Archive for bencoolen
The Doggett wedding / Tessa Hunkin owl extravaganza
Oh dear, this blog post has been far too long in the making, but hopefully the happy context of Gail’s fabulous wedding, and the stunning owl art below will sort of make up for my tardiness.
For those of you who have not had the pleasure of sipping on a pint at The Enterprise, in London, I can heartily recommend it. Gail and Simon chose to have their wondrous wedding reception there last year and it was such a treat. You can read all about it here: One Million Gold Stars is THE blog to watch if you’re at all interested in baking, cooking, crafting and eating. Oh, and fabulous writing too.
So, back to the owl.
This wondrous specimen was nestling next to a sunburst mirror on the hand-painted wall at the back of the pub. My husband managed to capture it digitally, and the artist behind the interior decoration (Tessa Hunkin – more information to follow below) explained that this illustration is based on a postcard of a Bay Owl (Phodilus badius), taken from an album of 51 drawings of birds and mammals made at Bencoolen, Sumatra, for Sir Stamford Raffles in 1824.
Tessa Hunkin specialises in intricate and dazzling mosaic and electronic crafts, and has “always loved things that glitter and glimmer and glow”.
She has created some of the most beautiful mosaics I have ever seen, so I was truly delighted when she sent me this selection of photos of her mosaic owls:
These owls made me think of Boris Anrep’s floor mosaics at the National Gallery when I first saw them, only more colourful, and playful too. I could look at them all day and never get bored. In fact, if you want to commission your own mosaic to stave off the January blues, you can contact Tessa here - mmmm – next year’s Xmas present wish list here I come!
