One for the Soul

Only a few days now since the last entry, and it’s been a fairly quiet time, but still a bit of interest.

Not that a Friday evening of pints and video golf with the work crew is particularly interesting, and neither is a casual Saturday doing mostly domestic stuff, like gardening in our “garden” (see pic) before the wind and rain did it’s thing outside. Although, sliced banana in wild berry yogurt is something that I can now recommend...

Sunday, however, was a little different. With the weather coming good for the day, it was onto the tredley (as usual) and off into central London. The destination was Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery for the Radical Light exhibition - an exhibition of the Italian Divisionist masters. Whilst I studied the Impressionists of France and Holland, I had heard about the Divisionists as they followed the Impressionists through the later parts of the 1800’s. Their use of light is rather unique, and is what they are most noted for.
Now, for those who know my camera work, I’ve always enjoyed playing with light. It didn’t take long to notice that what I’ve been trying to capture on cameras, these artists have captured with paint. I’ve tried to sneak a pic of one of the pieces that I was particularly taken with, but unfortunately it hasn’t come out - as you can see... Basically, it is a standard enough scene of someone going into a doorway, with the sunrise on the other side of the building. Effectively, their ability to capture detail in shadows is the standout, although the way that the light of the sunrise is caught on the edges of the leaves is what caught my attention of this particular piece. It’s funny, there weren’t too many pieces that I liked in their entirety, but more just certain parts of them. Hard to explain really, but well worth the trip to check out this exhibition.

After basking in the light of the Divisionists (sorry for the pun) it was time to go and visit ‘an old friend’. For those of you who recall my writings from my last trip to London several years ago, you will remember my adulation for Serat’s ‘Bathers at Asnieres’. I’ll not go back into the tale now, but email me and I can fill you in if you like.
Each time I’ve been to the National Gallery, I’ve had quite an experience. This time however, it was not with the same painting. This time, it was with a painting that I was checking out along the way to ‘Bathers at Asnieres’. You may recall from a few posts back when I was in Salisbury that I mentioned feeling like I was walking through some of John Constable’s paintings. On my way to see Serat’s masterpiece, I passed some of Constable’s pieces. One of which struck quite a chord simply because I recognised exactly the scene painted. It is a view across the River Avón looking at the Salisbury Cathedral, which you can sort of make out in my sneak shot on the right. To look at a piece such as this and not only have been in the location that it was painted, but to realise that I had also walked down the path in the painting was something rather... umm... well, I really don’t know how to describe the feelings that it evoked.
Even so, it was still good to visit Serat’s piece shortly afterward.

Back into the sunshine of Trafalgar Square and it was time for some lunch in a nearby coffee shop before a brief trip into Chinatown. It was then time to cycle my way up to White Hart Lane and to the Bricklayers Hotel for both the aftermatch celebrations (from a Spurs pre-season match) and Husky’s birthday. A good afternoon that kicked on into the early evening to round out quite a day.

Happy to have had a fairly quiet weekend as the next few weekends are looking to be quite busy. My next two weekends away are booked and locked in, with the Notting Hill carnival on the weekend in between...