those eggcups bring back lovely memories. And they made the breakfast seem just oh-so-special. I wish i knew what happened to those eggcups. They no longer exist. So i look for eggcups when i am out and about - usually when i'm in an antique store, the china department of various stores or even gift shops. Over the years i have found a few that i've bought (translation: within my means $ wise) and i've been given a few. here are a few pics:





I went on a little road trip on Monday morning - up the road to the little (self-described) hamlet of Lucketts. Don't you just love how that sounds - Lucketts. Anyway, therein lies The Old Lucketts Store. Big old house with all kinds of rooms stuffed with all kinds of things. This trip i wasn't as enamored with the store as i'd been on previous visits. It's gotten too hip - its got loud music playing, cool tags on the merchandise, and well - one lovely tallboy dresser was painted pink. see what i mean? too hip. too now. i like the shabby stuff but not when its manufactured ok? i like it to be more "found" if you will. However, i did indeed come home with 2 treasures. A postcard (i'll post at another time) and an eggcup. i was playing in my sketchbook yesterday. I painted with acrylics and watercolor crayons and prismacolors and the receipt from the store and i printed off a scan from one of my favorite childrens books "Eloise". Eloise holds a special place in my heart and for that of my sisters. We first came to know Eloise in the early 1970's when my baby sister received the book as a gift from my cousin. She also sent my sister an Eloise postcard from The Plaza. We lived in New Jersey and my cousin lived in NY. Although as a child I'd been all over NYC I had never been to The Plaza. Anyway, when I included a scan of the drawing from the book as it says "an eggcup makes a very good hat". I've been thinking on that a lot - i need a little more Eloise thinking in my work.










4 comments:

Donna Layton said...

Don't we all just need a little more Eloise in our everyday lives?? Love that childlike whimsy. An egg cup really does make a very nice hat, but I certainly wouldn't have thought to stick one on my head anytime recently.
Thanks for sharing your art journal pages. I love seeing them. To me, art journaling is the most "real" of all art. It's free and easy and helps us translate our thoughts.
I also love your cool egg cup collection. I'll keep my eyes peeled for pretty ones when I'm in the antique stores. Will's gonna love them.

Babsarella said...

OMG!!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE ELoise!!! Yep, we (Blair) have Eloise dolls and books. We even have a Weenie and a Skiperdee too. Did you know I recently heard that she is actually based on the young Liza Minelli? Kay Thompson was her Godmother. Anyhoo...Love the egg cups and your memories. I can just picture what it was like!

Will said...

I do love them! I love you for loving them and love them even more knowing the story. Nostalgia gets me everytime! I have to say I have never eaten an egg in an eggcup--never. I don't think I've ever even touched an egg cup. Breakfast with my Mom as a child invovled dragging donuts out of a sack! If I get my hands on an eggcup, it's yours. I'm a green glass guy, Doric green especially and green candy dishes. I was into cake plates for a long while, Mildred has those now. Love it...LOVE IT!

x said...

Great journal page and collections. ;)