Another 365

The year ahead

Well a bit over 4 years ago I started a project to take a Photo with something red in it every day for a year - partly inspired by Noah Scalin's book 365: A Daily Creativity Journal - Make Something Every Day and Change Your Life! and partly wanting to take a photo (or two) every day- it ended up being 366 pictures  (Leap year)  and brought me to do other things too - I would recommend the approach for others, imagine writing a page of something every day for a year - that's quite a book.

Well I've got a few 'Arty' courses coming up and a gift voucher to use on books - so to accommodate the new focus I've got myself ' 365 Days of Drawing' by Lorna Scobie  and I'll try and record the experience over 2020 here

Well it's another leap year so look out for 366 exercises.

Mosaics

oh yes and the photographs continue (I tweet a picture everyday, check me out  under tjbourne on twitter)  and I'm still interested in Mosaics, saw this in the road in Ealing and it felt like it almost was a Mosaic as it stood .

But what is it?

Gearing up for 2020

Well I did try and Blog a couple of times this year, but the 'force' wasn't really with me.

I was busy and did lots of visiting including trips to Copenhagen and St Ives.

Start of 2020 looks like it could be fun (for me) and Westminster politics now at something of a 'Steady state' apart from the battle for the soul of the centre left which could be interesting.

What I have coming up are some great courses (I hope) at City Lit namely:

Metal Sculpture All Levels

and

 Foundation Diploma in  Art and Design Stage 1


One of the things that motivated me to consider further practical courses was the fun that I had doing a Mosaic course  led by Vanessa Benson who ensured that all those taking part were able to create something.

Here's the video of the process

I really would recommend people, with time  who wish to make new friends and pursue an interest  have a look at the CityLit Prospectus and/or website

In fact I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the chat before making my decision (and being accepted), one question I'd half thought about was 'Who's your favourite  artist' and of course it came up, not a problem but there's no definitive answer - is there?

Well it's absolutely impossible isn't it - am a big fan of Caravaggio, Canaletto and Da Vinci  also some of the Dutch masters  like Jan Van Eyck and Rembrandt.

Of course in Modern artists/Surrealism I think Duchamp's work has charm and for Pop it's Ed Ruscha and Lichtenstein (along with British Artists like Eduardo Paolozzi and Bruce Lacey who I see I was blogging about 7 years ago!).

Of yes that reminds me, one of the artists who made me think of Mosaics was Lee Krasner - wife (and some would say the superior artist)  of Jackson Pollock
 
Oh yes and Warhol should not be forgotten  - oh goodness the list from goes on (and on) ..

Anyway expect to hear plenty more about this and other adventures in the year ahead

Kew Gardens & It's the economy stupid

A crowd admire

One of the most dramatic aspects of the V&A is the reception area that's entered from the Cromwell entrance, above the ticketing area is a glass Sculpture from Dale Chihuly it's called the 'Rotunda Chandelier' and having spent Thursday morning at the museum it came as something of a (pleasant) surprise to enter a Kew Gardens dotted with more of Dale's glass sculptures.

Blown Glass amongst the Japanese Garden

Near the main entrance 

Almost like a crazy dream

A view from one of the Glass Houses 

Having marvelled at the works I was intrigued to find out more about the artist behind the works - check out some stuff about him here.

I'm not sure if some of the visitors to Kew were avoiding the centre of London while it's besieged by the Extinction rebellion  crowd but not sure I've seen so many visitors (away from the Music events)

Extinction Rebellion

Climate change activists are now dominating  UK news while parliament is in recess, like Brexit the debate is heated and not always logical - emotions are fuelled by use of  dog whistle terms like 'Children and Grandchildren'.

 I heard a radio discussion where a younger caller was somewhat patronised as he critiqued the 'middle class hippies' - he made the point that UK is not the prime polluter (we're 15th) , and if you look at the figures he has a very good point, be much better if large scale demo's were held in Beijing (China is the worst polluter),  and UK consumers avoided buying products from worst polluters -

(Note what Australia does with a fairly low population it has less than half the UK's population and its overall pollution is surprisingly close to the UK's figures)

It's the economy stupid.

Cut it - Yesterday was another meat free day for me

One of the (many) appealing things about Bernie Sanders progressive campaign to be US president is that he recognises that vast inequalities in income and rate of taxation in the USA is a major issue in tackling the big issues of today.

Higher taxation and fairer wealth as well as income distribution would mean that poverty, ill health and poor husbandry of  the earth's resources could at least be  debated - for me he's a beacon of hope for our collective future.

Ealing Library (and more of my back pages)

Ealing's Libraries seem to be under an existential threat (as do others throughout the UK) - this matters, much as Education has become a marketplace about training for jobs, the nature of the debate over their purpose seems to have moved from the original concept (or at least the idea that i was accustomed to). 

