Victoria and Albert Museum

View from the John Madejski Garden

A few weeks ago, a friend and I went into London to have a nose around the Victoria & Albert Museum. Entry is free, and it's really easy to get to because it has its own exit from one of the tube stations!

There's so much to see that it would be impossible to sum it all up in one post (or even to properly take it all in during one visit!) but here are a few highlights...

David Shrigley's Life Model II

Last post I mentioned that Brighton Fringe is happening, but May is also the month of Brighton Festival! This year's guest director is David Shrigley, and there's currently an exhibition of his piece Life Model II at Fabrica (one of my favourite galleries!)

The main feature of this exhibition is a huge female mannequin of slightly 'off' proportions, and the gallery is set up to resemble a life-drawing class. There are easels, beanbags and chairs available, and visitors are invited to use the materials provided to draw the mannequin (who periodically blinks with an audible click). The drawings are then stuck to the walls around the gallery.

I have to say I didn't expect to end up drawing a naked mannequin when I stepped into the gallery, but it's always fun when exhibitions have some kind of immersive or interactive feature--something Fabrica's exhibitions are very good at!

Alas, I cannot draw...

Inside the Fringe

It's Brighton Fringe time of year, and alongside all the awesome paid events, there's a ton of free ones, including art and photography exhibitions!

So when I went shopping this week, I happened upon Inside the Fringe, an exhibition of photographs by James Bellorini.

This exhibition, which is at Brighton Station (on the walkway between the platforms and the car park) comprises of a series of portraits that feature the many talents of some of the participants of this year's fringe.

Each portrait came with a little bio for the subject, including which shows you can see them in this time around!
I didn't take many pictures, because there were a lot of people walking back and forth, and it feels a bit weird to take photos of someone else's photos!
But I enjoyed seeing the different portraits, and appreciated the variation of styles and lighting used.
These portraits represent a good cross-section of the people involved in Brighton Fringe, and show how diverse both the people and the events are.

Walking With Llamas

Last Sunday, a group of us went to the Llama Park and walked llamas!

We went for my birthday, as it's been something I wanted to do for ages (mainly because I can).

I walked a llama named Dave. He likes food. A lot. (Me too Dave!)

There were six or seven llamas in our walking group, and about ten people--all there to celebrate birthdays! The route went across the llama park and into the grounds of a neighbouring hotel, which the park has an agreement with for doing the walks.
It was pretty muddy, but the area is nice and there were several stops for feeding the llamas and taking pictures.

(Excuse my squinty laughing face). Dave hugely enjoyed his carrots. But he also liked grass. Lots of grass.

It was a fun morning out, finished off with lunch at the Llama Park's cafe.

I can now tick another goal off The List:

018. Walk a llama

It was certainly a novel experience!

Beetroot Chocolate Cake

Today I completed a food-related goal from The List:

075. Make something delicious using something I usually hate the taste of

I opted for making beetroot chocolate cake, as I'd planned all along.

Now let me tell you, ordinarily, I can't stand beetroot.

I hate the smell of it, cannot bear the taste of it, and honestly the only thing it's got going for it is the colour. But you can't eat colour.

You can, however, eat cake.

I used this chocolate beetroot cake recipe from Allrecipes.co.uk, though I didn't bother with the vanilla essence, and swapped out the plain flour/bicarbonate of soda for self raising flour...and completely forgot about the salt. Oh well.

My cookery skills are pretty chaotic and messy, and I didn't have a tin the right size so I ended up making a big cake and six cupcakes. The big cake took forever to cook through--about 25 mins longer than the recipe said! I think I put too much mix in the tin...

After letting the cakes cool, I covered them in chocolate ganache. I didn't realise how simple it was to make! The most complicated parts are chopping up the chocolate and making sure the cream doesn't boil.

Covered the cupcakes in little decorations just to use them up. I had way too much ganache left so ended up making two little desserts in ramekin dishes, with the leftover ganache on top of broken up digestive biscuits, which Dad and I ate for pudding, with the leftover double cream!

