Chelsea Flower Show

I went up to the Chelsea Flower Show on Saturday with Ruth, the last day of the show and the sell off.
We had sun and thunder storms but the day ended in sunshine which meant I could dry off. The gardens in general seem to continue the theme of previous years with soft and meadow style planting, lots of foxgloves, geums, iris, poppies, grasses and aquilegia. The colours over the last few years have also been primarily whites, blues and purples.


Chelsea Show website here.

We started with the Artisan Gardens, which I often prefer in their overall design to the larger show gardens.

This year  Winning Best Artisan Garden was Ishihara Kazuyuki's  A Paradise on Earth, which was also awarded a Gold medal.  A stunningly beautiful garden from all angles, with cushions of moss, Acers, water and water wheel.

  The Dail a Flight Potters Garden also won a gold medal and was designed by Nature Redesigned. It recalls a potters garden left for the war in 1914 I really liked the planting, the old workshop and bottle kiln and went back to buy some plants at the sell off.

The Viking Cruises Viking Garden designed by Sadie May Stowel had a structure based on the prow of a Viking ship and stepping stones with runic style inscriptions. In common with a lot of gardens again this year, the planting was soft in whites, blues and purples.

Other gardens I photographed include the Homebase Garden Time to Reflect in association with the Alzheimer's society

Le Tour de Yorkshire, designed by Alastair W Baldwin had an elliptical bowl of water in black with stone work, granite and boulders

The Topiarist Garden, designed by Marylyn Abbott  had ribbons of white foxgloves in among a number of topiary bushes and a weathered brick building at the back.

The Cloudy Bay Garden designed by     Wilson Mc William Studio used charred oak, limestone and coppiced Hazel and soft planting.  I liked

The Laurent Perrier Garden, designed by   Luciano Giubbilie  won a gold medal and Best in Show

I always enjoy the concentrated atmosphere of Chelsea, the perfumes and the colours of many gardens and flowers  in a small corner of London. The grounds themselves too seem better and better each year with shrubs and trees worthy of Chelsea gardens.
Bright green parakeets fly over the gardens squawking non stop which I still find a novelty. It did seem like the grounds were even busier than I remembered, but the crowds are friendly, which I attribute to the influence of the gardens.

Chelsea Flower Show.

I visited the Chelsea Flower Show yesterday and stayed for the sell off for the first time.
The show was packed, the avenues filled with shoppers at the trade stands and queues to see some of the gardens.

We had good weather though, probably one of the best days of the week with a lot of sunshine. The cooler wet weather had preserved the gardens well though till the end of the week.

 Having been for a few years now, courtesy of Ruth, its interesting seeing the continuing trends. There is still a lot of hard landscaping with soft natural planting. Generally subtle colour schemes with a lot of white and pale flowers, grasses, iris, foxgloves, geums, peony, cornus, silver birch and aquilega.

This year though saw rowan trees, and lots of hazel and cultivated forms of cow parsley too.
I was struck by some of the delicate single roses on Peter Beales stand and this beautiful white climbing rose. they were awarded a gold medal in the show.

I loved and wanted one of the water gardens on Waterside Nursery's stand, It was interesting to see how many plants could be grown in containers of water. I shall be on the lookout for suitable containers now.

Pre-Raphaelite exhibition at Tate Britain

Ruth and I visited the Pre Raphaelite exhibition at Tate Modern a little while ago. link to the exhibition site here

Millais's Mariana.

I thought it might be a bit of a block buster show, and it certainly was busy. That's one of the problems I find personally, having to shuffle along side hundreds of people to get near a piece of work, without blocking other people.

The Death of Chatterton by Henry Wallis.

Still I was pleased to have gone, the Pre Raphaelites were one of the groups of painters that I first admired as a child. A lot of their paintings were in an art encyclopedia that we had at home and I remember spending lots of time regularly looking at such pictures as The Blind  Girl, Hope, The Lady of Shalott, The Scapegoat and The Death of Chatterton.

Such vivid detailing in the paintings influenced my teenage pictures of the natural world.

Ophelia by Millais.

