#chester #twentytwogallery #juliecolclough #chesterartcentre On Thursday our daughter invited us to visit Chester with her as it was the Winter Parade in the evening. Also, she was excited to show us all the new art establishments in Chester town centre. As well as the established galleries, a group managed by Chester Art Centre was helping artists to set up galleries in empty commercial premises to form a mutual beneficial relationship. Our first visit was to the new 22 gallery. Since our daughter's first visit a couple of weeks ago, two more floors had opened up to display artwork. After enjoying viewing the work on the three floors we had a long chat with one of the resident artists and organisers of the gallery, whom our daughter had friended as she admired his work. The idea that this premises had been transformed showed what could be achieved with the right foresight and backing by the appropriate bodies. Walking around the corner onto Watergate Street, we saw a sign for The Julie Colclough Gallery. This was a surprise as we often visit Chester and hadn't noticed it before. Going up the stairs to the second level of shops, we entered the gallery to find Julie sat working on a painting. Chatting to her was fascinating and we found out that we had several connections in common. Julie, as well as painting had run classes near our home town and interestingly the newly discovered artist, Eric Tucker, from Warrington had attended these classes. Looking at her work was interesting, as she had been a professional artist for several years and as well as being a successful illustrator had a distinctive painting style that captured local scenes and ones from her travels. After an interesting time discussing art, we decided to move on, but we agreed that we must remember to visit again in future. Crossing the road we visited a couple of the established galleries that displayed a wide range of work to suit all tastes, as well as costly prints.
A couple of the other new pop up galleries had now closed as it was getting late. We decided to have something to eat and wait for the Winter Parade taking place at 7pm. Next time we are in Chester, we will visit more of them. Finding out about these initiatives, reminded me about a visit we made to Hay-on-Wye a few years ago, where the town has become famous for it's book stores and book festival, Chester could easily become a centre for the arts, if these forward thinking policies continue. It shows how different organisations coming together can create something beneficial to the arts and the community and could also bring in welcome tourists to the area, which would in turn help to boost the local economy. We just have to hope that once established, the galleries are not charged too much in rates, by the council, that they have to close.
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#leicester #leicestershire #eastmidlands #NewarkeHousesMuseumandGardens Several months ago we heard about an initiative in Leicester where artists were invited to a Bring The Paint Festival that takes place every year. Here artists can create a mural around the city. The Paint Festival alongside the opening of a dedicated street art centre have brought international attention to a city rich in heritage. Artists such as ARTISM, CAPER, MAIHEM and RACEE set a regional style for future generations whilst visiting international artists have both supported an existing legacy and inspired new generations of artists and fans alike. Unfortunately, because of other commitments we couldn't attend the actual festival but decided to stop and see it on our way back from Ipswich. We spent the first day exploring the city and did manage to find a few sites and after a good night's sleep we set off again to explore. This time we had downloaded a map of where to see them. This time we were more successful! Fortunately, for us, as it was a very hot day, they were all grouped in a small area. Although, to our surprise, it involved exploring an old car park snd garage to find them. On our way back to the centre, we decided to visit the Newarke Houses Museum and Gardens, a nice place to get out of the heat. Here, as well as viewing a range of displays, there was an exhibition entitled Public and Private Gardens. This looked at how gardens had been so important during the pandemic, helping people with their health and well being. This was a small but interesting exhibition and it reminded me of how I had discovered that the interest in art to be one of the most popular ways people dealt with the isolation at this time. Our final visit before moving on was to the King Richard the 3rd Visitor Centre as Sue, who gained an A level in history as well as majoring in the subject at teacher training college, is fascinated by these types of exhibitions. I, unfortunately, spent more time watching my brother playing football outside the history room and only managed an o level in it! Another enjoyable day in this interesting city.
