Friday morning and just time to plant some potatoes before we shoot up to Town to see the Matisse exhibition at Tate Modern
Getting down to ground level and the plants that I miss on my trot up the garden path to the Shed are revealed - I had no idea that the wild strawberries had ripened . . .
Feeling slightly pleased with myself . . . even though a touch late, but I noticed last year after our cold spell and very late start in the garden, that almost everything 'caught up' and nothing was wasted . . . so why not plant now?
I do have a control plant, this bed obviously (now) wasn't totally cleared and shows how far the potatoes would probably be if I'd planted at the recommended time.
Looking back over the millennium bridge, doesn't it look fab? and the graffitied chewing gum I saw in March is still in situ.
The anticipation grows as we approach Tate. One thing though, the queue inside for the Matisse is long, so if you don't have a membership card do book a timed ticket in advance.
The colours in the exhibition are astonishingly uplifting.
Amphitrite 1947, is a series of small, gouache painted, sheets of paper with cut-outs layered over. Pin holes showing how each shape has been positioned and re-positioned. (Apologies for my poor photo from the book that accompanies the exhibition)
The fact Matisse made combinations and re-combinations suggests to me an intuitive approach, coupled with a painstaking and arduous process.
But it gives rise to such a sense of vitality in his work . . . which is difficult to translate through these photos, so if you think you may be interested at all, do not miss it!
And the scale of so much is huge.
Women and Monkeys, 1952,
A particular favourite of mine, The Dragon, 1943-4, the colours sing.
It doesn't translate into a different medium though. On the wall in the gallery it has 'life' the paper cut-outs convey a precarious, fragile existence . . . which drains away in the photograph.
The Heart, 1943, from the illustrated book, Jazz
The Knife Thrower, 1943-4, from the illustrated book, Jazz
Christmas Eve, 1952, maquette for a stained glass window.
A visit to London is a great excuse to catch up with our youngest, so we stroll across to meet in Leicester Square. And while waiting, I take time to notice buildings I would usually just rush by in a hurry to be 'somewhere'.
Finishing off a fabulous afternoon with jasmine tea at the Cay Tre in Soho.
