Birthday Outing

Another birthday.. and a snowy one this year; woke to a 'white world' of creaky cushioned flakes.

A simple agenda for the day; bit of light painting, bit of music and then a wander of the galleries in the centre of town. I've been having a bit of a look at the Renaissance, the old Flemish stuff and really enjoying it, learning things I have forgotten or never knew; so we started in the National with a look at the above and a great wee room of Vermeers. I knew that the guy wasn't very prolific and so it was good to see even three; but for some reason I had it in my mind that his works were smaller, so wasn't prepared for the great vision of three big canvases. Awesome colours and compositions; and yes that included some yellow! Lots in fact.

Another pleasant surprise was the show at the Scottish Gallery on Dundas Street - new work from Peter Howson. Having just seen the documentary on him, and felt kind of ashamed for what I saw as a huge underestimation of his work and the man himself, it was a treat to see a good amount of work in the flesh. I loved the direct eye contact in the piece on the programme, the way the figure engaged the viewer so totally with such emotional depth; there were a few here that did the same thing, and all the more powerfully in real life. Having just seen the El Greco in the National I saw parallels with the emotional treatment and the use of white in the highlights; really striking when viewing one after the other... really striking show in general too. Slightly scary standing in front of a £100K canvas - a fine crucifixion; and the pieces are very immediate and human in that you could imagine having one around in the house. Maybe a bit beyond budget just now. Just put up a (yellow) Bellany reproduction in the newly decorated bathroom and joked about getting a real one with Marcus, the owner of the Braewell Gallery, our final destination of the day. Apparently we cound manage to pick up a watercolour for only a couple of hundred quid, which sorely tempts me; although not, as was pointed out, for the bathroom... Introduced Stu to Joe O'Brien's work in the flesh there as well, having only pointed at it on the computer monitor up until now - as with so many things (all?) the real power is reserved for standing in front of the canvas.

So, alltogether a most productive day so far; bought some movies, some postcards and a tube of paint. Yellow. 'Turner's yellow'... if it's good enough for him...

The evening's entertainment is very much between my own four walls tonight; movies, music, dinner and a wee tub of Ben and Jerry's with my name on it:)