It's been a laid back kind of holiday. Haven't been tearing around madly doing stuff, mostly cos I just can't afford it. But we've managed a couple of things. Last week Soulsis et al popped 'round for the day; she stayed here with the boys (all four of them) while my niece and I went down to the city for a visit to the National Gallery. It's a big place, a bit overwhelming, not something you can see all of in one day. Best way to tackle it is to go for a couple of hours and look at only a few sections. Bit of a bugger if you're only visiting Melbourne, but honestly, there's so much there.
What did we see? Browsed around the textiles and the European 14th to 18th centuries for a bit, then had a snack, then Becca decided she wanted to see the modern stuff. Not much at all in that collection - that was on display at any rate - but what there was was striking. But, how do you judge 'good' Modern Art? Where's the line between 'wank' and 'significant'? There were a couple of pieces where I found myself thinking, 'Blimey, I could've done that!' But could I? Could I really have tried to play with colour and form and produce something that wasn't pretentious, or worse, ordinary? Some of the pieces looked as though they'd been executed very quickly but that's not to say there was no thought put into them. I know that's how it works when I'm writing, I can (usually) ponder something for ages, then bang it gels, and off I go...
The Gallery's a bit precious about taking photos, too, but I took this before I'd actually asked if it was all right to take photos. I can technically plead ignorance, yes?
This is a doll's dress from the 1800's. It's about 40cm in length (big doll!) and made of patchwork, specifically the 'tumbling block' design. Cor...
I also had a wander through the photographic gallery upstairs - photos from America in the 1930's to the '50's from various photographers. They weren't 'arty' but they captured a moment in time and made it real. Just amazing, it's the sort of stuff I aspire to.
After that Becca and I had to go home cos we was all culcha'd out. <g>
In the meantime the cubs had had fun with their cousins, and Soulsis wasn't ready to kill any of them by the time we got back so all in all it was a successful day.
And I got presents! A pair of pressed glass plates with goldfish designs! Becca had painted the fish on one of them a lovely, vibrant orange. Gorgeous!
And yesterday the cubs' father offered to take the cubs and I to Puffing Billy! (He'd hired a car for the weekend.) That was great, and the cubs' father's first time on the train. Cold though, and it rained! It hailed, in fact. We didn't stay too long, just took the train to Lakeside, had a look at the model railway, then caught the next train back to Belgrave. Because we had a car we were home by 3. <g> It was a good day and the cubs had a ball. There'll be some photos up at Flickr soonish, once I've winnowed down the 170 to something reasonable. Damn, I love having a camera again...
No comments:
Post a Comment