2012 Looking Forward with Patience and Doubt

 Yesterday (last year!) , after 6 days of hibernation, we started the acclimatisation programme to the wider world with a visit to the British Museum for the Grayson Perry exhibition. As inspiring and as thought-provoking as I'd hoped and more. We love the British Museum (we had our first date there) the quote from Grayson on "coming on a journey ever time I visit"  resonates, there's always something new to see.  The selection of artifacts from the Museum that he had chosen (and his thoughts on these choices) along with his own work which referenced both them and his inner world  were a fascinating mix.

 I scribbled down phrases that caught my imagination especially on craftsmanship -" a  long and sympathetic hand-on relationship  with material,a relaxed, humble, ever-curious love of stuff"  . It particularly made me think about my own art practises and preferences.  I'd already been pondering on the importance of both using my own images and seeing the 'hand of the maker' in my own work , developing my own unique mark-making. Looking  forward with patience and doubt (in terms of questioning and curiosity) are good starting points for  considering this further although I need to develop my own power words.

 After a leisurely lunch at Savoir Faire (lovely to catch up with  Irene  in between her calculations on how she was going to fit 100 people in for the evening celebrations) we revisited the Museum with fresh eyes.
A slight misunderstanding on the differences between Assyria and Abyssinia led us  after  a detour to the Lion Hunt reliefs to the Egyptian galleries where there were covetable stone palettes in the shapes of animals (the hippo was my favourite) .

With that thought, time to get back to some painting and stitching
Wishing everyone a peaceful and productive 2012.