miss marie's miscellany

Super arty Liverpool

3 years ago when Liverpool was the European City of Culture, one of the art installations I really loved were the Super Lamb Banananas, strangely named and beautifully decorated sculptures which looked like lambs with banana shaped backs and tails. They were dotted around the city and brought a vibrant touch of colour and texture to the street. There was even a SLB trail which you could follow all over Liverpoool and view all 125 sculptures.. When I visited last week, I ran into a few of them which seem to have re-appeared.........here's a Klimt-inspired one near to the Liver Building

Next to the river

The next 2 are outside the new Museum of Liverpool

 This is the Heroes SLB.....looks lovely with the poppies 

And this mosaic patterned one is inside the museum, it's the Mandala SLB.

I think they're beautiful and fun, and they really do put a smile on your face!

 

 

Dreaming

At the weekend, I took my dad out for a spin to visit an interesting piece of art in St Helens.  When we arrived, we entered the gates and very shortly after, saw 2 deer running around ahead of us......definitely a good omen! We walked through grassy meadows with a gentle ascent

till we turned a corner and saw this

It's called 'Dream'

This sculpture by Spanish artist Jaume Piensa, is on the site of the Sutton Manor colliery, which closed in 1991. It's there as a tribute to the mining tradition of the area, as a landmark and to mark a place of natural beauty and peace.

It's visible from the M62 motorway, apparently seen by 100.00 motorists a day.

It's 20 metres high; very imposing, but also beautiful and hypnotic, in my opinion. I like the way it is totally accessible to visitors; you can go right up to it and touch it if you want.

The statue really gives what is already a natural and peaceful area,  a tangible feeling of rest and stillness.

A lovely way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

 

 

 

What every crochet loving lady should drive

I came across this fantastic smart car with its own multi-coloured crocheted cover........I love it!

 

It is the work of Magda Sayeg, an American lady who is a guerilla knitter. I've heard of guerrila gardening, but not knitting; but it sounds like an excellent idea to me, brightening up your surroundings with some lovely knitting or crochet, putting it in locations where you'd least expect to see such a thing; lampposts, road signs, a bus .........yes,really, if you don't believe me, look at this.

 

Magda Sayeg has a blog called KnittaPlease where she posts all her latest projects. Absolutely fascinating and inventive, it takes yarn and what one can do with it to a whole new level.

I wish my car looked like this!

  

May collage

A month of contrasts of temperature, starting off cold and ending warm and promising. A month of tulips galore, they have brought wonderful colour to the garden. A month of happy crochet projects, including a special gift. A month when I visited some old haunts and places I'm glad I re-acquainted myself with.

 

This is the first time this year I've been able to post lots of flower photos, something which makes me very happy! Enjoy :-)
 

Kelvingrove treasures

I took a trip to Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. I hadn't visited for a good while;  the lure of the 'Glasgow Boys' Exhibition enticed me there. I couldn't take any photos at this, but if you are anywhere near the gallery in the next few months, do go and see it, it's brilliant, a feast of colour and style, landscapes portraits and still life. 

I could take pictures everywhere else, and did! Here's the imposing facade........

 

A room full of sculptures, busts of Queen Victoria and Homer are there, and hanging above were lots of.....?
 

grimacing and smiling heads......tragedy and comedy.

 

On the other side of the building, a Spitfire hovers above a stuffed giraffe and elephant
 

 

Some of the standout sights for me were........this Cezanne still life, simple but beautiful

 

I love the dreamlike quality of this lady's beautiful face

 

A portrait by Sir Henry Raeburn, 'Ann Pattison, Mrs Wiliam Urquhart'.

 

Donald Dewar, sculpted by Archibald Forrest.

 

Wipe away the tears, this sculpture is called  'Motherless'.

 
 Elegant lady in a watercolour by FCB Cadell

 

And some more beautiful portraits

 

Robert Louis Stevenson, looking very dashing, as if he has stepped out of the pages of one of his adventures.

 

I could go on and on posting more photos but I think that's probably enough! What a great place to have so close to home, a veritable treasure trove of wonderful art and inspiration. I believe that Kelvingrove is one of Glasgow's top attractions, and it was very busy on a Wednesday afternoon, which must prove that to be true. Whatever, it was a wonderful way to spend a few hours. 

 

 
 
 

 
 

 
 
 
 

 

Statuesque

I noticed I'd taken quite a few photos of statues whilst wandering around Liverpool;  some new, some old, some of famous Liverpudlians both real and  fictitious, and some flights of fancy.

John Lennon

 

Eleanor Rigby

 

Ken Dodd in Lime Street Station (sadly there were no Diddymen to be seen!)

 

He is right next to this lady, just as thought they have met in the station, and are having a natter. She is Bessie Braddock who was the MP for Liverpool in the 1950-70s and an ardent socialist campaigner.

 

She was known as 'Battling Bessie'.......I can see why!
 

William Gladstone (I bet you didn't know he was a Scouser)

 

The 2 angels at his side represent Truth

 

and Justice. Taken in the gardens behind St. George's Hall, where the Law Courts were once housed.

