Last week’s weakness

My weakness is shopping. Actually, not just shopping. My weakness is shopping, thrifting, collecting….I can’t drive past a car boot sale without dropping in, I can’t visit a new town without thrifting through the charity shops, I can’t ignore a sign saying “Garage Sale”..to be honest I can’t even drive past a skip without meer-catting my neck up to see if there’s any bounty inside.

So maybe I should share with you my weakness..in fact here is last week’s weakness.

I was on my usual Thursday buying trip when I decided to go to a reuse shop full of old furniture. I was browsing round, quite unexcited when I looked up and saw Tina. I have been searching for Tina for about a year. I have seen many out and about but they have always been too expensive. I have not given in to the large spend, sure that one day I will find her.

Last week I did! I texted Mr YVL “OMG,  OMG, OMG, I have found a Tina”. I, of course bought her immediately. The lady serving said they nearly didn’t accept the picture from the customer thinking it was worthless. They then went on eBay and found out they were selling for up to to £80!

So who is Tina I hear you say? She is an iconic print from the 1960s by JH Lynch.

We already have one by him called The Nymph which featured in our blog “Lounging around”.

He painted sexy women looking seductively at the viewer….dark hair, dark sultry eyes and dark skin.

Not much is known about the artist. Tina was painted in 1964 and was mass produced for stores such as Boots. Joseph Henry Lynch was born in 1911 and died in 1989.

He wasn’t recognised in his life for his work although they sold in the thousands and were hung in many, many homes. No one even knew his real name just his signature JH Lynch.

Who are these women..no one seems to know. He painted in his Gloucestershire lounge so I’m presuming these women were in his mind. Maybe the women are all one of the same….a dark forbidden woman whom  he loved?

We don’t know much more than this. But for now I’m just so happy to finally have my Tina for a bargain price! She is hanging above our fireplace looking down over me while I work.