Postcards To Chris

We took advantage of the free entry offered by Kew Gardens over the holidays. The weather was bleak but we enjoyed the glasshouses and the Treetop Walkway. There are also a number of David Nash sculptures, parsnip-shaped and otherwise, dotted around the gardens until 14 April.

I have to admit I didn’t know what ‘d’ stood for, but I’ve consulted a helpful junior-school website which explained it was a penny, the ‘d’ from ‘denarius’, a Roman silver coin.

Caption:
Kew Gardens, 1937
Betty Swanwick
©Transport for London
Registered Use No 12/4946
Images reproduced from the London Transport Museum Poster Collection
www.kew.org

This image is currently on display in the exhibition Mughal India: Art, Culture and Empire at the British Library. I love the liveliness of the squirrels and the autumnal colours in this painting. The emperor Jahangir gave the artist Abu’l Hasan the title “the Wonder of the Age”, an epithet I think we should all aspire to.

Caption:
Squirrels in a plane tree
Ascribed to the artist Abu’l Hasan, 1605-08
Johnson Album 1, 30

We went to the exhibition Seduced by Art: Photography Past & Present at the National Gallery.

Ori Gersht reinvents the traditional floral still life by freezing his flower arrangements with liquid nitrogen and then exploding them. It’s tempting to have a go at home with the miniature rose from Tesco or a bunch of bananas.

There are more images from the Blow Up series on the Mummery + Schnelle website.

Caption:
Blow Up; Untitled 5, 2007
Ori Gersht
LightJet print mounted on aluminium
248 x 188 x 6 cm (framed)
© Courtesy of the artist and Mummery + Schnelle, London

My mother kindly forwarded this to me from Virginia. I’m not sure why I was invited as I’m a registered Democrat. Anyway, we stuck it on the fridge and discovered that our Gaudi lizard’s head fridge magnet from Parc Güell fit perfectly over Romney’s face.

Now I’m sending it to DC as a reminder of what might have been but thankfully isn’t.

No need for postcards over the past couple of weeks as I sent myself to the States instead. This one was purchased at the Smithsonian store at Dulles Airport on the way back to London.

Caption:
Washington, D.C. The Capitol with cherry blossom trees in bloom.

On Saturday we made our annual pilgrimmage to the Arsenal shop at Emirates for  presents for Chris. It gets more challenging each year, as he already has the toothbrush and the cat-food bowl.

Caption:
TM (C) (2010). The Arsenal Football Club PLC

Harpenden. Lots of pubs. Not a lot of postcards.

Caption:
The Cross Keys.
The Old Cock Inn.
The White Horse.
The Silver Cup.
Harpenden, Hertfordshire.
Photographs by Tony Cowham

Over the weekend we went to a wedding in Derry. We didn’t have time for culture, but we ate, drank and were merry.

Caption:
Derry-Londonderry has made history after winning its bid to be the first ever UK City of Culture in 2013. The momentous win means that in 2013 Derry-Londonderry will play host to a year-long celebration of culture in the city, opening its doors to visitors from across the world. The old walled city lies on the west bank of the River Foyle, and the present city now covers both banks (Cityside to the west and Waterside to the east) and is connected by two bridges.

This Saturday we had breakfast at the South London Gallery in Peckham. There was art to digest too (a thought-provoking exhibition by Mexican artist Gabriel Kuri) but it’s the smoked salmon and scrambled eggs which linger in the mind. There were no exhibition postcards on sale, so I chose this one which fit the brightness of the day.

Caption:
Alex Katz
Lawn Party, 1965
Oil on canvas, 108 x 144 IN.
© Alex Katz. Collection of Michael & Judy Ovitz. Fotofolio.com

While in Aberlour (home of Walkers shortbread!) avoiding the Royal Wedding, we walked across the fields to Dufftown and The Whisky Shop. Our visit coincided with the Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival, and the shop was packed with German and Dutch whisky buffs. Luckily we had to limit our purchases to what we could carry on the train: a bottle of Edradour and a bottle of Macallan.

Caption:
The Whisky Shop Dufftown
1 Fife Street
Dufftown
AB55 4AL