Jane Austen’s ‘desk’

On the face of it an unremarkable small table and chair, but this is where the words of some of Jane Austen’s best works were written with dip pen and home made ink. It resides in the small village of Chawton near Alton in Hampshire. I’m not a frequent visitor to the area and we were on our way to further south, so we took the opportunity on the way to book ourselves into this lovely house. They get as many as 250 people a day there, so one has to book in advance. I loved it and the fact … Continue reading Jane Austen’s ‘desk’

Back to school

I was last at art school in the 60s and if my memory serves me right, the art bit was not on the top of my priority list. I was then a recently released internee from a boarding school I was not terribly aware of the world. In my first year at this art school I was allowed to have a go at everything, with a base layer of life drawing. The first time I’d ever seen a naked woman for life drawing, and this one seemed to be having a day off from being a traffic warden. I did … Continue reading Back to school