City Views, Country Dreams

Good morning from New York.

What a busy time I have had in the past week since returning from my holiday.  I've had to fit quite a few actions and attentions into allotted time, while trying to retain all my memories of the relaxing, energizing and inspiring vacation.

Around this time of the year I've often done some posts about Halloween and the New York City Marathon, but this year I am going to return to my holiday reporting.

Let's see, where was I?

One of the benefits of being a Tate friend/member is having access to a room and a balcony terrace on a top floor of the Tate Modern building.  The view is obviously rather spectacular.

In fact, once I had been reminded of the existence of the still fairly new suspension pedestrian bridge linking the two banks of the Thames, I decided that I must join the others headed towards St. Paul's.

The fact that the weather was clearing encouraged my decision.

Here is a view from one bridge looking east toward some other bridges, and other architectural features.

Lots of other folks were taking photos along our stroll.  As I was exiting the bridge, I decided to take the following photo of various reflections in the windows of a building just to the right of the bridge.  Perhaps I was still thinking about the "gradations" that Klee used in many of his watercolor paintings.

All my holiday time was not spent in London.  Early on one Monday morning I set off from the South Kensington tube station for a journey to Shropshire.

The South Ken station looks different, very different, from the NYC subways stations through which I usually commute.  We don't see much natural light or many hanging plants.

My train journey to Ludlow required me to make a transfer in Newport.  I was in Wales!

I was tempted to hop on that pretty blue train, but knew that my ticket to ride listed a different destination.

As the train neared Ludlow, my gazing through the train car's windows showed me that I would have a very soggy arrival.  I began to wonder about the strength of my little umbrella, and the length of the walk from the Ludlow train station to my historic hotel, The Feathers.

I was right to worry.  Not only did the open station platform provide rain; stiff winds were also part of the menu.  Up the hill I walked, umbrella swaying over my head.

How grand to finally reach my hotel, receive a warm welcome, dry off a bit in my cozy room, and within a half-hour, have the immense pleasure of meeting one of my very favorite blogging friends, known to you all as Friko.

I'd been looking forward to actually meeting Friko for many years, and she truly brought me such happiness on that very dark and rainy day.  I am so grateful to her for getting her own elegant self a bit wet driving in to Ludlow to meet me.

We had a leisurely, chatty lunch at the hotel while keeping an eye on the weather, hoping that the rain would lighten up enough to venture outdoors.  Friko knows Ludlow very well, and I definitely wanted to have her show me around this beautiful ancient yet modern town.

Thank goodness, the weather gods heard our plea and the rain withdrew to drizzle status, and so we were able to take a wonderful walk up and down hilly roads and see beautiful old buildings and note how Ludlow is more than a museum.  It is a functioning contemporary market town.  Not every market town has a castle like Ludlow's!

I am so delighted that Friko and I had this opportunity to get to know each other much better, and am already looking forward to getting together again whenever we may next find each other on the same side of the Atlantic.

The above photo was taken from one of the old windows of my hotel,  and shows a view of rush hour in Ludlow on a drizzly afternoon.

The following photograph shows Ludlow on the next morning.  The sky was clearing, but more precipitation seemed likely.  On a clear day, there would actually be a view of distant hills beyond those bunting flags.

I was hopeful that by midday the air would be dry.  I was to meet some more friends for lunch, and hoped for another fine walk around Ludlow.

I will be writing about that get together in my next post.  

My New York schedule now demands that I leave my laptop and Ludlow memories so that I can get myself to an appointment with my dentist.

Thank you for your visits and your comments.  I will endeavor to reply to your comments and questions as time permits.

City Views, Country Dreams

Good morning from New York.

As I began to look through the photographs I took during my visit to the United Kingdom, I realized that there are too many for just one post.  I also realized how many more places and friends I could have seen if only I could have stayed at least one more week.  I do hope that those of you whom I just could not manage to meet up with this time will forgive me.  Perhaps 2014 will provide me with more travel opportunities.

And with that introduction, please allow me to show you some of what I recently saw and did.  My London base was the Rembrandt Hotel, where I have stayed on many prior holiday visits.  It's in a very convenient location and the staff are wonderful.

I was assigned a room over one of the little balconies like those you can see in the above photograph, and so my view was of the magnificent Victoria and Albert Museum, just over the road.

I am a great fan of the V&A and, as a member, was able to visit not only the beautiful permanent collection galleries, but also several of the special exhibits.  One was Club to Catwalk: London Fashion in the 1980s; the other was Masterpieces of Chinese Painting.  They could not have been more different, and I am delighted to have been able to see them both.

