London Treat

Four Days in London

How about a trip to London for a jam-packed 4-day visit? London, England, that is, not closer-by London, Ontario. So much better. Sorry Canada! 

This wasn't the Big Ben-Tower-Buckingham Palace major-sights tour. This was a personal itinerary of  what we most wanted to do in our four days holiday. Only four days, but they were absolutely great.

 London is a roost for every bird. 

-- Benjamin Disraeli 

Historic Boutique Hotel in the Centre of Town

Our visit started with our reservations at a great little vintage hotel in the city. Quite an expense but wow! London is an expensive city and, if you're able to take the splurge, this hotel is worth it (said by a generally frugal traveller). Being here, in the heart of London, the Hazlitt hotel itself is a trip through history. Located on Frith Street,  near Leicester Square, very near Covent Garden, theatres, Soho art, and nearly everything on our agenda.  It was within walking distance of  the British Museum and  the National  Portrait Gallery. The Tate Modern could easily be reached by taking the underground.

The Hazlitt's period furniture coupled with its modern conveniences made for some nice surprises. The house is yours to enjoy, with its tea room and self-serve bar (complete with serving set and tea for you and company to brew). Its library, paintings and antique furniture in the corridors add to the treat of staying  there. The rooms are named, not numbered. Ours was the Madame Dufloz room, named, we were told, after a "well-reputed  prostitute" of the 19th century. I enjoyed that oxymoron and the room as well.

Our room was unusual. Open the first door and you enter a small wooden-panelled vestibule (seen below). Open the vestibule door to enter the large bedroom and adjacent and sitting area.You can see the mirrored vestibule through the windows inside the bedroom-sitting room. Why, I wondered, have this extra little hallway? I imagined some uses Mme. Dufloz might have for it, putting myself in her place en deshabille on the settee.

 

  The vestibule  door opened to the large and comfortable adjacent bedroom and sitting area with fireplace. Our modern wheelies spoil the impression, but I hadn't yet found the closets hidden within the panelled walls. The furnishings and fabrics must have delighted an interior decorator. 

   

The large bathroom had  a claw-foot tub and huge shower with copper fittings. But there was a problem: no toilet seen. An ornate wooden chair that looked as it came from a well-heeled priory stood along one wall. Lo and behold, lift up the flat wooden cover, and there it was! Throne, indeed.

The hotel staff were friendly and accommodating. They liked the place, too. And the Patisserie Valerie, down the street was to die for!

Our district was alive with people all the time. With all the buzz and action here, the hotel was so quiet, like entering another dimension. We slept wonderfully well, insulated from all outside but only steps from joining it. 

What did we do besides enjoy our hotel? We walked, took the tube, benefitted from dollops of genuine friendliness among Londoners, and saw something wonderful every day.  We also ate surprisingly  well. When did London turn into a fine dining city? I remember it as a banger-and-beans place, plus a few “exotic" take-outs”that served souvlaki or East Indian. I haven’t been to London for years, obviously. Now it was both an edible and fun city! 

View  of London from British Museum  restaurant, 

Museums

Here’s a rundown of what we did: The Courtauld Collection, an absolute treasure of paintings on my must-see list, plus the workplace of a favourite art historian cum novelist, Anita Brookner.  The Tate Modern was another must-see. I was less impressed by the work there than I’d expected, but the space is stunning for showing art. The National Portrait Gallery is a bit stodgy but shows how portraiture changed over the centuries as life changed. The British Museum just doesn’t get any better -- even when  crowded, it leaves you space to roam and discover. Its rooftop restaurant is a fine place for lunch and a view of London town.

I love wandering through museums, and the British Museum is one of the best. Just for fun, I picked out one of the items that made me stop and look. There were many, but this expression caught my attention: he looked as surprised to see me as I was to see him!

Sumerian? British Museum, 

Theatre

We managed to fit in three theatre shows in just four days! We chose the shows based on tickets available, given the great rep of most London productions. All were good: The Woman in Black (very well acted); The Jersey Boys (odd thing to see in London but I'd never seen it on Broadway, and this production could not be beat;  and Singing in the Rain. 

