A Day Out in Bermondsey

 On Friday  I met up with my friend Sue  ( who I haven't seen for months)  in Bermondsey. It's not an area I've visited for a very long time, the focus for the visit was the exhibition at the White Cube of Anselm Kiefer, but there's  lots of interest in the area including  this  delightful community sculpture 'The Shared'  that Sue spotted down an alley!

 'Walhalla' was the theme and the title of much of the work in this Anselm Kiefer  exhibition and  so much lead was used that you had to read a health and safety notice  about it's toxicity  before you entered!  I'd thought the work in the exhibition at the RA in 2014 was monumental but  this was of an even larger magnitude.  
Although thought-provoking I didn't particularly like the lead beds (and walls!) and other installations  but loved the paintings: the scale, the colours, most of all the incredible textures and surfaces achieved with variety of unusual media used.

 The huge 'books' of photographs with  clay  were wonderful .

 The close up (below) of this painting  give an idea of  how layers are curled back from the surface.

 Interesting unusual composition with the darkest areas at the top.

 The use of luminous colours  (especially the blue) and the sheen of shellac   gave a lift to these paintings ( which are huge!)

 Sue and I had a discussion about how on earth he made  such huge pieces and how  large his studio could be - the answer is apparently 200 acres!

  After a delicious long lunch at the Fashion and Textile Museum, we    visited the London Glassblowing   gallery. This spectacular, sculptural piece ( with its' shadows)  by Jochen Ott  was my favourite  but   difficult  to choose  amongst so much gorgeous work!

 Finished up at the Eames gallery  where I'd noticed on my way past  there was  an exhibition on 'Discovering Samuel Palmer' whose work I've long admired ( the exhibition at the British Museum  was exceptional)   It turned out to be even more interesting  as  his prints formed the basis of  varied interpretations by  a range of contemporary printmakers, rather a contrast in scale to the Anselm Kiefer up the road!

Drawing Roman Glass and Studio Makeover (again!)

We spent the weekend clearing spaces in the house and garage for the arrival of our goods from storage next Tuesday  (they've been in since May2015!) With the arrival of more shelving , I wasn't able to go sketching in London  this week so rather than 'Drawing Tuesday' ,I had 'Drawing Monday' at the Roman Museum in Canterbury while I waited for new lenses to be fitted in my specs.
A small museum, hidden in a back street, you go downstairs to find  the Roman mosaic discovered  during WW2 with reconstructions of shops etc built around it and excellent interpretation linking finds to  where they were discovered. It's very popular with families and school groups  but was very quiet  when I visited. No sketching stools but the steward kindly found me an office chair - luxury!
 Lots of Roman glass , how could I resist the flagon below which was found in Faversham!

 Yesterday, in between waiting for the doorbell for deliveries, I was sorting through my stash, repacking it into bigger plastic boxes ,making discoveries,  moving bookcases, constructing more shelving.  The scene before (above) and after (below).  

 The 'Phoenix' cube storage system from Argos bought because  the shelving was discontinued looks like it will be prove to be very useful - there's another set of 4 to go where the boxes are in the picture above .  I really like Ikea Ivar shelving and boxes but the quality has declined drastically since  these I bought 25 years ago hence the search for alternatives (the temporary black  plastic shelving has gone out to the garage). I might finally get my African textile pieces on the wall - having inspiring but neutral coloured artwork in the studio works well for me.  

 These fabric covered shelving units are proving useful for smaller boxes. I can construct one in 20 minutes now and as  I add to the row, my aim is to drop the covers down,  and use as the basis of a design wall ( along with boards propped up on Ikea wooden footstools, that indispensable studio item)The sewezi tables are also proving indispensable - I can quickly set up my sewing machines in all kind of positions in the room and it adds flexibility to changing studio space.

Sketching Catch-Up

This  weeks Sketching Tuesday was at the V&A  in the newly opened 'Europe 1600-1815' Galleries. So much over the top ornamentation isn't really to my taste  (and lighting levels were low)   but I found much to enjoy in the section on drinking vessels !  I   was trying out combining graphite and watersoluble colour pencils ( and finding colour pencil marks don't  erase)  and in the last few minutes  scored into my paper with a piece of wire and then rubbed it over with pencil  with intriguing results - one to explore further.

 

Last week it was opaque turquoise glass vessel in the  Islamic Gallery at the British Museum,  separate drawings in watersoluble colour pencil and in graphite exploring the negative shapes.  One of many discussions that day in the café afterwards ( apart from sketching stools )  was how the objects that interest you most initially seem to be the ones that fall off the edge of the page!  

 

Looking for art classes more locally, I've just signed up for course on using oil pastels ( not a  material I've used much ).   I was late for the first class yesterday  , no bus turned up for 50 mins and then I couldn't find the Adult Education Centre  in the large Canterbury School campus! But I soon got stuck in, making simplified tonal sketches from photocopies of photographs, b&w to start with and then  more difficult colour ones.   

 



 All useful exercises and I've ordered my pastels   for next week when we'll be playing exploring their properties.  

Hard not to get distracted with views of Canterbury Cathedral  in the distance and  glowing wintry skies.  

Drawing Tuesday: Islamic Glass at British Museum

 I made good use of my watercolour pencils today  attempting to capture the colours and quirky shapes of the glass in the Islamic Gallery at the British Museum

  These  photos I took in April when I last visited - the light was rather better than today

  I chose this collection to sketch first  with a blind drawing  in watercolour pen , then in  pencil  before concentrating on the yellow-green bottle with the odd-angled twisted neck (a rose water sprinkler apparently!)

 

 

 

 

Having had enough of sitting down , I stood up to draw the even more bizarre shapes on the top shelf 

 It's always a dilemma whether to use waterbrush on the watercolour pencil drawing - decided not to risk  losing the fine lines  but did another little study of the  bottle top  where I did use a brush.
Loving colour as  I do, I'm inspired  be  use them  more and  maybe hunt out  my Inktense pencils.

Off to York very early tomorrow  for the ' Quilt Art -Dialogues'  exhibition - last chance to visit the Quilt Museum before it closes  for good at the end of October.

Drawing Small Treasures update

 In preparation  for tomorrow's return visit to the Islamic Gallery at the British Museum  for 'Drawing Tuesday' I've been practising sketching old glass using different materials  - this fragment  with patches of iridescense  came from Syria .

  Today's other subject was  a shell with  lots of worm-eaten holes ( worth drawing on a much bigger scale to analyse the different shape holes.

 

  More shells - this time  a couple of mussels from the '100 objects' exercise in Puglia

 An exquisite  piece of lacy coral.

  A stripy shell

 

 

A stripy stone 

 A white flint nodule

 A partially worked green flint

 

 

A piece of wood with a beady 'eye' 

 

Meanwhile overnight  a large inkcap popped up in the  gravel - I did consider  sketching it but it was already oozing with black 'ink' and our buyers architect was visiting so  it was tidied up into the compost. 

Meet 'Ms Incy'. This splendid garden spider has been building her web against the outside glass of the conservatory  so we've had an excellent view of the process. Late one night we were also witness to the courtship  advances of 'Mr Wincy' as he very cautiously  vibrated the web and inched forward with one leg tentatively reaching out to touch her leg. They both  recoiled several times - he seemed to be making some progress but then she lowered herself on a long line out of the  way - 'not in the mood'. At least he wasn't eaten.