While in London, I visited several other museums, including the Tate Britain and Tate Modern.  On my way to the Tate Britain, I came across some acrobatic tree trimmers, working without a net.  I admired their bravery, but wondered about how the trees might have felt about their winter haircuts.

If you see what I mean.  Lots of noisy mulching was also going on.

The Tate Britain is in the midst of some external maintenance, and so it was necessary to enter via the side door.  My mission was to see the L. S. Lowry exhibit, with its many depictions of the life of workers during the time of the industrial revolution.  One of my British friends calls Lowry an acquired taste, and it is true that what he depicted is not always pretty, but it does seem true.

Back to the V&A, where I made wonderful use of the cafe for many lunches and afternoon cakes and coffee.  Unfortunately, although the weather was mostly fine, the interior open courtyard was closed to the public as some exhibition-related work was underway.

The following picture shows my little journal book on the window seat overlooking the courtyard.  It was a fine place to sit and make some notes of my daily experiences.

Not all of my art observation occurred in museums.  I am a fan of the artists who've been using spray paints to decorate various walls in the East End.  This is done with the approval of the owners of the walls.

And this one.

And this view of a very grand bird and an octopus hybrid.

On Hanford Street, I came upon three fellows who were working on adjacent paintings.  Only the fellow on the right of the following photograph was making use of a mask over his nose and mouth.  He was also using a ladder.

 It takes quite a while to complete these works.

Apparently, these wall paintings are now being subjected to curatorial interest.  True.

The photo below shows another artist beginning to sketch in his design from a sketch on paper he's holding in his left hand.

I am a great fan of the warm hospitality and wonderful traditional food served at the E. Pellicci restaurant at 332 Bethnal Green Road.  I would recommend this place to any of you who enjoy a welcoming atmosphere.

I first became aware of Pellicci's and other East End locations via the excellent Spitalfields Life blog, written by the Gentle Author.

It was my great pleasure on this London trip to be able to attend the launch party for the Gentle Author's newest book.  The launch was held in the remarkably beautiful Christ Church.  It was a grand event. Those of you all who do not yet know the wonders of  the Spitalfields Life  posts will benefit from a visit.

During the launch, I got to meet many folks who've been written about in the Gentle Author's posts.

One of these folks  is Barn the Spoon, who maintains a tiny shop at 260 Hackney Road.  It is pictured below just behind the traffic light.

Barn is a very talented craftsman, and I am now the proud owner of a sycamore wooden spoon that is definitely a one of a kind creation.  Isn't it splendid?  I would greatly recommend any of you who treasure well made objects and those who make them make a visit to Barn, Friday through Tuesday, 10 to 5.

Just to prove I can take some touristy photographs, here is a view of a red bus and a lamp post.

And this would be Trafalgar Square.

And strangely, this would also be a view in Trafalgar Square.  The plinth gets lots of things landing on it over the years.

Corporate designers are taking tips from those adventurous aerosol spray painters.  The amber leaves are not real.

 The artwork in the following photo may be found in the Rough Trade Records shop in the old Truman Brewery building off Brick Lane.  It was created by Robson Cezar from many, many bottle caps.

I did not spend all my time in London.  In my next post I'll be showing some places a bit further afield.  Hoping you will enjoy this initial holiday report and will keep an eye out for more to come.

Please note that some of the links I wish to add to this post are not currently operating...I will return later today to see if I can get them up and running.

Update...I have been able to correctly set the link to the Spitalfields Life post.

Good morning from New York.

Yes, it's been a while since my last post.  Things got busy here in New York, and then ... I went on a wonderful trip to the United Kingdom.  

The above photo is of the NYC subway station under Bryant Park at the corner of 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue.  There is quite a slant.

I promise to show you all lots of the beautiful places that I visited across the Pond in my next post.  It might actually take two posts!

Meanwhile thank you for checking in here.

City Views, Country Dreams

Good evening from New York.

A brief thunderstorm has just cleared the air of some of the heat and humidity that clung to this city for most of the day.  The cooler air is so welcome.

It is like a late day gift on this day, my birthday.  Long time readers of my posts already know that the eve of my birthday has a history-marking date. 

We New Yorkers cannot possibly ignore the significance of the eleventh of September, yet I do try to let my own personal day be a time for celebration.

Valerie Greeley, the wonderful artist who posts as acornmoon, recently offered a giveaway ... and I was the winner of a gift certificate from Novica.  I selected a beautiful woven cotton shoulder bag from Thailand.  It arrived last week and I am delighted with this colorful, useful bag.  Thank you again, Valerie! 

