Tag: art exhibitions

Accidental return….

As I seem to have managed just one post in 2025 (!) I thought I had given up this potentially time-consuming (and now unfashionable) blog lark – but WordPress had other ideas. Since they have just managed to swipe £66.12 from my account (must investigate that for next year – does not appear to be a standing order or direct debit…cunning stuff!) I may as well see if I can remember how it goes.

Why not start like the last time – who knows, if 2026 works out like last year these could be my two most expensive Christmas tree photos ever ….

Back to January – a quiet retreat into Etsy land. Mostly ‘Sophie’ style little scarves, definitely on-trend right now. But also (more fun) some ‘Ascot’ keyhole scarves researched from vintage patterns of the late 1940s, but knitted up in very different modern yarns:

February – so far, just one quick London raid. Così at the Coliseum and National Gallery for Joseph Wright of Derby, plus this:

Cranach the Elder – part of an altar piece.

Just one seasonal item (never good enough at that!)

Verdict on blogging? Can’t even work out how to make all these images smaller…though there is a mile long list of other really clever things you could do with them…Maybe I’ll get better? We’ll see.

Relentless Positivity

This appears to be the message emanating from my workplace. And, although it can be wearing at times, I think the optimists are right. It is all too easy to get dragged down at the moment – so many obstacles in the way of high standards, so hard not to keep looking back to how things used to be… We need to accept that, given the restrictions, we are doing a GOOD JOB. Certainly better than the alternative of sending all the young people home to fend for themselves online. (My particular heroes are the creative arts department, who have to be extremely…creative! Fancy teaching music with no singing? Drama, with 30 Year 7s stuck down in their seats?)

So, looking on the bright side it is!

Walking the South Downs is always therapeutic. (In the distance you can just see the other side of the famous ‘V’ mentioned here: https://spinningstreak.blog/2020/06/30/up-down-days-1/. And you can tell West Sussex is very keen on its poppies – I wonder how long they will remain there?) Good for the step count too. Since I scored around 28000 steps that first week I have upped my target to 35000 – which I know is still pathetic compared to many of you but a substantial improvement for me!

My other positive plan is to get to the Artemisia Gentileschi exhibition at the National Gallery. I would be gutted to miss this, but ducking around Covid closures before it ends in January is not going to be straightforward. Anyone managed it?