New £20 Banknote

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

Sensible attitude! I know I am in a minority, because people have been telling me that all my life! – but I have fudged along well enough, so it doesn't really matter!

Some time ago, I produced this picture and, just for a laugh, put it on various forums where, much to my surprise, it was hailed as a "masterpiece!" I enjoyed reading about the "vision of the painter in producing it, the hidden meanings that were only discernable to experts, and how there would always be someone who would pour scorn on such important works as this – blah, blah, blah!" In not very long, someone in the United States asked how much I would charge for a high resolution scan, and permission to frame and display it in their office.

I made the scan, and sent it off with my compliments and permission to use it as he wished for no charge.

I am sure you will all have guessed that it was nothing more than my spray painting table for model ship components!

Bob

Edited By Bob Wilson on 11/05/2016 11:44:08

Edited By Bob Wilson on 11/05/2016 11:44:54

[BanjomanParticipant @banjoman]

In my eyes, Bob, that is a very attractive image indeed, and I can quite see why you got positive reactions to it!

Although I would imagine that the "painting" bit of it (i.e. the patterns and colours on the actual table) are the result of serendipity rather than intent, I would also say that there has been a creative input of no mean value on your part in first spotting the potential and then framing and taking the photograph!

/Mattias

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

I didn't actually frame it. It is the top of an old table that is kept outside where I do all my paint spraying. When it had got to that stage, I thought "This is no different from modern art that fetches many thousands of pounds," so I photographed it. It was the American gent that had it framed! I did tell him what it was though, but he still liked it!

I could certainly not be brass-faced enough to charge anyone for it though! Some models that I have "thrown together in a short space of time, "just for fun," have also been acclaimed as "masterpieces" for reasons that escape me. Take this one, for instance, HMS Carcass, stuck in the ice off Spitzbergen with the young Nelson aboard. I built it specially for a Nelson sale at Christie's London. They specifically asked for a mahogany case. I completed it in 33 hours, including the display case and carrying case. There was very little detail, as the decks were covered in ice and snow. I thought the mahogany case looked awful! Anyway, they rejected it as "not suitable " for a Nelson sale, because the "experts" preferred Victory, Agamemnon and Badger. As a result, they bunged it in a normal maritime sale. Result – it sold for £780! I still can't understand why it sold for so much, but there you are!

Bob

[BanjomanParticipant @banjoman]

Bob,

I didn't mean "frame" as in "put a frame around it", but as in "frame the shot", i.e. direct the camera in such a way as to keep certain things in and other things out of the picture, and also to achieve desired effects in the way the contents (objects, angles, lines, fields of colour and so on) present themselves in the resulting photo.

As for the £780, well, someone obviously liked it enough to find it worth the money, which of course is the classic definition of worth, namely "whatever someone's willing to pay". Although I must admit that I would have bowed out of the bidding well before it reached that mark, it would not have been because of any dislike for the model (which, as always when it comes to your work, looks good almost byond superlatives to me), but simply because my pockets are not that deep.

Also, to be honest, because I think it would be rather more fun to try my hand at such a model myself, as one day I intend to do — as you know I have bought a few of your splendid books on the subject, and an attempt at your methods is definitely on my build list (although not yet at the top of the list).

/Mattias

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Er, I have a feeling that the Warrior engines are fabricated steel. like the boilers, rather than plastic.

Ashley

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

Just looked it up, and as Ashley says, the reproduction engines are built of sheet steel and cast iron, and turned by electric motors to show how they would look when running!

Bob

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

I stand corrected then! It sound the same when you tap it! And I think the guns are GRP.

Anyway, none of it is original except the basic hull which is probably more than can be said for the Victory though.

Colin

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