Irises
Apr 17th 2019
Wednesday 17. 04. 19 I was given a couple of irises by Gisèle on Sunday and a couple by George and Laurene on Monday.
Les Baux
Apr 16th 2019
Tuesday 16. 04. 19 Patricia and I went to Les Baux today to see the new expo at the Carrières Luminaires, however we had forgotten that it was the Easter school holidays. When we arrived there was a long queue so we thought that we would have a walk around the old town and have a café and then come back later. On our return the queue was even longer so we cut our losses and drove to Aigues Mortes where we had lunch of fish and chips of all things in a Franco-Italian restaurant! Delicious! We then had a leisurely walk around town before driving home. We hope to get back to the expo in a few weeks time when there should be less crowds.
Berlin
Apr 11th 2019
Thursday 11. 04. 19 We took the train from Amsterdam and travelled across Germany to Berlin last Friday after our bike ride. Checked into our very spacious apartment hotel in the Mitte district of Berlin and bought food at a the nearest supermarket which happened to be Bio. Spent the next 4 days wandering around. Saw an interesting expo at the Bohran museum on the Bauhaus from William Morris to Gropius, went around the Hamburger Bahnhof gallery of modern art which was enormous in an old station and factory, saw the wall and a concentration camp memorial and generally wandered around. Decided Berlin is a city that we both liked and will revisit.It is very easy to get around via bus, streetcar or subway. Got back home yesterday evening.
Amsterdam and tulips
Apr 11th 2019
Friday 05. 04. 19 Met Julia in Amsterdam and spent the weekend there. Went to a superb Hockney/Van Gogh expo at the Van Gogh Museum – one of the best expos that I have ever seen and also a Rembrandt exhibition which was unfortunately marred by crowds. On Monday we went on our ride through the tulip fields around Amsterdam for 5 days. What a week! It was fun, interesting and even healthy! Met some interesting people – three ladies – Amanda, Caroline and Sarah really made our trip special.
London
Mar 20th 2019
Wednesday 20. 03. 19 Just got back from a busy 4 days in London. Besides seeing the Bonnard show at the Tate, I also saw the excellent Sorolla show at the National Gallery and a Rembrandt show at the British Museum. The highlight was probably the Doreen Fletcher show at the Nunnery gallery in Bow. Her paintings of the vanishing architecture of the East End of London in the 60s were wonderful altho the Sorolla paintings of children playing on the beach were also pretty great too!
Journée des droits des femmes
Mar 8th 2019
Friday 08. 03. 19 Went to my Franglais class this morning and gave each of the ladies there one of these cards to celebrate International Women’s Day. In the evening went to the Alain Resnais cinema and saw Catherine Deneuve in La Dernière Folie de Claire Darling an excellent French film en français.
More tulips
Mar 7th 2019
Thursday 07. 03. 19 Did this pencil drawing the other day while waiting for monoprints to dry. Today went into Montpellier and saw and interesting show by Alexander Hollan at Musée Fabre of trees and a photo show by Andy Summers of The Police which took me back to another era.
New decor
Mar 4th 2019
But it’s still February!
Feb 26th 2019
Tuesday 28. 02. 19 Drove to Meze today with Patricia for lunch at L’Oscarine, an excellent restaurant right on the seashore. It was warm enough to sit there in our Tshirts! Afterwards we had a stroll along the étang and spoke to some fishermen who were collecting sea urchins.
Streetcars
Feb 24th 2019
Sunday 24. 02. 19 Worked on a series of print/drawings/paintings of views from the 506 streetcar from Parliament St to Pape Ave in Toronto. I did the drawing of the streetcar interior and then printed it before adding the view from the front in coloured pencil and watercolour. There are 8 drawings in the series.