Not Quite My Cup of Tea

Hmm, now here for my Frankie calendar’s October page is an unusual choice of illustration. It is the only month featuring a still life, by Lucy King. All the other illustrations make people, or in one case, a bear, the subject. I’m not quite sure why Frankie chose a coffee pot and creamer for October?

Do people drink more homemade beverages in the Antipodean spring? Or perhaps Australians give more afternoon tea parties when the weather becomes more clement? In which case we are in error, for Melbourne is being its usual trickster self, surprising its residents with one or two joyful sunny days, and then – having successfully lulled us once more (this happens every springtime) – subsequently shocking us for days later with a deluge to rival Noah’s flood.

Do people drink more homemade beverages in the Antipodean spring?

Illustrator and surface pattern designer Lucy King is English, but now makes her home in the Victorian country town of Kyneton. She has in the past worked for Wedgwood, which is apparent in her aesthetic. I do love surface pattern design (and have dabbled a little in it myself), but I must admit these very English watercolour florals on King’s website just aren’t my cup of tea. They are just a little bit too pretty and insipid for my taste … Like being given a cup of weak tea with lots of milk and sugar when one really wants a mug of Turkish coffee thick enough for the spoon to stand straight up in (although I have mine without sugar, so no spoons are involved).

See more of Lucy King’s work on her website and be your own judge.