Inspired by...

E O Hoppe Portraits - Society, Studio and Street

Margo Fonteyn at 16 by E O Hoppe

Street scenes by E O Hoppe

Photographs can be hugely emotional and this exhibition of over 150 photographs, many of which have never previously been exhibited, is a real gem for artists, photographers and historians. E O Hoppe, born in Munich in 1878, was one of the original celebrity photographs of the early 1910's and 1920's. Hello magazine thinks it invented celeb photographs but Hoppe had the rich and famous, including royalty, queuing outside the door of his studio housed in a 33-room Kensington house as early as 1913 to be photographed. His portraits include sittings with Margo Fonteyn, David Lloyd George, Vaslac Nijinkskym Kind George V and George Bernard Shaw. Not content with just the scalps of the 'it-people' of the 1920's, in 1922, he produced a book called the Book of Fair Women, which included a compilation of women he considered to be the most beautiful on earth. He included 32 photographs of women from 24 different countries. Hoppe then went on to create a stunning collection of street photographs often hiding his camera in a bag so that he could photograph his subjects in secret. The result is a living museum of stunning photographs that depict people carrying on their daily lives in the 1920's and 30's.

Art Fest - Is photography art?

Ida Kar: Bohemian Photographer and one of the most distinguished and gifted photographers in England - "Artist with a camera" is how one newspaper described her work, following the first major photographic exhibition to be held in a London gallery back in 1960. Born in Armenia, Kar lived in Paris before settling in London with her English husband, Victor Musgrave who ran 'Gallery One Off' off the Charring Cross Road. Throughout the 50's and early 60's she had sittings with a whole host of notorious artists, authors including Bridget Riley, whose exhibition I've also been to see this afternoon. I've been on an art fest and experienced a visual feast of paintings, portraits and photographs in the National Galleries. Being able to view the photographs of such amazingly talented artists such as Henry Moore, TS Eliot, Somerset Maugham, Dame Barbara Hepworth,

She was a photography who was said to be forever at home among the artistic misfits.

Bridget Riley - a blast from the past

I studied Op Art when I was at college so the name Bridget Riley is very familiar to me. In fact, I still have some of my black and white creations which were 'inspired by' her work. She experimented with light, shapes to fool the brain into creating movement where there was none. Standing in front of some of her pieces you could be forgiven for feeling quite queasy - they really do have the effect of making you feel seasick as the shapes and lines appear to move in waves as if on the sea. I don't think I appreciated the complexity and care she took to create each masterpiece when I was in my teens but having seen them today - possibly for the first time - I can see why I spent hours pouring over Op Art.

The NEW All Bar One in Cheltenham

IS FAB!

They make a lovely Pimms and the Nachos are truly divine! I'm not a nacho person - they're too messy and usually too spicy for me. But these are heavenly - so much so that me and Lisa polished off the lot YUM washed down with a wonderfully fruity glass of pimms :)

 And the waitress was exceptionally helpful, friendly, smiley and that's why we'll go back :)

What kind of cupcake are you?

Are you a soft blueberry cupcake - mysterious fruity with sweet blueberry flavoured buttercream and a sugar crunch on top? Or are you a mixture of moorishly intoxicating orange buttercream with a sweet strawberry centre and candid peel crown? The swallow bakery in Cheltenham is my new best friend. The cupcakes are heavenly and I can think of nothing better than sitting in the park in the sunshine eating a cupcake and whiling away a weekend with a good friend. All good friends and family are welcome and I'll even match you to your cupcake if want me to! My fav so far has to be the red velvet. It's red sponge is a hint of chocolate and the buttercream is laced with soft cream cheese - it really is yum! I think they must be the secret to my diet :) she hopes - "Skip a meal and eat a cupcake" that's my new skinny motto and it seems to be working :)

A day by the lake

My Genealogy Class

My new home... :)

 Mmm, well it will be for a few days! How gorgeous it this? It's 8:30pm in the evening and I'm on an ancestry course, searching for lost relatives! I'm currently trying to work out how to prize segments of chocolate orange off without waking up the residents in the next room! I had never really given that much thought... but then again, as I must be the youngest person on site, I don't imagine I need worry - most of them will have removed their hearing aids by now!

Ha ha.. they may be old but they're lovely! I love coming to things like this where I can meet new people and learn something that I didn't already know. This morning, I also went to Cirencester for a little wander and a gander in White Stuff.. oooooooer,

I left the shop with a white top, a cardi, a skirt.. well, suffice to say I managed to spend more than double the worth of the skirt that I was returning :) it was great fun though and it meant I could come away with new clothes.. yippee xx xx ps after the busy weekend I've had, I've come here for a little rest :)

3 blossom babes :)

Saturday was such a glorious day, I drove to Cheltenham with Becca and Lilia to visit the lovely Lisa. We sat on the grass in the park eating yummy swallow bakery cupcakes whilst Lilia tucked into a cheese straw and chased the birds. The blossom was so amazing I had to stop for a snap or two!

