washing line quilt

I like how I find washing images on Pinterest now. It seems to be a theme with some people and just by following a few, these images pop into my stream. This one immediately caught my eye and I thought of a BBQ at a friend's place and off her daughter perched right on top of the hills hoist as the light faded from the sky and the adults sipped wine and beer. They even had a swing chair attached to the line somewhere.

At our place we don't encourage swinging from the clothes line, but we haven't banned it either.

Source: beneathsouthernsky.com via Janet on Pinterest

Like a good pinner, I went back to the source and found that the work is called Hoisted and is by Jenny Bowker.

She says,  "I wanted to find an image that was iconic for Australia, but not edging into kitsch. A photograph by Marc McCormack of the Cairns Post was enchanting and with his permission, I used elements of his image. It evokes the smell of sheets dried in the sunshine, the wind in drying clothes, and the glee of children swinging on that Australian icon – the Hills Hoist.  

Techniques & Materials: Hand painted and commercial fabrics, free motion stitching and painting with Tsukineko inks. Machine piecing and raw edge appliqué. Wool mix batting (60% wool, 40% polyester). Free motion quilted."

oh the shame of it all

So, here's a picture of two Collingwood players hanging on the line. Alan Didak is hanging his head in shame and Heath Shaw looks as though he is about to be garotted by his jumper. There's a lone magpie sitting on the fence (a spirit guide maybe) and fast Eddie has crashed his car in the fence. Or is that Heath Shaw's car? I don't know, and to be honest the finer points of the saga are lost on me, but it 's all really tragic. Especially if you're a Collingwood supporter which I definitely am not. It seems that not only is Shaw in big trouble for the incident; drinking, driving etc but that he let his team down by lying about it later. Hence, being hung out to dry. On the humble Hills Hoist.

The Age 10/08/08

It's almost symbolic of being in the stocks and having rotten fruit thrown at you. Or of being sent home to mum who will sort you out. Anyway. I quite like the way the hills host is leaning the one side, the handle is pointing downward in a very non-phallic way and the clothes pegs are red and yellow. Which may or may not have significance.

we've been hung out to dry

Gerard left this image on my computer desktop the other day. He likes retro metal music at the moment and there's often something of that ilk in the car stereo when I start driving. Which I immediately change to something more girlie and soothing. Not that women can't like metal, I mean I once painted a kitchen red to the strains of Metallica, which I guess is a soft metal.

I'm hoping that these weren't real babies, even for a moment before being airbrushed in. It's really rather a disturbing image. Those twigs holding the line up look brittle, meaning the line could fall down at any moment  and those pegs would hurt the baby's little toes.

The lyrics explain the cover somewhat...

We are the damned of all the world
With sadness in our hearts
The wounded of the wars
We've been hung out to dry
You didn't want us anyway
And now we're making up our minds
You tell us how to run our lives
We run for youthanasia

Despite the ghastly kind of image, I do like her slippers. The basket is also of exactly the same kind that was used in the bank advertisment I posted before. Funny how the mundane act of hanging laundry is used to express both abandonment and a happy cosy family setup. Maybe I should start categories for good laundry, bad laundry etc. It all depends on your point of view I geuss.

Some trivia here, according Wikepedia, the Megadeth album Youthanasia, was the first CD to contain a sticker directing purchasors to an internet site. Back in 1994.

yet another use for the hills hoist

The other evening at the dentist, as I was waiting for my root canal treatment, flicking through the trashy magazines and trying not to be bothered by the sounds of two radios (on different stations) and a dental video, I happened upon this. In the current Cosmopolitan, a magazine I would never buy, because I am far too old for that sort of nonsense. Indeed, I think I'm probably old enough now to be the mother of women in this demographic. But anyway.

 

It's an ad for jeans. And there's another one in the same series where the man is wedged in what looks like a commercial ironing press in some sort of factory. I'd include it here but the picture came out kind of blurry. This looks like some sort of caravan park. Romanticising poverty, or are they on holidays? Housework as a kind of domination, slightly kinky and perverted? Instead of just plain work. Or is it just a convenient angle for his butt?

Out to dry

One of the very first things I did on our recent holiday, once we were unpacked and fed, the child bathed and put to bed, was to peruse the shelves of holiday reading. There were a few gems and I flicked through each picture book, just in case there were any laundry pictures. And lo, there were. Of course, there always is. And what a charmer. Reminds me somewhat of this picture. (I'm thinking I could almost start a category for people hanging from the line.)

It's from A Necklace of Raindrops by Joan Aiken, illustrated by Jan Pienkowski, Puffin Books 1968. I've forgotten the name of the story but the illustration is from the part where a kindly witch finds Emma hanging on the washing line in her dress. The witch has a good old laugh and Emma said, "My dress is too small, so Aunt Lou washes it on me, in case I can't put it on again when I have taken it off. I'm almost dry now, so I can come down if you will help me."

The witch does help and gives Emma a gift of three dresses. One of which is made into a mat for a cat and turns into a magic mat when the cat is sleeping on it. So Emma and her Aunt Lou have all sorts of riches in the end. There are eight stories and I read them all, so I think that's how it went. It would have helped my memory if I'd written something down or stolen the book, but that would be wrong wouldn't it? Much better to leave it there for someone else to discover.

Save nine cents

I have thoughts of duplicating this image. Standing under the Hills Hoist on a crate and having someone peg my hair to the line and take a photo of me holding my favorite laundry product. Say, Homebrand nappy soaker or even the non scented Cold Power liquid. I would be stoic as I faced the camera, as if to say I know what my lot in life is going to be (or is). And I'm not all that happy about some aspects of it, but hey let's make art.

Earlier this week, I received an e-mail from Alina, asking whether I would be interested in a picture of Olivia Newton-John as a girl in an advertisement for OMO. Oh yes. Thank you, Alina.

And what an image it is. Apparently Olivia is about eight, so that means that this would have been taken in 1956 or thereabouts. It seems such an odd photo to use. Not just her surliness, but the tight shot of the washing line and the hair pegged to it, bare winter trees in the background, washing drying, plastic pegs, a Hills Hoist. Gothic or maybe a little Hitchcock. Or Beat. Not the usual nostalgic suburban dream. Darker and more cramped. So who were these people that decided to take a picture like this? Frustrated (or not) artists working in advertising to pay the bills. Or was there one person in the team, who said to the others, listen, I have a really cool idea... you're going to love this... and somehow got people to go along with him (or could it have been a her?) Did the image sell washing powder? What did the women who saw it think?

Or maybe the concept is simpler. Perhaps she got dirty and her mother washed her and hung her on the line to dry. I don't know. Hmm.