Another Place

On Monday we visited Anthony Gormely's installation 'Another Place' on Crosby Beach just outside Liverpool. It consists of 100 cast-iron, life-size figures spread out along three kilometres of the foreshore, stretching almost one kilometre out to sea.

When we arrived the tide was on its way in and the weather was pretty murky with outbreak sof squally rain, but somehow the scene didn't call for bright sunshine.

The figures - each one weighing 650 kilos - are made from casts of the artist's own body standing on the beach, all of them looking out to sea, 'staring at the horizon in silent expectation'. The figures are really spaced out and some were already underwater when we visited. We walked to a couple of the nearer ones which were textured with rust, sand and barnacles.

According to Antony Gormley, as quoted on Visit Liverpool , 'Another Place harnesses the ebb and flow of the tide to explore man's relationship with nature. He explains: The seaside is a good place to do this. Here time is tested by tide, architecture by the elements and the prevalence of sky seems to question the earth's substance. In this work human life is tested against planetary time. This sculpture exposes to light and time the nakedness of a particular and peculiar body. It is no hero, no ideal, just the industrially reproduced body of a middle-aged man trying to remain standing and trying to breathe, facing a horizon busy with ships moving materials and manufactured things around the planet.'

As we watched and waited the tide rolled in and more figures began to be underwater, it gave a slightly erie feeling. I guess the visit would have been entirely different if it had been a bright summers day with the beach crowded with people. As it was, it seemed to represent the human condition, how we are buffeted by the time and tide of life, marked by its vicissitudes but gaining a strange beauty as we age.

“Happiness, not in another place but this place...not for another hour, but this hour.”

— Walt Whitman

Autumn Colours - Town and Country

“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower”

— Albert Camus

I have been busy photographing the autumn colours over the last week or so, they are just about at their peak now and really rather wonderful this year. It's not the same every year, some times the leaves just seem to dry up and fall off the trees with out really turning properly, others they get whipped off the trees by a gale before they reach their full potential.

I am going to share some pictures I took in our garden, in the local woods and finally in Winchester. The home and woods photos have had textures added to them; these are from 2 Lil Owls and I downloaded them on a great deal from Design Cuts

These pictures were taken on a dull, drizzly day, but I have to say tha although I really love the beauty of the muted autumn colours, they are much harder to capture successfully . The top photo here has been popped through Lightroom so is not just as shot; the bottom one has had textures added which have really lifted it.

The contrast is much less marked with these next two and I really like both versions very much.

Off for a walk in the woods now and this time its a bright sunny day, with mid afternoon light and the sun blazing through the leaves.

I really like both versions of the sun on these ferns, the bottom one is the original, which do you like best?

The final photo was taken on the way home as the sun twinkled at us through the taller trees.

This next set of pictures were taken in Winchester last Friday when I popped out for a quick lunchtime photo walk (a rare treat). These have just had my usual Lightroom adjustments - no textures this time. I headed down to the cathedral thinking the trees on the approach would look gorgeous - not so, they had't really changed in colour and had lost many of their leaves. I headed round to the back of the cathedral to see what I could find there. What I found was a hive of activity in preparation for the Christmas Market.

Further on though I noticed something I hadn't spotted before, a Barbara Hepworh sculpture apparently done as an homage to Joan Miro, I thought it look rather fine against the backdrop of autumn leaves.

I also loved the bright blue of this door

Heading back to the office I was struck by this memorial to one of the Riffle brigades emblazoned against the blue sky with the poppy wreaths still at its foot

Nearly back at the office, my final photo opportunity of the day was the Elizabeth Frink Horse and Rider which was in the embrace of a waterfall of brightly coloured leaves.

Hope you have a great week - see you next time X

A Cornish Interlude - Thoughts on the Nature of Beauty

“A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul”

— Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

This week's post is part of a brave blogging link-up that's part of Liv Lane's How To Build a Blog You Truly Love e-course. As a participant, I was challenged to step outside my comfort zone and share something with you that felt especially brave.

This is a problem for me as I have just returned from a magical weekend in Cornwall where we went for the weekend to celebrate our fortieth wedding anniversary with friends who were celebrating their fortieth on the same day.

Everything about the weekend was fantastic. The weather was fabulous (sitting out on the terrace in a swimsuit in Cornwall in October!), the hotel as near to perfection as I could ever have imagined and I feel full to the brim with joy and love at the wonderful weekend I experienced.

We have not stayed at many expensive hotels over our 40 years of marriage and I fully realise how lucky I am to have spent a weekend in this wonderful place of both natural and man made beauty. This has lead me to ponder on the nature of beauty itself and the different types of beauty that fill me with joy.

Natural beauty is perhaps the easiest place to start. The hotel had direct views over the beach at Mawgan Porth and the view from our bedroom was just stunning, with the light changing at different times of the day.

The net curtains in the bedroom took on the colour of the sunset and turned from a pale gold into a vivid orange

The design brief of the hotel was 'to create a unique and sustainable building that blends with and enhances the local environment, utilising the spectacular cliff-top location and views to construct a feeling of space and light.' This it has surely achieved. I have not taken photos of the outside of the building as it blends in with the environment rather than standing out as an architectural statement. it is rather the interior and the outdoor landscaped areas which stun with their beauty. The fusion of the hotel with its environment is evident throughout but I loved the outdoor natural swimming pool and the path down to the beach.

One of the things I enjoyed most about the hotel was that there was not one jarring note throughout the place (even the rubbish bins were attractive) and that everything was designed to be brilliantly functional. The chairs were comfortable, the balconies slanted to catch the sun (not always easy on the north coast) the lighting design amazing - I could go on - and all of these areas looked absolutely stunning as well! I'm not sure how beautiful I think things are if they look nice but don't perform the function they were intended to effectively. Something that looks beautiful and is well designed is a joy in all ways.

Another feature of the hotel were the works of art, some of which belonged to the owners and some of which were for sale. My favourite was this angel but there were plenty to choose from.

Most spectacular was the beauty of light and space, whether looking out to nature or in to the building

There are of course other types of beauty than the visual. The beauty of celebrating our 37 year friendship with our co-travellers (we are godparents to each other's children) and of the forty years of love and companionship that we have had as a couple.

I 'm not really sure how much this qualifies as a brave post, but it is what is in my heart this week. I hope you have enjoyed sharing our celebration weekend.

““Youth is happy because it has the capacity to see beauty. Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.” ”

— Franz Kafka