Lunch by the river

I love catching up with my friends and the family I think of as mine - well, almost! It was wonderful to see Tash and Naomi at the weekend. Naomi had a + 1 (the lovely David!) and Tash was ... just sweet, positive Tash :) they lead such busy lives and I don't see them nearly as much as I'd like but the next best thing is for us to catch up over lunch. The spyglass BBQ and grill on the riverside in Bristol did us proud and as you can see, we all brought our smiley faces with us :) xx xx

Ted says "Better Kate than never"

Here's a quirky modern classic which is jam packed with lashings of style and good humour. I spotted this fabulous little Ted Baker Mary Royal wash bag in John Lewis and I just couldn't leave the shop without it. It is truly adorable and in my opinion, a wonderful tribute to this most British of royal occasions. Printed with sweet roses and whimsical butterflies, this eye-catching little bag celebrates the Royal Wedding with elegance and dignity - and without the faces of our beloved Kate and Wills emblazened all over it! Every piece in this special collection by Ted Baker includes the words 'Ted says better Kate than never" on the reverse and the tag inside (though some are different) is printed with the message "Never look a gift horse in the mouth" It's just the most perfect gift for any little princess.

Firsts, lasts and one hundredths...!

How about this for a notable last? Tonight I was actually the last person out of the car park. I'm often within the first 6 cars in the morning but it's quite a feat to be the very last, lonely car left standing on a Friday afternoon. It's also the first time this year the temperature outside my car registered 21 degrees. It was a lovely sunny drive home and the lake looked beautiful. Even though it was 7pm at night, it was still sunny, warm and it felt like the beginning of a great weekend.
Here's a first... I bet you didn't realise that Monday will be 100th day of the year. One hundred days, 2,400 hours and I still feel that the year has hardly begun.

Beside the seaside...

Today was a brilliant day for a trip to the seaside. It's been the hottest day so far this year, peaking at 21 degrees in the car on the way back from Highcliffe. The sun always shines on the south coast :) Lunch was at the usual place Pebble Beach which is one of the top 100 best restaurants by the sea. I dined on fresh crab, smoked salmon, avocado along with a complimentary glass of champagne.

Ingredients for happy crafting...

Happy hearts and flowers

I am loving my blog right now - as if you hadn't noticed! It's great to be at home and have time to write and even better, time to craft. I've always been an even numbers person so making sets of 4 makes me happy.

Shabby chic birthdays

 And being the domestic goddess that I am, I've super-blogged, cooked dinner, made cards and created this cacophony of tropical fruit for Carmen Miranda when she comes back from her travels. I'm hoping that I'll have sweetened her up enough to share the Green & Black chocolate eggs I bought her with me :-} ha ha

Never a dull moment... !

I awoke this morning, went to make coffee for the Little Princess and tea for me and heard Ginger shouting "There's a dead stickman in my room!"... so I ran to see if we needed to send for an ambulance or a priest.

"Where's Dyson? He's hanging on by a thread and I'm about to suck the life out of him!" 

It's been a cupcake of a day.. !

I've had a great day today. I got up late, played with paper + glue then went over to Cheltenham to meet the lovely Lisa. We wandered into town and stopped for coffee and cake in the Birdie Bakery (Swallow!). Oh what a fabulous selection of little cakes to behold. I had to buy a couple to bring back for Ginger, who was working today. I waited.. and waited for her to come home until I could wait no longer. I swear these little delights were whispering to me "Eat me"... :-} I thought it best to try a tiny bit of each one because it would have been rude to eat one without sharing it. They were both so yummy... mmm, tasty, words just can't describe how delicious and sweet they were. I've finally found a solution to my 'crispy creme' donut dilemma. Not being able to eat anything with yeast in, I've had to forgo any temptation to eat a crispy creme donut when I go to Selfridges or Paddington Station. They are the most notable CC outlets. I'm was not previously a donut fan until I discovered CC - courtesy of my daughter. Now I can't eat them but who cares now that I've discovered the Swallow Bakery. I think, when I go to heaven I want to come back as a cupcake. My life may be short-lived but I'll be guaranteed a lifetime of sweet adoration - until I get eaten!

"What would you do for a cupcake... mmm?!"

One of my adoring fans.. !

