A few images from galleries

Whilst in Cardiff Fiona and I had the chance to visit the Wales National Museum and Gallery where they have one of the biggest collections of impressionist and post-impressionist art outside of France. This had come about through a bequest by two sisters. As usual while I was taken by the beauty of many pieces I was even more taken by details or fragments of the pieces which follow.

We also visited the Scottish National Modern Art Gallery - again some images.

I find some modern art does not appeal but works such as the fur coats that had been shaved to reveal the stitching and joins grabbed me - I think it was all the detail and the way the artist had deliberately worked with the garments to reveal underlying beauty given the controversy around fur coats.

Fragments from the streets

One feature of Fiona's and my journey is the amount of walking we do; but it is through walking that one discovers fragments of art, history and lives. 

A few images from Cardiff streets including the first photos of a public sculpture that was part of a war memorial. One side of the work was a face, the other the hull of a ship and the back the structure of a boat -  a very powerful work.

And there we less challenging fragments in Cardiff.

We are back in Edinburgh and there are always layers of history and forgotten bits.

We also visited a couple of public galleries in Cardiff and Edinburgh but sharing fragments from those will be for another day.

Surprised by fragments of Spring

Fiona and I have been wandering the highways and byways of Scotland and Wales for three weeks now. We were told it is Spring. Given that we have been blown on, snowed on, rained on, hailed on and sleeted on we have at times not been convinced. But the small touches of colour and growth not only make one smile but also make one realise that nature is doing its best to mov from winter to spring. A few photos of signs of Spring that have caught my eye.

In their own way they look like photos from my morning walks.

Marks of makers and others

Marks - Ogham on a spinning  whorl.

When on Orkney Fiona and I visited St Magnus's cathedral. Whilst impressed with the size and architecture of the building what also caught our eyes were the registered marks that the stone masons had carved into a couple of the columns to register the fact that they had carried out the stone work. A few of the makers' marks .....

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But of course over the centuries vandals need to leave their marks - as you can see these were happening in 1771 and earlier in St David's cathedral in Wales.

Funny how we excuse some vandals such as the person who wrote in Ogham on a windowsill in a church in Nevern in Wales.

Shifting moods in the landscape

Fiona and I were fortunate to stay at a BnB on the main Orkney island where we could look out the window across fields, a loch, the Brodgar Circle of standing stones and the Isle of Hoy, it was a form of magic to watch a light snow storm dust the landscape.

And for another scudding shower closer to home dump a light dusting of small hail on us - layers.

And in five minutes it was a clear sky - magic.