Day: May 5, 2015

Exhibition woman gazes at Sargent

We had a trip out at the weekend.
After taking in the Richard Diebenkorn exhibition at the Royal Academy we headed off to the John Singer Sargent Exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery.The chap manning the desk was possibly the most bored I’d seen anyone for a long while. The exhibition costs quite a bit to get into but, like the Diebenkorn is worth the money. I took the opportunity in a short sit down to take in this large woman. She stood in front of one of Sargent’s wonderful paintings and in front of me. She’ll never know that she was the star of my sketchbook for the day,and of this blog.
It’s back to the border guards next rather than large handsome women.

Bigwomanat exhibition

Banksie revisited, what a shame.

We were blessed here in Cheltenham with a visit from famous graffiti artist Banksie about a year ago when he painted this blank wall on the end of a terrace of houses. I thought it was a good joke given that Cheltenham listens to the world through GCHQ, and it brightened up the house facade.

banksie first

A year on and this is the result. Nothing very funny about this mess. Wrangles about who owns it and who can profit from it have made it into this, together with a visit from someone with more paint and a lot less talent than Mr Banksie. It would be good if someone had the bright idea of just repainting the house in its original colour and leaving well alone.

Banksie shame

I wonder if it had been done by anyone other than a famous artist anyone would have bothered.