When I saw the theme for Art Journal Journey I did wonder if I would be able to link in to the challenge this week. For our Jeudi Journal we have to use Dyan Reaveley stamps and they are certainly not vintage. However, with a bit of thinking and redressing one of the figures I have managed to link up in my own way. You do need a bit of a story though to understand this one, and it is a bit strange to say the least. Scary even!
It is the 1920's when Art Deco influenced design everywhere - buildings, cars, furniture, fashion, transport and even everyday objects such as radios. It represented luxury and glamour and took its name from the "International Exhibition of Modern, Decorative and Industrial Arts" held in Paris in 1925.
"Dorothy was a pretty girl who worked in a tiny office as a telephonist. Her best friend, Betty, was a clerk in the same tiny offices, that meant they both took time off for lunch each day together when the talk often turned to dancing, music and ... boys. Most of their time was spent dancing with their other friends, Helen and Mary, in fact the four of them had been learning to do the 'Shimmy' only last week.
Mary had begun dating William, who worked at the local car factory, Helen had been seeing Robert down at the local dance place for about three weeks now but Dorothy and Betty were footloose and fancy free, preferring to remain single "for the rest of their lives". That was until Betty saw George call into the office. Before she knew what was happening she was "so in love" and poor Dorothy was left on her own. Sure enough the girls all still went down to the dance place together but once there, towards the end of the night, Dorothy was left to walk home alone. Had her father known she would have been banned from going out at all.
Dorothy was a lovely chatty, friendly receptionist and had been talking on a regular basis to someone called Edward, or Ed for short. They had talked about various things like what they enjoyed doing, where they went, and Dorothy had told Ed all about her family and friends.
One day Ed asked her if she would like to go out with him, not to the local dance place as he wasn't much of a dancer, but they could go to the cinema, in fact he would love to see her that night at about seven. Dorothy really enjoyed their chats and she felt she knew quite a lot about him, he was just a normal guy who lived in the nearby town, to hear him tell. What harm was there in meeting him to go to the cinema, maybe she could persuade him to go dancing afterwards and meet up with her friends. And so she agreed.
That night she raced home and got ready, putting on her best dress, her new blue shoes and the pretty blue band in her hair that Betty had given to her that lunchtime. Only Betty knew about the meeting.
Dorothy arrived a few minutes early, standing just to the side of the entrance of the cinema, She had told Ed about the blue band she was to wear so he should have no difficulty in recognising her. Would he be tall she wondered, would he be well dressed? What she had not anticipated was that he was 'what' he was!
Imagine her surprise, her horror, when this guy came over to her wearing a top hat and with the boniest hands she had ever seen. She looked up into his eyes and saw that he was not like any of the other guys she knew - he was a skeleton! Ed noticed the look in her eyes, the way her bottom lip trembled and he said to her "When I told you I was normal I may have exaggerated slightly".
What happened next is another story, sorry.
