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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How long is a generation?

I have been pondering this question for a few weeks as I see publicity for revivals of three theatrical / dance productions that I saw in 1982, 1990 and 1992 respectively. Two of these have been publicised as “ not seen on stage in the UK for a generation”.

All three of these stand out in my mind after all this time for different reasons, and it seems important to me to embrace these works again as we are in such troubled times as a species sharing this planet.

So I would encourage anyone reading this to go and see:

"Ghost Dances’ by Christopher Bruce, performed by Ballet Rambert, touring and at Sadler’s Wells, London. A first exposure for me to contemporary dance when I saw it in 1982 and a  production that has stayed with me -  for 34 years: music, movement, costumes all superb - tickets booked.

“ The Trackers of Oxyrhynchus” by Tony Harrison at the Finborough Theatre, London, on until 28th January.  This was my first exposure to performed verse in 1990 and I have never forgotten the experience. Brilliantly updated, and in this 50 seat setting, an intimate encounter with very physical theatre.

“Angels in America” by Tony Kushner at the National Theatre, London. Such a moving, but occasionally baffling, pair of plays when I saw them in 1992. They were staged in the Cottesloe, which then seated around 350 people. The new production will be in the Littleton, seating 890 people, therefore presumably all to be done on a much larger scale. It will be fascinating to see how well this play translates to 2016, particularly as it starts in April, 3 months after the start of Trump’s term of office.  The National box office have already warned that these tickets will sell out quickly.

And the drawing? Yes it continues:

Feather from the “nature table” that seemed to have been attacked by some sort of mite, leaving a big gap along the shaft. Pencil and ink pen.

Serendipitous charcoal rubbing of the back of a section of last week’s collage of vases and jugs made me rub over the whole lot. Charcoal.

Corn cob and husk, pencil and charcoal. I could not get my eye in for this at all. Too much going on , so I then focused on a tiny bit of one of the husks.

Tip of a corn cob husk. Pencil. I was very pleased when I “saw” the hole in the husk and the light falling through that in to the cast shadow.

Paint can, pencil. Two in one day as I knew it would be difficult to fit in drawing time the day after.

Waiting for a break in the rain, to run to the Finborough Theatre. The reflective tray was very difficult. Pencil.

And the sewing? There is another shirt underway - yes for my younger son, he hates boring clothes.

Perfect placket, thanks to Off the Cuff.

Cuffs with contrast inside fabric - amazing what I find in the fabric stash.

24h of inspiration

A great London 24h again, starting off with a performance of Dracula in dance at Wilton's Music Hall, a very atmospheric venue for this production.  The focus on this photo was affected by the clouds of dry ice vapour.

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The dancing was really inventive, and the experience was enhanced by sitting next to 2 young men who attended the performance dressed up as Dracula.

Next day, a tortuous journey up to Alexandra Palace, to the Knitting and Stitching Show.  

Blue moon in the sky?

Well worth the trip,especially to see: the quilted coracle; several of the  winners from Festival of Quilts; quietly embroideries from Tilleke Schwarz; the paintings, embroideries and quilt from the collaborative work of Nicola Jarvis and May Morris.  The 3D embroidered pieces of anatomy by Sally Hewett were intriguing and uncomfortable at the same time.

With my thread supplies replenished, finished off with an hour in the National Portrait Gallery to see the exhibition of portraits by Laura Knight, and wonderful contemporary portraits by Jonathan Yeo and Dean Marsh.

Reflected stalactites

A visit to the National Theatre at the weekend to see " The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime" which was absolutely terrific. The visit coincided with torrential rain, which rather scuppered the attempts to see the bonkers art again at the Hayward Gallery as the stalactite gallery was locked due to flooding - great reflections though.



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Also a chance to get closer to the giant, fabric baobab tree, and to find out that the textiles have all been coated with something to make them very hard and waterproof, which was a bit of a surprise when touching the layers.

The grey skies enhanced the neon highlights on this cement mixer


Curious indeed.

A long time ago…….

……..in a house far, far away, a mother booked 2 sets of 4 tickets to see One Man Star Wars.

 

Can I find them all?  Searched everywhere: the noticeboard where EVERYTHING is pinned up, well 4 of them were;  the green document box, where EVERYTHING is stored before filing; the filing cabinet, where EVERYTHING is eventually filed ( booked them so long ago, they could have been filed); the left hand drawer of the sideboard, where EVERYTHING that doesn't have a home is stored; the second kitchen drawer, where EVERYTHING kitchen related, that isn’t cutlery,  is stored; every bag that I have used since January , that’s a fair number of bags.  No luck.

So as a last resort, I called seetickets to see (!) if they could reissue the tickets.  As they had been booked online, I was not hopeful, expecting a litany of “ sorry madam but online bookings are fixed, blah, blah, blah…..  “. Instead, a very helpful bloke, just asked for the booking reference and reissued the tickets for pick-up at the theatre. no re-booking fee, no administration charge, nothing.  So if you need any tickets, and think you are likely to lose them, book with seetickets,