Something completely different......

Last week was half term holiday for schools and my nephew brought his family to London for a few days.  I joined them at the Science Museum, somewhere I hadn't visited since my own children were small and I can tell you I will be going back, hopefully when it is less crowded and with my "proper" camera which is very good in low light. Just maybe I will get a chance to play on some of the touch screen (used to be push buttons). I did manage a few shots.
Loved this display in the entrance.

 and this had me really excited.( you can tell by the bluriness.)

So much to see, made me feel like this

 Hopefully I'll go while this exhibition is on.


Thursday I had a little play day with my friend and we made wonky houses, I was inspired by this picture on Pinterest from this site

Mine is on the left, I found a place for it.

    I have a new print tray to fill.  Hurrah.
Yesterday I finally managed to play with paint. I a video from France Papillon as a guideand if the result isn't quite up to her standard I had great fun.  The image is one of my favourites of my mother which I altered in my new Corel PaintShop Pro 7 (Christmas gift from son which I learning to love)

Childhood revisited Part 2.

This is the interior of the V&A Mueum of Childhood, which I remember from my visit many years ago as being very brown. 

Reminds me of the pictures of the Great Exhibition in 1851.
Picture copied from British Library
 The are more doll's houses which are part of the permanent collection.
I loved this Dutch kitchen, it is on a larger scale than usual doll house size but just look at the craftsmanship.

I think the dog is looking the wrong way outside this butcher's shop..

 

This full size greengrocers was just up the road from the museum

There were so many tors to look at, some you remember owning, like the humming top and some I would have liked to have owned. This was for the school room I think but I would love it in my living room

There were some costumes too, just look at the work in this child's dress.

I bet she wasn't allowed a red ice lolly!
We thought these little fellows looked like early version Minions

We both wanted this tow theatre.

Loved these three but I have forgotten the descrition.

There was a small area called The Alice Look with Alice inspired costumes

 and an invitation to draw your own Alice.  I liked these

After a cup of coffee and a browse round the shop, such wonderful books for children these day, we made our way to Columbia Road to visit Jessie Chorley's shop.
She is such a clever lady and the little shop is full of delights. 

Further down the road this couple caught our eye

The art shop they belonged to had the most delicious staircase.

The school had a mosaic wall

and the lamp post had a game on it.

Nearby there was the ideal venue for your Halloween Party.

and the amazing building which, from this angle, looks like a cardboard cut out.

Don't you love London?

Wk12.....

of the Documented Life.   The challenge was "cut up a magazine and add to your planner".   The eyes have it....

 

and for the runner I documented hockey sticks for the excellent production of "Daisy Pulls it Off" at the Geoffrey Whitworth Theatre. looking forward to "The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe". The other part is to represent little Peruvian gold figures. I needed to go up to town to meet my daughter and with some time left I managed to squeeze in the next to last day of the "Beyond El Dorado" exhibition at the British Museum. Glad I made it, there was some fascinating stuff.  Although the exhibition has finished there is lots on the Museo del Oro website. I must not leave the Viking exhibition too long. 

 .

Modern Art and Medieval Mastery part 2,,,,,,

I was intrigued(as was everyone else)  by this group on the bridge.

 The artist appeared to be painting in between the metal plates of the bridge, the people with him were from Channel 5. ?????
I took this so you can have a go for yourself. I might.

 Update: Thanks to Debbie for the comment which gave the explanation for this. Ben Wilson is the artist.


Did I mention the sun was shining, St Pauls reflected in one of the  pieces of street art.

I was on my way to the Museum of London and I realised I was passing Postman's Park. This is somewhere
Lynda Monk told me about a long time ago. Sorry you weren't there Lynda but I will have to go again because a gentleman had positioned himself right in the middle of the memorial to eat his, rather large, lunch,
This is the explanatory plaque.

and just a few of the tragic, heroic stories.

(You should have a larger versiou if you click on the picture, I think it is working again now)
When the children were little we used to go to the Museum of London a favourite because you could walk through from prehistory to the present day. I haven't been for years but a memory from then was a beauitful chain that was on display from the Cheapside Hoard. (Watch the video on the link if you can)  The chain was so delicate and pretty I have never forgotten it so this exhibition was a must for me. The workmanship is stunning, you can pick up a magnifying glass at the entrance and you need it to appreciate the tiny detailed pieces.  Security was very tight (you have to leave everything in a locker) so I have had to borrow this from In Detail which has very good pictures of other exhibits. The chains are very long.


and this is the postcard I bought.

