Constable at Petworth

In the summer of 1834 Constable visited Petworth House on two occasions.  The second time he stayed for two weeks and during these visits he sketched and painted many local scenes.  I don't claim to be any kind of expert when it comes to art (in fact I'm no expert at all!) but as the old adage goes 'I know what I like' and what I like are watercolours and this small, but perfectly formed, exhibition delivers.  Petworth is mainly known as the haunt of J.W.M.Turner and Lord Egremont was a generous patron to him and consequently Constable didn't get much of a look in.  There are forty paintings in all and show ordinary life and everyday landscapes in and around Petworth.  Two paintings jumped out at me, mainly because we'd visited these places in the last few days.  'Wicked Hammond's House' a study in pencil, which I instantly recognised as a pub we'd been to the previous night, now going by the name of The Grove Inn and a watercolour of the church at Tillington with it's rather crazy tower. We stayed in the village only a few days ago and had a room with a wonderful view of the church tower, as written about here.  Anyway, I love a good story behind a painting and this one caught my imagination.  Constable made this drawing on the 25th September 1834 and it's now in the collection of the V&A.  The exhibition catalogue  tells of how Constable  made the drawing while on a joint sketching excursion with Charles Robert Leslie, that Leslie records the excursion as follows: “I recollect spending a morning with him, he drawing the outside while I was sketching the interior, of a lonely farmhouse which was the more picturesque from its being in a neglected state, and which a  woman we found in it told us was called ‘wicked Hammond’s house’: a man of that name, strongly suspected of great crimes, having formerly been it’s occupant.  She told us that in an old well in the garden some bones had not long ago been found, which the ‘doctor said were the arm bones of a Christian‘. (Constable at Petworth; Loukes, A; 2014,  National Trust Catalogue).  A story like this really brings a painting to life I think.

{Wicked Hammond's House - Constable 1834}

{Tillington Church - Constable 1834)

 

 

'Constable at Petworth' runs until 14th March 2014 - advisable to book.

 

Letters of Note

I Like Words

I can't tell you how excited I was to open a Christmas present and find one of the most talked about books of Christmas nestling inside the wrapping.  It was of course Letters of Note  that was compiled by Shaun Usher.  The book was born from his successful website of the same name; an on-line museum of correspondence that has had millions of visitors.  The book is a collection of one-hundred plus amusing, inspiring and intriguing letters that range from Virginia Woolf's heart-wrenching suicide letter, a recipe for drop scones from Queen Elizabeth to Eisenhower to Nick Cave's letter to MTV rejecting his nomination for Best Male Artist on the grounds that 'my muse is not a horse...my muse may bolt! May abandon me completely.'  However, I think so far (I'm still a long way from finishing all the letters)my very favourite letter is from copywriter Robert Pirosh to a variety of studio executives asking for a job as a script writer.  Maybe we could all learn something from his creative approach! Here is the letter to whet your appetite...

 (Source: Dear Wit.)

Dear Sir:
I like words. I like fat buttery words, such as ooze, turpitude, glutinous, toady. I like solemn, angular, creaky words, such as straitlaced, cantankerous, pecunious, valedictory. I like spurious, black-is-white words, such as mortician, liquidate, tonsorial, demi-monde. I like suave "V" words, such as Svengali, svelte, bravura, verve. I like crunchy, brittle, crackly words, such as splinter, grapple, jostle, crusty. I like sullen, crabbed, scowling words, such as skulk, glower, scabby, churl. I like Oh-Heavens, my-gracious, land's-sake words, such as tricksy, tucker, genteel, horrid. I like elegant, flowery words, such as estivate, peregrinate, elysium, halcyon. I like wormy, squirmy, mealy words, such as crawl, blubber, squeal, drip. I like sniggly, chuckling words, such as cowlick, gurgle, bubble and burp.

I like the word screenwriter better than copywriter, so I decided to quit my job in a New York advertising agency and try my luck in Hollywood, but before taking the plunge I went to Europe for a year of study, contemplation and horsing around.

I have just returned and I still like words.

May I have a few with you?

It seems that his novel approach was successful as he went on to land a job as a junior scriptwriter with MGM and in 1949 he won an Academy Award for his 'Battleground' script. 

This book gives such a wonderful insight into peoples lives, motivations, highs and lows.  For me, it is the book of 2013.

image: book

Days Out (From London) - Rye

Last week I escaped humid London for a mini-break down on the South Coast.  I stayed here and wrote about it here.  But this isn't about the hotel I stayed in, or even the wonderful beach a mere 400m away, but about the picturesque town of Rye.

