A battered old chair

A 2-minute read.

In ‘Think Like an Artist’ Will Gompertz says “If you visit any artist’s studio there is one object you are pretty much guaranteed to see … the artist’s much loved but often battered old chair.”

So here is mine―a dusty pink velvet tub chair with 100 years of memories woven into its worn pile. It’s the chair my Granny chose with my Papa―bought to last a lifetime―when they tied the knot back in the 1920s.

It’s the chair my Granny sat in on Sunday afternoons, me, aged 5 or 6, at her feet pulling scraps of bright fabric out of the rag bag for her to stitch into tiny clothes for my tiny dolls―in time teaching me how to sew in the press-studs, take up the miniature hems and ultimately to make full-size clothes for myself.

It’s the chair where I would sit on her lap as she taught me how to knit. “In goes the needle. Over goes the thread. Out goes the needle and the old stitch goes to bed.”

I was given the chair by my mum 15 years ago. It’s so small that my brother was able to carry it up three flights of stairs to my flat on his head! I stripped off the gold brocade which my Gran had used to cover over the pink velvet when it became shabby and worn―and recovered the cushion.

Granny’s chair has been with me ever since although being so small, it always looked kind of out of place next to modern furniture. I could never bring myself to part with it and four years ago it got relegated to my stepson’s room where it all but disappeared under a film of cat hair and teenage detritus!

But when I got my new studio I knew I’d found the perfect spot for this much loved but battered old chair. It’s just the right size for my wee studio, its worn pink velvet won’t mind a few paint spatters now and then, and it’s the perfect place to sit and ponder whichever painting I’m working on.

And besides.

I’m pretty sure my Granny would be delighted that her armchair is still being put to good use 100 years on!