Wednesday, January 02, 2008

Room with a view

The dome of St Paul's Cathedral from Tate Modern

View of the City, Cathedral and cranes from the Friends' Room at Tate Modern
8" x 11.5", pencil and coloured pencil in sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

On the Friday before Christmas we went to Bankside to see the Christmas Exhibition at the Bankside Gallery and do some food shopping at Borough Market.

The Mini Picture Show (see description below) remains open until 24 January. It's one of the few exhibitions at the Bankside Gallery where you can take your picture home straight after buying it. The aim is to keep the stock revolving and there is new work from members of the Royal Watercolour Society and The Royal Society of Painter Printmakers being hung all the time. I saw some very nice work by the printmakers - I was reaching for my plastic - before I remembered that the other main purpose was to get veggies for Christmas!
Mini Picture Show
Wed 12-Dec-2007 to Thu 24-Jan-2008

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Featuring exciting new work on a small scale, this exhibition promises to be the perfect opportunity to purchase enchanting, original and affordable art for Christmas. Works by Members of both Royal Societies will be available framed and unframed and may be taken away when bought. Look no further for a thoughtful Christmas gift.

We paid a quick visit to the Tate Modern and had a cup of tea in the Friends Room - and sat on the sofas which line the long thin section of the room and look out to the City of London across the River Thames. It always feels pretty weird being nearly on the same level as the dome of St Paul's Cathedral. I continue to be amazed by how many cranes they've got in the City of London - they seem never-ending, only changing locations. Two ladies stood on the balcony outside the Friends' Room (which I have tagged as a plein air painting spot for a warmer day) and provided a nice bit of scale for my sketch!

We then trotted down to Borough Market which is the place you always used to see when Jamie Oliver was collecting his foodie bits and bobs in his early TV series. it was full of people collecting their partridges and turkies and geese and ducks and just about every other form of meat or fowl likely to be consumed over Christmas. Absolutely masses of other Christmas goodies too - but I restrained myself and stuck to the organic veggie stall.

We walked back via Southwark Cathedral and London Bridge to Monument and caught the tube home amongst lots of festive folk on their way home from work for the holidays. "He who must now be bored while I cook" did a stirling job in helping me carry it all the veggies home!

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