Rye is one of the Cinque Ports that was established by Royal Charter in 1155 to maintain ships for the Crown should they be needed.  Rye is perched on a hill, overlooking the River Rother and Romney Marsh, so was well placed to perform its role as look-out and defender of the coast. This ancient town is the sort of place you thought existed only in your imagination; with its enchanting cobbled streets, medieval church and beautifully preserved historic houses from medieval, Tudor and Georgian times, Rye is almost suspended in time and has a uniquely unhurried atmosphere. 

Although small, Rye has plenty of attractions for the day visitor, from it's cobbled streets and timbered houses, to small boutiques and historic landmarks.  Down by the estuary as you come into Rye there are  a variety of Antique and bric-a-brac shops, selling everything from vintage kitchen paraphenalia to furniture and garden implements.  I spent a very happy hour down there, coming away with some gorgeously heavy, silver plate cutlery. 

For the literary minded, Rye comes up trumps, for amongst its illustrious inhabitants, once lived E.F.Benson, famous for his Mapp and Lucia books. He resided near the church in Lamb House.  Close by lived the author Henry James.  If you wander round the side of the Medieval church, complete with it's original bell-tower you will find the wonderful Tiny Book Store.  It really is tiny, but well stocked with a wide variety of second-hand books. A browsers dream.

You can do a lovely circular walk, beginning at the base of the town, up the cobbled streets and past the Mermaid Inn.  Take in the old castle and views out towards the sea, before looking round the old church and a browse in the book shop.  You finish your walk with an amble down the main high street with it's coffee shops and independent retailers.  Check out Violetta Boutique, a gorgeous parfumery/apothecary shop on the main drag.

Although I stayed nearby, you can easily 'do' Rye from London in a day.  It takes about an hour and a half to get down there - try the A21, it's not as quick as the motorway, but takes in the English countryside in all it's glory.

Fiction Friday - Beach Reads (2)

My criteria for beach reads was covered here.  As well as a few light fiction reads, I also want something to think about and takes me out of my comfort zone.  Well, this book, Pythagoras: His Lives and the Legacy of a Rational Universe certainly did that!

Kitty Ferguson's clear-eyed passion for her subject makes this account of the little we know of Pythagoras's life approachable and readable, although why a theorem that had been proposed long before Pythagoras put his name to it was finally attributed to him remains caught in the "hinge of legend and history". (Lesley McDowell, The Independent)  I didn't know a lot about Pythagoras, and throughout school struggled with his theorem.  It might have helped to have read this book then!  It certainly gave me food for thought.

I talked about my love-affair with the films of Nora Ephron here and so decided I should read something she'd written other than her only novel, Heartburn.  I turned to her hilariously poignant collection of reflections, I Remember Nothing and other reflections.  Filled with insights and acute observations that hit hard, it is written in her own inimitable style and had me snorting out loud at some of her more outrageous (but true) reflections on life.

 Ephron writes about falling hard for a way of life (“Journalism: A Love Story”) and about breaking up even harder with the men in her life (“The D Word”); lists “Twenty-five Things People Have a Shocking Capacity to Be Surprised by Over and Over Again” (“There is no explaining the stock market but people try”; “Cary Grant was Jewish”; “Men cheat”); reveals the alarming evolution, a decade after she wrote and directed You’ve Got Mail, of her relationship with her in-box (“The Six Stages of E-Mail”); and asks the age-old question, which came first, the chicken soup or the cold? All the while, she gives candid, edgy voice to everything women who have reached a certain age have been thinking . . . but rarely acknowledging. 

My final beach read for 2012 was If You Want to Write by Barbara Ueland.  This has been recommended to me SO many times over the last year that it was a must.  Although it was originally written in 1938, it contains good advice for would-be-writers, including the mantra that everyone is talented and original and has something to say.  That's a good starting point for any writer I reckon!  She takes a lot of her inspiration from William Blake and ends with 12 points for the writer to keep in mind.  She talks a lot of sense and I know this is one book I'll be going back to over and over, dipping in and out of it as the need arises.

Monochromatic Paris

It's always good to spread a bit of social love and today I want to share with you a blog that I truly admire.  Blogged by Nichole Robertson, she takes the most fantastic photographs of Paris, themed according to colour.  It's always so great to see a fabulous blogger take their work further, as she has done with her book Paris in Colour.  Just to whet your appetite take a look at these:

All these pictures are available from her shop found through her blog littlebrownpen.These arenot the only three sets available; you can choose from other monochromatic prints in green, grey, purple, red, white, black and orange.  The difficulty is in choosing just one set!

