"Mad as a Hatter"

The following was sent by Val..........


I have always been fascinated by unusual phrases and idioms. One of my favourites is: "as mad as a hatter", which was used, but not created by, Lewis Carroll. I believe that this originates from a former hat making process when felt was treated with mercurous nitrate - a mercury compound. This chemical caused hatters to experience smarting eyes, shaking limbs and mood swings. Constant usage could result in eccentricity and it is reported that one Buckinghamshire hatter gave away all he owned and lived on grass as a result.
I am looking forward to this series on your Blog!

Many thanks. Keep them coming!

York Society of Amateur Artists

Many thanks to all at York Society of Amateur Atists, I really enjoyed my day with you. This is the finished Watercolour painting.

After getting the demonstration painting back to the studio, I made the following changes:
- I repainted the sky with slightly darker tones.
- To finalise the background trees, I added more branches.
- The trunks of the Scotts Pines were worked on to give better definition.
- Grasses were added to the foreground.

Please contact me if you have any queries.

The Meaning of Phrases??

Did you ever wonder where certain phrases we use everyday come from? Well I have, so over the next few months I'll be posting some phrases and their meanings to the Blog.
If you have any of your own you would like to share, please forward them to me, I would be very grateful.
So to start the ball rolling, how about 'POSH'

Here's what I found:

Meaning: Elegant, swanky, rich.

Origin: The much-repeated tale is that 'Posh' derives from the 'port out, starboard home' legend supposedly printed on tickets of passengers on P&O (Peninsula and Orient) passenger vessels that travelled between UK and India in the days of the Raj. Britain and India are both in the northern hemisphere so the port (left-hand side) berths were mostly in the shade when travelling out (easterly) and the starboard ones when coming back. So the best and most expensive berths were POSH, hence the term.
A very plausible and attractive explanation and it would be nice to be able to confirm it.
There is no evidence to confirm this story though, P&O say they have never issued such tickets and, although many tickets from that era still exist, no 'POSH' ones have been found.
Mind you, even if this mode of travel were the source of the phrase, there's no particular reason that tickets would have been stamped with POSH, so the absence of such tickets doesn't prove anything. The lack of any citation of 'port out, starboard home' in any of the numerous letters and literary works that remain from the British Raj is a more convincing argument against that origin.
So there you have it! More to follow over the coming weeks.

Ashby Guild of Artists 20th January 2007

Many thanks to all who joined me for my first Workshop of the New Year.

As promsed here is the finished Watercolour painting.

After getting the painting back in the studio, I made the following additions:

- Strengthened the 'darks' in the trees & hedgerows.

- Darkened the bare tree trunks, brances & fence.

- Lightened around the distant trees & hedgerows.

- Cast a cloud shadow over the immediate forground, using Cobalt Blue & Raw Sienna.

- Softened the edge, where the foreground meets the hedgerow, using neat Cobalt Violet.

As usual, if you have any questions you would like to ask, please contact me.

Looking forward to seeing you all again!

Weekend Workshops

Thanks to everyone for booking the Weekend Workshops so quickly, both are now full!!
I will, therefore, be adding a Workshop, June 2nd & 3rd.
If you would like to join us, please contact me for information & a booking form.
For details about the venue etc, please go to my News page.

Weekend Workshops

The details for the 2007 Weekend Workshops have now been finalised. They will be held at Aislaby, a village 2 miles North of Whitby.
The dates are: Saturday & Sunday 16th & 17th June and Saturday & Sunday 18th &19th August.
Places are restricted, so early booking is essential. For more details, please contact Robert.

Happy New Year!

Wishing You A Very Happy, Healthy & Peaceful 2007