It might be reinventing the wheel, but what a wheel. This collection has made me more determined than ever to buy some plimsolls. So far the short list is a pair of leather Keds, fingers crossed they fit.
Tuesday, 7 October 2008
This weekend
I wanted to write yesterday, but these pesky kids are so demanding, I actually had to teach!!
On Friday I hot footed it up to Sloane Square, which once the Saatchi Gallery opens will be a real destination again. I quickly walked down to the Lucien Hervé exhibition on at the Michael Hoppen Gallery. I do not think the Internet can ever hope to replicate the experience of seeing a photograph in the flesh. This is a given with paintings sculpture and mixed media, but many people think seeing a photograph in a book is the same as seeing one in a gallery. It does not, the way many of the silver gelatin prints were printed gives them such depth, you just have to see them, plus I am often surprised at how small the images often are, which gives them a real sense of intimacy.
After this I walked back to Sloane Square to meet my sister and visit Art London.
Of course this took me past GAP, Muji, Kew, Jigsaw, Tabio, John Lewis, Zara..... So many shops so little time and even less funds.
What I needed was a new coat and a new bag for school, what I got and please do not laugh, was (I am officially ashamed) a grey cardie, from Muji, Oh but it was sooo lovely, Deepest charcoal merino wool, shawl collar, long and belted. I have the same one in black cotton and I love it.
I then took a T Shirt back to GAP and exchanged it for a black merino wool wrap dress. I have to confess that this style does not flatter me much, but it feels so lovely and sometimes that is enough for me.
Then in that time honoured tradition of thinking you have found something new I walk past a shop selling creams and potions, all by Korres, so I blagged some sachets of eye cream to test. It is a lovely shop with super friendly staff.
Finally Jigsaw as always had some lovely thin Jersey tops. I have in the past favoured camisoles but as time and gravity take its toll I have grown to appreciate the benefits of loose fitting T's
Jigasaw is King of these both in style fabric and colour. I bought the same style very very thin fabric heavily gathered over the shoulder in a deep navy and a lovely caramel. What I have then been able to do is finally create those lovely layers which has in turn breathed new life into some of my older and shorter (less flattering) jumpers and cardies. this in turn has revived my snugger fitting trousers giving many of my older but no less loved clothes a new lease of life. win win if you ask me.
So what of the coat and bag, well I did look and the only coat that even came close to ticking any boxes was in Jaegar. It was lovely, but how to justify that much? It is the price I pay for keeping the girls dressed I guess.
I did get to try on my favourite Barbour (mmm the smell was divine), it was lovely but not as useful as my existing mac. Bags? not one, seriously not one over the shoulder bag anywhere, In hindsight I should have checked the mens wear section, but am I really the only one who hates bags with small straps that I have to hook over an over stressed shoulder or dangle in the crook of my arm like the Queen?
Art London was OK, some interesting galleries and a few new artists, but over all I have been to better art fairs.
The evening was however a good one, thanks to a delicious confit of duck at Oriel. this restaurant has such excellent service it is a pleasure to eat there and the atmosphere is as near to the authentic french cafe as you will get and probably cheaper now.
Exhausted?
Well Sunday morning we went to hear a lovely chamber quartet at the newly opened Kings Place this promises to be a great venue, but as it is the other side of town we spent more on travel than the tickets themselves so I will probably stick to St Martins in the Field.
To make better use of my travel card I took Leyla to the Rothko on at The Tate Modern. Truly brilliant. The first room alone is worth the price of admission, I had no idea he worked with maquettes for his Seagrams layouts and I also did not know that he would frequently work on such a small scale. They are for me as good as his larger works. I was not as keen on the room housing all the Seagrams paintings. too much like an aircraft hanger I feel his work is better suited despite its scale to a more intimate setting.
And so to bed...
On Friday I hot footed it up to Sloane Square, which once the Saatchi Gallery opens will be a real destination again. I quickly walked down to the Lucien Hervé exhibition on at the Michael Hoppen Gallery. I do not think the Internet can ever hope to replicate the experience of seeing a photograph in the flesh. This is a given with paintings sculpture and mixed media, but many people think seeing a photograph in a book is the same as seeing one in a gallery. It does not, the way many of the silver gelatin prints were printed gives them such depth, you just have to see them, plus I am often surprised at how small the images often are, which gives them a real sense of intimacy.
After this I walked back to Sloane Square to meet my sister and visit Art London.
Of course this took me past GAP, Muji, Kew, Jigsaw, Tabio, John Lewis, Zara..... So many shops so little time and even less funds.
What I needed was a new coat and a new bag for school, what I got and please do not laugh, was (I am officially ashamed) a grey cardie, from Muji, Oh but it was sooo lovely, Deepest charcoal merino wool, shawl collar, long and belted. I have the same one in black cotton and I love it.
I then took a T Shirt back to GAP and exchanged it for a black merino wool wrap dress. I have to confess that this style does not flatter me much, but it feels so lovely and sometimes that is enough for me.
Then in that time honoured tradition of thinking you have found something new I walk past a shop selling creams and potions, all by Korres, so I blagged some sachets of eye cream to test. It is a lovely shop with super friendly staff.
