New Workspace; studio

Since I've retired Bill and I have continued to add workspace.

We have put new desks for ourselves in our middle room -- his old studio.

We also found room for a reading nook.

Bill's drawing supplies have migrated to the top of the bookcase.

I'm so thrilled with my new desk.

Both by day and by night.

Bill reading in our new nook.

A homely carafe of water.

On display today --books by Japanese photographer Rinko Kawauchi.
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Studio at Dusk -- added 6th February 2015

Display

I always find new stuff when I look at Bill's studio supplies.

And we're starting to use the wall-mounted tables the way we imagined. Last night I printed some CD sleeves I designed a decade ago.

 One of the sleeves didn't print properly and I ripped it up but then I decide to maybe keep the bits for collage.

I printed this as a gift for my barber. This is Valentino in his old shop about ten years ago. 

We've also pulled out some older collections of photographs. Some William Kimber pictures of the University of Toronto.

Frank O'Hara reads "Having a Coke with You"

Tate Britain May 2014

 Last May John and I visited Tate Britain at Millbank on the Thames. Do you know the two Tate museums? Since the opening of Tate Modern, Tate Britain's collection includes only British artists.

 The galleries surround a central courtyard and range from Elizabethan painting to Contemporary art.

 The splendid collection of William Blake's work remains a major element of the collection.

 Allan Ramsay's Portrait of Thomas, 2nd Baron Mansel of Margam with his Blackwood Half-Brothers and Sister, 1742. Quite a mouthful!

 I love the series Four from Samuel Richardsons's "Pamela", 1742, by Joseph Highmore. The picture at the top left has often graced covers to paperback copies of Richardson's novel.

 John likes my shot of these long-haired visitors in conversation.

 The Victorian Brits seemed to favour a big, sprawling, jolly picture like Benjamin Hayden's Punch or May Day, 1829.

Personally I enjoy the more aesthetic approach in the period. Here's Whistler's Harmony in Grey and Green: Misss Cicely Alexander (1872-4) and The Sluggard (1885) by Frederic Leighton.

 Tate Britain has a cornucopia of similar Victorian work.

 Oh, and how about this delightful little study by John Constable, Deham from Langham, c1813. Perfect for our library at home!

 or perhaps JMW Turner's fabulous Interior of a Great House: The Drawing Room, East Cowes Castle, c1830, would be a better choice. So many decorating decisions!

 The Drawings and Prints galleries are always worth a visit. JMW Turner, Blacksmith's Shop, c.1824.  

 Charles Martin (1812 0r 20-1906). Study of a Woman Reading (detail). 

 I'm always surprised by the size of Stanley Spencer's The Resurrection, Clapham, 1924-27. Must just be used to seeing his work in books.

 When these ladies caught me shooting Jacob Epstein's alabaster Jacob and the Angel (c1940), they tried to duck out of the picture and much improved the shot, I think.

 The Mid-century galleries are great fun.

 John loved Barbara Hepworth's Three Forms, 1935. 

 Twentieth century religious art - Arnold Machin's St John the Baptist, c1949.

 So cool that the Tate has one of Francis Bacon's early pieces when he was designing furniture - Painted Screen, c1929.

 Of course, Francis Bacon's work is well represented in the Tate Britain collection, including Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion, c1944,

 and Triptch--August 1972.

 It was fun to see David Hockney's The Bigger Splash, 1967.

 John couldn't resist a detail.

 Let's end our visit with this lovely Howard Hodgkin painting Clean Sheets, 1979-84.

 and one of John's found abstractions. Art is everywhere, eh?

 We slipped down to the cafe for a drink, past the stairwell piece by David Tremlett, Drawing for Free Thinking, 2011.

 Pastel pigment and Emulsion paint. 

One last glance up at Henry Clarke Fehr's oversized Perseus rescuing Andromeda (1873) as we headed off to find lunch. Great Britain, indeed!

Phyllida Barlow at Tate Britain

John and I loved Phyllida Barlow's installation, dock, in the central courtyard of the Tate Britain.

 We kept getting glimpses of dock throughout the galleries of British art that surround it.

It was the Tate Britain Commission for 2014 and Ms Barlow certainly delivered.

The piece seemed to be both monumental and in a state of collapse.

Intrusive

and at the same time gorgeous.

It was apparently inspired by the Tate Britain's location next to the River Thames.

Where do great site-specific works go after they've been shown?