Hampton Court

One unforgettable trip we took was to Hampton Court. Thanks to London-born and bred colleagues who told us we really should not miss Hampton Court… at least once in a lifetime. They were right.

In about an hour's train ride from London, you reach a greener area that appears a world in itself. Below is a glimpse the countryside with Hampton Court in the distance. It was Henry VIII's retreat after he seized it as a "gift" from Cardinal Wolsey.

Having just read Hilary Mantel’s two books on Thomas Cromwell put me in the right time frame for entering Hampton Court. And there he was: Henry VIII come to life, strolling the grounds imperially. Along came a smiling Ann Bolyne, although you knew she had little reason to smile. 

We spent a wonderful day wandering the castle grounds, exploring its layout as a self-contained little community serving the needs of a (rather self-indulgent) king. Strolling the interiors with all its historic art and furnishings.  The connecting buildings extending along the court included kitchens where chefs cooked actual Renaissance feasts  that seemed to go on forever (the smells were good, and the fireplaces enormous). We saw quill-written recipes in hard to read old English. We listened to doctors very earnestly diagnosing medical humours of the time: "sanguine but tending toward phlegmatic ” We even saw the impressive line of castle privies along  one external wall, with waterworks engineered for them. We went into the castle chambers to hear a debate among Henry’s ministers, then continued to walk through living history.   

                                  

  

  

Everything came to life in this outing to Hampton Court, informatively and not in a Disney-like manner. There were more adult visitors than children, and the level of information was appropriate for all. I wished I could  have stayed overnight. Henry made sure each privileged guest's room had its own privy.  But I'm not sure the threat of beheading would have been worth the overnight.

We tried navigating our way through the historic garden maze. Imagine all that must have gone on there. I hit a few blind alleys, but quickly found my way. I used some sightings of modern buildings in the distance (higher than the garden maze walls) that would not have been available to long-ago maze wanderers. We sat for a bit in the rose garden purveying the grounds before leaving with many memories of Hampton Court.  

It was our last night, and spending it at the Hazlitt was a good finale to a good trip. A genuine treat of a holiday. 

More Creative Life News

You can read and see more about other travels and creative adventures by this itinerant artist at Creative Life News here

 @ janetstrayer.com

Art Season at Granville Island

It’s been a busy art season for me, extending from fall into winter. I’ve had a nice run of works in a series of juried group shows in Vancouver at the Federation Gallery. It’s a prime spot gallery located on Granville Island, one of the must-see and stay awhile tourist spots in Vancouver for its on-the-water location, its public market of fresh local products (veggies, fish, meats, and much more), its art, its art school, all its many interesting shops and restaurants, and its buskers, of course. They are of all varieties (acrobats, magicians, street performers, all kinds of musicians), and they are good.They compete for spots on the island! 

Granville Island is a madhouse in the summer, when most of the tourists come. It gets a bit calmer in the winter, but still draws many people. I shop there for food and for art supplies. I’ve heard that Van Gogh occasionally ate his paint (which, believe me, I can understand sensually), but there are more edible treats all around the market than eating yellow. And there’s music.

Among all the lively buskers there, I especially like a male singer who often performs there, always chiquely clad in tux (and wintertime scarf). He sings vintage French songs accompanied by a guitar and sometimes a soft soundtrack.  Buy a hot-from-the-oven baguette at the Belgian-French bakery and sit with it steaming in the cold air as he serenades you. So cooooly mellow! But there's also rock and jazz and fusion and panpipes and banjo and on an ever on.

I've had little time to write much because of all the shows and the get-readies for them. After getting back from nearly a year away in Europe, the fall season started out with a bang of an international juried show called Painting on the Edge! that had my painting, LittleAdolf in it. Then, White Pitcher, one of my still life oils, was in a juried show called (can you guess) Still Life (uh-hmmn). This was followed by an Autumn Salon  exhibit , in which I placed Art Lover, a painting I like because I think the concept and composition work together well. Click on these paintings if you'd like to see them on my website.

