[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":11},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-post-pottering-around-piccadilly":3},{"_type":4,"body":5,"bodyHtml":6,"excerpt":5,"featuredImage":5,"publishedAt":7,"slug":8,"tags":9,"title":10},"blogPost",null,"Last week, I took my Glasgow Auntie's advice and popped into the \u003Cb>Royal Academy\u003C/b> before the \u003Ca href=\"http://jabberworks.livejournal.com/351561.html\">Random House party\u003C/a> to see \u003Ca href=\"http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibitions/glasgow-boys/\">The Glasgow Boys\u003C/a> exhibition. I'd seen bits of it with her \u003Ca href=\"http://jabberworks.livejournal.com/254503.html\">last year\u003C/a> at the Kelvingrove in Glasgow, so it was fun to pick up where I'd left off. \u003Ci>...Oops, can't say that, my aunt has firmly instructed me not to say that art galleries are 'fun'; they are not 'fun', they are 'interesting'. ...Hello, Auntie!\u003C/i>\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/glasgowboys1-1-43aace81ec.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nI stopped to make a sketch of a rather strange little painting, \u003Ci>Contrabandista\u003C/i>, by \u003Ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Melville\">Arthur Melville\u003C/a>. It's mostly composed of shapes, so abstract that it's a bit difficult to work out what's going on, which makes it sinister in a fascinating way. I can just about make out a convoy of people travelling down a hill slope on a track, with a sort of mushroom cloud on the horizon; then these huge bluey shadows blot out the foreground, most likely a group of bandits, standing at the top of another hill. Very different from the other paintings in the room; portraits, women playing tennis, a goose herder, a couple arts-and-crafts type scenes from Celtic mythology.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/glasgowboys_sketch-df81e30b68.jpg\">\\r\n\u003C!--more More under the cut-->\\r\nI love the strange light in this 1886 painting by \u003Ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Nairn\">James Nairn\u003C/a>, \u003Ci>Auchenhew, Arran\u003C/i>. I wish I could paint atmospheres like this, it's such a different skill from the kind of work I do. The cottages in it remind me a bit of one of my favourite films, set in a remote Danish fishing village, called \u003Ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babette%27s_Feast\">\u003Ci>Babette's Feast\u003C/i>\u003C/a>. (It's more fun to say with a Danish lilt, \u003Ci>Babettes Gaestebud\u003C/i>.)\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/glasgowboys3-1-7191b7423e.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nI often walk up Jermyn Street, and Paxton & Whitfield was looking lovely with a dusting of snow. I'm particularly fond of this shop because it appears in a book of lithographs by \u003Cb>Eric Ravilious\u003C/b> titled \u003Ca href=\"http://web.mac.com/bannisterdavid/iWeb/Site%202/Images.html#IMAGES/\">\u003Ci>High Street\u003C/i>\u003C/a>. It's quite a rare book now, but I have a facsimile version, which is one of my treasured possessions.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/ravilious_paxton-4bddaf887c.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd Fortnum & Mason looks even more amazing at Christmas than the rest of the year. Yum, yum.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/fortnummason-337752117c.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nThe other day, before I went for \u003Ca href=\"http://the-solitary-bee.blogspot.com/2010/12/pull-out-all-stops.html\">dinner with Philip Reeve\u003C/a>, I popped over to see \u003Ca href=\"http://www.chrisbeetles.com\">Chris Beetle\u003C/a> and the launch of a book about the creator of \u003Cb>Dan Dare\u003C/b>, \u003Ca href=\"http://www.frankhampson-tomorrowrevisited.co.uk/\">\u003Ci>Frank Hampson: Tomorrow Revisited\u003C/i>\u003C/a> by \u003Cb>Alistair Crompton\u003C/b>. Lovely colour prints inside. I haven't grown up with Dan Dare, but my dad loved reading it, and I like the look of it; more adventure story than superhero. I might have to do some catching up with Dan Dare. My friend \u003Ca href=\"http://www.devicefonts.co.uk\">Rian Hughes\u003C/a> drew Dan Dare for awhile, and his book has a similar title, \u003Ca href=\"http://forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blog/2007/rian-hughes-yesterdays-tomorrows/\">\u003Ci>Yesterday's Tomorrows\u003C/i>\u003C/a>.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/chrisbeetle-7584537a98.jpg\">\\r\n\u003Ci>Chris Beetle with Frank Hampson: Tomorrow Revisited, Alistair Compton\u003C/i>\\r\n\\r\nLinks: Have you seen, my fab friend \u003Cb>Hayley Campbell\u003C/b> just started up \u003Ca href=\"http://hayleycampbell.com/\">her own blog\u003C/a>! She makes marvellous observations and has such a way with words, and particularly hashtags, which you may have already discovered \u003Ca href=\"http://twitter.com/#!/search/hayleycampbelly\">on Twitter\u003C/a>. Go over to her blog and say hello.\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/hayley1-dd6a056e04.jpg\">\\r\n\u003Ci>Hayley Campbell & my neighbour friend\u003C/i>\\r\n\\r\nAnd at Ellen's party, I finally met comics creator and illustrator \u003Ca href=\"http://www.juliascheele.co.uk\">Julia Scheele\u003C/a>. I'm bookmarking her site here because I want to spend more time exploring her work. (You can also follow her \u003Ca href=\"http://twitter.com/#!/juliascheele\">on Twitter\u003C/a>.)\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/ellenluau_10-3c01976e09.jpg\">\\r\n\u003Ci>Julia Scheele and Neville Coleman (wearing Jamie Smart's shirt design)\u003C/i>","2010-12-07T09:20:00.000Z","pottering-around-piccadilly",[],"pottering around piccadilly",1776628719288]