As for the beetroot cake itself, I've only eaten one of the cupcakes so far, but enjoyed it! The cake tasted extremely chocolatey, and I couldn't taste any beetroot at all :)

So mission accomplished, but it was so chocolately I don't think I'll need chocolate for another month!

A Complete Pair

Things That Hurt When You Tread on Them

At the start of the year, I tentatively declared my photography project, A Strange Pair, finished. There was still one more photo I wanted to take for it, but I'd been unable to get my hands on one of the objects I wanted for it, and had reached my goal of 21 photos.

So I called it finished and forgot about it.

Sometimes forgetting about things is all you need for serendipity to throw what you want into your path, because whilst volunteering the other day, I came across a little Lego kit.
It had one brick of the size I wanted.
And it was the colour I wanted, too.

So at long last, I was able to take the stupid photo: Things That Hurt When You Tread on Them.

This project is finally complete! 

There are now 22 photos altogether, each one featuring two objects paired for unconventional reasons. This is based on information I found in a book on psychology, relating to the way a group of schizophrenics categorised objects (see my post Stop! for more information).
I found this utterly fascinating, so explored the idea of unconventional categories through this project. Thinking outside of the box for pairs/categorisations was as challenging as finding that damn Lego block...

And now it's done!
This counts towards goal 12: Complete 3 photography projects, along with my still in-progress project, State of Mind.
One down, one and a half to go!

See all photos taken for A Strange Pair here.

5 Anime Sonnets (and Two Random Others)

It's the end of the month, and with it I bring my final seven sonnets for a goal on The List:

027. Write 1 sonnet per day for 1 month

Honestly it's a relief to finish these. Sonnet-writing is not as fun as I seem to remember. Nor as easy.
Originally I'd planned to do something fun for this last week and write sonnets about anime, but the first and last ones here...aren't. But they're still kind of light-hearted and silly...

Daylight Savings Messes Up My Body Clock (And My Brain)

Alas, I planned to write of anime,

Of characters fictional and adored,

Yet as I sat down to my great dismay,

My brain did refuse and my thoughts all snored.

Tis folly to write with a mind like this,

With a head so clouded by cotton wool,

All quick-witted phrases have gone amiss--

My mind is no longer a sharpened tool.

Yet this foolish errand I shall not yield,

For on the morrow I will try again,

In hope that my thoughts do fly far afield,

To write wittily with digital pen.

Today there is something to place the blame:

Daylight Savings is its infernal name.

(This happens every damn year, and it always takes a good week for me to get used to everything being an hour different...)
 

An Egg By Any Other Name Could Not Be Beat

Do you see the great unbeatable Egg?

Wrapped up in his spandex suit of yellow,

Red gloves and boots on each strong fist and leg,

With his white cape he's a superb fellow!

See at his side the serious Toaster,

Young, that cyborg disciple of metal,

Admired is he: a boy of the poster,

His verbosity does the Egg nettle.

Yet together this duo save the earth,

(Albeit the Toaster often gets wreck'd)

Such heroes as these are of immense worth,

As monsters defeated, the sales are check'd.

For the best bargains are found before lunch,

So the Egg beats the monster with one punch.

(A sonnet about One Punch Man, because it's ridiculous and I love it)

24 Hours and the Sky: 8 Sonnets

Here I am again with more sonnets! This set of 8 is based around the sky and times of day.

Sun

A warm soul is he of many faces

Limpid and pale on a chill winter's morn

Yet when the spring comes how fast he races

To summon the daffodils from the lawn

And summer's image is so hot and bright

His broad beam inviting a sleepy trance

How golden he turns in the autumn light

As leaves of all colours take up their dance

But oft does he hide in a shroud of grey

Dull in his journey from dawn until dusk

Sometimes he burns those who walk at midday

Sparing no saint nor thief nor soul at busk

This giver of life fickle in his ways

Is predictable in his yearly phase

Moon

Ancient yet youthful is her form so pale,

Sometime rotund and sometime slight as fae,

As thru' the night's velvet skies doth she sail,

To aid the trav'ller who has lost his way.

