Karen Winslow Interview: Sewing Pattern Illustrators Part 3.

1970s Karen Winslow fashion illustration for McCall's 4170 Misses Jacket and Pants.

From the desk of Toile La La at Art Fashion Creation:

Here, you have recently seen two posts featuring the story and artwork of fine artist Karen Winslow, a former sewing industry fashion illustrator.  Today's post presents Part 3: the Karen Winslow Interview.

From 1970 to 1977, Winslow was an artist for Simplicity, McCall's, and Butterick patterns, illustrating clothing for children, teens, and misses - with pen, marker, gouache, watercolor, and charcoal.  Her work appeared in the big pattern catalogs and on sewing pattern envelopes - as well as in monthly booklets - and in Earnshaw's Review, a children's fashion industry magazine (one of her favorite jobs).

During the time she created these illustrations, Winslow attended the Art Students League from 1972-1978 to learn to paint.  It was odd to "switch gears", says Winslow, "One form of art was very commercial, and I used outline to make figures that were stylized and flat. The other form was serious, and I tried to create an illusion of light, form and space in a realistic manner."  Freelance fashion illustration was the bridge from sewing industry illustration to Karen's focus on fine art painting today.  Along with her husband Jack - at Winslow Art Studios, she currently teaches painting workshops and spends time with her children and grandchildren (who frequently model for alla prima portraits).

Over the course of our interview/conversation - it was especially interesting to hear Winslow's observation of the industry's transition from illustration to photography for promotion of sewing patterns.  "Photography began to play a bigger and bigger role in the pattern industry, with illustrations and photographs sharing the same page," says Winslow.  She mentions that around 1974, McCall's began to offer "Sew for Fun" patterns, offering projects primarily for teens:  "This is where photography appeared more and more."

I met Karen after she left a comment at an Art Fashion Creation post mentioning the mysterious and unknown sewing pattern illustrators.  Karen and I discussed the lack of artist attribution on sewing patterns and never really came to a conclusion about artist anonymity.  The lack of attribution is still a mystery, but Wilson says she did manage to include her signature on a few illustrations - which you will see at post's end.

Toile La La: Karen, how did you find your way into sewing pattern illustration and did you study specifically for pattern illustration?

Karen Winslow: When I decided in high school that I wanted to be an artist, my parents were very worried.  Since I liked drawing people, the guidance counselor suggested fashion illustration, and assured them that I could get a regular job doing art.  So, after high school, I studied fashion illustration and advertising design at the Fashion Institute of Technology.  At the school, I concentrated on fashion drawing and figure drawing.  You were not specifically trained to do illustrations for pattern companies, that was just one arena that used illustrators.  Since it was one of the only areas that used color illustrations, I applied to pattern companies and had my first job - in 1970 - as a design department "sketcher".

Sketchers worked for the designers, drawing out the designer's ideas.  Pattern companies took their cue from what was popular:  the "new" colors, fabrics, skirt lengths, pant widths, waistlines, etc... .  They would copy a popular design, but simplify it down to a few key pieces for sewing enthusiasts.  I worked specifically with the children's designer.  These drawings were rendered in full color, but not published.  Instead, these illustrations were sent to the art department, and another illustrator would then produce the drawing that would go into the catalogs and on the envelopes. 

I really wanted to be in the art department, not the design department.  I was more interested in the art part, rather than the design aspect...which I found a little odd, since (in fact) designers were just copying clothes that were already ready made.  I don't think it really bothered other sketchers.  I wanted to be an illustrator - illustrators were paid better than sketchers and their work was published in the catalogs.  So, eventually, I applied to be a staff artist - which was much better for me. This was in late 1971, and my work started appearing in sewing industry catalogs and envelopes.

TLL: I am interested in hearing about your work environment and whether you worked with other illustrators in a studio near the garment designers, or if you completed assignments in your own home studio. Please describe your artist lifestyle during the sewing pattern fashion illustration years.

K. Winslow: As a sketcher, I worked in a room with the children's clothing designer and another sketcher.  We each had our own drafting tables, taboret, brushes and paints.  When I started working as a staff artist, I worked in a room with about 5 other artists.  Again, we all had our own drafting tables and supplies.  Of the 5 in the room, 2 of them were "correction" artists.  A correction artist is like a proof-reader and does not illustrate.  The correction artist checked my illustration to make sure buttons were spaced correctly, widths, gathers, top-stitching, etc... were in correct proportion for the clothing.   In other words, a pencil skirt couldn't look like a flared skirt.

