The view from here

Is a very wet Southbank Centre, If you are ever near by it has a fabulous coffee shop which sells amongst other delicious goodies, quince & walnut muffins, how luscious does that sound? Sadly I had just eaten breakfast so I was full, but I will be back.
I was here to take the students to see the 2 exhibitions below, Emin had just finished his meeting so we hooked up for a coffee. I love the yellow stripe in the image above.

Andy Warhol

"The Hayward presents a major exhibition that brings a fresh perspective to his work, showing works from the 1950s through to the 1980s"

Although the exhibition has had a very lukewarm press, it hit the spot with the students, as it is displayed with a great deal of flair and imagination.

Robin Rhode

"Berlin-based South African artist Robin Rhode (born 1976) is a major new talent on the international art scene. He has developed a growing reputation for brilliantly inventive performances, photographs and drawings. Rhode combines large-scale charcoal drawings with charming and sharp-witted performances, often acted out on the street. In his video animations"

Of course this was brilliant, even Emin stopped checking his emails to take a look! rare praise indeed. Later the students saw Rhode's giving an interview so they were plucking up courage to go back an get his autograph.
Talking of autographs how random is this? My teenage daughter Daisy went to Bluewater and queued up to get John Barrowmans autograph!! on his new CD. She was over the moon as both her and her friends had their photo taken with him, and even more, bless, they asked him if he would like to see a play they had written, a spoof on Dr Who, he said he may be on holiday which I thought was very sweet of him, since he could have just laughed "do I look like I've got time to spare watching a bunch of adolescents performing?"

The view from here

My room at 8am. It took four of us all morning to clear up this carnage. All because the stupid idiot Bursar could not be bothered to pay someone to screw the shelves to the wall. oh and yes I do have rather a large magazine collection..but that is not the point.

The view from here...

...Is bloody freezing, I had without doubt the most mind numbingly boring weekend, Gym, cook gym, cook..I managed to sleep through Kung Foo Panda (thank God) I did quite enjoy Juno which I finally caught up with on DVD, and I occasionally managed to thread a few beads. The ones above are in true Blue Peter style 'ones I made earlier'.

The middle one is a whopping eight feet long, it is made up of the salvaged fragments of Turquoise I had from my favourite necklace that broke. I bought it in a small shop in Niagara on the Lake of all places. Not somewhere I will ever get back too. It was threaded in such a complex way I could not begin to repair it, so I made one long piece instead. The one on the right is a heady mix of freshwater pearls in various sizes and shapes, mixed with Hill Tribe silver nuggets. Over the years I have tried many versions of the ubiquitous pearl necklace but non satisfied until now, at just under 6 feet long it wraps round 3 times and looks lovely especially when mixed with my Victorian crystal. Finally on my left is a newish one, a mix of Citrine and Smoky Quartz. If you look closely you will see two necklaces as one was originally made for my sisters Birthday but it was too long, so I decided to keep for myself, as you do!

I am up to my ears with work. I did finally bag up my photos it was really very satisfying, and really helped me focus on what I do well and what I feel is mediocre. I was surprised at how much I like my flower photographs, having not taken any for ages, so memo to self will be to take some more. My biggest box was entitled 'views through a window' this is quite a new genre for me and began with this blog. I have really enjoyed recording many images on the hoof, and some of the best are the accidental ones that mix up views with reflections from the window. I will now start putting my files somewhere, but the speed it takes to upload images tends to make this a job to 'put off'

I normally get quite a few ideas for a post from the weekend colour supplements, but even these were almost beyond boring, full of the most ridiculous gift ideas and party dresses you would be luck to wear once, dull dull dull. I should have gone to see the Bacon at the Tate Britain but I just could not cope with the freezing wind.

I am now cyber filing and marking, oh lucky lucky me. Oh wait, I am going to see Ivanov this Friday, restricted view and even less leg room, but who cares it is a beacon of light at the end of my deep dark tunnel.

God give me strength...

I really hope Une femme d'un certain age will forgive me, but I thought her recent post on 'class' would be an interesting point of discussion for my Tutor group, a group of 15-16 year old girls. So I copied and pasted the bullet points and handed them round for discussion. Where to start? I forgot that Americans use the English language in a very different way to girls from 'The Medway towns' so I spent quite a long time translating!

#1 Honouring your obligations. (showing up on time, following through with what you've promised.) most of the girls decided it was not their fault if they were late, things just 'happen' #2 Taking responsibility for your actions and mistakes. most did agree with this although one modest soul declared she never did any thing wrong and so should not ever need to say sorry!
#3 Keeping your cool under pressure. very few could see what was wrong with with exploding with anger every 5 min, better out than in, was their reasoning.. I gave them a few scenarios, including how they would feel if I let off steam as and when I felt like it, and very, very slowly they began to see my point of view, if not heed it.
#4 Graciously accepting a compliment without a qualifying statement after "thank you." This caused a huge outcry first they found they whole idea just plain wrong, a complement to these girls has to be debated ad infinitum, and often they believe a complement has to be laced with sarcasm, so they refuse to believe it anyway.
#5 Giving honest and heartfelt compliments. if we do this they cried, people will think we've lost the plot, they think were taking the piss!!
#6 Being conscious of the people around you. (Holding doors for those behind you, offering to help someone struggling with packages, not cutting right across another's path.) Universally accepted as a given, although many said it was too stressful to be so vigilant, sometimes they just might not think, one girl said she was happy to let an old lady sit down "cos they're sweet" but few felt pregnant women deserved any sympathy!

