europe | AJ's Art Journaling

This is the 4th spread of my Junk Journal, I have turned this image into a 2 part slideshow so that you can see both sides of the smaller ‘apple flap’ in the centre (that’s how we spell it in the UK) of the page and also read what is written on both pages.

I’ve been having a bit of a rest since we got home from our visit up north. I still need to sort out the base for the new greenhouse and then construct the greenhouse, but the weather has been a bit colder again since we got home, and I don’t want to spend too much time outside when it’s cold. T keeps asking me when the greenhouse might be up and usable, but to be honest I’ve no idea. I suspect it will take a while to sort out the base as I’ve got to make sure it’s level. I think the weather will warm up soon and when it does I will get back to it, so the job should be finished by the time I go to the south west of France at the end of August.

In the meantime I have been sorting out and booking my travel arrangements and accommodation to get to the art retreat. I am going up to London and staying one night in a hotel on Friday 28. Next morning I will get the EuroStar to Paris Gare du Nord, arriving at about 1pm. Then travel across the city to Paris Montparnasse to get my next train at 4pm from there to Angouleme in SW France. My brother (Mike) who lives in Paris is going to come and meet me from the Eurostar and make sure I get to Paris Montparnasse in time for my train to Angouleme. I will stay Saturday night in Angouleme and have a wander around that town for most of the on Sunday. A taxi has been booked to collect me from that accommodation to get me to the location of the Art Retreat in time for check in at 5pm.

Then 4 days of enjoying the Art Retreat in a lovely location with a fabulous artist, David Shillinglaw and the other participants. We get 4 days of tuition, core materials, 5 nights accommodation, breakfast, lunch and evening meals. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun.

I was intending to take T with me, but it all got a bit complicated and it was causing both of us stress, so I’ve decided to go alone. It will be an adventure for me, especially as I don’t speak any French, but I am really looking forward to it. Once I get to the Art Retreat I will be amongst English speakers – David (the artist) is English, Jen and Nick who own and run the venue where the Retreat is are also English and if the other participants are not English they will at least speak English.

On Friday 4th September the retreat finishes in the morning and I will get another taxi collect me at about 10am to take me back to Angouleme station in time for the 11:30 am train back to Paris. Once I get to Paris Montparnasse station my bother will come and pick me up again and take me back to his home in Paris where I will spend a couple of days with him and his lovely wife. Murial is French and they have lived in Paris for many years, but I’ve never visited them before, so it will be lovely to spend time with them. Finally on Tuesday 8 September I will get the Eurostar back to London and from there make my way back to the Isle of Wight and home to see my three boys (T and the 2 cats).

Well the weather has now warmed up (hooray!) but now it’s far too hot to be working outside with no shade. So I am trying to put up a temporary awning to protect me from the blazing sun while I work.

It’s the next day now. I have rigged up a tarpaulin to provide me with some shade while I work.

Several days later and I can report that I am making progress with my project but it’s slow. We are still a long way off getting the new greenhouse put up, but at least we have a small temporary greenhouse where T is growing the usual greenhouse crops. So the pressure is off me to complete the project immediately. The weather was very hot for a few days but it’s now cooling down again, I expect at some point there will be rain and that will definitely slow down the job even more, but all I can do is work at my own speed and as I’ve just had my 71st birthday that means I’m very slow. Hopefully it will be OK once I’ve finished it.

That’s all my news for now.
Take good care of yourselves and I hope to see you again soon.
Big love from me
AJ

There is an exhibition of art by the Street Artist Banksy in London at the moment and we went to check it out.

I was going to go on my own just for a quick day trip, but then I asked T if he would like to come too. He said he’d like to come but wouldn’t be able to manage it in one day so it turned into a mini trip. Because T can only walk short distances we had to take his wheel chair which in some respects made things easier, but in others much harder. We spent far more money than we normally would have done, but as this was the first time we had any adventure away from home for years, we felt that we deserved a bit of spoiling.

We left home late morning on day 1, got to London by mid afternoon, checked into a hotel in South Kensington that was near to where the exhibition was and went out for an evening meal at lovely Indian restaurant.

On day two we had a very expensive breakfast in a lovely ‘cafe’ (it was much more ‘upmarket’ than the cafe’s we have where we live)! The bill for the breakfast came as a bit of a shock to us, but the service was very attentive and the whole experience was very nice. Then at 12 noon we were booked in to see the exhibition. The people running the exhibition were all very lovely to us and made sure we got to see everything and T was well looked after.

The Banksy exhibition was good, you never know really what to expect of a Banksy exhibition because he never authorises, approves or curates exhibitions like this so it’s all done without his input. A few years ago we went to a similar Banksy exhibition in the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam which I have to say was probably better than the one currently in London, but if you like Banksy it’s still worth going to the one in London.

At the same venue there was also a photographic exhibition by the Danish photographer Søren Solkær, he is more commonly known for his photography of musicians and as a fashion photographer. But for 10 years he worked on a personal project – to photograph iconic street art and to try and track down the artists and take photos of them with their works. Of course many street artists do not wish to be identified because often they create art outside of the law, but Søren’s exhibition is truly stunning and it well worth a visit. Below are a few shots from his show.

French artist Invader in front of some of his pixelated mosaic work

That evening we went for an even more expensive and delicious Italian meal at Rocco’s. Well worth the cost.

The next morning we were up early and making our way home. Unfortunately it took a lot longer than it should have done because our train was delayed by ‘a couple of horses on the tracks’ at some point that meant we missed connections. We got home exhausted at about tea time on day 3 but having had a very enjoyable time.

That’s all for now.
Hope all’s good with you
Big love AJ xxxx

AJ's Art Journaling

This blog is to share my adventures in art journaling. It's a journey of discovery and you are more than welcome to join me.

Tag Archives: europe

Feeling lighter and more motivated now – hope it lasts!

We had a Little Adventure :-)