Brick walls (83)

You know sometimes you're hitting a brick wall - well sometimes the  thing to do is see what others do - and a great place to do this can be the TV or Youtube.

Sometimes feels like we've hit a brick wall 

And on that subject a really nice BBC TV programme (What do Artists do all Day?) about Glaswegian photographer Dougie Wallace (you can see it here if you've access to BBC iPlayer).

Now £107 10p

[He's like Martin Parr's naughty younger brother].

Doors

Wigmore Street another W1 location

And a commercial property using  Glass again

At The Design Museum again (69)

Construction and Refurbishment - we all need that 

Great to be at Design Museum again today - I really think being a 'Welcomer' is good for your health- smiling and being pleasant probably increases some sort of good brain activity.

Much taken with  a couple of the Design Classics on the iconic wall too (2nd Floor).

[My mum had a similar sewing machine but sadly my dad didn't have similar record deck]

There are two rather good new  exhibitions coming up soon as well - the first Imagine Moscow starts next week (15th March).

A Wheel of Steel for your Vinyl (SL 1210 Mk II)

My mum had one like this

Last week Rain Wu brought in a replacement 'spoon' while I was at the museum - you can find out more about Rain's designs here. 

Some of Rain's work on the 2nd -Floor Designers in Residence.

It's £88 20

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Mock Elizabethan meets mock Anne in W5 

Perhaps More 'Mock' than 69 

Looking, Pictures and Portraiture and (67)

I tend to take photo's of my own volition so the other day I was asked to take some pictures at a fund raising event it gave me something to 'focus' on.

And what I found was that taking pictures of 'people' in a room is not so easy - brief was not that specific but I did not wish to spoil the fun or be obtrusive.

I'd been looking at taking more pictures of people and it was part of a submission I made for some funds - yesterday as I crossed the Millennium bridge I saw a well matched couple and thought they'd make a good subject as I proceeded I saw what (I thought) was another photographer with the same idea but as I got closer I realised I'd been a little naive.

The photographer was directing the models (for that's what they were) - anyway I got a picture I quite like (see below) it's of the people but it's hopefully a little different.

Oddly framed and interrupted 

Another picture of a person that sort of works

And they call it Art.

£86 is a nice round number

BEAT Local Art Trail 2017 version

Website for 2017 version of the  'Studios' Art in Ealing Trail (BEAT)  is now live and features a couple of pictures taken by me (2016) in the Mosaic of images there - Gordon Cookson (Turner) and Dr. Tim Layden (painter).

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So less than 300 to go and 'Hey' I used to live a few doors down (tree names are popular for roads round here).

A close I lived in

A door that's not quite right and one of those 'No leaflets' labels

At Tate Modern with painters (54)

In this age of Photography and with a history behind us (largely) of great painting  of course the question can be asked is painting over?

Well James took us around some Modern painting to see the direction Modern artists have taken painting and hanging works (generally on canvas) in.

Course Leader James stands next to 'Los Moscos' by US artist Mark Bradford

The work above is much influenced by the neighbourhood and maps. It is large and  is about Los Angeles, made of paper Fragments which the artist connects with memory.

Unusually the artist a Black American  is a qualified hairdresser who graduated in Art at the age of 30.

More about this visit, the fourth of the  CityLit course soon.

£72. 50 (once)

As we're away for a few days I've added £5 to cover the next days.

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Hidden away there you can just about see it's Mattock Lane

The steps make it imposing

A bit about Joseph Beuys (50)

It's easy to think of the Artist as celebrity is a new phenomenon with the Jeff Koons,Tracy Emins and Damian Hirsts we're now familiar with.

An Artist who stood out

In fact the artist as 'Public Figure' has been running for several hundred years covering figures as diverse as Rembrandt  and Caravaggio for just two examples.


In the last century we had figures who could play to the audience like Dali and Picasso.


Amongst the next level of post World War II arts celebrities was the Artist Joseph Beuys, during last Tuesdays CityLit class we had a look at the Joseph Beuys room.

I've noted Beuys work before (4 or 5 years ago) but seeing it as part of a group and examining the myth was worthwhile for me (I'd also had some insights from reading Marina Abramovic's memoir).