This was as far as we got, interestingly one girl crossed out all references to God, she announced that "she does not believe in God", that she was God and I quote " You don't have to wait for a miracle, you have to make a miracle with your own hands" "Believe and try harder rather than praying for your God" Wow, wise words indeed.

Many girls when asked to write anything they felt had been missed wrote "Don't be racist" or "rasics" as one girl spelt it, and quite a few thought not eating smelly food in public and keeping MP3 players quiet was important too. I am now looking forward to part 2 especially the discussion on how short is too short for a skirt....

#7Treating clerks, cashiers, janitors, bus drivers, waitresses, postal workers, the people on the other end of the 800# customer service line, and your annoying co-workers with courtesy and respect, and remembering that they're people too, not just robots serving your needs. (Also, not talking on your cell phone while conducting a transaction!)
#8 Dressing in a way that shows respect for yourself and those around you.
#7 Neither hiding your intelligence nor wielding it as a club.
#8 Standing up for yourself without resorting to abuse.
#9 Delighting in others' joys, not in their misfortunes.
#10 Being mindful that "there for the grace of God go I." While I believe in personal responsibility and that choices have consequences, it helps to remember that the playing field isn't level and that life throws curve balls at all of us; even those who make all of the "right" decisions can fall on hard times.
#11 Rather than complaining endlessly about circumstances, looking for solutions.
#12 Helping when you can: volunteer, donate.

Icons of Glamour & Style

Cecil Beaton

George S Zimber

Ben Ross

Milton H Greene (my favourite)

Henri Cartier Bresson

Bert Stern

Roy Schatt

Bert Stern

Eve Arnold

Richard Avedon

icons of glamour and style: the constantiner collection

16 - 17 December 2008 New York, Rockefeller Plaza

A positive cornucopia of images, on sale at Christies next month. I could have done an amazing post on images taken by Irving Penn as well as my favourite Sally Mann.

However what struck me the most, was just how many images there are of Marilyn Monroe from so many different photographers. Not one Dud in the whole pile, has anyone ever been more photogenic?

If you can't afford the real thing the catalogue has to be a bargain.

The view from here

The weather is getting progressively colder and so I have decided to retire my beautiful green suede gloves they look like two rather bruised and battered frogs. I may not have found a pair of red shoes yet, but instead these beautiful gloves stepped up to take the red baton and run.

Last year wandering round some random Berlin department store I happened across a whole wall of the most beautiful leather gloves. Normally I would not have been that interested In England I have never been able to fit inside ladies gloves and so I always end up with a pair of knitted ones stretched beyond their endurance. Even my green ones were ill fitting but were as near as I would get to a pair that I could squeeze on. I refuse to wear men's gloves which only enhance the gorillas paw effect, I have a hand span of 8 and 1/2 inches. My fingers are really long making most gloves very uncomfortable. On a whim I went into T.K.Maxx and they had a wonderful selection of gloves from? you guessed it Germany. I did not avail myself in Berlin last year, because despite the beauty of fit and suppleness of leather they were £70! so I reluctantly did not indulge, because as you know I do a have an irritating propensity to loose things. Now these beautiful red gloves are all mine.

And what of this years travel fest I hear you say, well I do have one niggle with this blog and that is I sometimes feel it is just one long bragathon, but hey if the cap fits....

This years itinerary is as follows;

• Eurostar to Brussels, 2 nights
• Train to Cologne, 2 nights
• Train to Berlin, 4 nights
• Flight to Istanbul, 4 nights

I must admit I am getting quite excited now, especially when Emin had the foresight to book us in to see the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra on Christmas Day.

Istanbul will definitely fullfill a dream wish, and after Emin stumbled over last years stinging criticism that I found him unadventurous it is the one place where we will be staying in a boutique hotel rather than the usual Marriott, Hilton & Raddisson Hotels, not that I am complaining, I am one very lucky girl.

We did struggle this year to come up with an itinerary I wanted to go to Norway by train but in the end as Emin has project managed it, this was a pretty good compromise. Plus we will be able to go apartment hunting in Potsdam. Yes Despite the big problems with the Euro and the recession Emin has decided to buy an apartment in Potsdam.

I will of course take thousands of photos not least from this amazing hotel and send you a postcard.

Michael Porter

Michael Porter at Purdy Hicks, I love the textured, abstract nature of these photographs. It is a small world because tomorrow an exhibition of Helsinki photography opens at Purdy Hicks, so as I tick one box another appears...