Unwrapping Sculptures at Kew.

Saturday 1472 – 12th May 2012

Hello again everyone.. The weeks are rushing past at an alarming rate aren’t they! So what did I do with the 1472nd Saturday that I (hopefully) have left on this planet.

I went to the very famous Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in London. I took advantage of only the 2nd sunny day here for many weeks. I was rather pleased with myself because this is the first time I’ve driven into London proper  ( still not into the congestion zone thankfully, though charges don’t apply on a Saturday anyway) .. No big deal really I know but I have always been nervous about driving in London as the traffic is pretty horrendous and the North Circular Road is a bit notorious !

I certainly wouldn’t have even contemplated it without my SatNav; one piece of technology that I have really embraced.  I used to be a map-aholic you know , always having one on my knee when I was a passenger. Indeed I took the responsibility for getting myself and the driver safely to our destination very seriously!!.  In a rather childlike way I used to enjoy a long journey that covered several pages of my map book; counting off each page as I turned it over and announcing “Only 3 more pages to go” or “we’re nearly at the edge of another page”

Map reading is easy enough when there are 2 of you but now I wonder how I ever managed to find my way anywhere when I was in the car on my own.  Having to keep stopping to look at a map was tedious in the extreme and it was never any good me just listing road numbers or place names I had to pass through because I could never remember them. London would definitely have been a No No !

Anyway enough of the journey lets’ get back to Kew.  Firstly I wish it wasn’t so far away as the drive takes nearly 2 hours - I usually go by public transport but the drive to the train station, train, tube and walk takes even longer and I end up exhausted before I get there !

Kew Gardens are glorious and so much to see. I strongly recommend it and if you are lucky enough to be able to go you need a whole day so don’t try to factor in anything else. Now I could show you lots of photos of plants ( and I will at some point over on Photomania ) but that would be a bit ordinary wouldn’t it !! 

So instead I’m concentrating on an exhibition called David Nash at Kew – A Natural Gallery which officially opens on the 9th of June but which was being set up while I was there.

Here’s a bit from Kew’s website -

“David Nash, one of the UK’s most prolific sculptors, is exhibiting his work at Kew Gardens. The exhibition, which opens on 9 June 2012, includes sculptures, installations, drawings and film in place throughout the Gardens, glasshouses, and exhibition spaces.

Nash will also work at Kew on a ‘wood quarry’ from April 2012, creating new pieces for the exhibition using trees from the Gardens that have come to the end of their natural life.”

You can read more about David Nash himself here

The photos I’m showing you I am calling David Nash – Unwrapped at Kew. I took them because sculpture is my favourite art form and the work looks exciting even when it’s wrapped up in cling film stuff; a sneak preview for you!!  I’m showing you the black charred ones but these are not the only type. I can’t wait to go back and visit again when it opens officially as I love  outdoor sculpture and David’s work is gorgeous; strong and organic.

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You can read lots of stuff about Kew gardens here , it’s well worth having a look, the website is packed with lots of information and loveliness

 Just going back to what I said about technology earlier in this post, apart from your phone and computer which are obvious what piece of technology, or maybe some other sort of gadget, do you think has made your life very much easier??   I’d love to hear about it.

Bye from the Saturday Girl until next week

P.s. If you don’t already know I also have a daily photography blog called Helen’s Photomania which you can find here I hope you’ll pop over and take a look

Not yet her mother……..

Saturday 1487 – 28th January 2012

Hello all,

                  I’ve been following  Artboy68′s 100 Portraits Project for many weeks now. Scott Hamilton, the  extremely talented author of the blog, set himself the challenge of making 100 miniature portraits in pencil & coloured pencil in 20 weeks. With a few exceptions the portraits are mostly based on public profile pictures on blogs and he sends the original drawing to the subject if they want them ( and who wouldn’t as they’re lovely )

People who commented on his project early on were in… I was cheeky (surely not! ) and emailed him a couple of photos and he picked a B&W one of me taken when I was about 20 and yesterday I was his number 79. You can see the full post here

This is it –

For some reason when I saw Scott’s drawing of me at 20 I immediately thought of Owen Sheers beautiful poem “Not Yet My Mother” and thought I’d like to share it all with you  today so here it is below : -

NOT YET MY MOTHER

Yesterday I found a photo
of you at seventeen,
holding a horse and smiling,
not yet my mother.

The tight riding hat hid your hair,
and your legs were still the long shins of a boy’s.
You held the horse by the halter,
your hand a fist under its huge jaw.

The blown trees were still in the background                                              
and the sky was grained by the old film stock,
but what caught me was your face,
which was mine.

And I thought, just for a second, that you were me.
But then I saw the woman’s jacket,
nipped at the waist, the ballooned jodhpurs,
and of course the date, scratched in the corner.

All of which told me again,
that this was you at seventeen, holding a horse
and smiling, not yet my mother,
although I was clearly already your child.

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I love to listen to Owen Sheers reading this. Try listening to him by clicking this here  and then clicking on the recording. Such a lovely voice…..

This got me thinking of the passing down of genes and how my daughter Katy, if she hadn’t already seen it, might have looked at the original photo and thought “Oh she’s very familiar” before realising it was me  – not yet her mother. …..

People have always said she looks like me; particularly when she was younger..( and when I was younger !!)  but less so now.

I don’t know how alike we are,  what do you think?

One thing I do know is that we both appear to like sleeping !!

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My photo was taken by my lovely friend Lisa of Puttyfoot - you can see some of Puttyfoot’s work  here
Saturday girl signing off and saying thanks again Artboy!

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P.S – Here’s my other blog – Photomania