Somewhere in the midst of these shows came the Culture Crawl which was a total blast! I’m also working several consulting jobs, so it’s a juggle. But I promised this as a newsletter for those who want to know what I’m exhibiting. So, here’s the roster so far in 2012:

January show of Works on Paper: a life drawing I did in carbone of Cléa, an elegantly lithe young nude sitting so still and self-contained, she seemed eternal.

janetstrayerart.com

Then there's a charcoal I did, Recalling Judith, that references that Renaissance bad-boy, Caravaggio and, more pointedly, focuses in on chiaroscuro. I literally wanted to riff on this “light comes from dark” theme by starting off with a densely charcoal-rubbed paper. Then, I used an artist’s eraser to make the form come into light, … into life. That’s it.

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February ushered in a new juried collection of Abstracts (on display NOW at the Federation Gallery), and here’s my Ariadne’s Compass:

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No sooner will the Abstract exhibit finish than another called Landscape goes up this February! I’m fortunate to have Birdland  in this show.

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Some exciting art works keep company in these shows. Check out the Federation Gallery website to see them.

In the meantime, happy times to you, wherever you are. 

 
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Wonder Series, Painting 4

Another red dot painting in the Wonder Series. And again, I had a great time painting it. This one enters more shadowy territory than some of the others. Still, our little explorer is intent on the excitement of the journey and has some startling companions in this garden of surprising shadows and vivid delights. Venture on! 

Onward! by Janet Strayer

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Wonder Series, Painting 3

Girl and Cat by Janet Strayer

Like other paintings in this series, this one was part of lovely process. In the Girl and Cat, a restricted palette of iridescent paints was used to set off her more softly expressive face and blouse. The  fixed iconic and decorative elements in this painting contrast nicely, I think, with the expressive moods conveyed by the girl's face and that of her companion cat.  Some gently startling juxtapositions here, would you agree

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? This one was also sold early this year.

!Zing! and Sold Art in 2012

Here is one of the first paintings to sell in 2012.  I'll include more in subsequent postings..I wish I  knew how to make a large format visual gallery in this blog that keeps the paintings a decent size for viewing and that  you could click through. Then, I'd show you several at once. 

This painting is part of a magical series I will continue to pursue. Its theme riffs on my "Child Out of Time" collection, but is much more buoyant and (what can I say?) delightful. Paintings in this series, such as the one below. glimpse the magic of a timeless, boundless, extravagant, optimistically wishful childhood place where many things  happen vividly, often linking the natural world of wonder with the child's vision. 

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Snorkeling Through the Winter Solstice

a moment on the Malecon (all photos JS)

December 21, 2011 found me in the open waters off Los Arcos near Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. But  don’t think I’m bragging about my good fortune; those waters were cocococoooold! And the tides were at their most extreme. Good for whale-watching, I’m told, as the humpbacks love these waters at this time of year. But not great for a scantily-clad snorkeller hoping to see pretty fish in the murky sea!

Despite this, I did see some startlingly bright blue and yellow angel fish, and other lovely iridescent varieties that seemed to give off light in an otherwise grey-brown bay that had me shivering with teeth-chattering through the snorkel mouthpiece. By the time the boat got to the second diving spot, I’d given up on snorkeling and wasn’t relinquishing the towel in which I was bundled. It’s hard to miss out on adventure, but it occurred to me that comfort wasn’t so bad, either.

Cathedral with its crowned cupula (all photos by JS)

This was part of my brief holiday in the sun, which fortunately returned the next day as a bright and warmly glowing disc.  My plan, like many northerners, was to soak up as much of this southern sun as I could, using it as solar shield  for my body during the bleak winter days back home.

Why we choose to spend the a chilly and cloud-covered winter solstice out on a boat and in the cold waters is a cosmic misunderstanding. Otherwise, it was a sun and fun holiday.

I like Mexico a lot, having traveled and worked in different areas there and feeling comfortable with the language, customs, and  residents. And there is such imaginative artwork  and crafts, much of it collected in tourist centres like Puerto Vallarta. 

It’s always a treat to be introduced to the work of a Mexican artist I hadn’t known  before: like a new fireworks display! Such a burst of inventiveness, decorative hi-jinks, creativity and sensual charm.

 boy on a seahorse sculpture, emblem of Pto. Vallarta

one of my personal favorites

Puerto Vallarta is a festive town bordered by The Malecon, one of the most gorgeous boardwalks ever to grace the sea. Intriguingly inviting metal sculptures are on display, along with more ephemeral but impressive sand sculptures.