I'm not too sure how old I was when I got my first Public library card - but it was in Chelmsford and I'd be less than 10 - I remember going downstairs there and reading the newspapers (The Sun was broadsheet and had a Batman Strip).

Smaller premises now

When we moved to Braintree (I was 10)  I became a member there and started reading adult books, I discovered amongst others Auberon Waugh and John Wain and also developed an interest in books about cars.

At University I spent time in the library often looking at books with little connection to my course (architecture had some fine volumes).

When I moved to London I joined the Ealing library (it's where the Pitzhanger Gallery now is) - I've ranged widely across volumes and subjects there too, when I was out of the country (about 4 and a half years)  I didn't visit libraries so much apart from the one at Hong Kong University which I used  when I was studying for my MA.

Ealing's library moved to the Broadway Centre and I used it (as well as the one at the local university) when I studied for more further education - I was aware of many (much younger) students studying there too.

The main branch has now moved to  smaller premises next door  (and as a result been closed for several months) -

So fast forward (as they say) and now Ealing is now stepping back from the provision of Library services - this is not what should happen, of course the service should change and become more up to date.

And Pitzhanger Gallery.

As I mentioned the local Museum and Gallery was for quite a while a library, it's been closed for a couple of years and has now been refurbished reflecting its place as John Soane's 'Country residence' and being a place for contemporary Art.

The refurbished Gallery/Museum

I visited a couple of weeks back with a friend , the Sir John Soane side of things is a bit disappointing (when compared to his house in town) but the gallery exhibition was good -I like Anish Kapoor and the reflective nature  of the work on show is great. (it's on until 16th August)

Nev reflects 

Anish work 

Good News (and some more catch up)

Fantastic to learn that the threat over Northfields Allotment (London's Oldest) has gone away (at least for the time being).

An asset  (AVC) say the council 

The Council recognise the site as an Asset of Community Value (ACV) and local politician (including Rupa Huq MP)  have given their support.

The Charity that manages the site has had a rethink (and a change in it's leadership) - we've been luck to have some great campaigners and have a victory for now..



London's RA 

Asign

At the end of February I spent some time at the RA, main reason to go was to see work by Phyllida Barlow - I've been quite taken by her work at Tate Modern and Tate Britain- to be honest I wasn't knocked out by the work shown at the RA (not sure if it was how the work was shown?)


I noticed that many of the visitors focused on how the work had been moved and assembled - this doesn't feel like a great comment.

A big piece 

I did though notice plenty of other good stuff while I was there like this 'Anatomical Crucifixion of  James Legg'  by the important sculptor  Thomas Banks RA (1801).

Crucifixion by  Thomas Banks

I'm Back (#2 Wallace Collection)

Artefacts adorn 

The CityLit course of 100 Paintings  has been running along nicely and it was rather a pleasure to have time art galleries other than The National Gallery (which is of course great).

The Devonshire Arms

Walking along to Manchester Square (where the collection is) saw an old drinking haunt - somethings don't change!


The  Wallace collection is rather super and includes great art from Rembrandt as well as Canaletto  (perhaps not that unusual, below a Painting of Venice ) - some of the delight comes from the nature of the setting which features Furniture and other artefacts too.

Venice: the Bacino di San Marco from San Giorgio Maggiore 

I also was pleased to see another of the rightly acclaimed   Dutch Golden Age artist  Jan Steens's works 'Celebrating the birth' - The painting is  full of life and humour.

I'm back #1 (and will be at the V&A)

It's good to reflect on activity, I'm not sure if the reason I've been neglecting this is because I've been doing things.

So I will try sand catch up on a few things (and return to more regular updates).

Here is some of the stuff ..

Christian Dior is currently a big draw

V&A

Having done quite a few months volunteering at The Museum of Brands I've take the opportunity to be a  Visitor Experience Volunteer - the induction process so far has been a good one and this week I will undertake orientation.

Amazing that the collection is something in excess of 2 million items.


One of the most fascinating rooms features is the room that features copies a key way for many, unable to travel to 'experience ' works.

A Copy of Raphael's School of Athens is a high point

Going Postal

Postal Museum

A couple of weeks ago I visited a museum that had been recommended by a friend with another
friend, the museum was the Postal Museum (hence the heading) the other friend is now back in Japan!


The  friend (who I visited with - keep up) was a guy  I used to chat with during my last years’ participation in CityLit London Villages Walks course.

He (and his wife) have a place right in town but also a further residence in Suffolk (Woodbridge) where they spend 3 nights each week – the couple do not have children and may move full time to Suffolk when his wife stops working.