#ipswich #woodbridge #suffolk #riverdeben When people visit it's often difficult to decide where to take them as you don't always know their interests. The couple we were staying with suggested a trip to nearby Woodbridge for a walk around the town and along the river, which sounded a good idea. After eventually finding parking, we walked through the pretty village with a nice range of shops and buildings. Before going down to the river we stopped to use the toilet facilities before continuing on our way. Arriving at the river, Sue thoughtfully decided to help David's fitness routine as she had left her phone in the toilet and he offered to run back to see if it was still there. Fortunately, it was. She tried this another day in Ipswich where she left it in the Museum toilet, he didn't fall for this trick again and we both went back for. Again, she was lucky. It had been handed in, although she had to pass strict security protocols to get it back. Arriving at the river, the tide was out and many of the boats were resting in the mud, several seemed to not have moved for a long time. The building to our left is the Woodbridge Tide Mill which is a rare example of a tide mill whose water wheel still turns and is capable of grinding a wholemeal flour. The mill is a Grade I listed building. Like a lot of the small towns along the local rivers, the landscape is very pretty and we soon enjoyed a walk along its banks. After a short walk , we headed back to the town to get something to eat. Unfortunately, a lot of places were busy and as my wife and I are fussy eaters, this proved difficult, so we headed back to our friend's house for a lunch. A couple of days later, after an enjoyable catch up with the friends, we were moving to a hotel from where we would be meeting up with relatives. As we were passing through Woodbridge again on the way, we decided to stop to eat some sandwiches on the riverside, carefully checking that Sue still had her phone! After sitting in the hot sun for our lunch, we set off for the car, but as we passed the first building there seemed to be an art exhibition in it. Being curious we asked if we could view it. After a gentleman apologised, saying that it was an art club session and not an open gallery, he still said it would be alright to have a look around. Entering there were a wide range of paintings and craftwork by the local artists on show and we spent an interesting time viewing these and talking to him. In the next room the artist met on different days for activities. On this occasion it was a Chinese style painting session, using traditional inks and brushes. This was a nice find and we are always interested to see the work of other art clubs. The Woodbridge group are very lucky that this superb building was donated for this purpose by a benefactor in the past, and although the 27 year lease was up they were now negotiating for it's continued use.
#christchurchmansion #ipswich #suffolk #johnconstable After arranging to visit Ipswich to see friends and family, three years ago, we finally managed it last week. My father's family are from there and we still have relatives around the area, so a visit was arranged. Also, on a holiday a few years ago, we made friends with a lovely couple who lived in the area. The husband was Ipswich born but his wife was from Salford. This gave us a common ground to start a conversation, during the holiday and our friendship grew. Whilst staying with these friends, one place we visited was Christchurch Mansion. Christchurch Mansion is a substantial Tudor brick mansion house built in Ipswich, Suffolk by Edmund Withipoll around 1548–50. The Grade I listed building is located within Christchurch Park and sits by the southern gates close to the town centre of Ipswich. We started by having a quick look at the Constable exhibition, which was an added bonus to the visit, before having an excellent short tour of the house.(The way I like them!) The guide was super and he gave us a brief history of the house, before leaving us to explore the rooms on our own. Several traditional historical portraits were on show, although our personal favourite was one by an artist showing the bus passengers. The artist is sitting in the front row, his wife in the middle from when he first met her and his wife now sitting on the back row. Eventually, we returned to the Constable exhibition for a longer appraisal of the paintings on show. The dark walls helped the paintings to stand out and it was interesting to read the stories behind them. His sketches helped us to understand his working method and there were several of the painting the landscape you associate with him. Many were of the local area as he was born in Suffolk. The one that surprised me most was the large figurative painting as I had never seen this aspect of his work before. There were other paintings by his fellow artists in the area including Gainsborough, who I hadn't realised was born in Sudbury, Suffolk. The final interesting set of paintings showed how art had changed over the years with three paintings from different eras, all of Willy Lott's House. The top one is by John Constable dated 1816. The middle one is by Thomas Churchyard dated 1860 The bottom one is by Simon Carter dated 2013, The top two are in oils the bottom one in acrylic, again showing different working methods. It's interesting to see how styles changed slowly at first before the final one done in very broad brushwork. Which style you like is a personal choice! This was an interesting concept and one I think galleries could investigate further to show how interpretations of local scenes have changed over the years. After a walk around the grounds, that were showing the effect of the local drought, which was a shame as all the plants were suffering, we then visited the nearby Museum where a superb timeline showing the development of the town was on show, before returning to our friends house, to recover from the heat.
#digitaldrawings #ipad #lakegarda #garda On holidays I like to sketch people around the pool or on the beach. Unfortunately at this hotel there were times when hardly anyone was sunbathing and those who were kept moving or didn't stay still long enough for me to sketch. Maybe this was mainly because of the intense heat. Because of this I decided to have a play on my iPad and stylise some of the images I had collected. This was an interesting experiment which I enjoyed. To some extent it reflected a style I used many years ago with some of my precinct studies. I hope you like them. These reflect how people spent there time on the beach, around the pool, on a jetty, and sheltering under an umbrella or tree. I did do a few watercolour sketches but was far from happy with most of these as I couldn't spend enough time on them before the people moved., or the paint dried too quickly.
