Home again, home again…

Of course, after two cold weeks in the countryside, when a bit of warmth would have been welcome – the day we left was one of the hottest of the year. We went to Crosby first, to see Another Place – and, as it was a Saturday, half the population of Lancashire was also heading for the coast. Still, we got there, found somewhere to park with a view of the sea, I took some photos [good] did some drawings [bad], resisted the temptation to have an ice-cream – and still got to Liverpool in time to check in to the hotel and take a tour bus round the city – one of our naff pleasures in cities we don’t know.

Of course Sunday was even hotter – but although we had tickets booked for the Picasso exhibition, there was time to take a leisurely stroll along the riverside and take photos of people [for the life drawing session I missed ] and reflections [because they were amazing].

The Picasso exhibition was also amazing. Almost all the work was new to me – even the paintings after Delacroix, Velasquez and Manet, although we’d seen some of the series at the National Gallery last summer. [I think this reflects Picasso’s prolific work rate as much as my ignorance – at least, I like to think so!]

The exhibition and the accompanying book set the work in it's political contest, which was particularly interesting, especially as we could remember some of the events. And of course, as usual, I was blown away by his drawing – to the extent that I bought a [children’s] book on how to draw like Picasso …

Having located the Walker Art Gallery on our bus ride, after lunch we visited an exhibition there, which I’d read about somewhere – ‘The Rise of Women Artists’. I swore to Wensleydale that until we arrived I didn’t know it included embroidery – and it was true, because I hadn’t read the details on the web page properly [not for the first time ...]

This exhibition was as good, in a different way, as the Picasso.  This flickr set gives you a flavour, although unfortunately the art is unattributed, and there was no catalogue and relatively few postcards. Well worth a visit – and the cafe is OK although the woman serving wasn’t.

Unfortunately we didn’t have the energy to tackle the Toulouse Lautrec exhibition as well. I think you could spend an entire day at the Walker, there is so much to see.

Good to be home after all that culture – and back to college tomorrow to try to catch up on what I’ve missed …

To boldly go …

where no Cheese has been before – i.e. Halifax.

I can never think of Halifax without thinking ‘Hell, Hull and Halifax’. A quick Google reveals that I only know part of it – and that had I Googled before we went I would have looked harder at the exhibit about the Halifax gibbet.

We went to the Bankfield Museum – which is great for textile enthusiasts, having a textile gallery, a costume gallery, and currently, an exhibition of embroidery, patchwork, bead work and weaving by a group whose name escapes me and isn’t mentioned on the museum’s website.

The exhibit about the gibbet was in a room set up to look like a storeroom, full of an eclectic mixture of things which delighted Wensleydale. My friend A. from college would have hated it as we went round saying ‘We used to have one of those’.

We also liked the ‘mini museums’ set up by local school children – also full of things we used to have. The ‘history of music’ -from the 50s to the Spice Girls – was great fun.

No tea shop, unfortunately, but a small but good shop – I bought Surjeet Husain’s books on Phulkari and Shisha, as I already have her one on Kantha and find it useful. I also bought a lot of postcards – several Sue Lawty ones and one of a piece by Michael Brennand Wood [5th and 6th images] which I found very inspirational.

We start off home tomorrow, via Liverpool – again – this time to revisit Another Place and to see the Picasso exhibition at Tate Liverpool. And that, I think, will be enough culture for this month …

Somewhere old, somewhere new.

Wensleydale decided yesterday that it was time for his annual pilgrimage to the Bronte Parsonage Museum. On the way there we made our first  visit to East Riddlesden Hall, as it was roughly in the same direction, and has a tea shop [unlike the Bronte museum – it’s only drawback, I feel].

The Hall is beautiful – like Gawthorpe, it comes as a complete surprise when you turn into the drive and the urban development surrounding it disappears. Somehow the smoke stained stonework adds to the atmosphere, and of course it is part of the history of the house. One wing was partially demolished in the early 20thC  - perhaps it was the Bronte connection that made me immediately think of Thornfield hall.

Like Gawthorpe, Riddlesden has embroideries – probably the best collection of 17th century embroidery I've seen outside the V&A or the Burrell. There are also some !9thC samplers [not really my cup of tea, but these are slightly different to the usual] a bit of 20thC blackwork, and some 19thC embroidery which according the the very chatty room steward, is Persian. It was worked [in wool?] on narrow strips of hand woven cloth and then joined to make bed curtains and covers. Add beautiful gardens and a good tea shop [although they were out of Wensleydale for the Yorkshire ploughman's lunch and we had to have Cheddar instead] – and it was well worth a visit.

The journey on to Haworth was a bit traumatic, as there was a poorly signposted diversion, and the inhabitants of Bingley seem to think that the usual rules about giving way to traffic on roundabouts don’t apply to them. After it happened on the third roundabout in succession I began to get a bit neurotic, and even W. lost his cool …

Fortunately the Parsonage was quite quiet. Having seen Bronte at the Watermill before we came up here, I kept visualising the actors, especially Mr Bronte and Branwell, although neither actor really looked anything like the originals!

After all that excitement we are having a quiet morning, and after I've posted this I will get on with the 2d piece. Since I took these photos the wavy cream lines have been completed and I’m adding some dark blue ones. I'm not sure about the very hungry caterpillar – I think it’s a bit bright, although the symbolism [new life] is right for the youngest member of the family. It is a left-over from the quilt I made for Babybel, and a substitute for the fabric from her mum and dad that never arrived, although I’m hoping that when we get back home  it will have done.

