A Visit to the Royal Academy of Arts

9th November 2014

Arrived in London Friday afternoon and went for my favourite walk....

...the large leaf in the centre was the size of a dinner plate...

.....at the top of the hill the Thames showing behind the tree...

....just starting to rain...

....a moody sky and fast flowing Thames.

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On Saturday I met Anne Griffiths for a coffee and catch-up at the RA and think I may be going to Cornwall for her residential course in March!!

Gates at the entrance to the RA..

I then went to see the Anselm Kiefer exhibition,  I have to admit I have never heard of him but I thought his work was amazing, so textured and HUGE!

I always have the audio guide which gives so much interesting information about the artist and paintings....

....this was the display in the courtyard...

...two large glass display cases containing his work using metal, canvas and writing....

...the 'sea bed' looked as though it was made using plaster pieces ...

....this was a very large structure at the entrance to the exhibition....

...wings are fashioned from lead and the base from a mixture of lead, canvases and papers.

Photographs were not allowed in the actual exhibition, so I bought some postcards...

....many of his paintings began as a photograph, this was acrylic, emulsion, oil, shellac and sediment of electrolysis on photograph mounted on canvas, 280 x 380cm....

.....acrylic, emulsion, oil, metal,fragments of paint, plaster, gold leaf and sediment of electrolysis on photograph mounted on canvas, 330 x560 x 45 cm...

....the canvases were huge and amazing, so textured using great amount of paint and other mediums.....

....emulsion,acrylic and shellac on canvas 356 x 463 cm

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Across the road from the RA was Fortnum and Mason looking very festive with beautiful window displays, popped in and it was heaving with customers buying all manner of food items and ordering the wonderful hampers!

Next spent an hour browsing the enormous Waterstones in Picadilly and took  pleasure in choosing some children's books for a gift.

Finally went to Ottopizza for a get together with the family! The pizza bases are made with cornmeal and had delicious toppings, so tasty!!

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A beautiful day today after torrential rain yesterday....

....think I may have to go for a walk along the river then must start knitting an aran cardigan!

Looking forward to meeting Myfanwy Hart at the Royal Festival Hall tomorrow....