Ahhh!!!! Real Klimts, in the flesh, at Tate Liverpool.

Evening.

Apologies for my long absence - it's a guilt thing. Too many other things to do, you know how it is. I've been spending far too much time on my flickr account hence the recent linkages, which are very handy indeed.

Update on the blackbirds: we came home one day to find the nest empty, after the babies were almost falling out of it due to their immense size. Our cats didn't seem too bothered; the birds got used to Benny asleep in the middle of the grass and just hopped around her! We saw one of the fledglings later that day but they disappeared after that; we just saw the parents again yesterday and they look as if they are now on their own... guess we'll never know what happened.

As the title of this post suggests, it was something amazing which inspired today's post. This week we've been off work and although a large part of the time was spent doing boring catchy-up type things, we decided to visit Liverpool because I'd heard about the Klimt exhibition.

I went to Liverpool with work a few times but didn't get to hang around much; besides it's changing like a very changeable thing at the moment due to it being European City of Culture 2008. There's a huge Arena now, which is where we parked, just beside the Albert Dock.

The Tate Gallery in Liverpool has Rodin's The Kiss in the foyer, presumably on permanent display. After a short wait (only about 30 mins) just to tease us of course, we entered the Klimt exhibition...... and were first greeted by a great wall covered with a swirly tree-of-life mock up. The ground floor of the gallery is given over to a display of the Beethoven frieze, so straight away the visitor gets to see the delicate gold-leafed meaty art in the flesh. I stood for a while to study the detail of the patterns; in parts rather sketchy but perhaps this was never meant to be scrutenised from 2 feet away...

A hop up in the service lift takes you up to the top floor of the Tate, where the full Klimt experience is felt. The exhibition is not 100% Klimt; now that could be a good thing or a bad thing depending on your point of view but because the other bits were Mackintoshes and general art-crafts-deco period, I though it was very well-balanced and broke the gallery up into sections which told the story of what was influencing Klimt's life. I particularly enjoyed seeing photos of the man himself, complete with artist's smock, then a real one alongside (strangely and sadly free from paint).

There are some XXX-rated images in a little side-room which remind you that he was a fully redblooded male who appreciated a special sort of beauty, most of it redheaded!

So there were the landscapes... the nudes ... the women ... all masterpieces.

But my favourite was saved until last ... I can't really describe how I felt when I saw this but it actually made me quite emotional - it was the beauty and the drama, the colours, the shine, the glow, the facial strain, the size, the familiarity and intimacy of an image which I've studied for years in detail, cutting bits off into smaller frames, focusing onto parts of it like knowing the back of my own hand. And here it was, slightly taller than me, face to face, in full colour, in the flesh, with gorgeous goldleaf frame, the real thing. WOW. It's bringing another little tear to my eye right now.

I bring you: Judith II (Salome)...



NB: Salome: Often depicted her as an icon of dangerous female seductiveness, doing the Dance of the Seven Veils and requesting the death of John the Baptist. Oscar Wilde wrote a play where she makes necrophilic love to the severed head of John the Baptist. Wow!

Perfect day out = two bits of top class rock art, a castle and a beach

We went across to Northumberland again yesterday, to allow B to try out more photography techniques, and because we have to go back there every once in a while cos it's the law. I love it over there - and it was great to see those pink roads again.

We arrived at Chatton Park first, and climbed the small hill past the old shallow quarry, to the rock art located in surely the most spectacular positions in the UK. The view opens directly over the pale glittery sandstone surfaces towards the outline of the Cheviots, across the Till valley inbetween. It's an extremely memorable sight, and one which I always treasure.

It was very windy up there today but at least the sun was trying to get out, the weather on its last chance before autumn set in properly. We continued down the other side of the hill to Kettley Crag, and one of my favourite pieces of prehistoric rock art anywhere.

After a while, my eyes were drawn down to a nearby red field, which seemed to have poppies growing in it - and I felt the urge to get a closer look. It would certainly make a potentially smart photo. Only one problem - there was a farmer-type walking the fields, and I wasn't sure if he'd let me onto the land. After a while I decided to see how close I could get without crossing the boundary. As I approached, I could hear him shouting and cursing at the broken fence (proper c-word and everything, mind!). I was behind a tree at this moment, trying not to laugh out loud. He was taking all his frustrations out on this poor inanimate object and as I turned heel without him seeing me, he cracked on the chainsaw and let rip on the fence. Maybe the poppy question wouldn't have gone down very well after all...

