Hockney and Chihuly

Two exhibitions in one day + spontaneous discoveries of giant eggs + detour to MacCulloch and Wallis + trip to Anthropologie = amazing day out.

What else remains to be said about the David Hockney exhibition? The scale of the works is incredible, and the colours are astonishingly vibrant. I loved the "Woldgate Woods" series, as it really showed me the way a painter can interpret the same scene in the same season, but in different sorts of light. No photography permitted, but there are images all over the web. If you do go, watch the film and stay until the very end, as the film created by the 9 cameras filming a group of dancers in his studio is wonderful.

Next up, Dale Chihuly at the New Halcyon Gallery. A totally different experience than seeing his glass at Kew Gardens, as you can get so close. Generously, photography is allowed, but no flash. To stand so close, under one of his chandeliers is a unique experience. Interestingly, two of the larger installations are set on to a bed of broken glass pieces - I've always wondered how many are broken during the making of the pieces. I was not so struck y the paintings, but could have spent hours looking at the glass, particularly at the combinations of the glass with the cast shadows. The exhibition is on until 21 April. I would not recommend taking young children unless they are very, very subdued individuals.



Then a wander through the super-expensive shopping district, finding a few giant eggs on the way. These eggs seem to have been put in more obvious positions than the previous such installations of elephants in London a couple of years ago.



The last one was my favourite, but I felt a bit cheated looking at it more closely, to see that the flowers seemed to have been glued on , rather than fired on.

Next past a very expensive tea shop, en route to MacCulloch and Wallis


but with lovely vessels n the window

.

Finishing up at Anthropologie, with their usual wacky approach to window dressing, paint on the window


Drips gathered on the window sill


The ultimate in dynamic advertising?



And to end an amazing day, a chance to play with the brushes app on my friend's iPAD. As she is a trained artist, her pictures of a blackthorn branch look wonderful. I just enjoyed myself getting some of the same colours used by David Hockney.