At last I’m ready to wish you all a very happy and creative 2011. it’s been a while since I posted anything on my blog because I decided to take a short rest, my first in a long time and like most people once I’d stopped I found it difficult to get going again. I had a long list of things ‘To Do’, not a list of new year resolutions, they don’t work for me and only last for a week at the most. I’ve been ploughing through them, some days quite quickly, then a little lull before doing a little more. Slowly but surely they are being cleared and I think only then will I start being creative again.
I’m taking part in The Sketchbook Challenge started by my friend Sue(Bleiweiss) and the very first challenge really appealed to me – ‘Highly Prized’. I have many possessions that I prize highly and I begin with a warm-up of the item I prize most of all. My father’s Metronome which is an antique. Being the eldest son of a large family he had to leave school at 12 years old and became a farmhand for a couple of years. He gave his earnings to his mother, but was able to save his pennies to buy the Metronome. He’d been given a very old harmonium which he loved and a family friend taught him to play it and suggested he bought a Metronome. it was old when he bought it around 1912, he was born in 1900. The inventor was Maelzel Paquet who was born in 1815 and died in 1846 which means it’s at least 165 years old and has been lovingly used for all that time until my father’s death in 1971. It’s all original and still works, there are 2 keys because the original was lost for a while and my father fashioned a new key for it. the original is the one you can see in the photo. That little closure is such a lovely shape and each time I use it I think how many times my Dad used it.
This is not the sketchbook I will use, but it shows I have made a start.
it’s so good to be back.
10 comments:
and it is so good to see you back Mags! What a lovely piece that is and I'm so happy that you're joining in on the sketchbook challenge. I look forward to seeing all your sketches.
what a lovely item Mags. I like how it's become a source of inspiration. That little handle on the side is utterly charming.
What a lovely story and how lucky you are to have it.
Missed you - welcome back. I know the struggle of restarting!!
Good to be seeing you again Mags, welcome back! :-)
Happy 2011. Mags. Fabulous old metronome. What about a sketch of it open as well?
So pleased you are back! Looking forward to seeing more of your work!
Happy new year Mags! It's good to see you back in blogland.
Welcome back Mags - lovely to read your post again. No wonder the metronome is such a treasure for you - it's a beautiful object. You have made a brilliant start to your sketchbook pages and I look forward to seeing more.
As a life-long musician, the marking at the beginning of music (MM= . . .) now takes on more significance. I have never seen a photo of the metronome made by the man for whom "MM" was named. My own metronome was a small one in a red plastic case, also a wind-up, but not in any way interesting. What a lovely story you have.
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