Dizzy

I've always admired the artist Bridget Riley and been fascinated by her work but have only seen the odd painting in the Tate, so when I heard she had an exhibition at the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill I had to go. We've been to the Pavilion before and it is a beautiful building which has some great exhibitions and events. Obviously I knew the paintings were optical art but I was totally unprepared for their effect on me - amazing, the colours are vibrant, painted to perfection (which is important as I love a perfectly flat colour!) but I couldn't look at them - the whole wall of painting moved - swam - jiggled - flowed and made me feel completely dizzy. It was as if I'd taken a hallucinogenic drug and things were moving that shouldn't be - I eventually found looking through one eye helped but I was disappointed and quite shocked that a flat painting could have such an effect - but then that is the point!
The other photos above show a few shots of Bexhill, a garden dedicated to beach clean finds and Normans Bay - one of the 1066 beaches.

new obsession ....

.... making pictures with objects found on my 2 minute beach clean!

Finished ...

I have finished my first painting in ages. It's quite large - acrylic on canvas and I have really enjoyed doing it. Also it's been good therapy during a sad and difficult time. Now onto the next one....

Street art

Went out last night to view the street art in Chichester. Some of it was still in progress. It was great to see it, as the city is normally such a conservative place. Apparently it will stay until someone complains ... I wonder how long that will be ...?

Stop and stare 17

Murmuration -I love this word used for a collection of starlings. We finally went to Brighton at dusk to see them flying over West Pier. Unfortunately the light was not good enough to get a photograph of the thousands that eventually gathered, this was just the start. Everyone was stopping to stare as they danced round and round in the most beautiful formations, it was very moving. We stayed until it was so cold My Jack Russell was shivering and we had to go home. There were many other interesting sights too.

New Year

Already 3 good things have happened this year ...

I'm so proud of my niece Alice - her painting was recently exhibited at the prestigious

Pallant House Gallery in Chichester.

It stopped raining, the sun came out and ...

I baked my first successful loaf of bread. Finally an edible loaf that was not so heavy it could have been used as a door stop! I hope your 2013 is off to a good start.

art

Paintings in a gallery? No just more boat bottoms in Chichester Marina. You have to know I risked life and limb to photograph these. Scurrying around under boats weighing tons, which are propped up on stilts - health & safety would be apalled. Shh... don't tell them!

Boat bottoms

Stop & stare 10

Couldn't resist a picture of this!

Wood blocks

Found these in a boatyard, they are used to prop up the boats while they're being worked on. I wanted to take them home.

Renewal

I think that David Hockney says it all in an interview on Radio 4's Today programme early last week. He's talking about what inspires him and you can listen to it here. Just scroll down the page to 0822.

© 2010 nicky linzey for illustration friday.

Surprised

It was a lovely surprise - for my birthday Gray bought me an Angie Lewin print - my favourite one - Salthouse. We'd been to Norfolk in July and went to a local gallery to try and find one of her prints - they had all sold. So it was a great surprise to me that Gray managed to track this one down in another Gallery and bought it for my birthday in August. I've had to wait a while but it finally arrived today and I love it. Thanks Gray. xx