Although I would have loved to have had a late beginning to this birthday morning, fate intervened.  My apartment building's management posted an announcement a few days ago that all our water would be be shut off today from 9 to 5.  This would allow the basement boiler that heats the water and radiators to be readied for chilly weather that will arrive in a month.  

I did not take this warning personally, particularly since I had an invitation to a members preview of a wonderful new exhibit at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.  Not only would this invite grant me entry to a beautiful show; it would also grant me access to all the Met's features, including running water, hot and cold.

And so, not long after 9 a.m., I set off on the crosstown bus to East 82nd Street and the Met.

The show is a beauty!  I do love textiles, but would recommend it to folks who truly don't know much about fabrics, warps, wefts, resist printing, ikat, etc.  

The exhibit is titled Interwoven Global, and it attempts to show the visitor how ships sailing around the globe in the 1500's, 1600's, 1700's, and thereafter allowed artists, craftspersons and patrons to experience cross-pollination.  It's a feast!

Ages ago, in a prior professional life, I was an archivist at the Met, and therefore, am still a bit aware of the rules and regs of various bits around the museum.  As I began my slow stroll through this magnificent exhibit, I asked a museum guard if photography was okay...since it seemed that most of the textiles on display were from the Met's own collections.  She said that she'd taken time to check and that yes was the answer.

And that is how I happened to take take these not so wonderful photos in the subdued light of the exhibition's galleries.

How I hope that those of you who do live within reasonable traveling distance from NYC will be able to visit this show.

Do you see the scary face on this warrior's jacket?  Do you also see the completely non-plussed museum viewer under the arm?  It is all in the context.

This is a large show, that begins with textiles from lands far away from the European trading countries that sent their ships across oceans seeking treasures and trading opportunities in faraway lands.

What becomes apparent, little by little is the way that these various cultures began to infiltrate each other, and influence both demand from patrons, and supply via talented weavers, embroiderers, printers, and other artists and artisans.  The traders, of course, were important players in this inter-weaving.

It's quite amusing when viewing some of the textiles to see the iconography of differing cultures appearing intermingled in the designs.

As I was taking my last photo, I was approached by a very gracious museum guard who advised me that in the hour since I'd entered the exhibit, he and his colleagues had been visited by their security supervisor and told that No Photographs Would Be Allowed.  And so, dear readers, the photos you see in the post could not now be taken without breaking the Met's rules.

Timing favored me and my Canon, even if I did not take very good photographs.

Leaving this fine textile show, I took the designated elevator up to the roof of the Met.  Every summer a particular artist is commissioned to create a piece just for the roof space.  The Met is on the eastern edge of Central Park, and so this rooftop space serves not just as a outdoor gallery, but also as a marvelous viewing point for anyone wanting to see the treetops of the Park and the skyscrapers at the Park's edges.

The weather was becoming more and more opaque as humidity and temperature signaled a storm arriving.  A perfect time to visit the roof and see what artist Imran Qureshi had painted on the concrete surface of the space.

To my eye, this mainly monochromatic linear painting had floral motifs.  Chrysanthemums, or dahlias, perhaps.  There was also an echo of the henna hand painting tradition.  The following photo shows an area where the floor painting continues up the side of the surrounding concrete wall.  I think that this photo also reads as a two-dimensional image, with a horizon line.

Here I show you a view of the floor at my feet, indicating how the petals extend across the squares of concrete.  Like a chalk drawing on a sidewalk, perhaps?  You will also see a few white painted accents.

My eye was also drawn to the periphery of the roof garden watching the clouds over the southwestern views change as the forecast storm sped up its arrival.

I could not resist taking this photo featuring a few folks walking about, just to give you an idea of the scale of the commissioned art.

The Met has thoughtfully provided some shady spaces on the roof, and also a refreshment stand offering rather expensive beverages and snacks for art lovers who do not find the views sufficient sustenance.  I could not resist taking a picture of this blossoming vine on a very old-fashioned trellis in the midst of this very au courant exhibit.

After leaving the museum, I boarded a Fifth Avenue bus headed downtown, on my way to meet a friend who treated me to delicious Italian pastry and cappuccino.  Thank goodness that bus ride provided good shelter and a good view of the heavy rain storm that occurred mid-trip.

The pastry was fabulous.  The company was fabulous.  By the time we left the cafe, the sun was out again, and the earlier heat and humidity had abated...just a bit.

It's funny that the Empire State Building does not really feature in the cityscape views from the Met's roof.  And so, I took this photo of that iconic building on my way walking back uptown, as I tried to exercise the departure of some the calories added on to my birthday self.

As always, I thank you all for your visits and comments.