We had a great Christmas and New Year. It was a good mix of friends and family in Manchester and Cumbria. We made our annual New Year trip to London on Tues. but just visited for the day this time. I met a friend of mine and as well as Egon Schiele at the Courtauld and Grayson Perry at the National Portrait Gallery we went to see the Maggie Hambling ‘Walls of Water’ paintings at The National Gallery. This work has been inspired by the waves crashing onto the sea wall at Southwold where she lives. Also at the National was an exhibition of seascape paintings by Peder Balke, a Norwegian artist from the 1870’s. We loved his work. Much of it was painted in the very North of Norway using a neutral palette. I hadn’t heard of him before but found his seascapes atmospheric and inspiring. I then spent a couple of days with friends in Whitstable. It was lovely to catch up on news and to see the sea for real.
I now need to get myself ready for my next two exhibitions as time is running out and I’ve still several to finish and frame.
Here is the flier for the group show at The Parsonage in Didsbury.
