As luck would have it, I was in Swaffham, Norfolk, for the weekend of the 18 and 19th July.
This was the weekend the town celebrated the 800th anniversary of the first mention of its market, in the year 1215.
The town held a Medieval Festival, with lots of song, dance, jousting, archery falconry and an old-style market.
We also had King John, Archbishop Langton and the Barons getting together at the bandstand (after the little girls did their song and dance routine to 50's rock and roll).
Lots of people out and about, the Saturday market busier than usual and an indoor arts and crafts fair, plus nice sunny weather.
A town crier kept everyone informed of the various things going on, when he wasn't cajoling a dance with one of the nuns present.
A very pleasant day out although I regret not buying a bottle or two of the "800" year old ale for sale.
Dune
By Frank Herbert
The other thing I see now is how beautifully written the book is: it deserves its high reputation and many awards. The only minor quibble I would take is that I feel it ends a bit too quickly; some characters deserve a little bit more time perhaps.
On the right: The cover of the paperback I read back in the day. A wonderful Bruce Pennington painting.
I went to see an exhibition of some Pennington paintings at London's Atlantis Books a while ago. A lovely little show that really made me appreciate Pennington's unique style.
Left: The cover of the new hardback Dune novel I finished recently. A classic deserves a good hardback edition!
The heart of the novel is the coming of age story of the young Duke Paul Atreides, his awakening to his "terrible purpose" and wonderfully drawn relationship to his mother Jessica. The human and social core remains the most important aspect and is never dominated by hardware or science. This is definitely not a "hard" science-fiction book and it owes as much to Walter Scott as Robert Heinlein.
Beautifully written, fast paced and very moving in parts. If you have not read Dune, you should.
For a long time I had heard of Alejandro Jodorowsky's aborted feature film of the book from the 1970's, and
been disappointed it had not been made. However, having seen the recent documentary about
it, Jodorowsky's Dune, I'm
perhaps glad it wasn't. Jodorowsky's a very talented author and artist but he was far too keen on
his own ideas and bent on changing the actual story. It would not have been the same at all even
if it had looked and sounded amazing.
As for David Lynch's film, I saw it on release and did not really like it: too weird and
"gothic". Looking at it now however, I see a lot more to like, even though it is obviously
very flawed. There is a lot of deeper substance to Dune and the book deserves much more
than only an action and adventure treatment. Lynch tried this and failed (not his
fault alone) but a worthy try. What would Peter Jackson make of it?
From the letters page of The Economist :
Some argue that the Greeks have a problem with their economic culture. But
perhaps there is hope of change, for they were not always such bad debtors. The
last words uttered by Socrates were: “Crito, we owe a cock to Asclepius; pay it
and do not forget.”
JEREMY JOSSE
New York
Lovely summer Saturday morning for a visit to the 2015 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. A busy start to the show as well as the crowd waited for it to open in the sun-splashed courtyard. The courtyard hosts the first bit of the exhibition: a massive steel sculpture (looking distinctly rusty) called 'The Dappled Light of the Sun' by Conrad Shawcross (below). Appropriately named today.
Inside and up the stairs (brightly striped) to the main exhibition that covers 16 rooms, lots of space for lots of painting, print, sculpture and the odd "installation" piece. Odd is sometimes the right word.
Above: sheep and a goat, Dido Crosby (link)
One thing I always notice at the RA is how clean and pristine everything is: the rooms, the ceilings, the paint on the walls, the floors. They do a very good job keeping the place spotless.
Right : A detail of the highly ornate ceiling in one of the rooms. Lots of this sort of decorative style inside, but perhaps a modern "Grayson Perry RA" style paint job?
Below: Erebus (Man on Fire Version II), by Tim Shaw (link)
There is something slightly unsettling about this huge, bug-like mutation of a sculpture in the middle of the room. There is a man's body inside the black mass of exploding substrate, the head bent down and under, arms outstretched.
Below : People admiring a few of the late William Bowyer's works (link).
Right :
CAPTCHA NO.11 (DORYPHOROS), by Matthew Darbyshire
There are a huge number of things to see here, and a lot of pieces that I marked myself as things I particularly liked. I recalled liking Olwyn Bowey's work from last time but there are many others.
Looking back at the web site now, I appear to have missed two rooms! I try and be methodical but didn't manage it very well this time! Anyway, browse all the art at the Summer Exhibition Explorer web site.
Lovely weather recently, and perfect for trips around town. Such as a second visit to the National Portrait Gallery and the 2015 BP Portrait Award.
In my experience, always a great show with some beautiful and inspiring works of portraiture. One or two are so personal and painful, it was hard to look at them. An example is the painting Juanito by José Luis Corella, shown below (links to the NPG page) :
The picture is of the artist's uncle and is very large and photo-realistic. It is quite hard to look at without a well of emotion surfacing; a very affecting picture.
Two other paintings stood out for me.
The first is an amazing diptych portrait by Leslie Watts, Charlotte and Emily. Beautifully painted in egg tempera :
Charlotte and Emily by Leslie Watts. Egg tempera on clayboard. 500mm x 400mm each.
Leslie Watts has her own blog.
The second painting is quite understated, and the winner of the second prize. This is Eliza, by Michael Gaskell. Painted in acrylic, the jumper and denim shirt are amazingly life-like. It's also very hard to paint such subtle skin tones in acrylic I think.
Eliza by Michael Gaskell. Acrylic on board. 370mm x 270mm.
His influences here are described as fifteenth century portrait painter Hans Memling. He has his own web site with more examples of his work. Some really amazing stuff.
Have a look at some other pictures from the show here.