Sartorial style from Hans Place

A couple of weeks ago I grabbed a sushi take away and went to Hans Place, which is where the Saatchi gallery is, Kitty loved the area so much she wanted to live there. I told her she better work hard since house prices are veeerrry pricey. People watching can be very rewarding here with so much pared down elegance.

Don't these two women just ooze chic?

Can you spot the man here?

A lunch time date with hubby?

lacking any focus

I continue to rattle around the house rudderless. My own fault I appear unable to focus on my art work and every time I sit down I doze off! Had a surprisingly good day with mother, clearly better due to the lack of sprogs. It is sad that my theory is correct, but she is much easier without them in tow. I managed to satiate her desire to shop as well as bankrupt myself ...again. will I ever stop? I think I will be safer at work.

I failed to get to Cork street in time before the galleries closed so had to press my nose against the windows instead. I caught up with that awesome Picasso exhibition at the Gagosian and so only need to hot foot it to the Serpentine to have bagged all the ones I wanted to see.

I am MOST looking forward to Frieze art fair. My photographs of what people are wearing had a huge impact on my wardrobe and I am toying with going twice just because I loved it so much.

I am also looking forward to Hamlet which opens at the beginning of October, I have sadly lost my Shakespeare buddy and so may collar Lucy for that one despite her soporific tendencies in most theaters . I am almost apoplectic with anticipation at the announcement that Kevin Spacey is to play Richard lll next year. He will be awesome.

I am electing to return to work a day early simply to get back into the groove and get out of the house. Also being able to access some images would help liven up this blog! see you then.

The view from here

Ha, Daisy is wallowing in untold depths of mud having gone to The Reading Festival for the week. Fool. Oh, I get to meet Mother tomorrow to collect a jacket I left at her house and entertain her for the day, ha who's the fool now?

I am so on chill mode at the moment yesterday I watched Sunset Boulevard on the tele, Leyla joined me and announced the ending was a load of rubbish! which was a little harsh I thought, she was really irked by the whole b&w thing which I barely noticed.

Right now I should be in the gym, but do you know what? I can't be arsed. I should add that I am slowly getting back into the Pilates groove, going each Wednesday night, last nights was particularly successful since I was able to hunker down on the sofa with a glass of wine whilst waiting for Emin to finish his gym session which is probably not quite in the spirit of things but I enjoyed the peace and quiet whilst reading the papers.

I have 'done' the garden and Kitty my tidy fairy has 'done' the kitchen so there is a superficial air of cleanliness pervading the atmosphere. Emin I am pleased to say is rushed off his feet at work leaving me free to indulge in a little dress up. I have a new series ready to go on line next Friday.

I am in the process of making a few new academic years resolutions. I was quite impressed by my personal achievements last year. I am now painting regularly (all be it on a very small, limited scale) plus I am drawing again.

This year my aim is to bring the paints home and set up a studio in the spare room, this will allow much greater continuity. At work this will free up time to thread some necklaces and more importantly package up any saleable work. Yes this is THE year to flog some stuff, not least because I am BROKE, totally sans funds, so I have a plan starting with scanning and maybe opening an Etsy shop, if this proves too much I have located a Christmas Fair in an illustrious cash rich suburb of this glorious corner of SE London, this is at the end of November so I now have GOALS. My aim is raise enough money to pay for next years sojourn to St Ives, there now I have written it I need to achieve it.

One other major goal would be to do a book of photography via Blurb, that would be good. As well as this I am going to print some images to frame for the house, this will be achieved by half term because guess who's going away? Emin & (if she behaves) Leyla. Oh sweet joy, a whole week to play dress up for winter and play around with the house. Best of all I will get to Kettles Yard to take some photographs.

My aim for the book is to get it done after my next Cyprus trip this coming New Year, the book has no specific theme instead I have gone for an eclectic mix of my most favourite shots so far, watch this space....

August what's to like?

I described August to materfamilias as an aged tart who promises much but delivers nothing. It's true, what is there to like about this month? I HATE the fact that August is supposed to be the pinnacle of delight, all sand and ice cream, the end result of lots of hard work. Yet summer is invariably over by August, the best weather finished at the end of July.

In fact what do we really get? Shorter days, leaves begin to fall, the garden looks like a dried up husk, a holiday that promises much yet fails to really satisfy, feelings of guilt because should we not be achieving something? Kids moaning on and on, kids spending all my bloody money.

My ideal would be to beak up at the end of June and go back the second week of August, Do any of really still have a harvest to bring in? No, Someone please STOP this charade of a so called break.