The chap is semi-retired and spends some of his time on ‘investments’ his wife works quite hard in executive rewards/remuneration sector, although slightly younger than  I he’s a roughly similar vintage but has a very different background being from Northern Ireland (was brought up a staunch Protestant, now less concerned with this) he is now quite interested in his Scottish roots (genealogy again).

Nice train ride.

The bigger picture 

 Our meetup a visit to the Postal Museum  offered a fascinating view/perspective into British history (and also has a nice little train ride on track that was used for mail distribution to London train termini). Such a reminder of the dramatic changes in labour and employment in our own lifetimes
(and also sad in some ways too).

 The train track was used in Hudson Hawk (Bruce Willis) film as a stand in for an Italian location.

A telegram would be delivered like this 

The Museum is in the area behind ITN's HQ in Grays Inn Road (where I worked for a while) .
Like so much of London much development is now taking place there, new shops and housing

 – seems odd to think (new) ITN building now more than 25 years old and very well established!

ITN is housed in this building

Art and family in London

I hear that Bonnard exhibition at Tate is was worth a visit  – must get over there but with so many great exhibitions to see in the nation’s capital –it's inevitable that occasional miss something or get caught in the inevitable crowds at end of run.


 Now in second half of the ‘100 paintings course’ (CityLit) and we (thankfully) have got past work that focused very heavily on Saints, this week we were looking at French work and Velasquez too - quite taken with Claude, less so with Nicolas Poussin (a little too painterly for me) and I generally preferred earlier Velazquez to his later work .

I think that Christ in the House of Martha and Mary owes much to the 'Dutch Golden Age' and that's no bad thing!

A biblical message made contemporary 

Claude apparently a big influence on Turner, seems on donating works to National he required Claude paintings to be hung by his own.

Claude's influence on Turner is clear 

First visit to National Café

Diane's main course was the most photogenic 

After the lesson met up with Debbie, my cousin Andrew and his fiend Diane – very nice meal in the café, I’d not seen Andrew for some time, he lives in Wells, Somerset and is really good company – I got pictures of the food but forgot to get someone to take a ‘group shot’.

My main

Debbie and Andrew made the same choice

Memento Mori

Perhaps it's the time we live in (but then again maybe it's been the case for the last 2,000 years or so ) but sometimes to me it feels like stoicism has been having something of a renaissance - every weekday I get at least one gem in my inbox that feels almost like it was written just for me) - here's the source  

What I was told today is take what's on offer - don't be too constrictive.

St David's in Ealing offers care 

Last week one afternoon I popped round to see an old friend (he is old and I've known him for about 5 years), soon he will move into his daughter’s home  but for the time being he’s still largely independent in his own flat– I took a bottle of Red Wine  which we shared (he probably had more than I) - the time we spent together was pleasant our discussion wide ranging.



At the weekend   I visited with another person  a friend for whom the outlook does not look good  he is  I think suffering a terminal condition and unlikely to return to his home.
Hospital operations followed by other treatments have not brought about improvements to his condition .

Vanitas Still |Life (Jan Jansz Teck)

It was clear though that from the time we spent with him that he retains much of his character and personality but communication for him is difficult and he is bed ridden, the care at the home seems good the time we had with him was I think of value.


It is perhaps useful to be reminded of what lasts and what is fleeting - if we know what is to come do we take appropriate action? Do we consider too highly the opinion of others even beyond our own?


The Dutch Golden Age often chose to reflect the phrase
"Vanity of Vanities," says the Preacher, "All is vanity  - in paintings of the time like this marvellous  example of Vanitas Still Life.

We may think we are clever and sophisticated as we seek to impress those around us but we will cease to exist - I'm not usually quoting biblical texts but ..

From Ecclesiastes 2:11,17,26

Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun…

Progress

Recently was  recalling the computer fairs that used to be held in hotels and the like which I'd sometimes pop into (probably in the 1990s), at one I I bought a flatbed scanner - not my first scanner before that when I was in France I had a handheld one with OCR software that was thought to be ‘state of the Art’ at that time.

HP 7720  - good spec' great price

 Well my last scanner  had struggled with Windows 10 for some time and frustration led me/us to get a this new one, it is an HP 7720  ‘All-in-One’ A3 capable, wireless connected, it does double sided colour prints and was very easy to set up – only £90 new amazing.




Also you can email the printer from your phone to print – I wondered to myself what would the class of ’ UWIST 78'  graduates that I was a part of  have thought of this as an everyday thing in a few years or all the other ‘techie’ toys we now have?

Quick to install and software included

Human ingenuity has provided me with much pleasure and the world's population with a longer and better life.

A tear jerker.

I have recently completed reading a book by (the late) Hans Rosling a great example of the sort of people that North European Social Democrats countries can produce, it’s called ‘Factfulness’ and is a nice blast of optimism that reminds us of the great strides we’ve seen in our own lifetimes from a man who could also swallow swords.