As a staff artist, I was not working with a designer anymore...I was part of the art department, and I was given assignments by the art director.  Some illustration assignments went to freelance artists and the rest were done by staff artists.  I worked staff, honing my skills and experimenting with techniques for about a year and a half.  My husband went to the Art Students League and learned to paint.  After deciding I wanted more from my art, I quit my staff position and began freelancing in order to go to the Art Students League 5 days a week.

I studied Classical painting at the Art Students League from 1972 to the beginning of 1978, while doing freelance fashion illustration for a living during the same period.  Since I was no longer a staff artist, I worked alone and all of my freelance work was done in my apartment in Brooklyn.

TLL: Did you have illustration mentors or experienced industry artists who encouraged or guided you?

K. Winslow: I didn't really have mentors, per se, but my colleagues were always willing to offer suggestions or technical aid, if needed.

TLL: If you sew, was that knowledge an asset to your illustration?

K. Winslow: Yes, I did sew simple things, and I guess the knowledge helped with the illustrations.  It is good to understand construction and how seams or fabric are supposed to behave.

TLL: Here are several questions to generate memories: Please describe a typical day working as a sewing pattern illustrator...
Did you work from live models or photographs?
Did you discuss illustrations with the pattern designers?
Were you interested in fashion design... creating inspiration boards, or ever making design suggestions to the pattern manufacturers?

K. Winslow: On staff, a typical day would be receiving an assignment, dressing the sewing mannequin in the mock-up garment, scribbling out ideas for figures,  and having these approved by the designer and the art director.  Then, this rough draft went to the correction artist.  Tracing paper was placed over the rough draft and corrections were made on this.  The drawing was then returned to me, and I incorporated the corrections into the finished illustration.   Small swatches of various fabrics, as well as clipped photos of shoes, hairstyles, bracelets, etc. provided by the designers were used to create the finished pieces.  The finished illustration then had to be approved by the designer, art director, fashion director, and others.  If approved, the illustration was published as a catalog page and envelope.  Turn-around was about a week, but could be less. On staff, I received feedback right away.   When I freelanced, I had to pick up my assignment, which included a mock-up garment sewn in muslin, the designer's sketch, the swatches and the magazine clips of accessories, etc.  Then, I went home and worked up a rough draft to return the next day or so.  The correction artist marked the corrections, then I would return to pick up the corrected rough draft before working on the final colored illustration.  With time constraints and deadlines, I often stayed up all night working on the finished product in order to meet the deadline.  

Coming up with various layouts and poses for the figures was challenging.  I poured over magazines trying to get ideas for poses, and I used a mirror... getting into a pose myself to refine what I wanted.  When I freelanced, I sometimes could get a model, but mostly, I used the mirror. 

Since I was in the art department, the art director, or assistant art director conveyed what the designer wanted... the look, the feel, etc.  When I worked as a sketcher with the children's designer, she often asked for suggestions or opinions about designs, and that was fun.  In the art department, I was only expected to translate the designer's idea into a nice, easy to read, illustration.

TLL: Karen, you previously  mentioned the pattern designers specified exact ages for children in your illustrations. Were there many more specifications or suggestions regarding your artwork? Did the art director provide you with fashion tearsheets or other pattern artwork as inspiration?

K. Winslow: The ages, hairstyles, accessories, shoes, etc. were chosen for particular looks and provided by the pattern designers.  In my experience, the artists were given photos and color swatches for everything.  I was free to interpret these, as well as pose and compose my figures, in my own way... as long as it showed the clothing in its best light. 

TLL: As a sewing pattern illustrator, did you meet any pattern artists with considerable experience in the industry?

K. Winslow: I only really saw other illustrators when I worked on staff.  With freelancing, you are on your own.  I have stayed in touch with one always helpful and lovely illustration buddy who was with me at Simplicity and McCall's, then went on to teach at the Fashion Institute of Technology and Parsons.

I transitioned entirely to painting by 1979 - selling my work through various galleries.  Some of my illustration friends continued to work in the industry for much longer.  Josie Vargas and Bina Abling both worked at McCall's with me.  Josie and I worked in the design department at Simplicity.  To my knowledge, they still work in the industry, although they primarily teach - for the Fashion Institute of Technology and Parsons. 

TLL: What obstacles - if any - do you feel may be specific to the life of a female artist? And then, what qualities might a female artist contribute which might set her apart from that of male counterparts?

