Dear Fellow Art Lovers, October drifts toward winter, releasing the last warmth of summer. Conkers and walnuts slip steadily from the trees, each landing with a soft thunk, while rich red apples cling stubbornly to their branches, gradually revealed by the cascade of golden autumn leaves. The air carries the crisp, sweet scent of drying…
Continue reading Art Newsletter 9: Van Gogh & Kiefer: A Dialogue Through Time
Dear Fellow Art Lovers, The first crisp days of autumn arrive with their quiet transformations: leaves scuttling across pavements, woodsmoke drifting on the wind, a cool breath brushing the cheek even as the sun still warms the brow. After a long illness, I return to writing with a sharpened sense of how fleeting these seasons…
Dear Fellow Art Lovers, In this newsletter/podcast I take a closer look at a painting that the art critic Jonathan Jones calls a “mawkish, manipulative, masterpiece”, John Everett Millais’ “The Blind Girl” (1854-56), a painting suffused with so much light and colour that if paintings had flavours, this one might taste like fresh squeezed lemonade,…
Dear Fellow Art Lovers, In this episode of “Art with Feeling”, which was recorded just before Valentine’s Day, my husband, Douglas, and I describe and discuss his favourite painting, Arthur Hughes’ stunningly coloured, Pre-Raphaelite inspired, April Love”. Click here to listen to the podcast. This painting was first shown at the Royal Academy in 1856,…
[The first version of this post did not properly show the podcast link to some readers. Apologies!] Dear Fellow Art Lovers, After a much too long absence I am returning to your inbox with a new newsletter format. I thought an audio newsletter/podcast might be more accessible for some of you, so over the next…
Continue reading CORRECTED Art Newsletter 5: All the Art I Cannot See
Dear Fellow Art Lovers, After a much too long absence I am returning to your inbox with a new newsletter format. I thought an audio newsletter/podcast might be more accessible for some of you, so over the next few months I am going to try this new format and I would love your feedback on…
Dear Fellow Art Lovers, A lot has changed in the world since my last newsletter in the autumn of 2019. Star and I hope you and your families are all keeping safe and well. As you probably are already aware, the audio descriptive tour of the Barbican’s “Masculinities: Liberty Through Photography” exhibition, which was to…
Dear Fellow Art Lovers, Here we are – Star and I are finally returning after a couple of months hiatus. We took time away so we could resettle after five months of a long-planned restoration project on our six-hundred-year-old cottage, which finally came to an end in mid-October. We have now returned to our little…
Dear Fellow Art Lovers, As the remains of summer slowly slide into the wood-smoke infused slumber of autumn, I find myself anticipating the crackle of leaves under-foot and the glowing colours of fall foliage. This led me to think of paintings like Monet’s 1873 “Autumn Effect at Argenteuil,” or Van Gogh’s painting from eleven years…
Dear Fellow Art Lovers, It was a pleasure sharing with some of you the highlights of the “Lee Krasner: Living Colour” exhibition. If you found Tuesday’s taster of the exhibition interesting, I encourage you to return and have a more leisurely “look” with a sighted friend – the tickets from Tuesday night’s tour will allow…
Continue reading Art Newsletter 1 : Highlights of the “Lee Krasner: Living Colour”