On my return I occupied myself with puzzle and camera until B was ready to move on. We hauled ourselves eventually back up the hill and down again towards the car, and drove onwards to Bamburgh.

The first view of Bamburgh Castle along the road from Belford is always wonderful. The village was really busy - lots of tourist types (ahem) making the most of the good weather. It was between lunch and tea time so we couldn't visit our preferred cafe-bar so visited the Copper Kettle instead, which was fine. After a couple of gifty shoppies we continued on to the church, where Grace Darling is famously buried. Here there are some rather smart old gravestones there but sadly a lot of them have been completely sandblasted to bare rock by the unforgiving sea winds. Discovered that the Grace Darling Museum opposite the church is being completely rebuilt with lottery money - it used to be housed in what felt like an old garage!

We took a good look at the church and I got some good photos of the plants and insects. Then, back to the car and to the little carpark near the beach. The plan was to hang around until sunset to get some great skies, but there was some great people- and dog-watching to be done first. As the sun lowered it became clear that the sky wasn't going to be as spectacular as promised so we made do with the shots we had and headed off back home.

Meanwhile we got some great shots of the beach and the dogs etc, here are mine - enjoy!

Rock Art Hunt - St John Lee, Corbridge Roman Site and Wallington

Yesterday we ventured out to find three pieces of Rock Art in three very different and unusual settings.

The first was to be found just inside the door of the parish church of St. John of Beverley, St. John Lee, near Hexham in Northumberland. The church is easy to find, just off the roundabout on the main A69 road.

The outside of the church is quite plain and Victorian in style, although its origins are in the 14th century. There are some carved gargoyles, a war memorial, and pretty standardised gravestones towards the front. So far, so normal. Inside however, the ceiling has some impressive wooden carved features and its obvious that there has been some serious money poured into it over the last 150 years. One of the most interesting things to me was the marble-carved tomb of a dead Great War soldier, his head lying on a saddle and his hat at his feet. The stained glass windows were OK, again mostly dedicated as memorials, from the Victorian era to the 1940's. I learned all about hatchments, heraldic wooden plaques made in memory of the dead, while waiting patiently for B to take photographs of the rock art!

Outside, we explored the churchyard in search of possible older gravestones, because there must be some if the place is so much older than the architecture... sure enough, I quickly found some old 18th century gravestones, placed against the wall of the church; probably unlikely to be in their original position. My eye was drawn to one for Robert Forester, complete with winged and wigged angel. The graveyard was quite overgrown and my explorations were hampered by possible bare ankle / nettle contact!

Then - bingo! "Memento Mori" (Remember you must die) - a gorgeous stone with skull and crossbones (the skull had a tooth missing)- I set B on the case immediately with tripod and flash to get the best from it. The other side of the stone was carved with wonderful 18thC lettering, as follows:

In memory
of Robert dixon
who died the 26th
may 1761 aged 32
Confide not reader in thy
youth or strength
But more than both thy
present moment prize
Graves here surround the
of each breadth and length
And thou may be perhaps
the next that dies

I loved this!

There was quite a few more similar-aged stones, most had the angel (with various hairstyles) and sometimes egg-timers, snakes eating their own tails, bones and books - all symbols of course representing either everlasting life, or death.

After we left here we drove the short distance to Corbridge Roman site - again just off the A69/A68 and well sign-posted (as with all things Roman around here). We flashed our English Heritage members cards and onwards, to find the Rock Art boulder sat on a wall here.

The site is quite impressive - bigger than I was expecting. The squared grid layout undulates pleasantly, thanks to subsidence into an earlier fort! (I thought this may have been iron-aged but apparently it was a turfed Roman affair). Again, B took pics of the single rock while I wandered about.

The weather was starting too a little bit ropey and during our drive to Wallington, the were a few spits but nothing to get wet about. We'd been to Wallington before, a couple of years ago before I started this blog.

We had a poke about the farm shop and had a cuppa and scone, then headed down to the walled garden. The interior of the house will have to wait to another visit; we'd been before and it would be closed by the time we got back up hill anyway.

