500,25,600 minutes...................not quite............

.......but it feels like that long since I’ve  felt the pleasure of blogging.

With the world hurtling to who knows what future, and the UK becoming an  country unrecognisable to me, my creative urge has been struggling to find any point in emerging in to the daylight. Today felt right for a review of February. This is a very photo heavy post.

Decorating a samba drum to be played at Extinction Rebellion events

A beautiful, soothing piece from the exhibition at Two Temple Place, “Unbound” sadly, like so many events, cut short. Some great pieces in this, particularly the historic clothing, but also a few strange placements of exhibits on the second floor, meaning that four pieces could not be seen effectively. If this exhibition is re-opened, I hope the curators take note of the comments about the placement of the beautiful saris, and the two indigo wallhangings.

Painting course, a piece now probably never to be finished about locks and fragments, 

based on this photo

Signs of spring

Creating textures with paint

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The visionary Alexander McQueen, a superb exhibition in the shop on Bond Street - and they did let me in even although I was dressed in my oldest clothes worn to the painting class.

Dyed and shredded silk chiffon

As a dressmaker, intrigued to see the effect of the two wedge-shaped panels inserted in to the full circle skirt.

Hand made,  gold work bees

There are some excellent reviews ( and photographs of the actual garments ) in these articles here, and here. I know that couture is criticised as only being applicable to the rich, but I see the skills involved as no different from other fine crafts and therefore worthy of admiration. 

Then to see The Doncaster Heads, by Laurence Edwards, an art project commissioned by Doncaster Council to honour the town’s mining heritage. 

These heads are so moving, half life-size, I think. I’m often not taken with the finish on bronze portraits, but these are excellent. Perhaps it is the sheer number, and that each person is recognisable as an individual, yet part of a whole.There is a superb series of videos, of Laurence Edwards, sculpting the heads of 22 of the participants, as they talk to him. Each one is at least 1h and 50 mins, but are an excellent antidote to our current lockdown.

Library quilt, piecing completed, but needs a couple of appliques,  before quilting.

More textured paper

Picasso exhibition. Fantastic. I did not expect to enjoy this as much as I did . So many media, and I was not aware of how much he was prepared to experiment in them all. 

My professional life takes me to many hospitals across the UK. In Southampton General, there was an exhibition of the work of Alexa Cox. Delicate, yet powerful of images of young children, with paper cutaways. Very arresting and getting a lot of attention from hospital visitors. I didn't notice the parallelogram shaped light reflections until I loaded this photo.

Cutting circles in the textured papers

Experimenting with tone

Blue textured papers

An exhibition of new work by Frances MacDonald at the Portland Gallery. If I am ever left an inheritance, I will buy one of her huge paintings.

Franken-seed-pods in a London square

Spring sunset

Hellebore from my garden

Carrying the weight of the world? This running man, is one of a whole series that supports the banister inside a Newcastle hotel. Whenever  my work takes me away from home, I try to stay somewhere interesting, or to get to a local exhibition that I would not see otherwise. I wonder if I will be able to do that again before I retire.

The image below, from here, shows the statuettes before renovation.

Flooding in York, seen from the train

What a month of memories and inspiration.