ALT: a woman in a blue dress is reaching for a book on a ladder

One of the unexpected perks of retirement? The sheer volume of uninterrupted reading time! While the daily hubbub of chatting with hundreds of people has vanished, it just means more quality time with my books. Jumping from rereading classics and realising that you never really liked Elizabeth Bennett and it's Emma Woodhouse who is your favourite Austen character to proto-feminism in Margaret Atwood's…

The first time I went to New York I wanted to see this famous painting, and I was not disappointed. Andrew Wyeth Christina's World 1948, MoMA, NYC It was one of the first paintings I described without knowing anything about it or the artist It was such a wonderful moment to be able to see every brush stroke that it did make me cry.

There’s something utterly mesmerising about Niagara Falls — that thundering cascade of water, the mist hanging in the air like a veil, the sheer force of it all. But tucked behind the natural drama is a story just as electrifying: the tale of how Nikola Tesla, the eccentric genius with a flair for the theatrical and a mind decades ahead of his time, turned all that raw power into something world-changing.

Another of these anniversary posts for the birthday of one of my favourite artists. Michael Palin's films are a delight and his enthusiasm does inspire you to find out more. This one is a cracking watch!

7/7 is The Group of Seven Day and the AGO in Toronto opened especially for me. Sorry, no, they opened to celebrate a group of artists who changed Canadian art and brought it into modernity. I'm at the airport and have a bit of time to share some of my favourite pieces. This may become a bit random so hold onto your hats as they may blow off with excitement!

Over Vitebsk, 1915 It's one of those anniversary posts and this is at the AGO in Toronto and was photographed this morning! More on this visit to come!

Edna Reindel, The Steel Age, 1934 I have been reading about Edna Reindel, a polymath in the arts whose work during World War Two brought her to fame. Edna Reindel: An Inspiring Artist for an Unprecedented Time This article is very interesting and with a career spanning decades, there is a lot to explore. This blog gives a full overview of the different genres she worked in. Images of the Working Woman

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Not exactly art but given that I have a passion for Tim Burton's aesthetic, it would have been very remiss of me to not get a ticket to Beetlejuice The Musical at the Mirvish Theatre. First of all, wow! What an interior! I love old theatres, so much history and so many theatrical ghosts running around waiting for the first call!

I have started looking at dissertation topics and one of them is based around this kind of literature and how it reflected the fear of mechanisation on a society moving rapidly to industrialization. It wouldn't be a perfect trip if I didn't get time in a library so when this little exhibition appeared, off I popped to the Lillian H. Smith Library here in Toronto!

One for my American friends from precisionist painter, Niles Spencer (1893-1952). Love the colour palette he chose to use! Niles Spencer. Near Avenue A. 1933 Across the Tracks Niles Spencer 1934 Waterfront MillNiles Spencer1940 Niles SpencerVentilators1948 Happy Fourth of July 🎆

Off to Toronto today so it's goodbye to Niagara. It exceeded all expectations and created some wonderful memories. Bought a couple of pencils with me so thought I would sketch my hotel view.

Starting to fill my summer calendar and think a little trip up the M6 may be on the cards for Jim Moir's exhibition Dawn to Dusk. A Salon of Curlews over the marsh © Jim Moir Not my usual subject matter, but the choice of venue and images the gallery has shared has piqued my interest. Raven ©Jim Moir Rather looking forward to the 'crepuscular' room he mentions!!

First visit and it is even more spectacular than you could ever imagine. Yesterday was a trip down into the tunnel under the power station - yes, I come to a place of natural beauty and my first visit is to the Power Plant and a Nikola Tesla exhibit! Part of the ticket price is to go 180 feet down, walk along a long tunnel and you come out to this view:

Remember this from last month? If you recall, at first it was thought to be this... But it turns out it was a Turner and look how much it has just gone for! Makes you want to go Turner hunting, doesn't it!!

Emil Ganso, Burlesque, 1933 This is by a German born artist whose back story is an interesting one. Emil Ganso went to the United States as a teenager and became a baker. Emil Ganso, 1930, © Peter A. Juley & Son Collection, Smithsonian American Art Museum J0114349 He attended art classes where he was spotted by Erhard Weyhe, owner of the Weyhe Gallery in New York.

When I spotted this on the map towards the border crossing it became a must-see, and it was so worth the trouble. At the moment you can only go on a small tour due to the building of a new visitor centre. Luckily for me there room on the tiny group tour. Commissioned in 1926 by Isabelle Reidpath Martin (for her own enjoyment) and her husband Darwin Martin—an executive at the Larkin Soap Company—it was built between 1926 and 1931 and lovingly dubbed the "Jewel on the Lake" as it overlooks Lake Erie.

To celebrate Canada Day and the fact that I'll be crossing the border later today, I found this interesting website about The Group of Seven: The Group of Seven – Canadian landscape painters from 1920 to 1933 Just so you know who we are talking about, this is the list: "Also sometimes known as the Algonquin School, the Group of Seven was a group of Canadian landscape painters from 1920 to 1933, originally consisting of Franklin Carmichael (1890–1945), Lawren Harris (1885–1970), A.

Heading to Toronto over the next few days and I'm in charge of navigation on.this road trip.  That's a dangerous decision as I will sniff out art on the way. First stop South Bend/Notre Dame, Indiana, and I found a stunning new gallery, Raclin Murphy Museum of Art . The new gallery opened in 2023 and is on the University of Notre Dame campus.

Resting, Antonio Mancini I'd like to think this is how I woke up this morning but no. Jumped up in a panic as today is Road Trip Day and I leave Chicago behind until another day!! But, this painting was a lovely surprise at the Art Institute of Chicago and a painting I thought I had written about on here, but I was wrong.

Two years ago I visited a tiny church in Tudeley to see a very special commission of stained glass windows by Marc Chagall. I was moved by the generosity of Chagall to make the decision to design all the windows in that small church. Having been to the magnificent Mainz in 2019 to see their windows, I have come to appreciate Chagall's window designs probably more than his paintings.

Finished up in the European Modern Art galleries and there wasn't anything that jumped out at me here. Apart from this. I have sat here laughing to myself at the audacity of my favourite French lunatic artist! I have to share the wall caption about his inspiration for this mammoth nude fest but I am wondering why he didn't squeeze a train or tram into this!

Finally got here and it is special to have ticked this off my list of galleries I have to see. I wondered how I was going to attempt writing about this place given that it is huge so I think I will stick to a Top Ten approach, but in no particular order to avoid procrastination. Edward Hopper - Nighthawks…

Finally, we're in the same room!!

I commented on Jonathan Jones' very negative, two-star review of Kiefer/Van Gogh exhibition in Amsterdam back in March as it seemed really harsh. The exhibition has moved to London's Royal Academy and I have a ticket for later in the summer, despite the negative review. I spotted this four-star review in the same newspaper, and headed straight into the text without noting who the critic was.

Tamara de Lempicka,La Belle Rafaela, 1927 This was an exciting watch: Property from a Private British Collection Tamara de LempickaLa Belle Rafaëla For more on Tamara, see my post from last year: