HappyDaysYou are on the archive wiki. The new wiki is here. What an utterly lovely day it is! What makes it so wonderful all round is that it's bright and sunny, it's a Friday, Mike is out the office all day and I've got jujitsu tonight. Oh, and to cap it all off it's Spring Equinox, which means from now on the days will be longer than the nights making it my favourite 50% of the year! :-D I feel that I've been quite a bit more culturally oriented over the last couple of weeks. I guess since late nights in smoky clubs followed by dismal rides home on night busses have completely lost their appeal for me, it leaves me with much more daylight hours to spend doing stuff. It also doesn't help that I've discovered that my room is a touch more east facing than I was aware of and this morning the sun hit my curtains at 6:30am. I was going to try and line them, but when I put them in the wash, as a preparatory measure, they developed long disintergrated rips though them. It is now pointless to do anything to them and, surprise, surprise, they are somewhat less effective at their job... Have I mentioned in the past that I'm very light keyed? Yah, well, I am. Two weeks ago I went to the Turner, Monet, Whistler exhibition with my Uncle Peter. It was enjoyable, but not quite the "ravishing" experienced quoted on the poster. Although, frankly, I can only be relieved that I failed to be ravished by an art exhibition. I actually far more enjoyed walking around other parts of the Tate Britain, despite having developed a splitting headache. On the following Wednesday Uncle Peter, Kait and I visited the National Gallery. We did a pretty brief walk through of the Rennaisance wing and some of the 17th to early 20th century art. Art looses a lot in traslation to printed format. All the books I've paged though, calenders glaced at, or reproduction prints hung on other's walls did nothing to prepare me for coming face to face with the works of Leonardo da Vinci, Velaquez or Van Gough. There is something deeply moving about witnessing these paintings full scale, three dimensional, brush-strokes and all. In some cases to took my breath away, and sometimes just filled me with delight and awe. I've booked for Kait and I go go to the Carravagio exhibition in late May, which I'm really looking forward to. I will also be visiting the rest of the National Gallery and the Tate Britain in my own time. On Sunday if the weather turns out to be less than great instead of going for a picnic Claire, Dan, Paul and I will likely head for a museam of some kind. I've been far to lax over winter, but now that between the weather and my new found sense of positive focus, I have a bit more energy I'll definitely be taking advantage of London's 'free-stuff'. Hey, and what with my parents coming in June I do need to be better equipped to play "tour-guide". Comment: Van Gogh (by FirstFallen? on 2005-04-22 12:52:03)I totally agree with your "real media is better than print" statement. I've always loved Starry Night, and there was a print of it that I really wanted, cos I thought it was the most beautiful thing ever. Then Phleep organised Ivan to paint me a Starry Night for my birthday present, 3 times the size of the original. Granted, it's acrylic and not oil, but it's still awesome. Sooo much better than a print could ever be. There's just something about how you can touch the paint and the way the light reflects off it, not all flat like a poster. One day when I have a castle it will be filled with paintings. |