Bonjour

Bonjour mes amies...Hope you've all had a wonderful weekend. Here's some Frenchy things to get you in the mood!

I totally love macaroons and these ones would hit the spot instantly...I don't know which one I want to try first..Saffron with chocolate ganache?  Pistachio with orange flower cream or Black tea with marmalade...Which one would you choose?

*image credit: thisisglamorous

Simpson's-in-the-Strand

Simpson's-in-the-Strand is one of London's most historic landmark restaurants.  I visited it recently to celebrate a family birthday with cocktails in its Knights Bar.  Swinging into it's grand hallway is like going back one hundred years to a time when gentlemen smoked in private and the ladies dressed to please.  It's interior has a gloom that reeks of old British values, but gloomy it isn't.  You leave behind the manic bustle of the Strand and find yourself in a quiet and dignified British oasis that belongs to a different era.

Simpson's opened it's doors in 1828 as a chess club and coffee house called  'The Grand Cigar Divan' and soon gained a reputation for being the 'home of chess', attracting top players,including Howard Staunton, the first English world chess champion.  Momentoes from its days as a chess haven can be seen throughout the building.

The Grand Divan restaurant serves fine British ingredients served in typical British fashion, including the best beef and lamb that is wheeled to the tables in antique silver domes and cut at the table.  This practice originates from the days of chess when they didn't want to disturb the chess players.

The Knights Bar on the first floor is a beautiful nod to the arts deco movement.  It possesses a quiet glamour that demands cocktails and we were only too happy to oblige with a perfectly made Whiskey Sour, a raspberry mocktail, G&T and French Martini. 

Going to Simpson's is like stepping back in time - glamourous, timeless, epitomising all that is Britishness at its best; I can't wait to go back - for dinner!

Nora, Nora...

Along with many, many others, I'm mourning the passing of a wonderful writer, Nora Ephron.  I first came to know her through the film version of her only novel, Heartburn. How I loved that film!  It came out just as I finished at University and I remember watching it over and over and over; Carly Simon's haunting voice the backdrop for the breakdown of a marriage.  A truly talented writer, she wrote or co-wrote many of my favourite films including Sleepless in Seattle, You've Got Mail and When Harry Met Sally;  I'm still searching for the high that I got when I first saw When Harry Met Sally.  She had a knack for tapping into the universal themes of love and loss, happiness and grief and the extremes of emotion that go with them, not least the black humour.. one of my favourite lines from Heartburn being when Meryl Streep (playing the wife of cheating Jack Nicholson!)began to spread the lie that Nicholson's lover "Thelma Rice has herpes"..oh what sweet revenge!
More recently she wrote her infamous lists: what I will miss and what I won't.  Diagnosed with leukaemia I can only guess that these lists were her way of dealing with the inevitable and she did it in her own inimitable way.  She said she wouldn't miss emails, bras, mammograms or dead flowers, but would miss the christmas tree, Paris, dinner for just the two of us, taking a bath and reading in bed.  It strikes me as wholly appropriate that these things are such simple pleasures; for in life, as in print, she and her characters celebrated the simple, universal things that touch us all.

We'll miss you Nora...

I leave you with a clip from my favourite film, currently winging it's way to me from Amazon

What was your favourite Ephron film?

Fiction Friday

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry first came to my attention with a recommendation by this Sunday Times columnist.  I like her novels and I find her funny; I also trust her judgement when it comes to reading, so when she raved about it I was quick to download it onto my kindle.  It didn't disappoint.  Joyce's novel began life as a radio play in 2006, when her father was diagnosed with cancer "it was a way of trying to keep him alive". 

The book begins by introducing the main character Harold Fry and his wife as he receives a letter from Queenie Hennessy, telling him that she has cancer and not long to live.  Queenie and Harold were work colleagues but hadn't been in touch for many years.  Harold was moved by her letter and quickly penned a short reply, setting off to post it on foot at the post box at the bottom of the street.  Instead of just posting the letter, he decides that he will walk to visit Queenie (in Berwick-on-Tweed) and he sets off on his Bunyanesque journey, convinced that as long as she knows he is coming, she will continue to live.  He passes through many towns and cities, Exeter, Warwick, Darlington, and he writes to Queenie "I am on my way. All you have to do is wait. Because I'm going to save you. I will keep walking, and you must keep living."  For Harold, the act of walking becomes an act of faith.  Along the way, as he atones for his mistakes, he meets a random cross-section of life and the people who inhabit it; It is a novel that touches on grief - Rex their neighbour who is coming to terms with the death of his wife - "I miss her all the time. I know in my head that she has gone. the only difference is that I am getting used to the pain. It's like discovering a great hole in the ground. To begin with, you forget it's there and keep falling in. After a while, it's still there, but you learn to walk round it."  But it's also a novel about hope and the ability of the human spirit to persuade the body to turn something normal like walking, into a courageous and redeeming act.  If you want to feel good, this is a book that will help you get there...

