Letter from home

Dave and I recently visited old friends who have bought four of my paintings in the past, and seeing the paintings again, displayed in someone else’s living space, was heartwarming. 

‘Cow Parsley’

‘Trapped’

Although I have photos of them, seeing them for real again was as delightful as  meeting old friends unexpectedly.

Last week was a good week. On Monday I had the picnic with Liz, on Thursday a bike ride on the Trail, with coffee (from my flask) in the valley below

and on Friday we visited the Hepworth Gallery in Wakefield 

to see an exhibition of Caroline Walker’s paintings called “Mothering.” I’ve been wanting to see her paintings for some time, and I really enjoyed it. Check her out.

https://hepworthwakefield.org/whats-on/caroline-walker/

I love the subjects of her paintings - all those involved in mothering - and I liked her scenes in the maternity unit of University College Hospital. Seeing her two paintings ‘1 and 2 p’ made me nostalgic and wished I was back forty odd years feeding one of my own babies. 

It was the first time we’d been to the Hepworth so that was interesting too. It’s a brutalist building from the outside, but inside the space is lovely, with occasional views of the river.

And there is a lovely garden, though it was too grey and chilly to sit out there.

The gallery offers terrific value, with an entrance ticket cheaper than London galleries AND it covers all the exhibitions going on, as well as the permanent collection of Hepworths, eg

We went especially to see the Caroline Walker exhibition but I will be watching out for future events there.

Last two good things…I’ve been enjoying Life Begins on Netflix, and now I am hooked on the soapy and emotional Sullivan’s Crossing, also on Netflix. In my sights are BBC’s  Riot Women, written by Sally Wainwright, and the next series of Nobody Wants This on Netflix.

And I’m reading a new book I was surprised to find on our shelves, which says in the inside cover:

I don’t remember this at all. I mean…I remember sitting in a comfy chair in The Tattered Cover reading, but not buying, a Graham Swift book, but not reading or buying this book. It’s quite fun to find a surprise on your bookshelves. I wonder if this will happen more and more in the future…