Grand Dolomites Coach Tour#lakegarda #garda #dolomites #fiemme #fassa #gardenavalleys #pordoipass #sellapass Having used various forms of public transport. we now decided to go on an organised tour by the travel company, because of the distances involved. After being picked up near the hotel, early in the morning, we set off on our journey. After about an hour, we had our first short stop and a chance to grab some breakfast. Soon, we had a photo stop overlooking a pretty lake with the mountain range in the distance. An hour later we approached our next stop for an optional cable car ride up the mountain from Val di Fassa. This involved a drive up the road with 27 hairpin bends. This was not an easy task with motorbikes and cars coming the other way. The expert driver at times had to rely on the tour guide peering round the coach window on her side, to see if anything was coming. I half expected the Top Gear team to be coming down the road as a challenge! The journey to the top only took four minutes and arriving there, we realised we needed our warm clothes as the temperature had dropped considerably, but it was well worth while, as the views were spectacular. After exploring, we descended down on the cable car and decided to have a meal. With limited choice we opted to have a ham burger and apple strudel. The burger was one of the worst we have ever eaten but the strudel was excellent, so we made a pact to eat more desserts in future, in order to play safe! My drawing on the iPad from the days visit. A chance to play with textures.Back on the coach, we only had to negotiate half the turns before heading to our next destination in the Gardena Valley. Here we stopped in the pretty town of Ortisei Sankt Ulrich, where we had time to explore the pretty streets. This valley is famous for it's Winter sports as well as it's woodcarving. We were told that about 300 carvers were working in the valley in the 1880's and this number was about the same today. With this information, it was interesting to see that there was an art gallery exhibiting a range of carvings from more traditional themes to more modern ones. Exploring the rest of the town, it was interesting to see the colourful buildings, some of which had painted scenes on them, as well as a stunning church. We even went into one of the wood carving shops hoping to replace a cuckoo clock that we had bought many years ago and had stopped working, but like most of the items on sale proved very expensive so we gave it a miss. After looking around, it was back to the coach for a long ride back to the hotel. A super day in which we had ideal conditions for the view from the top of the mountain. Next time though,
we would take an extra water for the return journey as the heat in the coach was intense. #Sirmione #GrottediCatullo #malcesine #bardolino #lazise Not being happy just sunbathing nowadays on holiday, we like to explore the area as well. In this case choosing to visit Sirmione by the ferry. A relatively cheap option and a chance to see more of the coastline on the way. Compulsory mask wearing was a farce as everyone put them on to board then immediately removed them. We passed both Bardolino and Lazise on the way and decided if we would like to visit them as well another day. Sirmione was another pretty town and we enjoyed exploring the small streets with interesting shops and squares. One great photo stop was the house covered in Bougainvillea, which I decided to sketch on my iPad. After exploring the town, we decided to explore the old ruined Roman villa on the headland, the Grotte di Catullo, although it would have been cheaper if we were still members of the EU! An interesting site with a fascinating history and great views over the lake. After a hot afternoon exploring, it was back to the ferry which fortunately didn't have any stops on the way back, and we were soon back in Garda. Bus to MalcesineHaving been told about the cable car up the mountain at Malcesnine, this was our next day out and we decided to go by bus as the bus station was near the hotel. Buying the ticket was easy and as soon as the bus arrived we decided to get on the bus. As Sue entered, the driver suddenly decided to close the door and she was lucky not to be hurt when it hit her. There was no apology!. The driver was quite aggressive threatening any one who removed their mask during the journey and generally unpleasant, but we arrived safely. Deciding to go straight to the cable car, we saw there were huge queues. Buying our tickets we were told to join the line thirty minutes before our time slot although, most people seemed to ignore this. After refreshments, we joined the line and managed to get on the cable car after about forty minutes. We then played a game of squash to see how many would fit in. This seemed counter productive having worn a mask on the bus journey but not everyone wearing it here. Arriving at the top, the views were excellent and we spent a couple of hours wandering around the area, before queuing to come down, just as the rain started. It was interesting, as the cable car descended, we noticed that the ones coming up were nearly empty- all about timing it seems. Arriving at the bottom, we decided to have look around the town before heading back and with the sun out we soon dried off. The town was another typical lakeside one with more cobbled streets and shops etc. Another town well worth a visit as was the trip up the mountain. Here I also found an interesting sketch to do on the iPad-One of the many restaurantsA nice walk and another bus tripHaving passed Bardolino on the ferry, we decided to walk there, as it was only forty minutes away. The lakeside promenade made the walk easy and although hot there was some shade. With cafes along the route there was always somewhere to get a drink if needed. This was another typical town with lots of impressive buildings. Bardolino was another interesting town with a large square. At the end of it was a large church and wedding was taking place inside. We took a sneak peak and then met a couple from Yorkshire who wanted a photograph of them standing next to the bridal car! Another day we decided to visit Lazise, further down the lake by bus. As it was a Sunday the ticket office was closed and you had to buy tickets at the machine which wasn't very easy. One young woman, who had four children with he, put the children on the bus and tried to pay the driver by card but he would only take money. She then went to the machine to get tickets there, but this wouldn't work. The bus driver was then going to drive off without her but fortunately it was sorted with no help from the driver. Three interesting days out. Although the towns have some similarities, they all have there own unique characters and are all worth a visit.