On the plus side I finally read a whole book, amazing. I finished off a Sadies Coles book whilst in Scotland which was dreadful, returning home I finally received my summer book order and began with Eats Witters on and Finally gets a Shag. Well I think that what it was called. Some of it was tolerable but I was not really impressed by the way she uses the English language. I must take umbrage at her use of the word 'spazzy' seriously is there no other word that she could use? It is wholly offensive and I spend my life explaining the origins of the word to students and they too agree it is just plain unacceptable to use it even in jest. So that really irritated me. I guess her style of writing is best described as 'breezy' I skimmed the middle bit because I just don't 'do' God. Sorry but I have way more interesting things to think about.

The last bit was what I think we call a 'cop out ending' just a tad too saccharine even if it is true.

So looks like 6 million readers were wrong after all! Sorry Ms Roberts.

In stark contrast is a book called Istanbul Memories by Orhan Pamuk absolutely brilliantly written and full of such rich and vivid descriptions I am nodding my head in agreement all the time. I am particularly taken with his view on daydreaming a really underrated pastime and one I am awesome at. Truly, forget meditation and just get outside go for a walk and have a really good daydream, food for the soul, as is the book. I am going to read many more of his come Christmas, there's another crap holiday......but that's another post

The view from here

I have not stopped it seems this holiday yet achieved little that is concrete, I have spent far far too much money, the girls milk me like a cash cow preying on my guilt at spending on myself and thus insisting I adorn them in a likewise manner that befits their wants and desires. Not cheap.

COS was the winner of my hard earned funds, Zara the winner for their spending of my hard earned funds.

I spent a whole day playing dress up, it is a genius solution to the frantic last minute search for an outfit to wear at the ungodly hour I get up, plus I have learnt more about shape and proportion this last 6 months than in a lifetime by photographing the outfits on.

I have put off the two worst jobs, the garden (which is pretty grim right now) and the bathroom shower, just writing that is sooo bloody dull, why is shopping so much more fun?

I have can you believe it? Booked next years summer holiday. One week in St Ives, a town the girls adore and then we are going on an adventure and travelling by train to Brixham. I have never been but it seemed a fun idea since the house in St Ives was only available for one week.

How organised am I? It was Kitty who wanted to go by train as she is still reeling from car sickness and confined cramp from the car journey back from Scotland. I don't know why, but it is always worse coming back than going.

I have been to the theatre twice, Dantons Death, which was pretty maudlin and depressing, followed by La Bete which was awesomely brilliant. Mark Rylance is the best stage actor we have in Britain, a genius to watch, but for me the sheer joy of David Hyde Pearce's comic timing just made it the perfect day out.

I had bought the tickets to celebrate my sisters birthday, she decided it was time to try out J Sheekey's who's cheapest lunch set menu was an eye watering £25, but let me tell you it was worth every penny. What made it even more amazing is my sister ordered the wine and when she tasted it realised I would not be able to drink it, (I have a deep loathing of all tastes Chardonnay), the wine waiter without hesitation swapped the bottle for a much much nicer wine how lovely was that? The food was heavenly the service brilliant, but my sister despite enjoying it hugely still would vote for Wolseley as her favourite destination. She has spotted a planning application on a now empty bar near CX for Arbutus the food of which we love but the ambiance always feels a little lack lustre with a light odor of damp this could be highly promising for the future.

I spent a lovely afternoon with Leyla and Kitty at the Saatchi gallery, we picnicked on the benches in Hans Place on Sushi people watching. Kitty loved it so much she wanted to know how much she would need to buy a house round the corner! bless.

And so I potter through the days, silently thinking how different life will be next year. I have decided to paint at home and spend any spare time at work packaging up all the stuff I have made over the years and have vowed to at least try and rent a stall at some kind of craft/art fair. I must make more of an effort to clear the decks and make some money.

Where there's tea there's hope

So says Arthur Pinero

And it seems he may be right because despite trying hard not to worry or stress about Daisy's future despite the huge amounts of money this sharp elbowed middle class helicopter parent has thrown at her I was not looking forward to last Thursday one little bit. Daisy wanted to open her results with me, I drove to my school and logged on and waited, she arrived hot and sweaty having collected her friends results by mistake and thus had to run back up the hill to give them back and collect the right results. Sensibly she elected to see if she had a university place rather than face opening her results and you have probably guessed already by the lack of brevity in my tone she got into York.

