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20 February 2017

Postcard from Melbourne: Farewell gift of a house portrait

At the end of January, it was time say farewell to Melbourne and to record our thanks to our hosts: I presented them with a house portrait.

I promised myself I’d spend some of this holiday sketching, and this is one of the first sketches I completed.

It shows a typical Melbourne property: a bungalow that has been extended upwards, with a modest front garden onto a suburban street, lined with gum trees.

There’s no garage?

Who needs a garage? Even if you have a Fiat Spider on the front drive …

Out back, more important to us, and to the grandchildren, there is a pool, an essential component when the temperatures reach 40 degrees in their summer months.

Like most houses in the area, the space at the rear is compact, but well designed with a deck area complete with barbeque.

Plus a poolside area, complete with tropical foliage, where we could laze around.

No lawns to mow!

From sketch to finished composition

Having gained approval from our hosts that they would indeed like a painting of their home, I set to.

This is the finished painting. It’s a watercolour. My baggage allowance was insufficient for my acrylic kit!

I took the liberty of losing the magnificent tree that was in full bloom when we left. It housed a flock of colourful but noisy parakeets whose dawn chorus happened hours before dawn each morning.

The front garden (on the left) is given over to raised beds. So, we had fresh strawberries, daily. And courgettes. Rhubarb. More varietes of herbs than you can shake a stick at. All requiring daily watering …

Notice the two figures in the window?

That’s gorgeous granddaughter Grace and a friend.

And this is me, packed and ready for the return flight, with Grace. She’ll be almost 10 the next time we see her.

Farewell Melbourne. Back to reality!

Back in the UK, we have the central heating on. We’ve swapped the T-shirt and shorts for layer upon layer … and ‘enjoying’ temperatures in single figures.

This post is one of my POSTCARD series, sharing all things ART with you when I go travelling. It’s the final one for this particular trip. My next trip is to Canada, in May. Watch this space!

13 February 2017

Postcard from Melbourne: National Gallery of Victoria (NGV)

Anne and I wanted to return to the NGV (National Gallery of Victoria) as I’d seen so many great exhibits while she enjoyed lunch with a writer friend.

I knew she’d be interested to see works by Rodin, Manet and Van Gogh, but there was so much more to see … so back we came.

WHAT WERE THE HIGHLIGHTS ON OUR SECOND VISIT TO NGV?

I took hundreds of photographs at the NGV and it’s proved very hard to decide which ones not to share with you; I have so many wonderful memories of our visit to this gallery.

However, we picked two – the ones which were most special for us.

First, since Anne and I chose a particularly hot day to return to NGV – and to make the most of the air-conditioned environment – this painting by David Davies made us laugh.

His ‘A Hot Day’ perfectly captures the Australian climate at a glance.

Second, is a gem by JMW Turner.

As we were fast approaching the end of our long vacation in Australia, our thoughts were beginning to turn towards home. Although we now live in Salcombe in Devon and, at that moment, we were in Melbourne, it was a lovely surprise to see ‘Walton Bridges’. This painting brought back into sharp focus the many times in my life when, forty plus years ago, I drove from my home in Shepperton and crossed a more modern version of these bridges en route to Walton Station for my daily commute to London. How time flies?

YOU WANT TO SEE SOME MORE PHOTOS?

I have plenty!

It will come as no surprise that many of the paintings on display in the NGV show life in Australia as it was way back and, then, as it is now.

In ‘A lord of the bush’, Hans Heyson shows no sentiment. According to the description given by NGV, Heyson was profoundly inspired by the romantic landscape paintings of Constable (and others).

By the turn of the century, the bush had become an object for nostaglia in Australia culture. Rural life was disappearing with the advent of industrialisation and increasing population, but with this iconic painting of the cost to the early Australian settler, Heyson’s able draughmanship and genuine love of the natural world helped to show Australian bush life to those who might never experience it.

Then there was ‘The Shearing of the Lambs’ by Tom Roberts: the finest example of life in the outback in the nineteenth century.

Roberts did a number of preliminary sketches on the spot at Brocklesby Station, Corowa, NSW in 1888. He then returned twice more during the brief shearing period of the following two springs to work on his painting. Once completed, it was exhibitied in his studio in Collins St, Melbourne.

Collins St also features in this next image.

This more modern painting is John Brack’s depiction of commuters in an Australian city. The heading reads: Collins St where it’s 5pm forever.

The young men in suits are shown as packs, resembling sardines.

You’ve now missed NGV’s recent exhibition of one of Australia’s greatest living artists: John Olsen. It closed yesterday!

Works by Jon Olsen in the ‘You Beaut Country’ exhibition February 2017

Olsen is noted for his lyrical depictions of the australian landscape. His work includes ceiling paintings, tapestries and decorated ceramics. All his work radiates energy and is the finest example of the abstract expressionism movement in Australia.

It was difficult to choose just one work from the ‘You Beaut Country’ exhibition to share with you, so there are three here for you to admire.

WHAT IS THERE FOR YOU TO SEE AT THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF VICTORIA (NGV)?

As well as the various individual works of art at NGV, the wonderful (see my blog of 9 January) is on until 13 March.

And, at Tate Britain, back in the UK, to mark David’s 80th birthday, there’s a large scale retrospective of his work from 9 February until 20 May 2017. I’ll be making time to go up to London for this exhibition and will report in due course here on my blog.

This post is one of my POSTCARD series, sharing all things ART with you when I go travelling.

6 February 2017

Postcard from Tasmania: MONA (Museum of Old and New Art)

Three years ago, while visiting Australia, we were urged to visit Tasmania and, in particular, MONA: the Museum of Old and New Art. This time, we managed to fit this destination into our busy schedule and opted to travel by ferry from Hobart (featured image above).

On The Origin of Art

The current exhibition – which runs until 17 April 2017 – is housed in the bowels of the building, and the building itself is a work of art.

We visited during the day and the area lit up in blue above looks like this in daytime.

This space provides a brilliant opportunity to sit and reflect on the beauty of the landscsape, but especially the sky.

What’s it like inside MONA?

Unlike so many other galleries where stark rectangular rooms lead from one to another, each one displaying four walls of art, MONA presents a catacomb of spaces in which ‘art’ is allowed to breathe. Or educate, or amuse, or shock.

On arrival, we were given iPads which knew where we were in the building and what artifacts were nearby. One click provided us with a written report on the piece and, often, a recorded interview with the artist. Each item also had the option to love/hate it …

Believe me, some of the exhibits did leave you tempted to hit that ‘hate’ button. But most of them make you stop and think, which is no bad thing?

Memorable moments?

A lot of what’s on show relies on technology, like the waterfall which revealed words for a nanosecond, or the video of a Tai chi routine which demonstrated how we see movement.

There were also many examples of innovative art which challenge the viewer to think and rethink.

Is it worth going?

Definitely! Allow a whole day. Arrive early and plan to leave late. You’ll need time to reflect on what you’ve seen, and the various eateries and bars provide excellent choices. And manage to cope with vast crowds too.

This post is one of my POSTCARD series, sharing all things ART with you when I go travelling.