Cai Guo-Qiang and Cornelia Parker at Whitworth Gallery

 Last Saturday I combined  a British Bryological Society Council meeting  in Manchester with a  visit to the newly re-opened Whitworth Gallery. As an extra bonus I  met up with Julie who happened to be in Manchester anyway for  Urban Sketchers  crawl.  
It was interesting to see how they'd combined items from collections with new exhibits  and installations. We spent some time poring over the watercolours and  in the 'portraits' section trying to guess the artists  when there were no information sheets left!  Having no labels or numbers  did  mean it looked great aesthetically but was a bit frustrating when trying to work  out who was who.  Didn't get to see everything in a couple of hours, it'll be good to make a return trip.  

 

 The Cai Guo-Qiang  installation 'Unmanned Nature' , a 45 metre -long four metre high gunpowder drawing on hemp paper was spectacular. They  only  let a few people in at a time to enjoy the effect of being immersed in the landscape.

 The materials used are  pivotal to the work of Cornelia Parker: the bullet drawings  of lead wire;  the squashed silver-plated objects.

  My favourites  however were  in the section on 'Room for Margins' - canvas linings from various paintings by Turner mounted behind glass. I loved their patina  with subtle marks, reminding me of the beauty of  backs of  stitched textiles, the  'unconscious side'.

 In the textile section I was re-acquainted with this quilt by Michele Walker. It caused a huge fuss at the time being made of plastic bags  but now it looks quite traditional , apart from the materials used ( the quilting patterns are tyre tracks)

  The train journeys there and back were not  without incident. On the way there lots of trains were cancelled so the train I was on was delayed and overcrowded ( mainly with Man City fans).  The return journey was a'58 mins' late getting into Euston ( magically below the  hour where can apply for full refund). I missed out on the eclipse  on Friday  due to cloud but the orange globe of the  sun setting partially made up for  it

Moving Forward

 

Or should that be ' March ahead'! Back from Weymouth I  finished stitching my 'Shore Lines' quilt for International Threads exhibition in Prague. Before posting them off to Uta today I took a  quick photo of them all on my 'Display Wall'  (aka wardrobe and studio doors with over door hooks and curtain rods- my working design walls are polystyrene and cork boards). Ian is very patient, asking permission to get his shirts out  the wardrobe.

 



Mostly though, last week was spent down in the 'Catacombs' clearing out and cleaning the  front cellar ( above) and rear storage area ( below), in order to sort out and  store temporarily  our stuff for 'keep, store, giveaway , disposal' . They weren't both clear at the same time , there was a lot of stooped shunting of  boxes from one to the other and back again. Hard hats and dust masks essential.

 Before Ian went back to work we sorted through the kitchen together cupboard by cupboard and have a satisfying load on the dining room table awaiting charity shop/freecycle.

Kiwi Landscapes are coming tomorrow for some 'garden maintenance'(we 've hardly been out there for 6 months -seriously overgrown) but in preparation I cleared the way to the compost bins and installed another catscarer (local moggies have been using the gravel as catlitter while we haven't been around so much!) . It already looks so much better and I was rewarded by the hellebores in flower. They don't seem to have come to too much harm from the harvesting last year for 'Fast Forward' experiments.

 

Now its' time for some cleaning, and  going through my studio space. Currently sorting through contents of  desk used as sewing table - my 'Sewezi' has arrived. 

Golden Time in Weymouth

Just  returned for the evening  to our 'home -from-home' cottage in Weymouth after a tasty fish supper of local plaice at the Chesil Beach Visitor Centre, accompanied by golden views as the sun set  

 

 

This was  first place we went to on Tuesday   for a leisurely lunch overlooking the constantly changing colours and shapes of the Fleet Sandflats ( as featured in one of my quilts)   One of my favourite places anywhere, I never tire of it. 

 

 

Well fed and watered , we went into Weymouth for some shopping ( Dorset Red cheese and a new rucksack) , watching all the dogs  being walked on the beach (they're not allowed on in summer so make up for lost time in the winter) 

Wednesday we visited our friends in Wellington, very early start  but lovely to see them ( could have done without the delay at Castle Cary tho')

Thursday we walked across the causeway to the Cove House Inn in Chiswell, Portland for lunch - very low tides revealed sandbanks and it was a glorious sunny day. After lunch we walked to West Weares- amazing patterns of waves on Chesil Beach - they looked too regular to be real!

 Today (Friday) we caught the bus into Dorchester to have a look around the Roman Town House and lunch at the Blue Raddle.
In between walks and eating, not much stitching has been done but I've painted several 'thumbnail' watercolours the  proportions of  this years journal quilts to develop design ideas

 

 

 

I've also just had fun experimenting with recording the variety of weather conditions and looking out of the bedroom window attempting to capture the colours of first light over Portland

 

Rydal Retreat

 

Last week I was on my 4th annual  retreat with NWCQ in the Lake District, the 3rd at Rydal Hall. Perfect timing a week after leaving Kew for some reflective time painting and stitching with friends in a tranquil, uplifting environment. As in previous years, I'm basing Journal Quilts on my sketches (beginnings of first above) and I was lucky enough to have a room this year looking out to the front  with a glimpse of Windermere in the distance  and remains of snow on the surrounding hills, so I didn't have to venture too far for inspiration!

 

 It took a little time to arrange the tables in the 'Old Kitchen' (conveniently next to the bar) but once established  in our niches, it didn't take long for everyone to pick up  from where we left off last year. It's great to see how varied peoples working methods are and everyone is so generous in sharing.
Several of us had brought 'Gelli' plates with us and I  had a go comparing it with my usual acetate sheet (and got a bit carried away as usual with monoprinting - I even used up all the colour catchers I'd brought with me)

Apart from crossing the courtyard each lunchtime for delicious homemade soups at the  tea shop, I  made only a couple of walking/sketching expeditions.  