Sorry I may have to shout that a little louder, DAISY GOT INTO YORK UNIVERSITY

Her results were a little disappointing but I don't care because she made it. Never in our wildest dreams did we think she would get into York, her first choice, so after a volcanic eruption of suppressed emotion of worry, doubt and fear she was finally able to plan for her future. And what a future she has, 3 years as an undergraduate studying Bio archaeology, WOW

Even better she will get a cooked meal once a week because guess who lives in York...? Her Gran of course, perfect. She will live in halls for the first year so as not to be a totally social outcast but to save money may move in with Mother by year 2.

Of course where there is happiness there is sadness and I am now a deflated balloon of expectation, tinged with real grief as my beautiful Daisy is leaving home, I am not so stupid as to think of her as a friend, she's not, she's my daughter but as such she is like a limb and the loss of her is making me feel overwhelmingly sad.

We both feel unwell which is probably the aftershock of all the stress.

My kitchen has gone for a burton too, I was, as a consolation prize hoping to knock down the wall between the kitchen and dining room and open up the back into a lighter space, instead the money will pay her tuition fees. One small little nugget is that I finally get 'a room of my own' but it is a very hollow positive at the moment.

Trying to post on this blog is currently a nightmare as the only available computer is Daisy's and as she failed to gain a summer job she uses it constantly, believe it or not I am back at work next week! where did that holiday go?

A view interupted

Roadside flowers

The views from around the house and a bit beyond

The view from here

I have come into to work to sort out my photographs, I have no access to a user friendly computer at home (sorry apple) plus I like to sit at a desk, so here I am.

So much to write, but Leyla the ticking time bomb is also with me and will need to return home to be fed very soon.

The holiday?
Well as I am the worlds eternal optimist, I booked the place on a whim. Scotland is my absolute favourite place in the whole wide world, I should add a proviso to that. It is my favourite place to be on my own in the whole wide world. I should state for the record that both Leyla and Kitty were brilliant, especially if you factor in miserable weather and the sheer isolation of the place. Despite this they played Scrabble, walked miles uncomplainingly, painted, played DS's watched DVD's and read books. If asked I think they would admit to quite enjoying the whole experience especially the horse riding and kayaking.
Mother however was a very different kettle of fish, caustic, irritable and and rude. Her litany of will and won't do's could fill a post all of it's own. She managed to spoil Kitty's birthday and was generally tolerable only because Lucy arrived for 5 days during the middle of the holiday. All I got from Emin when I wailed down the phone that I wanted to come home early was "She's your mother" and " She's an old lady"
The main problem was that she does not like Scotland, she had been unbeknownst to be been wittering on for weeks about her fear of midges! (There were virtually none) rain isolation etc.

• she does not like to stand
• she does not like to walk down hill
• she does not seem to want to play or interact with the girls
• she does not like criticism yet dishes it daily
• she appears to be in constant pain
• she finds it hard to read
• she is tired of reading
• she can't see very well
• she does not like the rain
• she is bored
• she does not like the book she is reading
• she is sick of drinking tea
• she likes very little of the food
• she will not be going back

Despite this I managed to enjoy some of it, the house was lovely, just like a Toast catalogue, the views were a slice of heaven, so what was the problem? Well I had borrowed Emin's car, his pride and joy and the house was half a mile up a very bumpy dirt track through 4 gates that needed to be opened and closed EVERY time we went anywhere. It rained a LOT and so it was a VERY muddy so I spent the holiday vomiting with fear in case one of his new £440 pounds worth of tyres got a puncture, did I mention the rain? Oh and it was sheep shearing week which meant 500 miserable fuckers were herded down the road I had to drive up, shitting all the way making it it so vile to drive up and down I wanted to cry. Did I mention the rain?
Actually it was not too bad we had rain, we had mizzle, we had drizzle, we had wind, we had sunshine, all in about an hour.
BUT I did draw, I did manage to get some good photographs and I really enjoyed playing scrabble with the girls.

I am post dating some images for you but may not write much, I am instead trying to clear out some cupboards at home and tidy the garden and go to the gym and maybe visit some galleries.

Thank you to all of you who have commented in my absence I may hijack daisy's laptop and catch up with your blogs over the weekend.

Oh did I mention Daisy? NO JOB she has turned into a parody of a teenage slob and her results are looming over us like the sword of Damocles! I will be back next week.

Korean Vogue

I just love the mood board that supported these amazing images.

Korean Vogue

I would love both those trousers in black or at least a dark navy, I had a lot of fun mooching around Korean Vogues website last week, they do some stunning fashion editorials, I wish I could get the magazine.

Happy Birthday Kitty