Beuys was always keen to explain his work and the room dedicated to him at the Tate is a mixture of work and a history of the man.

Blackboards used by the artist to explain 

He was active in society

It was interesting for me to learn that much of the myth behind the sometime Fluxus artist was self proclaimed.

(see more of The Myth and the debunking).

Lightning with Stag in its Glare by Beuys (1958 -1985)

As well as an artist Beuys was associated with radical politics, setting up his own institution and being active in Green Politics  (before there was wide acceptance of environmental issues.)

Doors

Another note now £65.10

Not the first amongst the selection to feature a glass door - but it does give a very different impression.

A different sign today

A series of steps leads to a Glass no 50

More on Pensions and (49)

OK so  just over a week since I had my PensionWise session and although I'd been anticipating some sort of follow up nothing so far on their side (I will offer some feedback if I don't get anything next week).

PensionWise service- better than nothing

One thing I did pick up though was that it's not all down to outside people.


So - I have myself got a projection from Scottish Widows for some of funds (lloks okay as far as I can tell)! and will:


1) Check via websites on accessing and transferring funds I generated when working outside the UK


2) I also need to find out more about the Talisman Product (now under Royal London)   I have with respect to The Profit Share element (this Money saving expert thread demonstrates one area of confusion around Pension funds)

I was interested to learn at my PensionWise session  that should I wish to take action of pension 'pots' to move it to another annuity provider and the funds are worth in excess of £30,000 I need the advice of an IFA (Independent Financial Adviser), before I can make a transfer of my funds -IFA's are required to be impartial but they charge for their services- their fees can be on a percentage basis or a fixed charge.

The Adviser/guide I saw at my PensionWise appointment stressed that I should read the small print of the schemes and check the charges and basis for these charges..

More soon.

Design Museum & Design Ventura

Promoting design in Scools

Really liked learning about the Schools competition that's supported by Design Ventura while I was at the Design Museum.

After the 'pitch' the Competition winners get the chance to work with professionals to create a product to be marketed in the Design Museum shop, a great initiative, my favourite from the display showing previous entries  undoubtedly Invicta Grammar School's Eazy Squeezy for dealing with T- bags

Eazy Squeezy- Simple ideas, often the best 

£64.08 I feel another note coming on

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Yes it's actually Southwark Bridge Road

We're going with rotating here

Hanwell Churches (46)

Another church this one is in Hanwell and amongst a couple of others and a Saint I'm not familiar with St Mellitus.

A modern Catholic Church

A Methodist Church

A Hanwell  Church named for the Saint Mellitus

Saint Mellitus was an important figure in helping to grow the Christian faith in England when Paganism was widespread but is not so often commemorated these days, he became the first Bishop of London.

A Saint remembered 

It is said that Mellitus achieved Sainthood by virtue of the diverting of a fire in Canterbury - his saints day is April 24th


Mellitus was a sufferer of Gout and sufferers have been advised to pray at the site of his burial (in Canterbury England)

We're looking at £61.23.

{Today is a day celebrated by Buddhists, Parinirvana day this is a day that celebrates that when the rebirth cycle is broken on their death  the person who has reached Nirvana will break out form the recurring cycle, the Buddha attained this at Kusinara .} 

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Who was Cowper I hear you say

Well it seems he was a writer of Hymns and Poems  - and there are some famous lines he's credited with too.

A Black door nicely framed amongst white

Early at the Tate Modern (again) (45)

I was due at Tate Modern at 10;30 for part 3 of the CityLit intro course (more on what I saw today soon).

But it's getting to be something of a habit - and certainly during this school half term a sensible one - to get to the Tate Modern early before the crowds.

A detail on the Turbine Hall floor

What I saw when I arrived in the Turbine Hall this morning was particularly intriguing a work by the French-Algerian Philippe Parreno.

Perreno it seems works across a variety of media including film and sculpture.

The work (see below) is called Anywhen the manifesto associated with it seems pretty complex - anyway (and Anywhen) here's a part of it starting up looking a bit like something in a Sci-Fi movie.

No one can pretend they didn't see it coming - £60

(There's a bit more of it here too )

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Off in Hanwell amongst streets named for  writers  but the gold 45 today suggests pop stars!

Literally literary greats 

The Gold  45 to the left of the letter box