Category: Art

Two Birthdays

St. Borchill is a now obscure Irish saint. She must have been better known 250 years ago as the church at Dysart in Co Louth (above) bears her name. The church was built in 1766, early as anti-Catholic legislation had not yet started to be repealed. The site is carved out of a corner of… Continue reading Two Birthdays

A Win-Winn Situation

In the ’80s I discovered from a friend that a few artists living along the river in Chiswick opened their studios one weekend a year. I got to know Mary Fedden and Anthea Craigmyle this way and bought some of their work.

Animal Art

This morning’s entertainment was to go to a complex of limestone caves. There is an electric train which carried us a kilometre into the hillside.

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Categorised as Art, Travel

The Big G

Opening later this Summer at the Royal Academy there will be that hardy annual,  the Summer Exhibition, followed by a David Hockney show that will help balance the books. Hockney’s latest riff is portraiture.

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Categorised as Art

Step Inside

I went to Wormwood Scrubs (above) on Saturday to see an exhibition of art by offenders laid on by the Koestler Trust. Here is what I bought.

Long Walks

I don’t have anything by Richard Long (above) but he often comes to mind. First because I was given a large well-illustrated catalogue for his exhibition at Tate Britain in 2009. Secondly, because I went to and was greatly impressed by the exhibition and thirdly because he works in a way unlike any other artist… Continue reading Long Walks

Sudak Remembered

Henry Sanford said that although he’d never been to Sudak, he visited Koktibel which is nearby in 2005. His great, great grandfather was the Russian seascape painter, Ivan Aivazovsky, who lived in Theodossia (now Feodosia). Russian readers will be familiar with Aivazovsky (1817-1900). He was more highly regarded internationally in his own lifetime than his British… Continue reading Sudak Remembered

Venetian Souvenirs

Poor, poor Venice; the footfall of overweight tourists is making it sink ever lower in the lagoon and the Adriatic is rising, not problems that will be solved here.

Norman Conquest

Whatever the UK electorate decides about staying in or leaving the EU, many of us in the British Isles feel a sense of identity with the Normans. Our genes, our language, our architecture, our laws can to a large extent be traced back to Norman roots.

A Shell House and Some Up-Dates

Barmeath has a shell house built in the woods in the 19th century as a destination for walks and picnics, I was surprised to come upon a 20th century one in the centre of London.