|
Home
Railroad
Collectibles-All
Railroad
Magazines
RR
Books
Collectible Plates
Information & shopping cart
New
Collector Plate website
Collectible plates LIST only - no photos
Transportation Items Air, Bus paper
Hess Trucks & Ertl die cast items
Books & Magazines
(Non Railroad)
Great Items
- Cottages, Cigarette posters
| |
| Go back to: Catalog> List of Products |
| View Cart |
|
|
MG diddle diddle dumpling
|
|
Mother Goose Series -- "Diddle Diddle Dumpling" by artist John Mc Clelland
|
$45.50
|
| Mother Goose Series -- "Diddle Diddle Dumpling" by artist John Mc Clelland
|
|
|
|
Mother Goose Series -- Diddle Diddle Dumpling by artist John Mc Clelland -- Painted expressley for and under exclusive commission to Reco International, and is issued as Plate 6 in an edition ending forever in 1984. Certificate of Authenticity -- Plate size approx 8.5 inches. Suggested Retail price $65.00
Totally absorbed in his book of bedtime stories, John has absentmindedly gone to bed without bothering to undress. One stocking may be off, but he's completely forgotten about his shorts and as for that other sock – ! Only his mother's entrance to tuck him in and kiss him good night startles him out of his reverie. Hugging the precious book to his chest, he looks up at his amused parent and grins sheepishly.
John McClelland once again employs the collector's plate medium to transport us back to that magical time of childhood in "Diddle Diddle Dumpling," sixth issue in his Mother Goose collection. For centuries these tales have enthralled children with their gentle whimsy and host of delightful characters; no doubt the young McClelland himself listened to these nursery rhymes while snuggling in his mother's lap. Perhaps he, like other children before and since, puzzled over his namesake's peculiar behavior, and in "Diddle Diddle Dumpling" he provides a very satisfactory answer. With the confident hand of a master McClelland fleshes out the four simple lines of this well-loved nursery rhyme to fashion a telling portrait of the power of a child's imagination. And, in doing so, he awakens in each of us our own vivid memories of what it is to be young and caught up in more weighty matters than getting a good night's sleep.
As always, McClelland takes great care in defining his scene, employing a wealth of detail executed with meticulous precision: the teddy bear's shiny black button eyes; the lace trim edging the pillowcase; the boy's tousled hair. His insistence on graphic realism creates a snug room as warm and inviting as a child's hug; yet his linework is so effortless that each detail subtly melds with the overall composition and never distracts from his subject matter.
McClelland's subject matter is, of course, young John, propped up against a soft pillow with his trusty bear close at hand. The cool creams of the bed linens and the lace curtains serve as a foil to the warm, highly saturated pinks and salmons of John's skin tones and clothing, setting him off in bold relief. By relying on bright primary colors, borrowed from a child's box of fingerpaints, McClelland imbues his work with a buoyancy and cheerfulness that suggest the unflagging optimism of youth. John's cherubic face – a McClelland trademark–is framed by a mop of sun-streaked hair and dominated by a pair of bright blue eyes. And it is those eyes, set against the boy's rosy cheeks, that form the nucleus of McClelland's composition.
Adopting an unconventional perspective that actively involves the viewer in the story, McClelland positions John so that not only do we look into his eyes but he seems to look right back. Stirred from his dream world, his eyes still shine with a faraway gleam. His shy smile tells us he can hardly wait to get back to his adventure, so much more engrossing than anything the adult world of clocks and schools and chores could ever offer. We see him as his own mother might: a little boy so swept away with his book and his fantasies that he is quite oblivious to the world around him. Yet even as we smile at him, we feel a pang as well, for we ourselves are irrevocably bound to the realities of adult life. And John becomes a charming personification of a long-forgotten world, far from the cares of the day, where teddy bears and other pleasures of our own making are all that matter.
In "Diddle Diddle Dumpling," John McClelland demonstrates his instinctive rapport with children to shape a portrait that offers far more than simple visual appeal.
|
|
| |
|
Cell phone 206-409-2240