[Incidentally near the end the book had me blubbing like a baby unusual for a Non Fiction title.]

But is it Art

The other day I mad a couple of (quick-ish) visits to London exhibitions and thought I could perhaps reflect on these.

First off was..

At Hayward Gallery 

 Aleksandra Mir Presents the Pre Presidential Library, 

"Hello Mr (Pre) President"

it's on until February 7th and is free entry (read about it here), I liked the reminder that UK is not the only country with issues around unsuitable political leaders - it is also a useful reflection on why 'The Donald' might have issues around the  Media.


Mir seems a very interesting (and Global) artist - new to me but her projects are wide ranging and provocative -(as required perhaps) that said it does seem that the phenomenon around coverage of the President pre his political  ambitions is excessive (for some reason).

In some circles a Freudian analysis is no longer the way into a character like the US president but I can't help thinking there are some issue there - maybe he's somewhere on the Autistic spectrum (ASD)  as his relations do not appear to be what many would call normal.

Over the bridge

So am not sure if this was a political commentary or 'Art'?

About  a lot of things

After Trump it was time for another Cartoon Character (or two) ..

Charles Schulz and  Good Grief Charlie Brown 

This one's on until March 3rd and it covers a lot of ground, there's plenty about that guy who made created and drew the characters (biographical), the work (cartoon strips) and TV programmes and  cultural artefacts related to the cartoon (and even some stuff around religion). 

I didn't realise that there was so much going on under the surface of the strip (and perhaps this is now over estimated?) - to me Schulz  might be more of a draughtsman than an artist (but a brilliant and economical one).

A lot of Political, religious and social interpretation seems to be grafted on to a whimsical cast of characters - but I guess Art is (these days) very much about what we bring along to the work?

Through the lens of 'Feminism?'

Consumerism

Even pottery 

One thing I'd say was it is less child friendly than you might imagine - for being quite text heavy, and with regard to content  for the film 'stuff'.

Not knocked out by it but more interested than I was - the two together say something more about America  which is in itself worth some time.

So in Conclusion quite a bit of Art in both shows  but perhaps not the sort that will last centuries..

How to be Human

Thank goodness yesterday evening was fine with no rain - quite a queue (much bigger audience than I anticipated) to See Ruby Wax at the Emmanuel Centre in  Marsham Street Westminster (near Channel 4 HQ) in  centre of London talk about her paperback edition of How to Be Human - (The Manual) - it was a very good venue for such a presentation.

Add caption

Ruby signing the book

Ruby was presenting was quite a revelation. The paperback edition of her recent book on the topic has just come out – a copy of the book was given to attendees, so I’ve another book to read!

 Ruby had two great collaborators for the book  a Buddhist monk and a Neuroscientist,  Gelong (which actually means A fully ordained Buddhist monastic type ) Thubten and Dr Ash Ranpura - the three  seemed to have a really good chemistry between them.

Gelong & Ash - A Buddhist Monk and a neuro-scientist 

Gelong Thubiten seems to have paid his dues,  is the son of actress Indira Joshi who played the mother in The Kumars at No 42 and he was originally  set for the life of an actor but went a different way.

Dr Ash Ranpura has over 25 years in his chosen field,  I listened to Dr Ash here and he comes across as an engaging individual.

The area the book covers  at of real interest to me  (I read the intro' in the book ahead of the talk) – some stuff I took from the presentation  is the idea of 2 brains (almost like a management and board of directors)  and is I think along the track of work done by Economist Daniel Kahneman).


 Also the idea that we can train ourselves using mindfulness and that in turn manifests as a physical change in the brain, it doesn't seem unreasonable and leads us back into the physical.

Of course the topic then raises so many more questions,  I would have liked to know if the authors had thought about diet as a factor in 'Mindfulness' but forgot to ask.

 After the presentation when I got home I decided to follow up - Ruby's mention of  her time on ‘Who Do You think you are?’ I felt it’d be worthwhile to find out about her family (here it is) - one of the things in the programme that I found most surprising is how Austria was such a centre for Jews until as late as 1938.

London last night

Ruby I think uses humour (perhaps sometimes too much) and bravado as a shield and there were times that it seems to me she retreated behind it during the talk but it does seem that folk are more comfortable talking about ‘feelings’ these days one person in the audience pre-fixed her question to Ruby with ‘I’m a recovering alcoholic’ which seemed brave to me ( I recently heard a gang of people presumably fresh from an AA meeting talking about this at the Bus-Stop but this was within the group).

 Also I am reminded  that people who use the term ‘Nazi’ (as they chanted at Anna Soubry MP) might not think about what they are saying or quite how much of a concern Antisemitism (and other racist use of language) is within organisations.

 [Expect more when I've got further with the book]