Drawing and unexpected pleasures

Our project at the art class has been to take sketches of the urban landscape and interpret them in the style of John Craxton, in the light of the exhibition "Charmed Lives in Greece”  - what a task.  I took a roofline seen from the lovely roof garden of the Mary Ward Centre, and reinterpreted this as a multiple, in the limited colour palette requested by our teacher, and typically I can’t find the photos I took of my work.

This week we were working wit the lovely life model we had before, but now clothed and standing or sitting as part of a still-life installation. Interesting experience.  A series of 5 minutes poses one after another in charcoal.

So many sources of inspiration in the past two weeks:

PRISM at Hoxton Arches, particularly Marian Murphy

 

and Prinkie Roberts

Stained glass in the hallway of my elder son’s flat as he graduates from Bristol and now moves to Geneva ( yes, a Brexit dividend for our family - not)

Fascinating installations at the Wellcome Collection, “ Somewhere in Between” particularly, “Under” by Martina Amati, investigating the breath control needed for free-diving.

A first visit to the Francis Crick Institute to see the exhibition “Deconstructing Patterns”, marvelling at the angular shapes at the entrance.

and enjoying the suspended poetry pods while enjoying a coffee and a good read

Grids seen on a work-related stay in Manchester

 At the October Gallery, a new exhibition of work by Eddy Kamuanga Ilunga,now finished unfortunately. I love his young man’s work, and as he explores his country’s history, there is more and more depth of meaning in his paintings.

Seen on the walk to the Mary Ward Centre, the lovely building of " The ArtWorkers’ Guild”, with an exhibition of new work by Rob Ryan, using much more colour than he has in the past.

While there, a leaflet about work by Edward Bawden, his contemporaries and artists who have been inspired by him, that was on at the Morley Gallery sped me across central London. Now finished, but a Bawden fix is still available at Dulwich Picture Gallery.

On top of all that, a visit to see the documentary about Alexander McQueen - very well done, and as interesting to see who has not been interviewed as well as who has been interviewed and then to the RSC in Stratford to see "Miss Littlewood” a contemporary musical about the life and influence of Joan Littlewood, a theatrical visionary of the early 20th century. A brilliant cast, lots of women on stage worth seeing.

While getting some work done at the same time, catching up with sewing the journal quilts, project managing a house renovation, I'm off for a rest now.