Finally Jigsaw as always had some lovely thin Jersey tops. I have in the past favoured camisoles but as time and gravity take its toll I have grown to appreciate the benefits of loose fitting T's
Jigasaw is King of these both in style fabric and colour. I bought the same style very very thin fabric heavily gathered over the shoulder in a deep navy and a lovely caramel. What I have then been able to do is finally create those lovely layers which has in turn breathed new life into some of my older and shorter (less flattering) jumpers and cardies. this in turn has revived my snugger fitting trousers giving many of my older but no less loved clothes a new lease of life. win win if you ask me.
So what of the coat and bag, well I did look and the only coat that even came close to ticking any boxes was in Jaegar. It was lovely, but how to justify that much? It is the price I pay for keeping the girls dressed I guess.
I did get to try on my favourite Barbour (mmm the smell was divine), it was lovely but not as useful as my existing mac. Bags? not one, seriously not one over the shoulder bag anywhere, In hindsight I should have checked the mens wear section, but am I really the only one who hates bags with small straps that I have to hook over an over stressed shoulder or dangle in the crook of my arm like the Queen?
Art London was OK, some interesting galleries and a few new artists, but over all I have been to better art fairs.
The evening was however a good one, thanks to a delicious confit of duck at Oriel. this restaurant has such excellent service it is a pleasure to eat there and the atmosphere is as near to the authentic french cafe as you will get and probably cheaper now.
Exhausted?
Well Sunday morning we went to hear a lovely chamber quartet at the newly opened Kings Place this promises to be a great venue, but as it is the other side of town we spent more on travel than the tickets themselves so I will probably stick to St Martins in the Field.
To make better use of my travel card I took Leyla to the Rothko on at The Tate Modern. Truly brilliant. The first room alone is worth the price of admission, I had no idea he worked with maquettes for his Seagrams layouts and I also did not know that he would frequently work on such a small scale. They are for me as good as his larger works. I was not as keen on the room housing all the Seagrams paintings. too much like an aircraft hanger I feel his work is better suited despite its scale to a more intimate setting.
And so to bed...
Thursday, 2 October 2008
Laura Letinsky
Laura Letinsky writes:
When I first began working on the series I was interested in trying to figure out how, and why, Dutch seventeenth-century society was the site for so much still life work. I felt a little bit like I was groping about trying to understand their formal and descriptive language. As I worked the similarities in cultures( our appreciation for material goods, our multi-ethnic and class-based economies, the attitudes towards the home as a space of intimate display) began to draw on me.
This and the photographs from The Michael Hoppen Gallery
The work was influenced by her fascination with Dutch-Flemish and Italian still-life painting, also a documentation of shifting social attitudes that were the result of exploration, colonisation, economic gain and seeing as truth/proof. However, she does not show interest in the allure of the meal that usually awaits some unseen viewer’s consumption, rather she is curious about this site after its objects have been touched, devoured and ignored. By photographing the remains of a meal and its preparation, she engages the photograph’s transformative qualities, changing what is typically cast aside into something beautiful.
I found this beautiful body of work really resonating with me, had I done my M.A, my remit would have been almost word for word the same.Yet the results could not be more different. I did manages to explore the theme a little before time ran out. If I ever managed to work out how to use the scanner I will let you see.
My new squeeze
I love trying new body moisturisers, facially I am currently loyal to Chanel, but I am a bit of a tart when it come to the body. (no pun intended!) I have praised Molton Brown in the past, but of late I have tired of their perfume, so I have dipped my toe into the assorted creams and oils of many other brands with very few positive results. Most recently my sister bought me some oil from It Works, sadly It did not.
My skin can become quite dry and so I need something that sinks in and lasts more than half a day, very few do.
I am also a sucker for a nice fragrance. My current perfume is Rose by Paul Smith. after years of enjoying the heavy scent of Calvin Klein's Obsession I have grown to appreciate a lighter more floral smell. This one is wonderful.
So whilst I was surfing the web looking for an alternative to the prohibitively priced Alpha H Liquid Gold, I came across this web site which sold a much cheaper version by Peter Thomas Roth, same ingredients, but more of it, for half the price. The added bonus was free P&P over £15 so as usual, I am always in for a penny. One of my pet gripes is the cost of P&P, so many mail order sites charge a premium and yet overheads and running costs are so much cheaper for them. QVC is the biggest and worst culprit here, and so it is with great pleasure that I have found a better skincare site,
I decided to try the above pictured body butter. The smell is just a slice of heaven. I do love the smell of Jasmine, but not the nasty cheap sickly version you often get in the local chemist, this is lovely and fingers crossed feels lovely too.
Wednesday, 1 October 2008
Kew III
Only a week ago but seems longer. I seem to have itchy feet again and so I have set my self a Mission Impossible challenge to visit the following exhibitions over the next 6 weeks. Wish me luck.
- Art London
- Freize Art Fair
- Saatchi Gallery
- Sarah Moon at The Michael Hoppen Gallery
- Annie Leibowitz at the NPG
- Francis Bacon at The Tate Britain
- Rothko at the Tate Modern
- Miró, Calder, Giacometti and Braque at the Royal Academy.
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