in jack's cafe at devizes, which has a bay window looking down on the market place, and a log fire ... we found two prints of paintings by david inshaw, signed by the artist, in real pencil ! ...

... though not these two ... three !

http://www.davidinshaw.net/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Inshaw

a nice bit of 150 year old signwriting ...

good wine needs no bush

aesculapius in devizes market place, above what was once a surgeon's front door

eat your heart out roy lichtenstein ...

sir antony van dyck's last self-portrait is up for grabs ...

here's one he painted earlier ...

he's gone !

http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/2013/nov/26/araucaria-guardian-crossword-setter-puzzles

verse is worse !

in a glass cabinet, at the BFI

Christopher Lee ...

... and Peter Cushing

3BT, 23rd November 2013

The River Thames at Putney Bridge is drenched in winter sunshine.  The crews of several rowing boats seem to move very slowly, whilst some just drift on the current, as if very badly hung-over.

Three big school girls are playing a game that seems to involve dancing manically with much tossing of heads and waving of arms, but without moving their feet … in the carriage of a moving train on the Piccadilly Line.

After a delightful second visit to the John Soane Museum, a lovely house full of marvellous objects and paintings, some gleaming in the low winter sun, I emerge in to their tiny shop, and morosely view it’s unlovable and unaffordable contents.  Just as I am about to leave, I am startled and uplifted by not just one, but two irresistible gifts that I feel compelled to purchase guiltily, there and then, for a very important someone. Only you and I know who !

i'll be on my way to madrid two weeks from today ... but what am i going to wear ?

http://www.sombrerosgorras.es/gorras.htm

pulchinello's wedding ... drawing by domenico, son of giovanni battista tiepolo

stop press: my lovely old aunt mavis has died

last of the bunch ...

or maybe not quite the last ... jack forward ( centre front row ) last heard of in australia a while ago

don't even ask ...

http://necspenecmetu.tumblr.com/post/47848707047/lombard-school-cats-instructed-in-the-art-of

mythologies beget cognitive dissonances in my numbed skull ... because i've only just found out that saturn and father time are one and the same

http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/giovanni-battista-tiepolo-an-allegory-with-venus-and-time

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/57.619.5

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn_Devouring_His_Son

so, my question about the goya is ... do you really think that's a boy's bottom ?

h-h-h-hardly h-h-hung over at hall, h-h-has it h-h-h-happens !

so stegosaurus and triceratops might not have enjoyed the same kinds of music

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triceratops

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stegosaurus

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_evolutionary_history_of_life

end-of-term cultural studies exam ... compare and contrast

no ! no ! no ! please don't tickle me ... i'll confess ... it doesn't take much to make me smirk out loud

sir john tavener, since deceased, took part in a fascinating discussion about george herbert broadcast only yesterday ... with andrew marr, john drury, and jeanette winterson

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03gv7xm

i'm lost in space ... as usual !

the other tom jones ...

http://www.arthermitage.org/Thomas-Jones/Landscape-with-Dido-and-Aeneas.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Jones_(artist)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGQq3HcOB0Y

born under a bad sign ...

me, when i had a beard, ( i'd forgotten that beard ! ) and had borrowed pete clarke's seersucker jacket to photograph ann brown's wedding ... for which usage i almost certainly never thanked him properly

Art out of context … ( You couldn’t make it up ! )

On my way back in to South London this afternoon, I had to pop in to the warehouse of Brindisa, famous importers of marvellous Spanish foodstuffs, to fetch a big leg of Jamon.

There is a newly framed picture in their despatch and goods-in office

Not terribly appetizing ! … Goya’s painting of Saturn Devouring His Children.

http://www.museodelprado.es/goya-en-el-prado/obras/ficha/goya/saturno-devorando-a-un-hijo/?tx_gbgonline_pi1%5Bgocollectionids%5D=6&tx_gbgonline_pi1%5Bgosort%5D=d

shuddup and go back to sleep ! ( iv )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wF0xq51sxgM

shuddup and go back to sleep ( iii ) ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-A7_ZbbKlj8&feature=youtu.be

a sunny sunday morning at the writing table ...

... contemplating an unusually badly neglected letter from the bottom of my satchel ...

... and finally starting it all over again

shuddup and go back to sleep ( ii )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-x42EWSI3Q

still clinging on in battersea ... made in new york ?

https://archive.org/stream/copperweathervan00jwfi#page/10/mode/thumb

weathervane catalogue via feuilleton

these girls'll never be ready for the opening night ... maybe i need a bigger megaphone ...

shuddup and go back to sleep ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1CXY5NHvms

jess-messin

cor blimey !!! ... babies seem to "remember" music they heard in the womb

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/oct/30/babies-remember-melodies-womb-study

the second article is more usefully informative

http://www.science20.com/news_articles/babies_learn_songs_womb-123528

just found this picture in this morning's el pais ... luis bunuel, with his little dog, tristanita

... and elsewhere, whilst googling, i found this lovely picture of bunuel and lorca

A sometimes daft and improbable Friday

Homeward bound at dusk, the platforms at Vauxhall are crowded, the signs aren’t working, the African station announcer is hesitantly struggling with his syntax … and then everyone on the station looks incredulous because a completely clean and completely empty train draws in.

In mid-afternoon, as I slow down for a level crossing by Betchworth Station, a highly polished green steam locomotive thunders past, belching grey smoke and drawing eight antique brown and cream Pullman carriages.

On the three-thirty bus to work this morning, a jolly crowd of well-heeled but penniless Halloween clubbers get on and argue about the fare.  One athletic young man is dressed as a pumpkin … and he is ready and willing, he declares loudly in a public school accent, to fight any passenger that disapproves. “Relax !”, I tell him, “You look great !”

http://www.orient-express.com/web/uktr/british_pullman.jsp?c=ppc&p=uk&cr=uktr_br_bp&gclid=CM-5yanyxboCFRMctAodwxsAZQ