K. Winslow: While I was illustrating and going to school to learn to paint, I did all this before I had any children.  One of the most difficult things about being a female artist is juggling family.  Once you have children, getting to paint or illustrate is harder.  Your time is no longer your own.  In my particular family, my husband is also a fine artist.  So, when our children came along, we took turns painting and taking care of the kids.  I became a very fast painter, and I learned to paint and talk to kids at the same time.  This skill helped a lot when I began teaching.  I can paint and answer questions at the same time.

TLL: Of your illustrations - which are your favorites, why?

K. Winslow: I have been digging out whatever illustrations I've stashed away, and many of them have taken a beating.  It is hard for me to say which illustrations were my favorites.  I liked trying different things, and I enjoyed whimsical aspects.  Earnshaw's Review (the industry magazine for kid's clothing) gave me the widest berth in interpreting and I could illustrate the clothing in more creative ways, so they were extra fun.

TLL: I'd love to hear any other favorite memories you want to share from your life as an artist.

K. Winslow: One of my funny memories as an illustrator was having a nom de plume.  A person designated to "approve" my illustrations thought "Karen's" line work was a bit too cartoony, so I developed my charcoal/wash style as "Lorraine".  Sometimes an illustration assignment was a toss-up between Karen and Lorraine. Either way I got to do the drawing.  The art department all knew, and we all thought it was pretty funny.
I sent in my bill as Karen, not Lorraine. 

Memorable things in the fine arts would be getting a major article in American Artist magazine (February 1991) and being invited to a museum in Japan to do drawing demonstrations to help celebrate Culture day (1992).

TLL: When viewing today's styles, are there any particular designers or trends you think might be nice illustrations or painting inspiration?

K. Winslow: Today's styles...um, I am a pretty practical person...after all, everything I own at some point gets paint on it, and I live in a very rural place.  So, practical ensembles of shirts, jeans, and clogs seem to make up my wardrobe.  If I could paint or illustrate a style... well, like most people, I loved Downton Abbey, and seeing those styles was amazing. For me, Downton Abbey was like seeing a John Singer Sargent portrait come to life.  I would love to paint this.  The colors, cuts, drape, hats... everything was so lovely!  I personally love the styles in the 1920s and 1930s.

TLL: Did the pattern companies maintain illustration archives, Karen? I'm sure they must have maintained archives for the actual flat patterns and maybe even for the written instructions (which also changed with the times), but - speaking personally, to have witnessed an archive of sewing pattern illustrations would be heavenly! If a sewing pattern illustration museum existed, I would never want to leave.

K. Winslow: They had archives for a while.  Some of the illustrations were up on the walls as decoration, when I was there, but these were usually ones that were selling the most patterns.  Here's an odd fact, the sweatshirt pattern I illustrated (with the 4 figures) was one of their top sellers for a while, when I was working for McCall's.  I thought that was really weird... really.  I wondered - who would sew a sweatshirt? I found out that a lot of illustrations were donated into other archives (I think Parsons had some), but eventually they were thrown away.  Josie recognized and managed to salvage some of my black-and-white Butterick illustrations when they were being tossed.

Karen Winslow 1970s fashion illustration for McCall's 4220 hooded-jacket and top.

  TLL: Karen, from an early age - did you know you wanted to be an artist - or that you were already an artist? Was fashion illustration a goal to which you aspired, or did fashion illustration find you?

K. Winslow: As a child, I loved to draw and never had enough paper.  As a little girl in the 50s, I looked forward to getting my Betsy McCall paper dolls and making loads of extra outfits for her.  That, to some degree,  subconsciously influenced me to illustrate fashion. As a fashion illustrator then, I always felt like a grown-up playing with paper dolls... especially when I illustrated the children's clothes.

TLL: To expedite your illustration work, Karen - did you develop illustration templates for yourself... for instance, assembling poses, faces, gestures which you could reuse - or use again with minor adjustments?

K. Winslow: I did repeat some poses, but I always worked them afresh...using myself as a reference.  Art directors might suggest a look or a feeling, but I was left to my own devices, for the most part.  They were interested in getting clear pictures of the clothing construction in a visually pleasing way.

TLL: Karen, we never really came to a conclusion about the omission of pattern artist's names.  Did you request attribution for your illustrations?

