News Update

It’s April, although it still feels like January. We still get the occasional snow flake here and there and the weather here in London is still cold and a bit miserable. Some plants and trees have started to bloom, but it doesn’t look anything like spring yet. Unfortunately, the continuous for months bad weather hasn’t just affected me. I’ve heard many people say how tiring it is. To give you an idea, we had the coldest March since 1962 as BBC said. This week looks the same. Maybe it will get better next week?

You really need to try to see if you can succeed.  

I love the view of the sea 

The bad weather has affected my running schedule. I know it shouldn’t, but I just can’t get myself in running gear and out of the house when it is freezing cold and very windy. It takes almost a mile to run to get warm enough to actually start enjoying the running session. By then, it feels a bit like a torture. I had this conversation at work with one of our financial managers. He’s a very keen runner and finished last week a half marathon in an hour and a half. We agreed that people running the London Marathon soon, must have had it very difficult training during the last few months. So, March hasn’t been that good, but I hope April will get better. I’ve already registered for a 10k run in early June to keep me motivated. I hope to beat my PB.

naughty

Dressed up like onions (Long Johns, scarf, gloves, woolly hat etc), I took my new lodger on a day trip to Brighton last Friday. JJ was working, when the rest of us enjoyed a long Easter weekend. It was windy and cold, but other than that a bit sunny. I generally love Brighton. It’s close enough to London for a day trip; it’s by the sea and has lots of lovely small coffee shops and stores that are not part of international chains, giving the city a nice character. It was my lodger’s first excursion outside the city and I believe she had as much fun as I did.

Graffiti around the town

Being a Bank Holiday meant the place was generally busy. There were lots of families on the Pier and happy shoppers all around. We didn’t stay on the Pier that long though. It was too windy to be enjoyable for too long. I had hoped for a nice stroll along the sea front from the Pier to the Marina, but the weather didn’t allow us to do that. Nevertheless, we visited local cafes and pubs to stay warm.

Really nice coffee place in Brighton

Fortunately, I’ve already planned my summer holidays with ‘JJ’. We both needed to know when we’ll be going to a sunnier and warmer place. So, we picked an island in the Aegean Sea and decided to spend some quality and relaxing time there. Our last long holidays in South Africa were absolutely amazing but tiring with so many different things to experience. This time we decided to just find a small Mediterranean island and just do nothing apart from rest, get some tan and swim. This will not happen that soon but in July, but nonetheless it’s something fabulous to look forward to.

Peace...

Artistic Weekend

Is there a weird time continuum between weekends and weekdays? How come every single time weekends seem to fly by in an instant? You blink and you miss them! Especially, when you’re having fun…

We visited ‘Tate Modern’ on Friday to see the latest Lichtenstein exhibition. For those interested in this form of modern art, the exhibition is highly recommended. Although I had seen some of his work before, I never saw a full collection of his work, displaying his evolution as an artist through the years. And in any case, paying a visit to Tate Modern is always a great way to spend your evening.

 It’s very interesting to see how artists play with various forms of art, mediums and materials. Roy (Lichtenstein) was mostly well known for his paintings that resemble comic books. However, he has done lots of other things as well, including installations and sculptures.

What I found intriguing was the fact that many of the pieces he created were not really his own ideas, but copies of other people’s works. Even his famous comic ‘strips’ were almost identical to actual comic books published at the time. I thought he was just influenced by them and I didn’t know they were direct copies! Apparently, he was intrigued by ‘DC Comics’ or other similar publications. Roy was a comic book geek after all!

At first I was disappointed. The fact that all these pieces were ‘stolen’ and there was no originality in them, made me feel cheated in a way. However, then I remembered that there is no real parthenogenesis in art. I don’t believe there is an artist not influenced by another artist or something he saw or heard somewhere. Even the ground breaking artists, let’s say for example Picasso, started from somewhere and then evolved into something else. During his early years he was influenced by his own father and even Paul Cezanne.

Then, I started seeing Roy’s paintings and works differently. Yes, he was copying other people’s work, but he did so in his own original way, making each piece he copied his own. What’s the difference between other artists, for example Hockney painting landscapes? The landscape was there; the painter saw it, liked it and painted it. The same applies for Lichtenstein. He saw for example the sculpture titled ‘Laocoon and his sons’; liked it and painted it. The result looks like this. Don’t you find it nice?

The rest of the weekend was also very nice. On Saturday we went for a walk and lunch in Chelsea. Almost every time we’re in the area, we visit the Saatchi gallery and this time was no different. There’s an amazing installation (I don’t know how to call it) in the basement that we always visit. Richard Wilson, the artist, filled a room with oil. As an idea it’s quite simple, but the result is very nice. It looks like this:

(Ignoring the smell), the mirroring effect of the oil and the way that affects the space of the room is breath taking.

So, in general my weekend was very nice. I had such a nice time that I completely ignored the continuously horrible weather and the fact that I had a very bad journey to work this morning! The tube train I was in had to be derailed and there were lots of delays! I didn’t have a very good start of the week but I didn’t mind that much. I didn’t even complain about it… :-)

Birthday bash

First of all, I’d like to thank every one of you who wished me happy birthday on Facebook. It was very nice and sweet of you. For the rest of my blog readers, that’s alright, you can still make amends. Lol. Just joking.

Anyway, I had an amazing birthday weekend. I invited some friends over on Saturday night for nibbles and drinks. We had prepared various dips (including my own homemade tzatziki), bread, cheeses, meatballs (‘JJ’), cupcakes (my lodger), egg bites, fruit, crisps etc with spirits and wine.  I was introduced to my most recent best friend called ‘Zubrowka’. In case you haven’t met her. I highly recommend it.

My next best friend

I'm blowing my cupcakes

So, around a dozen of people arrived to our place, making it nicely full. Music was playing and drinks were flowing. I believe and hope that my guests had a real nice time. At least I had a blast. To give you an idea we were dancing long after 1 am. The combination of the vodka with champagne made a bit tipsy to say the least.

nibbles?

I love these camera shots

So, I spent my actual birthday with a slight hangover. It wasn’t very bad though. I just needed some rest. In any case the weather here in London has turned for the worse and the last days it’s been freezing outside. It was sunny last week and generally warm, we were hoping to get some spring but now it’s snowing again!

Do we look drunk?