We followed the path down the eastern side of the site, across the stepping stones and past the fat couple fondling on the riverbank, up through the trees and back towards the road. The bridge was our target - there is a small "portable" rock art boulder concreted into the inside of the bridge's legs - rendering it not portable anymore. We missed it the first time so crossed over and no it wasn't there - started to panic but found it when returning to the first, southern side of the river.

B took some pics while I listened to the cars honking their various horns (there's a roadsign which commands it!) and watched a strange bob-tailed yellow-blobbed bird pecking amongst the reeds (since identified as a grey wagtail)

Then, back up the hill to the car, stopping to take pics of the Griffin Heads (it's the law).

On the way home, saw a hot air balloon taking off at Chollerford, before following the Hadrian's Wall route towards home.

B's photos of St Johns Lee on Flickr

Overhead view of St Johns Lee on googlemaps

St John's Lee Rock Art on themodernantiquarian

Beckinsall Archive details for St John Lee Rock Art

St John Lee website

Corbridge Roman Site overhead view on googlemaps

Corbridge Roman Site on English Heritage site

Wallington overhead view on googlemaps

Wallington National Trust site


St Johns Lee:




















Corbridge Roman Site:






Wallington:

Wreay church and Cockermouth & Maryport briefly

We set off in the car yesterday following our noses (or rather my random decision-making).

So we ended up first wandering to Wreay (pronounced "Rear"), which is only about 3 minutes from junction 42 of the M6. I'd been before - the church here is famous - but last time I came I didn't even get out of the car, no idea why (I'm daft like that).

I'd heard some of the story of the church - that it was designed and built by a Victorian woman (Sarah Losh) and is a favourite of people who are generally known to have respectable architectural opinions. It's often mentioned in the same breath as the famous Rosslyn Chapel, for instance, as being a building full of great craftsmanship and delights.

So this time we got out of the car. As soon as I focussed my eyes on the carvings around the door, I knew I was in love!

After exploring the carvings outside, we tried the doors (complete with arrow insets) and yay! it was open... The first things that greet you are two marble pinecones either side of the aisle. To the right is a fabulously-carved marble font with a mirrored pool (supposedly carved by Sarah herself). There is the usual church visitor paraphernalia, plus postcards and leaflets outlining the history. The pews are a bit boring but the windows were fab, with little interesting bits of glass.

The design of the church is apparently based on places Sarah saw on her visits to Italy during her Grand Tour. The layout is similar to a Roman basilica, ie a rectangular building with an apse (round bit). The numbers of columns and windows are significant, there are lots of references to nature including passion flowers, lillies and fossil stencils in the eastern apse windows. The lectern is made to look like a tree, while the birds sitting either side of the apse are sitting on real bog oak stumps. Outside, there are some lovely gravestones with oyster shells and pine branches, and a large cross based on the Bewcastle Cross.

Sarah built the church in memory of her sister, which was nice. The thing to bear in mind here is that she showed incredible talent and foresight, building what is really an Arts & Crafts-syle building about 20-40 years before everyone else.

Carvings of pinecones and palms are to be seen everywhere, as a reference to a family friend who sent seeds home from abroad just before he died - but there is also an overall theme of resurrection and growth.

We spent ages taking photographs, being briefly interrupted by some people who had been for Sunday lunch at the pub nearby and decided to stop. They too were locals who didn't even know this place was here! We signed the book on the way out, after reading it of course (full of comments from people visiting it after seeing it on telly)

For more information about the church, see the links at the bottom of the page. Otherwise, enjoy the photographs...

We then headed for Cockermouth, intending to revisit the great little cafe we'd been to a few weeks ago only to find it shut. In fact today, Cockermouth was shut. (Note to self - go on a Saturday)

So Maryport was next, to visit the Senhouse Museum as it holds some prehistoric rock art carvings as well as having Roman stuff. We were disappointed here too, because the small portable stones we were looking for were hidden behind screens, nailed in place to display information about (ironically) the spread of the empire ... typical!

There were some paragliders flying above the cliffs here, looking very relaxed floating about on the soundwaves sent upwards from the jazz festival going on below. It was a very clear day, and when I climbed the reconstructed watchtower I could see much of the Solway Firth, and over to the Isle of Man.

B's Wreay photos on Flickr

B's Paragliding photos on Flickr

St Mary's, Wreay on VisitCumbria.com

St Mary's official website

Songs of Praise

Birds eye view on googlemaps