Bush walk trippy. Image: Su Leslie 2019
I was probably about eight or nine the first time I heard the word ‘psychedelic’. My dad brought home a poster that he thought I might like for my room. I don’t remember what it was a poster of — just that it was wildly colourful and my mother vehemently disapproved of it.
Her disapproval was certainly due to the fact that it was wildly colourful, and therefore didn’t fit with the cream, beige and tan aesthetic she imposed on our decor.
She must have been losing the “discussion” with Dad about the suitability or otherwise of my poster, because I clearly remember her saying — in the sort of tone you’d use to if the neighbour was dealing drugs from his kids’ Wendy house — “it’s psychedelic.”
Image: Su Leslie 2019
So it is! I came from a rather poor family and shared a small room with two sisters. But boy, the upheaval when i received a torn out full page photograph by David Hamilton to hang up over my bed. Dad thought it was porn, unless he used another word, because I wouldn’t have known about that…. I remember that I couldn’t see his problem, it was a young girl not even a boy!!!!! Memories….
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I was the only girl in the family, so never had to share a room, but my family wasn’t terribly well-off either. My mother controlled every aspect of our environment and had a very strong sense of how she wanted things to look. Suffice to say it was not to my (even juvenile) taste.
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It’s funny that your father was able to pick up on your tastes.
Leslie
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More open to the idea that I might like something different to our usual wall-art 😀
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🙂
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so funny. all a matter of perspective
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Great story and photo Su. I would, by default, love anything that my own mother hated 😉
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Thanks Darren. I’m much the same — especially in art/design, and politics. 😬
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Oh, yes – politics. I was about as far away from my parents on the political spectrum as possible. Their ‘mistake’ was sending me to Britain to live with my mother’s sister and family the summer I was 20. This was the early ’70s. I came back to the states in the fall, furious that the U.S., the richest country in the world at the time, couldn’t provide basic shelter and medical care for their citizens. I’m still incensed, almost 50 years later.
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Wow; that must have been a bit of a culture-shock.
I guess the big difference is that now The British government is turning its back on people in need too.
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Sadly, yes they are. All of Western Europe seems to be moving toward the alt right and trying to further disenfranchise the poor and people of color (often one in the same.) I won’t comment on the current madness here in the states; I would descend into a rant.
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Oh wow, Su. What you have done to those strappy leaves is just fabulous. You could frame and sell those for sure. So good.
As you know, I love bright colours. There is show on tele at the moment called “Escape to the Country”. Cashed up city folk wanting a tree change. They go into these beautiful country homes and their immediate reaction is often that a perfectly lovely (colourful) kitchen needs updating (to white). I can’t fathom it. However, I had a bright apple green feature wall in my teenage bedroom so that perhaps explains where I got my taste for colour. 🙂
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Thanks so much Tracy. I had to leave home to get colour in my surroundings, and for a long time tended to paint rooms quite bright colours.
I’ve noticed recently that I am gravitating to black and white for the basic “shell” of a room. The colours are coming more and more from textiles — which have the virtue of being rather more easily replaced when I get bored with them.
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That is an excellent way to bring colour in. Much easier than re-painting. 🙂
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😀
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Bring on the psychodelia! Love what you’ve done, Su.
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Thanks Deb 🙂
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Yes, it’s trippy! But fascinating, especially the story behind your first encounter with the word psychedelic. Our family homes had simple decor, dictated by income rather than style. My own homes tended to be bland but, lately, as you will have seen in some of my photos, I am in love with colour. The more the merrier.
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My mother had a huge need to put her stamp on each of the many houses we lived in. Her “stamp” involved redecorating in neutral colours and over-stuffing every room with ornaments of her choosing. Every new home “needed” new furniture whether we could actually afford it or not (generally not). I grew up to love colour and hate ornaments. Strangely I’ve lately begun to prefer black and white as my basic palette — with colour coming from textiles, art and ornament. 😬
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Your style sounds good to me. The only problem I have with ornaments is the dusting thereof! So I try to limit the number I have out at any given time.
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Good plan! I try to cluster them, so at least some surfaces are easy to dust.
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Reblogged this on Vijayagiri views.
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You truly had an early introduction to the word ‘psuchedelic’, Su! Now we would describe the picture as merely colourful.
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😀 you’re absolutely right.
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I’d love to see that poster so I could see what your mother thought was “psychodelic” about it. What is this a photo of, and how did you get all those colors?
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It must have been very innocuous, because I really can’t remember much except an impression of day-glo pink and orange.
The photo is of sunlight filtering through flax. I’ll post the original.
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Your mother would have a lot in common with mine! “Very psychedelic” is still used as an insult.
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😂😂
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Such a great word! And such a great image!
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Thank you 🙏
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Fortunately my mother was an obsessive decorator (can’t think where I get that from…) who was probably ahead of the times. Except she always painted my bedroom Dawn Pink, which was a very pale pink if I recall correctly. However when I became a teenager she did allow me to have one wall wallpapered in purple as long as the other three were yellow. It was a very small boxroom, but with my posters of Robert Plant and Ritchie Blackmore I was totally chuffed!
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Love it!!
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‘Scuse me, while I kiss the sky, as Jimi Hendrix, the prince of psychedelia, sang
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😀 no one quite like Hendrix.
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