After the cheese, the ale …

As we’d had a cheese experience earlier in the week, we decided we needed some beer to go with it – so we paid a visit to the Black Sheep Brewery at Masham – which I now know isn’t pronounced the way you think …

It was much more enjoyable than the cheese experience, even though a drop didn’t pass my lips till just now [Black Sheep Ale, very drinkable]. A brewery visit costs more than the cheese experience, but you get an hour’s guided tour, and lots of information about brewing, although I think it would be a good idea to go earlier in the week, as Friday seems to be cleaning up day.

The beer chutney is good too – can’t speak for the Christmas pudding, I’ll get back to you on that in about 7 months time.

We followed that with an unplanned visit to Jervaux Abbey, because we’d noticed it on the map. If you like romantic ruins and flowers, it’s perfect, even on a drab, cold day. I took rather a lot of photographs of walls, [and assorted holes in walls], doorways, windows, and skies.

And there’s a teashop too – where they serve the magical combination of fruitcake and Wensleydale cheese. No, I'm not joking – try it and see. Wensleydale goes particularly well with Christmas cake, especially the version with ginger in it.

When not eating cheese or drinking ale, I have been getting on with this – my 2D piece. I’ve just about finished all the circles, bar a couple I am not sure about – tomorrow I hope to begin the lines which will run down the piece – or across it, in this photo.

Lovely holiday weather -

a little sleet, a little snow, some drizzle and an occasional sunny interval. I’m glad I brought gloves and a scarf – and that Wensleydale reminded me that we keep a spare fleece in the back of the car. It lives there for emergencies – I wouldn't normally wear it, as it is in National Geographic’s delightful colours of nappy brown and yellow [a freebie, needless to say]. But it’s an extra layer for when we’re out and fortunately the cottage is lovely and warm.

We did manage a walk before the weather deteriorated. I have written before about the disappearing River Skirfare. It has clearly been a dry winter here because it has disappeared even more than usual.

 

 

 

We were able to walk, on the grass and in the river bed, upstream to the sink hole [where the river disappears into the earth] and beyond.

 

 

We spotted some delightful bijou residences on the  edge of the river – or where the edge of the river used to be. There were about half a dozen of these doorways, of which this was the largest. Not sure who lives there – they seemed big for any of the water animals I can think of, but a bit close to the water for foxes or badgers – but of course you may know better.

 

There are still a few puddles in the river bed, many of which have turned this dramatic browny-red colour. The water here has a lot of iron in it, which is responsible for the colour – although Wensleydale did suggest it was Irn-Bru …

Today we’ve been for a Cheese Experience. I’m glad we went because I learned a lot about how cheese is made, but  won’t bother going again. [There are lots of other places round here to buy Wensleydale – and at home.] As W. said, it was like the Isle of Wight – full of old people. [Why is it that so many people of my generation walk through a door and stop dead on the other side – it drives me demented!]

The forecast for tomorrow is ‘chance of snow’ – I can’t wait!

A despatch from the far north -

well, the Yorkshire Dales [again]. We arrived yesterday, having stopped off in Liverpool on the way – a visit rather marred by our late arrival [traffic] and difficulty sleeping [overheated hotel room and a Scouse wedding reception taking place 3 floors below].

The journey from Liverpool to the Dales was by way of Salford, to visit the Lowry Gallery, on the recommendation of Mr and Mrs Cheddar. [We were able to resist her encouragement to take in Old Trafford as well – sorry, Mrs. C.!]

I must admit that until now I've been ambivalent about Lowry – My mother loved his work so I grew up surrounded by prints of mill scenes – and that rather irritating 60s pop song didn’t really encourage me to take him seriously. [Sorry, Quo fans.]

But the Gallery was a real eye-opener – I discovered that he didn’t just paint mill scenes, and indeed during the later stages of his career he got rather irritated that they were the only things people seemed to want.

I was struck by some seascapes - here and here - not a matchstick man in sight, the later work, Bargoed, which is ‘same but different’, and the paintings and drawings of people/animals from the 60s – I'm afraid I can’t find any images of those.

I have to admit that the urban pictures are pretty impressive, too – especially when you realise how carefully all those figures are placed to lead the eye around the painting. As someone who finds focal points really difficult, I can’t help but admire his skill.

The Gallery is currently hosting another exhibition, by Leo Fitzmaurice, which is inspired by film cartons. The rainbow coloured display was quite a contrast, after Lowry’s limited palette – and, together with images of some of Fitzmaurice’s other work, quite inspirational – it made me think of land art, but using everyday man-made ephemera.

I’m in danger …

of being converted – to Lutradur and pelmet Vilene that is. We had another workshop with Kim Thittichai at college yesterday – and I enjoyed it much more than the first.

We coloured the Lutradur and Vilene with these and these and then a smoosh of these, diluted a bit – which, on the Lutradur, all diffused into each other to look like this. [The tramlines are the result of drying the pieces on the radiator.]

The effect on the Vilene was less subtle, as you can see in the vessel on the left below.

We cut the Vilene and Lutradur up with soldering irons to make 3D pieces – not necessarily vessels, but how could I resist?

I think I'm coming round to these materials because this way of colouring them is more subtle – I used a lot of Crafty Notions Black Tulip and Brusho Shimmer Charcoal to cut back the brighter colours on these. I also like using them for what they are, rather than covering them with fabric or whatever to disguise them.

All this is in preparation for making a 3d piece – when we’ve barely begun the 2D one …