"All this he saw, for one moment breathless and intense, vivid on the morning sky; and still, as he looked, he lived; and still, as he lived, he wondered."

On the Third Day of Christmas, my True Love Gave to Me…

On the third day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
Three French Hens
Two Turtle Doves
and a Partridge in a Pear Tree

Why are they French? Isn’t it Christmas if they’re not Faverolles? Couldn’t we just have settled for British Hens? Apparently not. Anyway, here’s my favorite takes on the French Hen subject.

1. Iain Hamilton

I’ve already showed you what Ian Hamilton of Bewilderbeest did in terms of turtle doves. His French Hens are as French as they come. Parbleu!

2. M Tuzon

There’s no 12 days of Christmas without M Tuzon Design, or at least we can’t have the first 5 days. His French Hens are what you would expect.

3. Hester Durkan

Do you remember her doves? Well, in this context her French Hens almost seem serious.

4. Muriel Clarke

In case you’re wishing for something more tangible, Muriel’s hens come on a decorated white matt ceramics Christmas Tree decoration. She too did all 12 days, so we’ll see her again.

5. Katy Harris

Katy Harris of ShorehamPottery also comes to our rescue with her French Hens in form of ceramic decorations and they’re just lovely. She also did the partridge.

I’ve decided to continue showing you beautiful stuff (or at least stuff I think it’s beautiful) even after Christmas, but instead of having monographic articles featuring single illustrators I’ll be grouping them with themes. As a theme I’m picking the Twelve Days of Christmas, a British carol I adore. If you never heard it (you’re clearly not Britsh) I suggest you take a look at this incredible performance.

Spooktober

Spooktober 25 – The Phantom Farm House (2)

Continues from yesterday… ATORRENT of rain held us marooned the next day. Miss Leahy was confined to her room, with a nurse in constant attendance and the house doctor making hourly calls. She was on the verge of a nervous collapse, he told me, crying

Read More »
books and literature

Alix Harrow’s The Once and Future Witches

I wouldn’t have started this book on my own, and for many reasons. One of them is that in Italy it’s marketed as Young Adult Fiction, and I hate most of that stuff, and the other is its imposing length: 600 pages. I was distracted,

Read More »
Spooktober

Spooktober 24 – The Phantom Farm House (1)

“The Phantom Farmhouse” is a short story written by Seabury Quinn, first published in the October 1923 issue of Weird Tales. It is one of Quinn’s most famous standalone works outside of his popular Jules de Grandin detective series. I had been at the new

Read More »
Share on LinkedIn
Throw on Reddit
Roll on Tumblr
Mail it
No Comments

Post A Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

RELATED POSTS

Spooktober 25 – The Phantom Farm House (2)

Continues from yesterday… ATORRENT of rain held us marooned the next day. Miss Leahy was confined to her room, with a nurse in constant attendance and the house doctor making hourly calls. She was on the verge of a nervous collapse, he told me, crying

Read More

Alix Harrow’s The Once and Future Witches

I wouldn’t have started this book on my own, and for many reasons. One of them is that in Italy it’s marketed as Young Adult Fiction, and I hate most of that stuff, and the other is its imposing length: 600 pages. I was distracted,

Read More

Spooktober 24 – The Phantom Farm House (1)

“The Phantom Farmhouse” is a short story written by Seabury Quinn, first published in the October 1923 issue of Weird Tales. It is one of Quinn’s most famous standalone works outside of his popular Jules de Grandin detective series. I had been at the new

Read More