The pause in posting over the past few days has been a consequence of a visit, with my wife, to London. Bradford is just too far from the capital to make a day trip worthwhile, so every now and then we make visits of two or three days, usually to visit galleries and theatres.* This … Read more
I’ve taken an interest in Lucian Freud’s painting for a long time, and visited his recent exhibition in the National Gallery, in London. It was an impressively comprehensive retrospective survey of his work, and I decided to buy the catalogue and collection of essays that marked the occasion. Yesterday evening I managed to finish reading … Read more
I’m really struggling at the moment with a cold, which I’m sure is the worst one I’ve ever had. This morning’s Italian language class was only survived by a supreme effort. I’ve managed to do little of any value today …. apart from make dinner tonight. There is something particularly nasty about colds, in that … Read more
I have to admit that I am tired …. and I don’t think that the cause is a strenuous game of Scrabble. sey day has been divided otherwise between standing in front of an easel, getting stuck in (at last!) to a new picture, and wrestling with the web-sites of the National Gallery and the … Read more
I have been very sceptical about the value of the DVDs that seem to be increasingly widely available, offering to provide a tour of one major museum or another. Seeing a great picture on the computer screen is, I’m convinced, no substitute for being in the presence of the object itself. Somebody else has, in … Read more