K. Winslow:  I think I asked once about signing work... the response, I believe, was something like this:  If you signed the illustration, people would believe that you designed the outfits.  The bottom line for pattern companies was selling patterns.  It was a product, and for a long time artists got to present the product.  Perhaps, it was just cheaper to present the product with photographs, or they thought the patterns would sell better showing real people wearing them.  

Here are a few of Karen's illustrations - some with signatures:

Karen Winslow 1970s McCall's 4104 Misses dress and top fashion illustration for sewing pattern.

  

Karen Winslow 1970s McCall's 3663 Girls bell-bottom pants fashion illustration for sewing pattern.

Karen Winslow 1970s fashion illustrations of Kenzo designs for the sewing industry.

Karen Winslow 1970s fashion illustrations of Betsey Johnson designs for the sewing industry.

Karen Winslow 1970s  illustrations of children's fashion trends for the sewing industry.

Karen Winslow 1970s fashion illustrations of children's clothing designs for the sewing industry.

Karen Winslow 1970s children's sewing pattern illustrations.

Karen Winslow 1970s fashion illustration for Butterick.

Karen Winslow 1970s fashion illustration for Butterick.

Karen Winslow 1970s fashion illustration for Butterick - notice signature in weave of wicker chair.

Karen Winslow 1970s fashion illustration for Pandora.

Karen Winslow 1970s fashion illustration for Pandora - zoom-in of signature beside roller-skate.

Karen Winslow 1970s fashion illustrations of Kenzo designs for the sewing industry.

Karen Winslow (signed) 1970s fashion illustration for McCall's children's apron/tote bag accessory.

Karen says, of the illustrations above:  "If you look closely at the cover of the Butterick booklet with two women seated on a wicker chair (June 1974), I signed "WINSLOW" in the base of the chair as part of the weave.  That booklet was the first one I illustrated for them.  I did a lot of freelance work for Pandora and signed the little promotional postcard.  On the little back view for children's apron/tote accessories - I signed "KAREN" on the bag."

TLL: Karen, in addition to favorite subjects, artistic mediums, and preferred colors - would you like to mention artists you admire?

K. Winslow: I love to paint a good illusion of light, whether it is landscape, still life or portrait, my real subject is light.  Painting people is always the most challenging...and I love painting people.  I am primarily an oil painter, but I enjoy switching mediums.  I like all colors, but earth tones seem to find their way into most of my work.  As a fine artist, I like Rembrandt, Vermeer, Velasquez, Sargent, etc.

As an illustrator, I love Jessie Wilcox Smith, NC Weyth, Lisabeth Zwerger, Blanche Fisher Wright, and E. H. Shepard.  A post featuring Winslow's admired artists and illustrators appears here. 
TLL: Do you have any book recommendations for people interested in fashion illustration, or can you recommend fine art technique books?

K. Winslow: Books...well, I would always have people look at good illustrations.  Look at, not just fashion, ... but line and graphics.  Yes, I suggest students of art and illustration consider and look at all types of illustration and good paintings (go to museums) to see how other artists worked, so that visual problem-solving skills are improved.  Painting and illustrating incorporate designing with line and tone.  Studying the way other artists draw - and practicing a lot - will help improve your own drawing skills.  Fashion illustration, especially for patterns, is a very narrow slice of the overall field of illustration, and an even smaller view of the field of art in general.  Artists should be open to learning.  Being an artist is a life-long journey... you never quite arrive.  There is always room to improve and grow.

Bina Abling, a former illustration colleague at McCall's and now a teacher at FIT and Parsons, went on to write a book about fashion illustration.  Abling's Fashion Sketchbook has had many editions, and it apparently is a practical, standard text in most fashion illustration classes.  Bina also has very helpful fashion illustration videos on YouTube. 

Looking at anatomy books or books on figure drawing, I think, is most valuable.   Andrew Loomis wrote some of the most practical books on figure drawing and illustration.  He was an illustrator of the 1940s/50s, and he wrote several terrific books on drawing, one being:  Figure Drawing for All It's Worth.  It was out of print for many years, but that along with some of his other books are now being reprinted, and they are worth buying!

TLL: Were you to mentor or advise a young person interested in fashion illustration today, describe your recommendations - or basic plan.

K. Winslow: My recommendations would be to learn to draw.  Study with someone you admire and learn all you can.  Go to museums.  Go to the Society of Illustrators website.  Soak up books with great drawings and illustrations.  Nothing beats drawing from a model.  Learn to draw figures well enough to be able to draw them out of your imagination.  If you use photos, use them as references, not to copy, but to get ideas for poses. I don't think you can suppress your personality. It will emerge, even though the technique or purpose may change.