 

Inside the Walker Art Gallery, this imposing fellow presides over the cafe

 
 Nearby is the Sculpture Room

 

Outside the World Museum these 2 giant inflatable flowers adorn the building

 

The flowers grow larger and the petals open out during the day, just as a real flower would 

 

And there are still some of the SuperLamBananas 

I haven't gone mad, they really are called that!  There were 125 of these colourful statues all over Liverpool during 2008, when it was the European City of Culture. As their name suggests, they're a cross between a lamb and a banana, and all were differently painted and themed.  (There is a great Flickr group here if you'd like to see more.) I really like them; they are fun and make me smile, and I'm glad they're still adding a touch of good-humoured colour to the city.

 

 

 And finally, here's some rock of a different kind!

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 

Sunlight

I am visiting Liverpool this weekend, and yesterday made a trip to one of my favourite places, Lady Lever Art Gallery in Port Sunlight on the Wirral. 

 

The garden village of Port Sunlight was built by William Hesketh Lever in the late 19th-early 2oth centuries to house his workers at the Lever Brothers soap factory.  It's an amazing achievement, the whole village is now a conservation area and most of the buildings are Grade 2 listed. There is a peaceful atmosphere one might not expect to find so close to the bustling city of Liverpool. Along wide tree lined roads,  the houses are built in several different styles (as several different architects were employed). I like these mock Tudor ones

 

 

The quality of life the village must have given those factory workers was unprecedented at that time; it's a marvel of early urban planning, a piece of social history, and a must-see place  in the Liverpool area.

The Lady Lever Art Gallery was dedicated by William Lever  to his late wife and houses his amazing collection of paintings, sculpture, porcelain and furniture. It's an airy and light space

 

Particularly splendid are the collection of Pre-Raphaelite paintings

 

 

It's a real treat if you like this kind of painting as there are some beautiful examples, along with 18th and 19th century portraits by, amongst others, Joshua Reynolds, and landscapes by Turner and Constable. There's a very good cafe too, always a necessity after multiple picture viewing. 

 

There are sculptures dotted around the village, this was right outside the gallery;

 

Just up the road from the gallery is a very good garden centre where I bought these lovely souvenirs of my visit; they are primulas(which look like rosebuds).They'll remind me of being here, in this special place, when I look at them.

 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 

20th

I recently re-read 'A Christmas Carol' with my book group as our Christmas book, and enjoyed it thoroughly. Such a good story and so well-written, the language is so chatty and modern even, and vividly descriptive of characters and places. We all read it from different editions and one of my fellow readers had a lovely book with the original illustrations by John Leech, which I really liked. Here are 2 of them;

Marley's ghost

 

Mr Fezziwig's ball

Aren't they charming?!  
 

7th

Taken at the Dean Gallery in Edinburgh. This statue is by Emile-Antoine Bourdelle and is called 'La Vierge D'Alsace'; click here to read more about it. It stands in the grounds surrounding the gallery, and is, in contrast some of the other statues seen there, quite traditional; I like it very much.

 
 

Hill House

Charles Rennie Mackintosh is famous all over the world for his unique architecture and design, nicknamed the Glasgow Style.  There are many examples of his work in Glasgow, and to the west in Helensburgh is another of his designs, the beautiful Hill House. 

As its name suggests, the Hill House is built high above the town, with great views of the Firth of Clyde, although these were completely obscured when we visited because of rain (I refuse to let the inclement weather keep me inside!) The house is owned by the National Trust and they don't allow any photography inside, so no pics of the lovely interior: the main living room and master bedroom are a mixture of cream and pink with typical Mackintosh rose design and gesso panelling, and most of the rest of the house has dark wood panels with tall thin windows. I found these 2 images just to give you an taste of what it's like.

If you click here you can see a few more detailed interior views. 

 

The house was commissioned by Glasgow publisher Walter Blackie, who also had Mackintosh and his wife Margaret design the interiors and much of the furniture for the house. I like the fact that although the house appears to be built on straight lines, on closer inspection one can see it is anything but symmetrical. Windows are different sizes and shapes, the roof is on several levels with chimney stacks of different heights and there are some turrets and curves too. 

I like this curved wall at the back of the house which encloses the main staircase.

This is the view of the back of the house from the orchard 

I'm not sure what happened to this tree!

There was a small vegetable garden

and a huge garden, mostly lawned with flower beds nearer the house. My mum told me about a TV programme she saw recently about children from Glasgow who were evacuated to the house (still privately owned) during the war; it must have been wonderful to have the run of a huge garden like this, and to stay in such an original home.

 

There is a cafe which is in the old kitchen, although it's self-service it's still posh! Proper china cups and plates and the delicious cakes on stands with lids. There's a souvenir shop with much tasteful CRM themed merchandise and a design shop with some gorgeous glassware, pottery and jewellery.

Despite the terrible weather, I still enjoyed visiting this lovely piece of architectural and design history. It is beautifully preserved and restored, hard to believe that the house and many of its contents are  over 100 years old.