December Arts Newsletter
 November Tunnel, oil on canvas 70x50cmI can’t believe it is 1st December. I feel like we have been in December for weeks already. I have lots of exhibition ideas to distract you from Christmas below. However, I’m not a total Scrooge (I actually love Xmas) and also have a few suggestions for the best Christmas lights. Meanwhile I have been busy in the studio, both painting and screenprinting.  The Courtauld Institute has just reopened after a 3 year, £57m makeover. The collection is a magnificent combination of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist and Renaissance works with a few Medieval pieces too. It has always been one of my best-loved London galleries, partly because it was so tucked away, you would often find yourself alone to contemplate a cracking Manet or Degas. By all accounts the new look is sympathetic to Somerset House and transforms the collection with all new flow and lighting. I can’t wait to go but really hope the word hasn’t got out… shhhh! The Courtauld, Somerset House. Also in Somerset House there is The Beano: The Art of Breaking the Rules. The exhibition is set up so that visitors feel they are stepping into pages of the Beano, Britain’s longest running comic. I grew up reading the Beano, in fact all my and my brother’s old comics (c.1983-92) are still at my parents’ house. My children still pick a wodge of them to read whilst staying there. We shall definitely have a family outing to this. Somerset House until 6 Mar Durer’s Journeys at the National Gallery is the heavy hitter of the London exhibitions this winter. The most overlooked artist of the Renaissance (maybe because he was German not Italian) his name should be mentioned in the same breath as Michelangelo, Leonardo and Raphael. Hell, he should have been a turtle. Unlike those other artists who stayed put in Italy, though, he travelled across Europe to learn and teach. This show focuses on those travels, and looks super interesting. National Gallery until 27Feb22.  Amy: Beyond the Stage celebrates all things Amy Winehouse from genres that influenced her music to the legacy that she left behind. Instantly recognisable, Winehouse became an icon of her generation with an immense amount of talent which led to very sad story. It’s at the fabulous Design Museum which also has The Conran Effect about Terence Conran that you could fit in too. until 1April22  If, like me, you were too late to book the lights at Kew, there are plenty of fabulous and free Christmas lights to see around London. Winter Light at the Southbank Centre is an open-air exhibition of work from 10 artists all inspired by light, colour and space. Other festive lights worth seeing are Carnaby Street, which are always excellent, Regent Street, Covent Garden and the Greenwich Peninsular. What also sounds particularly fun is the cobbled streets of Belgravia are being turned into a (super stylish) winter wonderland which they are calling With Bells On. Whilst you’re there you can also visit the Gingerbread City at the Museum of Architecture.   I have been experimenting in the screenprinting studio with mixing different colours to create a wintry starry sky. Brrr! |
I used to read the Beano as a child -I am not sure I so much as “read” them but rather looked at the pictures!