I'm very proud to bring to your attention today some great talent that has been hidden from us all.
The artists are two very close members of my family, both of them are my Brothers, Ezra, who is in fact by brother in law, and Steve.
Even though their talents flow in slightly different directions, they both work in the same medium. Paper.
Let's start with Ezra.
I didn't have the pleasure of seeing him work. He requested a piece of plain A4 white paper and in the time taken to pour him a Croft Original he had already finished folding the paper into the most incredible shape.
He presented it to me saying "This is for you Clive"
I thanked him and congratulated him on his Dinosaur and could see the disappointment registering on his face.....no, it wasn't a Dinosaur.
I looked again at the paper animal and saw I had made a bad mistake.
"That's a great frog Ezra" I said. Once again he shook his head.
Well, I'm not one to give up easily, so for the last week I've been looking at it, turning it in all directions, talking to it, I've even put it in the dog's basket and he just turned away, so it's not a pussy cat.
Then I had an idea, I'll put it on this home page and request the readers to try and help me to identify it.
For years the female population of Battersea delighted in the artwork of our dad, Ziggie. They would look through the plate glass windows of the shop known as 'Nobles of Battersea' and see pieces of white, orange, green and other odd coloured cards that had been cut up and decorated with slogans like "Bargain 2/11d". Sometimes the bargains were 3/11d.
Uncle Lou and Uncle Charlie, Ziggie's brothers, have also received recognition for their serious artwork and of course, closer to home, Steve has had inspiration from his son David and more recently has been influenced by Joan who does wonders with the paint brush. She's very good at wallpapering too.
Last summer, here in Israel, on my own balcony Steve requested from me a plain piece of A4 white paper, a very similar piece to that used by Ezra, and as the sun was going down in the sky over the sea, with a few masterful strokes he produced a piece of work which I have reproduced below.
When it was finished, Steve presented it to me saying "This is for you Clive"
I would like to give this piece of work a name, so once again, I'm turning to you, the reader, to help me.