I couldn't resist a quick look at the rest of the museum which looks great fun and seems to contain many of the costumes I have been missing at the V&A..  Return visit soon I hope.

Modern Art and Medieval Mastery......

 Yesterday I took myself up to London without any real plan but the sun was shining so the city was mine.  It turned into a day or contrasts. My first visit was to Southwark Cathedral to see the installation by Angela Wright. 

This is a close up of the wool strands

The softness of the flow against the wonderful medieval carvings of the High Altar was stunning and very moving. It is in place for the whole of Lent. There is a talk by the artist this Sunday(March 16) at 12.45.
Back out into the sunshine I wandered along the edge of the Thames to the Tate Modern. 
Didn't quite expect the fun I had.  We like the familiar, I think, so the Mondrian

and the Rothko

 and I loved these huge canvases by Gerhard Richter

but I had the most fun with these.
Dan Flavin, this room had flourescent lights on one wall which threw shadows onto the opposite wall. As people walked throught the room you could see their shadows in various colours but I couldn't really see my own. Fascinating.
This young man kindly stood still for me.

and this is my shadow

  

Gorgeous colour.

Gerhard Richter again,  11 panes of glass which gave a blurred impession and almost a sense that you could see though yourself.

Just looks like a rather blurred photograph really but you had to be there.  Back outside, sun still shining I took the "wobbly bridge" across the river

 and back in time but if we are to eat this week I better go and do some shopping. To be contd.

Just found....

I have just downloaded this app to my i-pad today.   The History of Ireland in 100 Objects. A gift from the Goverment of Ireland.  You can see all the objects here . This exquisite model boat is my favourite so far.
 
it can be seen at the National Museum of Archaeology in Dublin. Stetching from pre-history to the present day there is some fascinating stuff. (No breach of copyright intended, image will be removed if it offends.)

Ice Age.......

no not the weather (is winter ever going to end?) but the exhibition at the British Museum. I have been looking forward to it for some time and I was not disappointed.   I loved the animal carvings and was interested how many examples of female carvings there were.   Many objects were so tiny it is a wonder that they have been found. Photography was not allowed, as you would expect, so I have made my own cave painting.

Gelli background, my attempt at the bison and a digital frame.  There are pictures of some of the objects here
The thing that really caught me was a little disc (it would fit in your palm)  with a hole in the middle.  One side was carved with a cow and on the other a calf.  Apparently the heads are so precisely positioned that if the disc is spun on a string the cald appears to "grow up".  So they had moving images 22,000 years ago.  I couldn't take in anymore after I had this in my mind so I will have to go back to do the latter end of the objects..

Time.....

I had a reminder that I was contributing to Sandy's Ideas of Inspiration blog and had fallen by the wayside, as indeed I seem to have done here. So full of resolve (not resolutions) when I saw the first idea of this new year "Time".  I was immediately reminded of the clock we had seen in the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg.  The Peacock clock.

This is a close up of the peacock,

because of the light it was difficult to photograph.  You Tube to the rescue.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/-q0FAYE0_1Y" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen>iframe>
I apologise for the cross posting but I wanted the video here.

A day at the seaside....

Yesterday (on the one cloudy day this week)  I went to the seaside, to Margate, the home of the brand new Turner Contemporary.  The building looks a little like a big tin shed so I took pictures of the sea instead.

 and the harbour wall indicating something special was nearby.

I could have happily have spent the whole day playing with this window!

which made full value of the nothern light which Turner loved so much about this town. i would have liked a movie camera to capture the stange effects of the replestions as people walked to and from the window,

In the galleries upstairs there was of course a Turner of the Volcano which you can see on the website, my friend and I stood before it and both felt as though we were being drawn into the painting so that details which at first were hidden became clear.  The whole painting filled with more light as we looked at it.  I have never experienced this before and would have thought it was imagining it, if my friend hadn't confirmed it.

My favourite of the artists on show in the gallery was Russel Crotty this may be because of my present interest in Sun, Moon and Stars or because of my old love of geography, lettering, the sea........whatever.....I liked it a lot.

Do click for a closer view, you will be amazed.

Margate is a town in need of a lot of TLC, so sad, but hopefully the Turner Contemporary will help fill the empty tables.

Excellent Fish and Chips at Peters Fish Factory.....good day