Both commercial and fine art are very competitive. Being successful is a combination of skill, hard work, marketing, and more often than not... luck, or being in the right place at the right time.

TLL: Karen, I have really enjoyed seeing your artwork - your 1970s fashion illustrations and your current paintings at the Brushwork blog as well.  It is fascinating to learn all the details involved in the process of converting a clothing design to a fashion illustration one sees decorating the face of a sewing pattern.

K. Winslow: We may never know the many sewing pattern illustrators of the past, Toile La La - but they created a wonderful record of who we were and how style changes.  I am glad I could help shed a little light on how the pattern illustration industry worked in the seventies!
 

Patricia Gaye Tapp: Reviving Ottoline Morrell.

"I think what keeps it interesting is making her relevant in today's world.  Something will spark my interest and as with so many women in history - I think - She did it first."

~ Patricia Gaye Tapp, speaking of the blog Ottoline Divine - and its namesake -  
    Lady Ottoline Violet Anne Cavendish-Bentinck Morrell.

Patricia Gaye Tapp of P. Gaye Tapp Interior Design and Decoration - Parthenia Papier card creator - and author of blogs Ottoline Divine and Little Augury.

Patricia Gaye Tapp, an interior designer for almost 30 years,  maintains an awareness of history - feeling it lends insight to what is authentic and enduring.  Her reverence for the past is evident; among her many interests, Tapp lists "floors that creak - the sound of lives that have walked that way".

It was a vintage black and white photograph of a turn-of-the-century beauty in her plumed Easter bonnet that first led me to the observations of Patricia Gaye Tapp, via her blog Little Augury.  Visual imagery - vintage photographs in particular - seem to inspire Tapp's work.

Liane de Pougy - Easter Bonnet - at Little Augury.

Tapp began the blog Little Augury in 2008, offering detailed vignettes featuring interiors, art, literature, fashion, and social history.  However - pre-dating the birth of Little Augury - Tapp was intrigued by the persona, the essence, of a figure from the past... English aristocrat Lady Ottoline Violet Anne Cavendish-Bentinck Morrell.  

Ottoline Morrell - Photographed by Baron Adolph de Meyer.

In 2011, Tapp created the blog Ottoline Divine, breathing life - once again - into Ottoline Morrell, whose existence spanned the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  It is precisely Tapp's adept manner of bringing Ottoline Morrell into the 21st century which makes the blog Ottoline Divine so intriguing; through a presentation of Ottoline's journal entries, correspondence, photographs (of or by Ottoline herself) - as well as Tapp's own commentary - the reader perceives Morrell's true presence - nature and essence.

A Row of Pearls from the Neck of Marie Antoinette...

Tapp refers to Ottoline as "Ott, our rare bird". At Ottoline Divine, you'll read of young Ott storing letters in a casket belonging to William of Orange and of her mother purchasing a row of pearls for Ottoline at a sale of the French crown jewels:  "... she liked to feel I should wear a row of pearls that had been round the neck of Marie Antoinette." 

Ottoline Morrell - Photographed by George Charles Beresford.

With interests in art, politics, decorating, and gardening - Ottoline Morrell was friend, muse, and patron to a host of creative thinkers - philosophers, poets, sculptors, artists, authors - and left a trail of evidence of her existence recorded through the eyes of her creative friends.

Ottoline Morrell painted by Duncan Grant.

Many of Ott's friendships, according to Tapp - "resulted in published fiction".  For Virginia Woolf, Ott inspired a reverie of mermaids - in one instance - and elsewhere she describes Ott:  "like a Spanish galleon, hung with golden coins, and lovely silken sails."

Ott at the beach - a mermaid, in Venice.

Ott - with lovely silken sails.

Even Ottoline's youth is evocative dream-fodder. According to biographer Miranda Seymour, Ottoline's love of history was cultivated during a childhood surrounded by tapestries and paintings.  Patricia Gaye Tapp's blog Ottoline Divine reveals the secret tunnels of Ottoline's family home - Welbeck Abbey - with "more than one and a half miles of tunnels complete with skylights and wide enough in some places for two carriages to pass".  



As Ottoline matured, her unusual appearance - and surely her intellect - attracted the attention of suitors.  Read Here, an Ottoline Divine post with photographs and journal entries describing a first crush.