#Drago #Garda #lakeGarda #RoccadiGarda #MadonnadelPignBefore visiting a holiday resort, we like to research the area for things to see and do. This includes day trips, sights of interest and artwork. We decided on a few towns along the lake that would be worth a visit and a organised tour. We also like to find local galleries and sculptures. Our daughter likes dragons and seeing there was a sculpture on the seafront this was added to the list. There was also local viewpoint on the mountain but seeing it in the distance we weren't inspired to climb it, although I did manage to do a quick sketch of it in the distance. Dragon QuestAfter a couple of days acclimatising and exploring the area, we set off on our quest to find the elusive beast only to realise that we had passed within yards of it on our evening walks. Also it was only five minutes from our hotel. What to do now! Onwards and UpwardsAfter admiring the sculpture, I had seen a picture of another sculpture, the Madonna del Pign that was just up the road. As we had found the dragon so quickly we decided to wander up the road to find this sculpture. The road climbed steeply out of the centre of town, before going past some small houses and then we came to a sign post. Without realising it, we were already a third of the way up the mountain, at this point it seemed a shame not to continue to the top, as we could see the sculpture later on the way down. This seemed a good idea at the time but the road soon ended and we were then in the forest on a stone lined pathway. This seemed to get steeper and steeper as we went on, although often in the shade it was still very hot and hard going. Exhausted we reached near the top where we saw our first other intrepid explorers resting on benches, which we thought was a good idea. After resting, and yet another steep climb, we were soon at the top and followed the pathway to the viewpoints, which were as impressive as described, looking over Garda and the other side towards Bardolino. Going DownAfter an enjoyable time walking around the top enjoying the views, we set off to go back down the mountain. This proved to be harder than expected as the loose stones and worn smooth rocks made the going precarious and a lot slower than anticipated. We didn't fancy a damaged ankle ruining the rest of the holiday. Eventually, we arrived back at the signpost and decided to walk to the statue, which unfortunately, involved a little more climbing of steps, but it was a nice shaded area to sit and admire the Madonna del Pign. Never Again!Arriving back in the town we treated ourselves to a well deserved drink and ice cream as a reward. We must have been mad to attempt the climb in 32 degrees heat, but the views at the top made it worthwhile.
#LakeGarda #Garda #streets #sunsets #digitaldrawing #iPadHaving just returned from a holiday in Garda here are my first impressions of the town. Garda seems a smaller version of many of the towns around the lake and is an ideal situation to visit some of these by either bus or ferry. The side streets were enjoyable to walk around in the evening with a lively buzz to them. Many of the shops were selling clothes, although many seemed to go to the same supplier. There were a lesser range of retailers selling a variety of items such as Italian leather handbags and jackets, brightly coloured pottery and of course Italian Olive oils and other cooking ingredients. It was nice to see that there weren't shops selling the more tacky souvenirs you find in some holiday resorts. Along the seafront, there was a range of bars and restaurants with stunning views across the lake. Here people spent the evening enjoying food and drink or promenading along the front often with an ice cream in hand. (This is a digital drawing I did of one of the side streets during the day) SunsetsDuring our stay we saw some impressive sunsets which changed every night. Normally, the sea turned a pinkish or orange colour as the sun set behind the distant mountains. On one occasion there was a stunning sky as an approaching storm gathered strength. I did a digital drawing of two of these skies, It was good practice on my iPad. The colours are slightly exaggerated a little, as I was inspired so much by the scenes.
#SaltsMill #Bradford #DavidHockney #AYearInNormandie A few years ago we visited Salts Mill for the first time and enjoyed our visit. Having arranged to go to York Races, as part of my Father in Laws birthday present, we decided to take our daughter to see the exhibitions in the mill on the way.. Having negotiated the route, with a confused Satnav, we finally arrived a little later than we anticipated. Deciding to go to the top floor first before making our way down to the other galleries, we set off. On entering this floor we realised this was a new addition and were impressed with the restoration work undertaken. Here was 'a new 295ft (90m)-long artwork by David Hockney depicting the changing seasons of his French garden in lockdown' Apart from the exhibition space, our daughter wasn't impressed, although having just started experimenting with an iPad I could see how this was an ideal tool for this type of painting. Moving on, we made our way to the next floor where his earlier iPad work was on show as large prints. We liked several of these but still no joy with our daughter. The most impressive work on display though was this industrial landscape made up of tiles depicting local the local area. After an expensive drink and cake we looked around the new shops, that had been added since our last visit. These featured antiques, books, jewellery and clothing etc. The place had certainly been developed since or last visit. Eventually, we reached the ground floor where, as well as books and art materials on sale, a range of Hockney's work over the years was on display. Unfortunately, our daughter still wasn't impressed! A shame we couldn't get her to appreciate his art, considering he was one of our favourite artists. However, I suppose it is not too surprising as she hadn't followed his career as we had done and hadn't seen how his art had developed over the years.
Like a lot of people art is a personal taste and this wasn't hers. |
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