Close the Coalhouse Door - A Review

So, I promised you more about my theatre visit on Saturday...I went to see 'Close the Coalhouse Door' at Richmond Theatre.  It's currently on tour as a collaboration between Northern Stage and Live Theatre.  It started it's life in Newcastle, and although I'm a Geordie girl, sadly I couldn't make it up home to see it, so had to watch it with a lot of other fellow Geordie exiles down south.  I inadvertently booked matinee tickets for Saturday and was worried that there would be hardly anybody in the theatre - I mean, a play about the pits and miners, in Richmond, one of the richest suburbs in London?  Mmmmn.  I was wrong.  The theatre was practically full - and lively!  One deep voiced Geordie voicing his opinions and laughter freely throughout!! 
Written by Alan Plater, music and songs by Alex Glasgow and based on the books of Sid Chaplin, I have more reason than most to reiterate the lines from the play "it might be history to some people, to us it's family, pet" as Sid was my Grandad, a writer and also a miner.  Sid wrote about the things that meant the most to him - family, the mines, people's livelihoods and politics and Close the Coalhouse Door manages to visit all of these as it meanders it's way through the history of the pits as seen through the eyes of a couple celebrating their golden wedding.  Lee Hall (of Pitman Painters fame)has brought it up to date, as now of course, there are no working pits in the north-east, and I for one thought he did a great job.  As I watched and listened I became again, the 7-year-old who watched it for the first time with my Grandad and Grandma beside me.  I was filled with great pride, not only for the artistic endeavours of the people involved, but also for the grit and determination of the Geordie stock, of which I am proud to be part of.

If you'd like to catch this play - and I recommend it wholeheartedly - then it's off to Salford, Huddersfield, Guildford, Durham, Oxford and York.  Here's a taster of what to expect - the only thing missing is the brass band that took part in the original back in 1968.

Ballerina Chic

 

There is something so graceful and compelling about the look of a classic ballerina; the posture, the slim limbs, enviable figure and the hard to put to bed myth of glamour and style. We all know the reality is actually somewhere inbetween this image and the life of a ballerina as portrayed in Black Swan. As a child I really wanted to be a ballerina; I loved the book Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfield, fancying myself as Pauline Fossil. It wasn't to be. It turns out I had two left feet, I was too tall and too clumsy to even last a month in my class. I got over it...but I have never quite got over my fascination with the ballet world and the ballet look. I love wrap cardigans and ballet shoe flats; I can stare forever at pictures of ballerina's and a trip to the ballet is one of my rare pleasures.

Rehearsing in the studio

Graceful lines and beautiful precision of hand placement

 

Natural beauty

Swan Lake - a favourite

What's your favourite ballet or cultural activity?

Anthony Gormley

I've always been more drawn to sculpture than to painting - maybe because it just seems more accessible in some way and there is one modern sculptor that I love more than most - Anthony Gormley.  AG is probably best known for his 'Angel of the North' that sits in Low Fell, watching over the A1 and A167 and the East Coast Main Line track north.

A few years back I applied to be one of the many models that he needed for 'Domain Field' that was to show at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead (the building a work of art in itself - the original 'Baltic Flour Mill' on the Tyne).  Sadly I didn't get to take part as I wasn't living in Newcastle at the time.  Since then I've met him (once)where I famously told him he had great legs (well, he does model most of his casts on his own body!!) and visited many of his exhibitions wherever possible.  These are some of my favourites to date:


Crosby Beach - Liverpool





Havvman - Arctic Circle City, Norway




Exposure - Lelystadt, Netherlands




6 Times - Water of Leith, Scotland




'Inside' - Australia




'Place of Remembrance' - Oslo, Norway




'Another Place'  Liverpool



His exhibition 'Horizon' that was in London some years ago, then moving to Manhattan, really made an impact on me.  Whichever direction you looked, from the South Bank Centre in London, high on a skyline, looking back were lifesize figures perched ominously on the edge of buildings; it made me uncomfortable, almost like I was being watched, or as if I was watching some personal drama being played out.