 

On my first on Tuesday I was fortunate enough  to be doing my annual sketch of   Rydal Falls from inside the 'Grot' when there was a sudden hail/sleet storm. 5 minutes later the sun was shining again.!



 

 On Wednesday night there was torrential rain  so on Thursday there was about 4 times as much water in the beck ( see difference above ). Further downstream, the river had expanded into the nearby field -it had cleared again by Friday. I wish I'd taken a picture of the bright pink ice-cream van parked on the bridge  next to it, catering for the damp visitors!

Too cold to hang around sketching at Rydal Water this time  but I enjoyed absorbing the view before heading back for hot chocolate.

On Friday afternoon after a visit to the Quaker tapestry in Kendal and collecting sourdough bread from 'Lovingly Artisan' , I was early for my train which was  just as well  because all trains to  and from London  were cancelled because of an earlier broken down freight train at Lockerbie ! After a few minutes panic, advised to  take the train to Manchester airport, and change at Preston where I caught up with the train I was booked on  so all was well. Arriving back at a packed Euston station ( usual Friday night plus extra mayhem with train cancellations) was a bit of a shock after the tranquillity of Rydal.

We've already made a booking for next year  It's such a  supportive, fun group ( and lovely location), we feel so comfortable with each other, it just goes from strength to strength.

 

Art Adventures

  Bela Kolarova ' Swatch of Snap Fasteners 11'

 Josef Albers 'Homage to the square:post autumn'

 Lygia Clark 'Red Matchboxes'

Klara Liden 'Untitled (Poster Painting)'

 My first week  since finishing work has mainly been spent sorting out finances and paperwork  with  visit of estate agent to value property and beginning to sort out my stuff for retreat next week at Rydal.  But yesterday was my first expedition up to town to visit art galleries during the working week ( first of many  I hope).  The current Whitechapel Gallery exhibition ' Adventures of the Black Square'   was  definitely worth the entrance  fee (alas,  I had to hand  in my staff pass which got me in free to  many exhibitions   when I left Kew).  Besides the familiar Mondrian and Albers ,more  powerful in reality than in print, there  was  much that resonated in terms of subject matter ( peeling posters of Klara Liden; crumbly walls and doors of Clay Ketter; David Batchelor's 'found' monochromes ) ; so many artists new to me( many of them women); such imaginative use of materials.  Textiles featured prominently - I'll be writing more about  that in a Ragged Cloth Café Blog post  including  Anni Albers; Rosemarie Trockel; Adrian Esparza; Sophie Taeuber-Arp.
As with the Emily Carr  exhibition I had to buy the catalogue straight away - I couldn't wait to have it posted!

 Besides the  biological recording  courses I'm doing to revive my rusty botanical skills , I've just booked for 2 courses at City  Lit  to  give my art-making  a kick start - ' develop your drawing'  and 'printmaking  on Mondays starting 20 April.

Farewells

 

On the blackboard at the 'Botanist'  

 

Friday 13th February  was my last day at Kew - my  main leaving do  at the 'Botanist' on Wednesday  was lovely,  with touching speeches ( I hadn't thought about  my legacy  in  growing plants),over 80 messages in cards with numerous inserts  and emails  and  generous  gifts of books  for my  UCert Course and some very special wine.  I also had lunch and drinks with my close colleagues in the  lab -  they'd cunningly sussed out my interest in a 'weatherwriter'   which they'd found useful in  Madagascar   and I was  delighted  to receive one  of my own  along with a scarf, bag and earrings ( they know me so well!)   I can see it's use for sketching as well as recording in the field!

With going in at weekends I managed to sort out  things  more or less to my satisfaction. It will take a little while to sink in I think  but at least I can still pop into the Gardens whenever I like as I received  a Life Pass.

Now it's on the next phase - an estate agent is coming on Wednesday  to value our property.



 

 

 My last days annual leave allowance was used  a couple of weeks ago  to travel up  to  Warrington for the funeral of   Nigel Haynes  who I knew at school. We were both  on the German  school exchange trip to the Black Forest in 1976  and  in the 6th form production of 'I have Five Daughters' ( based on Pride and Prejudice). I'd only gone to the auditions to offer help painting scenery but ended up as Charlotte Lucas   while  I still think of Nigel as  the definitive Mr Bingley.

A lovely man , the Facebook page brought  so many of us together  in  some cases for the first time in 30 years ( even my closest friends there I haven't see in 5 ) it was  good to catch up even though in such sad circumstances.  It was  such a  special occasion in so many ways,  remembering the people we were as well as honouring Nigel, the years just melted away. At  a time when I'm facing up to huge changes and saying goodbye to friends and colleagues  at work, meeting up  with old friends means such a lot to me.  We exchanged contact details and are determined that we'll meet more often in future.

One friend , Julie Scott,  who I did A level art with,  went to art college  while I went to university and I've been thinking seriously about paths not travelled and the opportunities  now to take them up again.

 Melanie  kindly collected me from  the station and took me back to lunch with her mother  who still lives in the village. Pip Sumbler was one of my mums best friends  and  it was lovely to see her, still stitching (  she has a quilt in book by Dilys Fronks ) and we found we had some quilting contacts in common.
I don't believe much  in  a physical  afterlife  but  the power of  retaining   memories of people you know and love,  both living and dead.  and sharing and passing on their stories,  has been reinforced and amplified  over the last few weeks.
 

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