I snapped a shot here of an artist spraying one of the sand sculptures of a huge iguana. I asked if it was lacquer he used to keep the grains in place. "Nope, just water,'  he replied.

It’s especially festive in Pto. Vallarta at this time of year, with nightly fireworks and free public performances at the town square or along the Malecon.

I was delightfully surprised one evening by a show of dancing horses. They were just wonderful in their rhythmically controlled tap dancing and swaying turns set to the music.

Another day there was a local band, complete with sousaphone, playing in the town zocalo,

So what if sleepy Vallarta has turned into a tourist town after its’ ‘discovery’ by movie moguls as a perfect setting for Liz and Burt and The Night of the Iguana? Both Mexicans and foreign visitors mingled and enjoyed all the many delights of this solstice (sans snorkeling).

Not only music treats you, but there are also street performers and living statues to surprise you, like the angel photographed below. Put a coin on his plate, and he animates. Very ingenious propping, don't you agree?

And here's an lifesized Olé ornament that says Feliz Navidad, Mexican style:

lifesize bull head mounted on wall with garland of Christmas decorations

Enjoy your winter holidays, whatever and however you celebrate!

Rio Cuale entering Bandera Bay near the Malecon, Pto. Vallarta (JS Photo)

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The Feedback: What it Means for an Artist

It was a FABULOUS experience at this past weekend’s Eastside Culture Crawl. What a misnomer. It’s hardly a “crawl”. More like an explosion! So many energetic and diverse people interested in art attended. The buzz at my open studio was humming for three days. 

It's very gratifying for artists to hear appreciative comments about and reactions to works they’ve created. How can one remain blasé when hearing (and overhearing) from strangers things like “it’s absolutely amazing”; “never seen anything like it”; “it’s so beautiful it makes me cry”, “gorgeous”.  Of course, there are also the (happily, rare) comments like, "I wouldn't even put this in a garage sale." 

For me, such feedback works as a validation,  a reminder of how art really connects when it communicates. I work alone. My intention when painting, is to work on what and how I want to paint, regardless of how it will be received..  Afterward, it's thrilling to know a painting has hit the mark for someone viewing it. It's a great feeling to sell a painting. It's a very bad feeling to have one's art rejected for a show. You put yourself out there as an artist. You feel naked. BUT the challenge is always to pursue  one's own vision. Be careful of minding too much about the seduction of positive or the hurt of negative comments. Accept  criticism that is useful in your own terms.

Some of the visitors to this open show were painters, themselves. Their appreciation and comments (the ones they let me hear, anyway) were a tribute to their keenly interested eye and generous spirit. Their many technical questions were a pleasure to answer, knowing it fed our mutual curiosity about artistic process.

Many children came with their families, and I was delighted to see that a good number of them really looked for themselves. Some even led their parents over to works and pointed at things. I didn’t want to intrude on those sessions, but I wondered what they saw with their perceptively  “uneducated” eyes. So, after talking with the parents a bit about a painting that interested them, I asked one 7-year-old girl what she liked, and she had no problem walking over to a very different painting and pointing to it. “So tell me about it; what is it that you like in this one?,” I asked. She couldn’t or wouldn’t tell me (an adult she didn't know),  but whispered something in her mother’s ear.  “She says ‘because it’s beautiful,'"reported her mom. What more could I ask!

I’m pleased, of course, that I sold a good number of works. But there’s more to it for me, and for most of us, at such events. Thank you for looking, for interacting with the art,  for your many and diverse reactions and insights. Thank you for your keen interest and your appreciation

 @ janetstrayer.com

My Magical Island: Saturna

I live on a magical island that’s only about 12 square miles (31 sq. km). in size and that sits quietly in the Salish (pronounced Say-lish) Sea. There are only about 300 other people living on this small island called Saturna.

    

on a bluff, looking out to sea, JS photos

sunset on Saturna, our place up above the sea

Mt. Baker in the US seen from Saturna Island Canada, JS photos

As if its location weren't special enough, Saturna has some exceptional petroglyphs as well, some on high and others only visible at low tides by climbing over and through slippery rocks and small caverns in the shoreline rocks.

