I have had a funny feeling all day….
of course I am sad that the T2 teahouse has closed, I will miss the wonderful staff and the great cups of tea and scones…but I can still see many of the staff and have this treat up at Hornsby T2 teahouse for the next number of months if I go out of my way.
It has been a total extravagance having so many treats on a regular basis and to be honest, I really can do without so many…
… but the thing that has REALLY struck me today… that keeps coming back to my mind is the surreal feeling that the PLACE is no longer there. I know that I have mostly drawn my tea and scones… but a HUGE charm of the teahouse was the ‘magical’ space that was created… A dark Aladdin’s cave. There were so many different spots to sit each with their own character and views. There are really so few places like that …let alone one in my local suburban shopping ‘mall’. It was unique.
That place that I have sketched many times is no more (well an empty shell)… the fact that I have sketched it makes it so much more real and yet it has gone.
I am very ok with moving on… but it is just this strange feeling that something I have sketched SO MUCH only exists now in my sketches, a few peoples photos and many peoples memories. It was also fun yesterday, taking my T2 book(first year of visits) to show the staff how much has changed over the years (“I remember that pot!”) and how my sketches are now a documentary of the history of the place.
This humble (or not so humble) teahouse will become a legend and I feel so privileged to have been able to be part of it!
4 Comments
Liz, Im so sorry your tea room has closed you have been going there for a long time now.The drawing that you have done from there the tea cups, plates, chairs ect are some of my favorts. I will miss this also. Do you plan to still do the cups and plates I hope you keep them coming there wonderful. It must be hard to be going to a place for so long and it becomes a part of your life and now you cant be there.
I send you happy thought for today just think youll be on a journey trying to find your next cup of tea and a comfy chair so you can take your art supples out and do a wonderful drawing:) Have a wonderful day and take care,
Linda
I felt the same way when, back in a day, one of my favorite magazines closed its doors. Over years and due to a bad economy we have lost so many of them and then book and art stores started to close one by one. What I found out in a process of loosing my local inspiration points is that internet has opened so many doors in a meantime to all of us craving inspiration and has connected art community globally more than ever before. You are my inspiration and so I hope you will find someone to.
Sad when an "institution" come to a close. But we are blessed to have had it for a while!
It really is an end of an era (LOVE these sketches by the way!). But isn't it amazing that, like you say, the teahouse now only exists in your sketches? Something that is gone, still lives on in your work. Isn't that the beauty of the sketching life? The historical record it creates. Fantastic!
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