Nic says...

My merry musings on Art, Craft, Design, Gardening and anything else I fancy.

[nicsays]

Street art 184.

At long last we've wandered past the wonderful Forest Hill sign by Lionel Stanhope! Great to have the Horniman walrus included.

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Street art 183.

A lovely piece that I found in Sunderland last week.

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Street art 182. A fab piece of street art by my super talented niece. She's only 16! You can find it in Leake Street tunnel near Waterloo.

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Exhibitions. It's been a week of exhibitions for me. On Thursday I popped along to the NPG to see Michael Jackson On the Wall. I wasn't sure what to expect and even after seeing the show I wasn't sure what I thought. It sets out to show how many artists have used the iconography of Michael Jackson in their work from Andy Warhol to contemporary artists. So not a V&A style show with ephemera and music. I think some of it does work (I loved the Candice Breitz videos of German fans singing his songs) but overall it feels confused. The works that I spent most time with were actual videos of MJ (his concert in Budapest) or works that included original photos of MJ. I don't think I would say I was a fan whe I was a teenager but I did have all his albums and I saw him in concert at Wembley stadium when I was 18. Quite amazing to think now that he was a global icon in a world before the internet. So I got home from the exhibition and watched all my favourite MJ songs on YouTube. I may even have to dig out my albums from the loft (and buy a turntable to play them on!). Yesterday I had a lovely sunny walk along the river to Tate Modern. I was there to meet a friend and to see Picasso 1932. I wasn't desperate to see the show but had comp tickets and I'd read good reviews. Amazing that he was so prolific that an exhibition can focus on just 1 specific year. As ever with Picasso I didn't like everything. Funnily it was some of the smaller works which really resonated with me. Small fluid images of women reading, sleeping, lying down. He really was the master of the sweeping line. Today my lovely Sis and I headed to Dulwich Picture Gallery to see their Edward Bawden exhibition. After a refreshing iced coffee in the gardens we headed in. Such a great show! So many works we had never seen before. His linocuts and his posters for the tube are my favourites but wonderful to see his portraits from WW2 and his book illustrations too. We spent rather a lot of money in the shop (couldn't resist the cushions!!)!! A great week of art!

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Street art 181. A lovely work at Borough Market. It was making people smile.

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Street art 180. A beautiful blue tit spied in Manchester today.

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Manchester Art Gallery.

I’m in Manchester. Nipped to the Gallery as soon as I arrived to see Annie Swynnerton, Painting Light and Hope. A wonderful artist who like so many women artists has fallen out of history. She was friends with Singer Sargent, Burne-Jones and G F Watts. She was elected the first female associate member of the Royal Academy in 1922. She had a big retrospective at the Manchester Art Gallery in 1923 (many of the works exhibited are now “lost”) and then she drops out of the history of art. I keep asking how that happens.

So well done Manchester Art Gallery for the lovely exhibition. I bought the book of course so will learn more.

I then had a wander around the permanent collection. They have some amazing Pre-Raph works (all male artists of course…).

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Last week. It was a busy week on the heritage and arts front for me last week. On Tuesday we popped along to the Charterhouse. They had opened their gardens for the National Garden Scheme. Such a treat to see behind the scenes. Lovely flowers! On Wednesday I was at the ballet. The Sleeping Beauty by the English National Ballet. A beautiful production with wonderful music and truly spectacular dancing. It's only the third time in my life that I've been to see a ballet but I think I would be keen to go again. I ended the week at Sadler's Wells to see Akram Khan in Xenos. My first experience of contemporary dance and what an experience! Such a powerful piece. At one point I honestly thought I might spontaneously combust! We were in the 2nd row of the stalls and so could see Akram Khan up close. His dancing was incredible. So a week of experiences and a week of movement. I did my own bit today by going to a restorative yoga class.

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Garden. Our garden is blooming! And my new rose Tess of the D'Urberville has bloomed (tis the pinky rose)!