Had she lived today, Ottoline might have been a blogger.  Her detailed journals of 20 years are yet unpublished, but Tapp tells of Ott exchanging - at one point - up to four letters a day with philosopher, mathematician, historian, and social critic Bertrand Russell.  (Oh, but for email in those days.)  Tapp posts at Ottoline Divine an image of Ott with a camera - "... snapping, always and away, the people surrounding her sight line." Ott the observer and the observed.

Ottoline Morrell - with camera - in Siena's Piazza del Campo shell-shaped square - Tuscany, Italy.

A Time When the Language of Flowers Meant Something...


Tapp describes Ottoline's era as a time when the language of flowers meant something.  To his benefit, Ottoline's husband-to-be - Philip Morrell, gave to her Lily of the Valley - in that day meaning the Return of Happiness, a Purity of Heart, and presenting the sentiment You've Made My Life Complete.  It is said he first saw Ottoline "cycling to college dressed all in white with her red hair blazing".  Despite the rigid morals of the era - nestled among the very proper photos - Tapp reveals to us an image of Ott in the buff, looking as composed as one of The Three Graces.

Ottoline's effect, it seems, was mesmerizing.  Her voice:  described as strange, seductive - and compared to low resonant, organ tones... droning.  Her walk:  graceful and sliding.  Ottoline enjoyed decorating her home and filling it with friends.  Her home had an "oriental magnificence", according to David Garnett's autobiography The Flowers of the Forest - which describes Ottoline Morrell's Garsington Manor with rooms of "dark peacock blue-green" accented with "silk curtains, Persian carpets, pillows and pouffes". Garnett recalls a memorable smell of poutpourri, orris-root, and clove-studded oranges.  

Garsington Manor interior - Photographer Ottoline Morrell.

David Garnett in The Flowers of The Field, recalls Ottoline Morrell's pack of pugs trotting everywhere.  Here is Ottoline with pug Soie (French "silk").

 Even Ott's written words could emanate a certain sensuality - she described British artist Mark Gertler's work as "intense, tangible, ruthless" and of a "hot quality".  A recipient of one of Ottoline's letters proclaimed the correspondence "a Throb of Delight", referring to Ottoline as "Thou Loveliest".  Despite the superlative, biographer Miranda Seymour proclaims Ottoline not a "conventional beauty"... but, "something more rich and complex."

Which brings us back to Little Augury... Patricia Gaye Tapp - who has so thoroughly resuscitated Ottoline for the 21st Century through the blog Ottoline Divine - has emblazoned the Little Augury blog-header with the words of Francis Bacon: "There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion."

"There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion."~ Francis Bacon

Now - for a closer look into the eyes and mind of Patricia Gaye Tapp - who reveals here some of her inspiration, history, and love of the true and original.

Toile La La of the blog Art Fashion Creation interviews Patricia Gaye Tapp of P. Gaye Tapp Interior Design and Decoration - creator of Little Augury and Ottoline Divine.

TLL:  Were you aware of Ottoline when you chose your Little Augury header statement by Francis Bacon - defining beauty as having some strangeness in the proportion?
PGT:  The Bacon quote has been stuck to me for years.  It helps me constantly as I SEE.  I became aware of Ottoline perhaps 10 years ago.  A number of things drew me to her - though I considered Mary Wortley Montagu as a potential possible independent blog from Little Augury.  Both women have fascinated me for many years and I've read as much about them as I could get my hands on - and of course - delightfully something will pop up that is new information.  Both women kept diaries and they have been published in some form or another - giving up a wealth of information for use.  Though MWM was a temptation, I ultimately decided on Ottoline, she offered up countless photographs from her scrap books of her and her friends - that in itself is fascinating enough, not to mention the literary characters she inspired.  She just continues to delight and keep giving!  I think what keeps it interesting is making her relevant in today's world.  Something will spark my interest and as with so many women in history - I can think - She did it first.

TLL:  In addition to shared interests in interior design, lily of the valley, dogs, history, color, and gardening - you share with Ott, a passion for the truth... would you elaborate?
PGT:  Whether Ottoline shared that passion for the truth as I do, I'm not sure.  It was a different era - where women and their truths were quelled to say the least.  Ottoline did marry out of her set though so she did make great efforts in that arena.  I do think she was immensely passionate about people and people with great talents - or even mediocre talent - and that it all should be encouraged.
 