'Horizon' - London

To finish - a video clip



Utterly lovely

Very recently I was helping clear out some boxes of books that had been left at school and I came across some books that I had read, and loved, as a child.  The Little Grey Rabbit books by Alison Uttley were a staple in our house, with their beautiful illustrations and well-told tales.  Seeing them brought a wave of nostalgia and a particular memory of my sister and dad sitting together reading them as I listened.  There's been a bit of a debate about the origins of the 'grey' rabbit and one editor claims it was because she wore a grey dress; others claim it was because when Alison was a child, she would have seen grey rabbits at that time in her garden, although a rare sighting elsewhere, were quite common at that time in that area.  There is something so reassuring that even today, these books are being read and enjoyed by children everywhere (and by some grown-ups too!!).

Next time I'm home, I'm going up in the loft to see if I can find my old copies for a trip down memory lane.

Ladies Day!

Today is International Women's Day, marking the economic, political and social achievements of women throughout the world.  Here are some shocking facts to ponder!

• Women own 1% of the world's property. ONE PER CENT.
• Only 19% of the world's parliamentary seats are held by women.
• 1 in 4 women are the victims of domestic violence. ONE IN FOUR
• Women do 66% of the world's work, yet only earn 10% of the world's income. (??!!??!!)

And one particularly close to my heart: Every year in the UK alone 30,000 women lose their jobs because they are pregnant.

THIRTY THOUSAND WOMEN LOSE THEIR JOBS BECAUSE THEY ARE PREGNANT. 

It got me thinking about women the world over and especially about my own daughter and what I wish for her; her economic, social and cultural stability and development; so, I've asked a few dads (I'm the exception!) what they wish for their daughters and this is what they said:

Andy (Dad to Martha)
In reality I'm not actually concerned with what she becomes or what she does ... I'm concerned about why she does it. I'm concerned that she develops the ability to follow her dreams and make good choices along the way. I want her to have clarity not confusion, to distinguish genuine from fake. I also want her to be brave, to stare down her fears with a cold resolve and see them crumble before her eyes.
And if you want that summarised neatly, then look no further than the greatest of writers, Charles Dickens:
"Take nothing on its looks; take everything on evidence. There's no better rule"
If that's the person she becomes then she'll be happy ... and so will I.

Stephen (Dad to Ellie and Freya)
Three things:

 Self-confidence and humility - self-belief makes it possible for an individual to achieve anything. It’s the antidote to fear and anxiety. Add a degree of humility and it makes for an incredibly powerful quality in any individual.

 Passion - I hope that they discover a personal passion for a subject and that they’re lucky enough for that to become a way of earning a living.

 Good health – as I head into my 40s I’ve become acutely aware that life is very short.

Tris (Dad to Natasha)
A world in which my daughter can flourish unhindered and be granted the success she desires, whether that be personal, academic or career.  Today's world has changed by magnitudes since I was a child - those days saw a masculine dominated world where there were few choices for women.  Nowadays there are more choices and a fairer playing field, but I feel that the full extent of opportunity is still harder to find for women.
Hopefully by the time Natasha leaves school, or university, opportunities will be equal, based on the individual.  I would like Natasha to live in a rich environment based on family values which, coupled with a more equal society will see the world in which Natasha's future lies, thrive.

and last but not least..my own message to my daughter:

I wish you boldness and courage to follow your dreams; dare to dream big and know that you can achieve anything you want. Be passionate and focused, have integrity and compassion, self-confidence and humility; above all, find joy in the small things of life as well as the great; and laugh - a lot.

What do you want for the women in your lives?

The Mad March Hare

The Hare Mycomusicologist Clock (from The Hermitage)

I always wondered where the idea for the Mad March Hare came from and I guess it's something to do with their rather abnormal, or should we say, over zealous, mating behaviour in March; behaviour that is out of the ordinary (I mean, do Hare's box with each other at any other time?!!!).  Anyway, I never knew where the phrase 'hare lip' came from and always assumed it was named after the Dr who devised the surgery to correct it, or something like that..but I prefer this old legend that talks about the Hare in the moon

and the moon in anger, heating a stone that then burned the Hare's mouth, causing like Shakespeare's Flibbertigibbet a 'hare lip'. 

"This is the foul fiend Flibbertigibbet: he begins

at curfew, and walks till the first cock; he gives

the web and the pin, squints the eye, and makes the

hare-lip; mildews the white wheat, and hurts the

poor creature of earth."

King Lear | Act III, scene IV

and to end, a poem by Walter de la Mare

In the black furror of a field

I saw an old witch-hare this night;
And she cocked a lissome ear,
And she eyed the moon so bright,
And she nibbled of the green;
And I whispered "Whsst! witch-hare,"
Away like a ghostie o’er the field
She fled, and left the moonlight there.on hare witchery...

Wishing you all a happy and mad March...