Morandi in Bologna

Last Thursday we went to Bologna - and it took five hours.

But was most definitely worth it. And I got to share the bus with Sharon and her group as well as being able to watch the lovely Tuscany landscape, so it wasn't all bad.

Once there, we went to MAMBO , which was mainly full of all the sort of stuff you see in GOMA - what is it with these capital letter acronym places? - but also had a set of rooms set aside just for Morandi. The above is some of my notes from this - fascinating stuff. Lots of ideas to steal for my next still lifes. If you ever get the chance, go. It may change your life . . . or at least your painting.

After that I wandered up to the old town. It was 41C, but all those colonnades made it comfortable even for me. There I went to the Munipical Art Collection which was quite fascinating - there wasn't really any stunning, big name stuff, but instead lots of charming very old altarpieces and icons, very competent portraits and a lovely little room at the end, painted to be like standing in the middle of a particularly well looked after wood. There is also an art gallery, but sadly I was running out of time (or so I thought) so went back to the meeting place, drank wine and chatted about the Slade School with a charming gent who knew Coldstream and Uglow amongst others. Its a hard life . . .

Dr Sketchy New York

A visit to New York without visiting Dr Sketchy's seemed unthinkable, so I duly went on my last Sunday.

Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take photographs - the main reason I attend Dr Sketchy's here in Glasgow.

A couple of years ago, when I was a newbie oil painter, I really needed photographic reference of faces and bodies to work from. I was still too unsure of myself (and skint) to hire a model, even if I had known one available. Dr Sketchy's was the answer, and when attending regularly I met lots of interesting people who are now friends - including, of course, Fiona Wilson

Not only were we not allowed photographs, there were an awful lot of very quick poses. That can be interesting, if you have the right media with you (the watercolour would have been fine, but the paper was far too thin for using a brush) and if the model holds lots of different, athletic poses. This one didn't - they were all variations of her lying or sitting on the table, with her head almost always turned in one direction. Even worse, although her costume was lovely, it covered a lot of skin as well as her hair, with virtually no bony landmarks visible. For some reason, I like to start with the clavicles, which generally weren't visible - or even guessable!

So I left. Terribly rude, and very disappointing, but I was pretty tired and had packing to do for the trip home the next day.

Oh well. Maybe next time. Meanwhile I am thinking about revisiting some of those old reference photographs.

East River Ferry

On the last weekend, I went down to Wall St, sat for a little at the Elevated Acre watching the helicopters and then onto the East River Ferry - this was drawn while waiting for it to arrive.

As I did the full trip - up to East 34th St - it took a fair while - unfortunately more than enough time to get sunburn, despite my factor 50! Ferries are dangerous for that . . . must be the wind.

After such a relaxing morning, watching the sights go by, was an afternoon of shopping. (Several folks have been horrified to learn I only spent a couple of hours doing this - and never went into any of the departments stores. Just not enough time - or the ability to carry anything more home, after all the paint I bought!)

Another thing I didn't have enough time for was sketching like this, which is one of the major regrets of the trip. Ah well. Next time.

More NYC Museums

Yesterday I learnt that Americans call all places that sell artwork Art Galleries, and all places that show art but don't sell it Museums. Just one of the many little misunderstandings I am having with people - it is really making me wonder how much of my blog is readable by non-scots, and how much of other people's blogs I am really understanding. Huh, as New Yorkers seem keen an saying. Anyway, I've been wandering around a few of these museums - MoMA, where this marvelous goat statue by Picasso lives in a lovely little outdoor space. Unfortunately I was generally underwhelmed by the place - I was expected tons of abstract expressionist works, lots of people I'd never heard of, and a better understanding of abstract art as practised in America. But no. What you have is like a mini Tate Modern, with the impressionist/post impressionist bit of the National Gallery added on. Oh well.

So I went to the Guggenheim. Half of which, it turns out, was closed. But again, the strength seemed to be with the post-impressionists. Still, I had fun drawing the inside of the building, and lots of legs of folks appreciating these big torn metal sculptures. Then I thought I'd have something substantial and warm to eat, so ordered the fixed price menu of a sandwich, chips and a glass of wine. OK, I thought, chips and a sandwich seems a strange combination, but I'm in a foreign country so I should try and eat what the locals do. Except I had forgotten that what they call chips here are crisps. Duh. Still, the sandwich was nice, as were the wine and the crisps, and I had another go at drawing the building, this time with a little bit of Central Park thrown in.

Exploring the Metropolitan

The Metropolitan Museum is huge. I knew this, but it really didn't prepare me for the reality of just how huge. Think the National Gallery and Tate Britain and The British Museum all added together.

So far I have been twice and am planning on going back at least another couple of times - although I wandered around the Impressionist section (so many Degas! Heaven!) I was too tired to really pay attention (like you can sorta see from my sketch I was in the American wing).

This wing is interesting and I particularly liked the storage area, which has rows of paintings hung vertically in glass containers. What was particularly good was that you could get real close to the paintings and the area was deserted - enabling a very good gander at how the paintings had been painted. Invaluable. In that section there was, of course, lots of stuff other than paintings - including this statue. (Sorry no scanner presently, so all pictures photos - hence much darker and less clear than normal)