TLL:  Your blog title - Little Augury - is interesting... augury meaning sign, divination, or omen.  What is your thought behind the title choice?
PGT:  Little Augury is my way of saying - "this is what I think."  Though it's not Greek it IS my divination, No?  That is indeed the thinking behind the name choice and when I say it's not Greek - I mean to say it might not be great "literature" (hence the little). It is a play on words I like - a dichotomy, but one that makes perfect sense to me.

TLL:  You give tribute to a mentor at Little Augury - was he a design acquaintance, a professor or teacher? 
PGT:  Sandford Peele was actually all those things - most mentors are teachers of course - whether in the classroom or no.  Sandford was by education an English teacher - but lived in New York in the 1970's and '80s and was an editor, but also a decorative painter.  When he moved to Raleigh to spend more time with his mother, we became great friends and collaborators on a number of design projects. 

Tapp's old French chair - covered in Tapp's antique lampas fabric and finished in silver and lemon gilt by Sandford Peele. Photo courtesy of Tapp.

TLL:  Naming your one-of-a-kind stationery creations after your great great great great grandmother Parthenia, and mentioning your beloved GranMa - you seem to have a reverence for family past.  Please tell us more.
PGT:  She - Bess - GranMa - is definitely a great influence in my life today, though she died in 2006.  She lived to be 107 and found Life to be exciting and worthwhile for most of those years.  She was a great homemaker, mother, she entertained and gardened.  She made a beautiful life for herself after my grandfather died when she was not yet 50.

TLL:  As your Parthenia cards are crafted of vintage and antique original artwork, photographs, and small treasures - do you ever regret parting with your rare, fine, and found collectibles?
PGT:  It is always best to part with things, other things come your way and it's always a pleasure to find them or have them fall in your lap. 

*See the link for Parthenia Papier following the interview.

TLL:  One reads of your collections:  paper ephemera, historic fashion illustrations, postcards, etchings, painting reproductions, wonderful Italian painted madonnas... and you've noted among your lucky finds some '50s Chanel Italian wools.  Have you other favorites?
PGT:  I have some gorgeous textiles - some 18th century French - lampas pieces have always been favorites, though I've used them for recovering special chairs - which might not have been wise - but what good does it do on the shelf?  Several pieces have been sold or used in projects for interior design clients.  I also love old toiles - but a great piece of new fabric or the fabric from a vintage garment is equally treasured.

TLL:  You've mentioned a preference for smoky, undefinable, enigmatic colors.  Please explain their appeal.
PGT:  These are the colors that are easy  to work with in a room or to wear.  I painted the walls in my Den - the room I work in most often - something called Drifting Spirit, I love that! - it is a Duron paint color.  Nothing beats it and next house - all the rooms could be done in it and it would be perfect with anything I would want to use it with.

Duron swatch card - Drifting Spirit is the color third-up at far left.

TLL:  I've read you "avoid trends like the plague" - do please elaborate.
PGT:  Basically it doesn't pay.  Decorating and wearing good clothes is expensive - whether one is on a budget or not - it makes no sense to buy anything that doesn't have a future in your life or closet - trendy things do not.

TLL:  You've stated - of your Ottoline Divine blog - "There is a reason for it all" - referring to the font, the font color, the background.  Ottoline Divine, en toto, seems to be carefully thought-out to accurately reflect Ottoline and her era.  Share your thoughts in the appearance of the blog.
PGT:  Ottoline Morrell used a distinct ink color - a sanguine of sorts - a distinct hand - and I've tried to duplicate that in the color and font type.  I love the colors from that era - they were a bit murky.  I've picked this color up in the background and header colors of Ottoline Divine.  These choices were things that - for Ottoline reflected the impression her letters and notes would give.  
 I think things like this are simple to do - yet today we tend to give little or no thought to it.

Ottoline Morrell script with distinct flourish and profuse capitals. See more of Ottoline's correspondence style at Ottoline Divine.

Letter-writing with panache - Ottoline Morrell's sanguine ink.

 TLL:  Of the books, film, and artwork representing Ottoline - which do you find most accurately represent her true essence? 
PGT:  I think her true essence is best found in her own memoirs.  Whether it be all true - it must be her essence, don't you think?

TLL:  That may be a rhetorical question, but I suppose whatever Ott presented - authentic or not - was a facet of her essence.

TLL:  At an Ottoline Divine post, I noticed your casting of Hadyn Gwynne as Ottoline - are you interested in writing for the screen, or considering writing a book about Ott?
PGT:  I've always been fascinated by the movies - for many years I was immersed in movies from the 1930's and 1940's, then it was Foreign films - French - Japanese, in that order.  I've always read and wondered - who would play that role or this role.  It's a thought process I can't avoid even if I wanted to.  There are many women to write about, so who knows?