Petroglypths on Saturna...these photos are older, now many are even more eroded..JS

My Magical Island.

Saturna seems a good place for wishing, the imagination having free reign without the impedances of city life. I wish Shakespeare, that word-magician could visit here. He'd swoon at the sounds and sights, and even the name of the place, he who so well knew the worth of names: love and rivalry in the sun-lit, star-crossed Verona of Romeo and Juliet; mystery and magic in Prospero's watery realm. But, then again, I doubt he was much of a traveller outside his own world-filled mind.

We have no TV on Saturna and don't even think of it. Instead, we walk around, tend the land, do our work, and  read. I  think of Shakespeare visiting my magical island and being pleased at its comeliness, its seasonal shifts, its rocky shores and tidal pools, invitations to explore and to contemplate. 

JS photo

This is a waterworld, and waterworldness is a quality the island and inhabitants sink deeper into each autumn as the summer falls into the sea. Mists rise to soften the abundance of ever-green trees, and the air is moist with scents of leaves and earth. 

The heavy rains will come, and the ground will fill each footprint with a water rim, reminding us we live upon the sea. Like Prospero’s, ours is a house built close within the elements of wind, earth, and water. Human footprints here tend to leave only watery traces.

I will need to catch some new photos of this water-magic, but these are recent photos I took of some glorious non-raining Autumn days here, to give you a feel for the wonder of the season here. 

I call this the glory tree when it bursts into full colour, JS

It's s autumn now, one of my favourite seasons. It's not as brilliant here as the season can be in the eastern part of this continent, given its abundance of deciduous trees and turning leaves. But here, in evergreen land, the contrast of the turning leaves amongst the backdrop of resonantly rich greens and browns is quite special. We've planted maples and oaks and other deciduous trees on our wild land to take full advantage of this contrast.

And here's our land in the early Spring, with fields of golden daffodils and a budding tree. We've planted thousands of these harbingers of sun over the years.

path to my studio in Springtime, JS

I have been back in Canada, on this West Coast edge of the sea, for more than three months now, and I feel the changes from the sun-drenched Italian countryside where we’d been living. So many different forms of beauty to appreciate. 


Though we've stopped travelling, the mind still wanders like quicksilver, no time or space barriers. So that, here I am in the foggy mists of the Salish Sea and, in a second, I'm back thinking of Verona, our last stop in our Italian trip. 

my studio this Autumn, JS

Perhaps when the rain becomes too dense here, I'll write a post recalling our good time in sunny Verona. I'll think back to sitting inside its ancient outdoor coliseum, watching a stunning performance of Verdi's Aida after an afternoon wandering around the props for this Egyptian-set opera sitting right on the streets of an already enchanting Italian location for star-crossed lovers! That's my kind of geo-mythical travelling!


Don't expect chronology to be too clock-bound here. It's more psychological. All things existing get called forth as needed. Quite Prospero-like, don't you think? 


In the meantime, though, I'm quite content to be just where I am. 

Today’s Thought

We are such stuff

As dreams are made on; and our little life

Is rounded with a sleep.
--Shakespeare, spoken by Prospero, The Tempest Act 4, scene 1, 148–158

A related thought: Graham Swift’s book, Waterland, is a wonderfully literate and emotionally rich book. It’s set in the wetlands of England and relates shifting lives through time, replete with well-drawn characters in a compelling environmental history. Not to be confused with the completely different and forgettable Waterworld.  Although Graham Swift won a Booker Prize for another of his books, this one remains my favourite. 


Seasons of life. Not an original thought, but worth appreciating, nevertheless. Autumn, suggesting a more sober, less lush time than Spring, has its  bursts of glory, too. And, how's this (see photos) for "lushness" amidst the ferns and mosses (instead of among the flowers):

Today's Art

As befits the sea life around the island, and the petroglyph shown above, today's item is a 3D mixed media work on a piece of wood cut in the shape of a salmon. I donated it for an art auction on the island to raise money for local events. Along with other artists' interpretations, it quickly sold. It was great fun to make with paint and colored glass beads.

mixed media 3D art by Janet Strayer

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