On winter nights she wears rings of all shades,

A halo remains in spring's coolest air,

In summer she late arrives in the glades,

And autumn's harvest sees her smile so rare.

Yet some nights she shyly hides behind clouds,

Or turns her dark back to the weary soul,

And lamplight must govern the nightly crowds,

For darkness is friend only to the mole.

Again thru' the sky this pale lady rides,

This lighter of ways, mistress of the tides.

Stars

At moonrise in countless number you'll see

Kings and Queens of such marvellous brightness

Fine jewels in each patch of night velvety

Distant monarchs each with their own lightness

How far they are from our homeland humble

Yet strong enough that we know each by name

And even should one form take a tumble

We know its path: can calculate its aim

Tho' with each sunrise these royals do fade

Obscured behind the daytime's lightened skies

After the sun has made his grand parade

They reappear to soothe our weary eyes

Eternal bodies so noble and bright

Those Lords and Ladies of infinite night

Hands Over

At long last, I have finished my hand-drawing goal:

01. Fill a sketchbook with artwork/studies of only one subject

I chose 'hands' as my subject because I have always struggled to draw them, and after struggling some more back in 2015 when I started on this goal, I gave up, only dipping into it every so often to scribble down a hand sketched from a reference on google images.

Then at some point towards the end of last year/beginning of this year, I began making more of an effort again. For a while I drew a lot from the timed exercises on Line of Action (which you can see in previous posts) which really kickstarted my drawing again!

But I soon began drawing from my own references, too (as in this post) and filled my camera roll up with hand photos I'd snapped on my phone!

I attempted drawing without a reference, but that turned into drawing with a reference (of my own hand) because it started going badly very quickly!

In fact, some days my attempts still go pretty badly!

As for whether I've improved, here are the first and last sketches from the book:

First Hand

Last Hand

I have definitely improved!

After starting this goal so long ago, it's a relief to finally get it finished! In the process of drawing, I've found that pastel pencils make really light work of shading (but are a pain in the butt when they break). I've also found that my favourite pencil to draw with is a 6B watersoluble graphite pencil, like these ones by Derwent (and no, they aren't paying me to say that). It's easy to achieve a variation of shades, and being able to shade larger areas with the side of the pencil gives me more control than if I was using a traditional pencil. So I'm kind of glad I've got two of them!

Over the course of this goal, I have drawn over 150 hands! I haven't posted all of them online. Some are just little doodles from trying to draw cartoonish hands, where I didn't really put any effort into drawing, so I didn't post them. But everything else is are here on this blog.

You can see all the sketches I posted by going to my Goal 01 Tag.

Seasons and Sweet Things

Continuing on from last week's post about my month-long sonnet-writing challenge, here are the next eight!

Too Tired to Think of a Topic

Oft are there times in life when effort fails,

When the siren song of sleep is too great

And still falls the wind from the mind's white sails.

Whether the hour be early or too late,

Hard is the journey when the currents freeze,

And thought's great ship is trapped on oceans grey

As all on board await the wakeful breeze--

Yet drowsily long for the end of day.

But some may resist the lure of pillows

From time to time when oceans rise and fall,

And in fresh gusts of wind the sail billows,

And thoughts fly free amidst the seabird's call.

When sails fall and this vessel longs to sleep,

The answer is to concentrate, breathe deep.

(Because I was too tired to think of a topic)

Spring

Gentle her footsteps that herald warm light,

And quiet the sighs that rustle fresh leaves,

And tho' in her wake bloom flowers so bright,

That breath can turn cold and howl 'round the eaves.

For sometimes through meadows sweet she will rage,

And force newborn lives to shudder and hide,

Heavy her tears soak the travelling sage,

And spoils fragile blooms at winter's graveside.

Though often is her temperament harsh,

With her kind light are warmer days proclaimed,

For new life grows upon the cruellest marsh,

Under the care of that nature untamed.

So when the wind howls and rain blots the sky,

Know it is she who makes blooms multiply.