David Nash Gallery

After all the excitement of the Jubilee River Pageant, it was lovely to go with Ian and Maggie to the tranquil green surroundings of Kew Gardens. We went in through Lion Gate ( near the Pagoda) which is always the quieter end of the gardens. The David Nash exhibition officially opens next Saturday but all the sculptures are in place now -  both outside and  among the foliage in the Temperate House.

The  exhibition at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery is also open with wonderful sculptures, drawings , prints and videos - of the Ash Dome and travels of the Boulder. It's a lovely atmospheric space enhanced by the view of the trees outside

There was a video of cork oak harvesting in Portugal which was used in this amazing scuplture. This was definately our favourite - the contrast between the colour of inside/ outside and that lighter edge . Wonderful! I look forward to further visits and explorations.

Jubilee Pageant

We went with Sue,Peter and Maggie to Battersea Park on Sunday to see the Jubilee Pageant . No chance to get anywhere near the river which was 12 deep with people armed with periscopes  but we placed our picnic chairs very close to one of the big screens. Unfortunately the sound wasn't working but the crowd made up for it with cheers , flag waving and a moving impromptu  singing of the National Anthem. A fantastic atmosphere.

Once the main boats had passed and the rain started in earnest, the crowds thinned out a bit and we were able to wriggle to the front to see the  last sections of the flotilla passing under Albert Bridge.

One of the music boats (above) and the beginning of the barges, where I tried to spot the boat of one of my work colleagues.

Train travel was rather challenging! We'd chosen to go by train as its only (normally!) a 20 minutes ride from Brentford to Clapham Junction. They hadn't laid on any more trains so there was only one an hour! We were lucky enough to be able to squeeze on (I've never seen so many people at Brentford Station) but at all the subsequent stops there were many disappointed people and an increasingly harassed train driver.
On the way back we just managed to get to the station  for the 17.00 train but there was no way we could get on. For an hour we tried and failed  to squeeze on every train heading to Richmond ( a more frequent service) - Maggie managed to get onto one but had to be extracted when Ian and I failed.  In the end we gave up, went for  a nice roast at a local restaurant ( Knights of St John) and  warmed up and fortified after a glass of wine, came back at 20.00 and caught a practically empty train. Good plan!
After such a big adventure we've been pottering around at home, taking it easy , with  a tranquil visit to Kew on Monday

In the last 2 weeks I have been....

Working Hard!!
Last weekend  with Ian at his parents, I stitched solidly Friday evening and all of Saturday , taking photographs very early Sunday morning (before coffee even!) and made my online submission to SAQA Horizons. Cross Fingers! With it being so hot , I took my lunches out into the gardens at work, cycling round to see  how the David Nash installations were going , see patterns in the trees everywhere, admiring this lovely sweet chestnut.

A week of contrast of scales. We had a staff photo in the giant olympic rings in front of the orangery - I'm  towards the bottom of the black ring ( actually dark purple violas). I'm the proud 'mum' of some germinating fern spores of the Anogramma ascensionis - Ascension Island Parsley Fern. They may be less than 1mm  in size but I'm thrilled.

Over the Jubilee weekend we've got Australian friend Maggie staying - we've got tickets for Battersea Park to see the River Pageant.  As she's sleeping in my studio,  just need to do a last check for pins....

Still Stitching

A busy 10 days since my last post :training; calibrating  microscope camera; freezing bryophytes and most importantly updating my job description at work. Mainly though I'm still stitching my 'Weymouth Waves' - through  TVCT meeting last Saturday ( stopping to listen to excellent talk  by Alysyn Midegelow- Marsden); watching various programmes on BBC4 and  this morning revisiting Upstairs Downstairs  and The Waltons while waiting delivery of a new guest bed. Also just picked up a new pair of varifocal glasses which will take a while to get used to.

Indigo Waves - SAQA Quilt Auction Donation

I made good progress this weekend on my quilt which I hope to enter for SAQA 'Wide Horizons'.
This is the 12 x 12 " sample 'Indigo Waves' I made for trying out stitching and I've decided to donate it to the SAQA quilt auction. Form filled in and quilt packaged for postage today - hope it does well!

David Nash Wood Quarry

 I left work early on Friday to walk down to the 'Wood Quarry' of David Nash. Nobody working but evidence of some interesting works at different stages of development.

 There were some sketches on blackboards which showed how sections of the tree would be used for varied artworks. I particularly liked the ent-like  figures made of branches that looked like they'd walk off under their own  momentum. The column in situ references the pagoda not too far away and also brought to mind the 'totem' qualities in David Hockney's paintings - thinking how different artists could reference similar material ( dead trees) in  such diverse ways.

Walking to Victoria Gate there were some sculptures still under wraps and others unpacked although surrounded by construction fence. Exciting times ahead!

David Nash at Kew - Installation

 A couple of weeks ago the instillation  of the David Nash sculptures at Kew commenced, starting with the winching into position of 'Oculus Block 2010'  outside the Nash Conservatory . The components of 'Chinese Irons, 2010' look like they're queuing up to get in!

 I've been looking forward to this exhibition enormously - the talk by the artist to staff was very popular and he was a very informative and amusing speaker. Much  as I was inspired by  having the Chihuly and Henry Moore exhibitions here , this is of a different order, mainly because he's working on site producing new work.



It gives a whole new perspective - I'm even looking at the skips with a new eye! I haven't yet been down to the 'wood quarry' but will be doing so very soon.