Monday 1 December 2014

Vintage Love: Paddington Book

We took our five year old daughter to see the new Paddington film at the weekend.
I adore Paddington, I've always loved him. His duffle coat, his wellington boots, his obsession with marmalade and his general clumsiness...what's not to like?
vintage paddington children's book illustrations by Barry Wilkinson 1970s
vintage paddington children's book 1970s
One of the best things about having a child of your own is getting to indulge in the things you enjoyed as a kid all over again. So with this in mind I dug out some of my Paddington books to share with my daughter.
The cover image shows Mr Curry leaning over the fence watching Paddington striding off with some plywood and a box of tools. You just know it's not going to end well, Paddington and "do it yourself" do not mix...
vintage paddington children's book illustrations
This book dating from 1977 is based on the TV series I watched as a child. It was endearingly entertaining and employed stop-motion animation. I was always intrigued as a child by the way Paddington was a 'real' 3-D bear and the other characters were 2-D drawings. Somehow it worked and I can still hear Michael Hordern's distinctive voice bellowing 'bear!' every time Paddington messed up...which was quite often.
The illustrations are by Barry Wilkinson. The pages make up a really beautiful collection of ink and wash drawings featuring lots of bright colours, perfect for children.
vintage paddington children's book illustrations by Barry Wilkinson 1970s
The new Paddington film is really rather lovely. The styling is suberb and I fell in love with the Brown's house. I feel inspired to paint a blossom tree on the wall on my stairs after seeing the film. The new Paddington film is about acceptance, family and love...with lots of clumsiness, marmalade and mess along the way.
vintage paddington children's book illustrations by Barry Wilkinson 1970s
vintage paddington does it himself children's book illustrated by Barry Wilkinson 1970s













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