TLL:  I appreciated a post of Ottoline's description of a letter game of the past - and especially loved the accompanying etched cards - are those the actual playing cards?
PGT:  No, they are some I found to illustrate the idea - and I picked out of her initials "O,C,B" - Ottoline Cavendish-Bentinck.

Tapp's Letter Game post from Ottoline Divine is here.

TLL:  How do you suggest reading your blog Ottoline Divine - how is it best interpreted - newest to oldest, older post to more recent?  This, I think is a disadvantage of blog posts... the chronology.  But you seem to have applied quite a bit of thought to organizing and categorizing your posts -  which is evident with your archival of Little Augury and its supplementary Litl A.
PGT:  I would start with the first post from April of 2011.  Of course, formatting a blog to read properly in sequence is non-existent as you point out.

Ottoline Morrell - draped, and wearing a plumed, enormous hat - statuesque - against a vast, sweeping plain.

 TLL:  I read a reference from David Boyd Haycock's A Crisis of Brilliance, mentioning Ottoline's wardrobe.  He has her in "colorful clothes copied from medieval and Renaissance patterns".  Somewhere, I noticed a photo of a Rochas FW 2012 dress you liked.  It seemed to be of a textile once referred to as "changeable taffeta", or shot silk.  Did it remind you of Ott?
PGT:  That color is exquisite - don't you think?  I think all these sorts of colors - and many as I mentioned are used in the current season of designer clothes.  That is certainly a reason for my being drawn to fashion - the rich textiles and color.  The colors do have that smokey ethereal sense - faded with intention - or from years of use - yet still rich and strong.  The colors from the fashion collections for autumn definitely are full of the colors of Ott's era - and rich in detail.  I happen to love these colors - orchid, ashes of roses, greys, plums, purples - and I love that Ott used old textiles to have special things made.  Since I collect textiles I do the same.

Rochas Collections Fall Winter 2012 2013 Paris - look 45 - Model Franzi Mueller, Photographer Fillipo Fior. Vogue Italia.

Rochas F/W 2012/13 - look 45, Photographer Gianni Pucci. Vogue.

Marco Zanini's Rochas F/W 2012/13, backstage - looks 45, 46, 47 - models Franzi Mueller, Daiane Conterato, and Alana Zimmer - Photographer Michele Morosi. Vogue Italia.

TLL:  Thank you so much Patricia Gaye Tapp for sharing your creative inspiration and thoughts here at Art, Fashion, Creation.

• If you liked this Art Fashion Creation interview, you might like the Karen Winslow one - inspired by mysterious sewing pattern illustrators of the past... the interview here.

Some of PGT's inspiration:

P. Gaye Tapp's own library reflects a love of design, literature, history, and textiles. Photo courtesy of Tapp.

Tapp's home - chairs covered in "old lavender" Rose Cumming damask. Photo courtesy of Tapp.

Tapp loves the dusty, smokey ethereal colors in the painting Madame Helleu in Her Husband's Studio.

"Exquisite," says Patricia Gaye Tapp - of the colors and essence of Jacques-Emile Blanche's painting - In The Mirror - with its chair similar to Tapp's French chair refinished by Sandford Peele and covered in a vintage lampas fabric (pictured earlier in post). 

"All those colors are perfect!," says Tapp of these Colro Wedgewood Jasper color trials.

 
*To view Tapp's one-of-a-kind cards, see this Parthenia Papier link. Click the Parthenia logo. To access items available for purchase - select purchase, which accesses location within the Etsy store. In addition to special greeting cards, you will find some for Christmas - and designer Christmas stockings. Tapp also features gift and decorative items available at the One Kings Lane website.

Cited Sources for Patricia Gaye Tapp:  Reviving Ottoline Morrell are:

• "Ottoline Morrell" images from The National Portrait Gallery, London - www.npg.org.uk/collections
• Blog Ottoline Divine, ottolinedivine.blogspot.com - Tapp, Patricia Gaye
• "Ottoline Morrell" - Simkin, John. Spartacus Educational at spartacus.schoolnet.uk
• "Lady Ottoline Morrell" entry, Wikipedia
• Ottoline Morrell: Life on a Grand Scale - Seymour, Miranda
• The Urban Electric Company - interview with P. Gaye Tapp