It's amazing how a few hours in a restaurant will bring out the 'Italy's got talent' in any waiter. We only went in to this restaurant for a drink and ended up staying for almost 3 hours. I was totally schmoozed by this place and their delicious antipasti! I should have known when I ordered a glass of fizz for me and a bottle appeared in an ice bucket by the side of our table, mmm. I think that was the moment of truth. Bearing in mind, someone else was drinking red and had a bottle to himself, this was going to be a long, sweet evening.
It may have been the size of his salami that lured me in (wey hey!) or the selection of delicious, oiled vegetables, who can tell. All I know is that the halo of Saint Aunty Pasti just kept whispering "Come on down and take a look".. so after two sips of fizz, I was there, arms out-stretched like I was sleep walking (ha ha, only joking on that bit, keep up!) and hey, I wasn't disappointed.

  I know why I have gut instincts and at times like this, I can hear them whispering in my ear. It didn't take me long to decide on some veggie antipasti plus a selection of cheese and I was delighted to be presented with this mini feast. Of course, once we'd started we couldn't find a reason to stop so continued our journey through some ravioli and one of my all time favs, aubergine paniagana.. mmm! Our waiter was a delight. His attention to detail was simply perfect and I for one thoroughly appreciated all the effort he went to. I get such a buzz from tasting great food which most importantly has been lovingly prepared - and, I'm particularly grateful after a whole bottle of fizz :-} xx xx

A new meaning comes to 'Light'...

The 'Fooling!' continues.. the beauty of having a blog is that I can share my little grumbles.

I enjoy having a 'Light Alpen' summer fruits "fewer than 70 calories per bar" during the day. They're one of the better low cal bars. I think that most of them taste like the bottom of a bird cage - lots of seed and taste disgusting. Forgive me, I'm being particularly nerdy this morning for no particular reason. I've just taken a look inside the box. Mmm, my 'Light Alpen' box measures 13.5cm high and my bar measures a measly 8cm. I feel I should stop now but hey ho! They've cleverly made the wrappers the same size as the box and whilst it won't stop my enjoyment of these tasty little bars - I feel fooled!

Were you "FOOLED?"...

Impersonator Rob Brydon hosted the entire two-and-a-half hour show so congratulations for fooling me!

I admit, I was. My ears are usually pretty well tuned in so I was baffled as to why Ken Bruce sounded so different on the radio yesterday. Like many others, I couldn't believe my ears - he was behaving like, dare I say... a 'Pig!' At more than one point he was very rude to his listeners and I actually wondered if he'd lost the plot. I racked my brain trying to work out why he sounded so different. Maybe he had a new set of false teeth and was in pain...? maybe he was intoxicated...? or maybe he had lost the plot! I had work to do so I moved on and it was only during the evening that I quizzed my lovely friend Ginger Claire about it. Radio 2 always comes up in conversation when Ginger's here. We're both enormous - no we're not.. I'll rephrase that - we're both humungus (ha ha) fans of Chris Evans and I've made a pact with her to stop ranting about Simon Mayo's show. Me and Mayo are just not on the same wavelength. It's nothing personal because he's a cute-looking guy but his show is clunky and if Chris Evan's show scores a million out of 100, Simon Mayo's just doesn't cut it for me. Interestingly, I've recently gone back to salad cream too! I'm not sure if there's a connection but there feels like one :) I now have a dilemma every time I get in the car to drive home. Drivetime used to be my 'chill out' station of choice on the way home. I have tried Si, believe me I've tried but I just get narked listening to drivetime drivvel now. Mr Mayo has turned me into a channel hopper. I'm sure you're a really nice guy - you're just not what I need to chill out after my crazy days in the office. See, mmm... Note to self - steer clear of the men who bring out the worst in you!

New tricks.. !

How cool are these? Those clever people at Blogger have come up with 5 different ways of viewing my blog and they've made it really easy for you to see these views as well. All you need do is type the word 'view' after com/ on the top bar or to make it easy, just click on this link new tricks view And if you want to go back to viewing my blog as you usually do, just click back on this link my blog

There are 5 different views you can play around with. Simply choose from the top right drop down menu.

Great for reviewing the images - if you hover over them, they'll flip to show the title of the post. Click on the box to read the whole post. It's that easy.

Happy Mum's Day

I'm voting today as MUM's day! I'm already 2 glasses down the bottle and who should be here sharing it with me (she did buy it for my birthday!) but Ginger Claire :-} It's Friday night, paper + glue weekend and the night is yet young. We're already in full flow - Ginger is watching a dvd about painted backgrounds and trying out all the new techniques."Can you find me some petroleum jelly?!" I know my place :) I'm the one running to find the things she needs - "Paintbrushes".. "Heatgun!"... it feels like I'm in another one of those game shows. Time to make dinner I think... :)