There is definately a quality of light that I respond to now, rather than the detailed depictions, and the spiritual dimension in some of the work.

William Morris's bed from Kelmscott Manor.

Interestingly I found myself more desiring of some of the tapestries, carpets and furniture rather than the main paintings. They did reinspire me to take up decorating some of my furniture again when we've moved.

Mr Brainwash at The Old Sorting Office

I just caught the extention of Mr Brainwash's exhibition at The Old Sorting Office in New Oxford Street. Mr Brainwash aka artist Thierry Guetta is a bit of an infamous street artist from LA.

 This was his first solo European show and I liked the suitable venue of The Old Sorting Office. It retains it's edge, being mostly stripped of it's machinery and industrial in size. BBC Review of the exhibition here

 You are first met by the large pieces of art on the outside walls of the building,including images of the Beatles and Kate Moss. I liked the Queen, guard and corgi with her majesty holding a can of paint and the words "God Save the People" painted next to her.

Inside was a range of art work some of which made me smile and think. Some clever political understanding and understanding of culture. The boxed up life size black cab like the old matchbox toy cars was one to make me smile, very clever, it pulled on my buy me strings.

Lots of 2D work too, mostly prints, multiples using iconic images, Campbells soup as spray cans, referencing Andy Warhol and famous faces, Charlie Chaplin, the Queen, the Rolling Stones,.Madonna and John Lennon to mention a few.

I was pleased to see the work, it stimulated my mind and ideas I've had for more overtly political work. It was good to see the street art/political stance taken with the exhibition being free to enter. And the shop at the end having nothing for sale but being a place where you could choose free things, posters, and postcards.

The Paralympic games

 Ruth and I went to the Paralympics last week, we managed to get tickets to the Stadium to see some of the Athletics.

 I was impressed by the stadium, we were near the top this time, but the views were still good and the acoustics worked very well. I was fascinated by some details like the little radio controlled cars that took the discus back from the field. Apparently one of the coveted jobs for the Games Maker volunteers.

The long jump was the opposite side of the arena to us, but I was trying for the action shots.

The radio controlled cars take the discus back.

I spent some time trying to get a photograph of the shot putters actually throwing the put.

 We were also above the podium for the medal ceremonies and it was great to share in some of the joy and pride the athletes felt with their medals.

Outside the stadium the crowds were enjoying the good weather and the English garden was full of visitors.
I enjoyed looking out for all the variations of flags being worn or held by people as we walked around. The atmosphere was very positive and friendly again. It has been one of the hallmarks of the games that everyone has remarked on and has given London a new image I think abroad.

I liked having lots of people around all the tube stations and in town offering help even if I didn't need it.

Crowds walk around the English Garden near the Stadium.

At the Olympics

The Olympic games has ended and I'm only just catching up with my own visit to the games.I was up very early on the 30th July for the handball session that I'd managed to get tickets for, after many days and hours on the internet.  Ruth and I walked to the Eaton Manor gate, which unlike Stratford had nobody waiting to go in and only us in the queue at the security gate!

I think there had been some serious over estimate at how many people would use this entrance to the Olympic Park, though for us it was great, we just sailed in. Some of the iconic structures like the velodrome stood out with out the crowds in front of them.

It was good to come into the park from the opposite end to Stratford as we had a very different view of the site. We spent some time exploring the natural areas around the river, all planted with trees, wild flowers and grasses.

The large screen was set in the marsh in front of the river looking a bit surreal with a few ducks and a moorhen  swimming on the water. Just across the way we sat and watched housemartins skimming over the water for insects.

By the time we got to the Copper Box, the venue for the handball, the park was filled with crowds of people. I'd never watched handball before and enjoyed the fast paced matches where goals were scored every minute or so.

We walked to the Stratford gate to go back home, around the Orbit Tower, which is not my favourite structure, and I think looks out of place in the park.

 The atmosphere inside the park as most people have remarked on, was very good natured and friendly, lots of people decorated with flags and excited children everywhere.

We have tickets for the Paralympics and I'm hoping to explore the park a bit more and find some more of the art works on the site as well as enjoying the games.