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Nymans. We had a truly lovely day out yesterday at the NT property Nymans. Stunning grounds and gardens and an interesting house. The property was owned by the Messel family. I knew of Oliver Messel who was a famous set designer and artist. There was a nice exhibition of some of his works in the house. We were with my lovely parents-in-law and we had feared we would need waterproofs and wellies but if in the end we needed sunhats and suncream. Nymans is only an hour away from home so I'm sure we will visit again.

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Nymans. We had a truly lovely day out yesterday at the NT property Nymans. Stunning grounds and gardens and an interesting house. The property was owned by the Messel family. I knew of Oliver Messel who was a famous set designer and artist. There was a nice exhibition of some of his works in the house. We were with my lovely parents-in-law and we had feared we would need waterproofs and wellies but if in the end we needed sunhats and suncream. Nymans is only an hour away from home so I'm sure we will visit again.

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Oxford. Popped into Oxford today to head to the Ashmolean for their exhibition America's Cool Modernism, O'Keeffe to Hopper. We all thoroughly enjoyed it. I liked the Hopper paintings but was enchanted by his etchings which I had never seen before. There were some beautiful yet somehow haunting lithographs by Grant Wood (he of the famous American gothic) and I loved the 4 works by Charles Demuth. I must research him further. After a stop at J&G's local garden centre for a stock up on lobelia we headed home. Such a lovely weekend.

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RHS Malvern. A truly wonderful day was spent at RHS Malvern yesterday. With our lovely friends J&G we wandered all day marvelling at the beautiful gardens and plants. I wanted to buy everything of course! J&G bought 5 Acer trees. We bought lemon verbena plants, a willow tree, bulbs and a fire pit. Such fun!

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South London Botanical Institute. With our new interest in gardening we are looking forward to visiting some of the National Garden Scheme events this year. We began today with our first ever visit to the South London Botanical Garden nwar Tulse Hill. A few weeks ago we didn't even know it existed but it has being going since 1910. It was such a beautiful sunny day to see the garden. We enjoyed finding some new plants and also recognising some things we have in our garden. They seem to have a great series of lectures and events so we may indeed become members. This gardening thing really has hooked us! We came home and planted a few more plants, watered everything and gazed at our beautiful cherry blossom. Spring has sprung!

[nicsays]

South London Botanical Institute. With our new interest in gardening we are looking forward to visiting some of the National Garden Scheme events this year. We began today with our first ever visit to the South London Botanical Garden nwar Tulse Hill. A few weeks ago we didn't even know it existed but it has being going since 1910. It was such a beautiful sunny day to see the garden. We enjoyed finding some new plants and also recognising some things we have in our garden. They seem to have a great series of lectures and events so we may indeed become members. This gardening thing really has hooked us! We came home and planted a few more plants, watered everything and gazed at our beautiful cherry blossom. Spring has sprung!

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National Gallery.

I’m behind on blogs yet again. My excuse is that I started my new job this week and it’s all been rather full on.

Anyway just over a week ago I had a lovely few hours at the National Gallery. I was primarily there for the Monet & Architecture exhibition. I’ve been a Monet fan for many years now. Yes I was the student who had a Monet poster in my room at college. I think sometimes it feels as if Monet is everywhere and that we’ve seen them all but standing in front of the actual paintings never fails to remind me why he was the master of colour and light. The exhibition was packed but I still enjoyed it and although many of the works are well known I was so happy to see a few from private collections that I had never seen before. An lovely exhibition.

I then had a wander around a Degas display and spent some time in the main collection. I’m ashamed to say I haven’t just wandered in years. There are such gems!

I finished my art moment with a look at the new 4th plinth work. It’s beautiful and poignant. The work by Michael Rakowitz is a recreation of the Lamassu. This winged bull and protective deity guarded the entrance to Nergal Gate of Nineveh (near modern day Mosul) from c700 BC until it was destroyed by Daesh in 2015. So much history has been lost and continues to be lost. I really must make time to wander in the National Gallery again soon.

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House. As well as sorting the garden we are sorting the house. We've been here almost a year now and are putting our stamp on our 1930s palace. It really does feel like home.