Thursday 16 June 2022

Wed 150622 Streatham Pound Store/Tate Britain gallery: Walter Sickert exhibition

-(NOTE: The text below was 'copied and pasted' in from a Facebook post I wrote.)-

Wed 150622 5-6 PM TATE BRITAIN: WALTER SICKERT EXHIBITION

STREATHAM POUND STORE

I was already out and about on my bike...; after going down to Streatham 'pound' store...to buy some sketchbooks/and, drawing pens.

Next, I decided...since, I'm already out here...rather than go straight off home...why not go visit seeing Tate Britain, instead...? So, purely on a whim, I found myself riding off straight towards there...

TATE BRITAIN GALLERY/WALTER SICKERT EXHIBITION

Walter Sickert | Tate


-(I recall thinking about going and seeing the Walter Sickert exhibition at Tate Britain, many times...; but, just never seemed to get around to it. Walter Sickert's work is not something I'm too highly familiar with...??? The exhibition has been going on fairly long, now...; and, I really wouldn't want to miss seeing it, altogether.)-


I arrived at Tate Britain gallery, somewhere around 5 PM/and, they close at 6 PM...so, I knew I didn't have too long to stay. In fact, I only got to see just 1 or 2 rooms...; it was 'great' work...the guy used to be an actor/before he become a painter...he was interested in drawing/painting normal ordinary 'working class' people...; and, I found I could NOT just simply rush straight past each one...; but, instead, I 'paused'...and, 'paused', again...and, again...and, again...the 'quality' was so excellent!

Eventually, though, closing time came...; and, therefore, I had no choice but to leave...I did try rushing past all the rest of the paintings...I'd seen just 2 rooms...but, there must have been, at least, 8 rooms full. I just had to promise myself to return back to re-visit, again, another day.

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SKETCHED OUTSIDE SCULPTURE AT TATE BRITAIN: DIRGE

When the gallery had closed down...I went outside, and, started sketching an outside sculpture called: Dirge, by Charles Lawes-Witterronge. The drawing, I'm afraid, came out rather badly...; so, rather than stay there and try drawing some more of the same sculpture...I decided to just, simply, 'move off'.

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SKETCHED RODIN SCULPTURE: THE BURGERS OF CALAIS

I kept on riding my bike towards Westminister... where there is a park...right beside the Houses of Parliament. Unfortunately, I keep on forgetting exactly what the name is...? What I do remember, quite clearly, is this is where one finds Rodin's sculpture: The Burger's of Calais...so, I drew that.

And, rode my bike onwards...going towards central London.

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SKETCHED: GHANDI/CHURCHILL SCULPTURES

I reached Parliament Square -(I think, it's called)- which is located at Westminister Bridge/opposite Big Ben...; and, there I noticed other sculptures: Gandi, Winston Churchill. I decided to sketch both.

Both sketches were not very good; but, the Churchill one, in particular came out wholly unrecognisable...?!

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SKETCHED LION SCULPTURE/AT THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF WESTMINISTER BRIDGE

I continued riding my bike going across Westminister Bridge...when I came to the end of the bridge...I saw a Lion sculpture...; so, I decided to go and draw that one, too.

By now, the evening light was slowly darkening...; and, I decided to return back home.

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RODE THROUGH LEAKE STREET GRAFFIT TUNNEL

At the side of Westminister bridge...is the entrance to Leake Street Graffit tunnel...which I 'love' to ride through...so, couldn't resist it...had to go and take a 'quick' look.

I saw young kids...practicing learning to break dance...; but, I wasn't too interested in watching them...instead, I wanted to see all of the 'graffiti' drawings of the walls...some of it really good/some bad.

At the end of Leake Street graffiti tunnel...I saw a guy juggling 2 sticks...with fire coming out of each end. (It's times like this when you wish you'd taken a mobile phone/or, camera with you....; but, most unfortunately, I did not. Looked for a while...then, moved on.

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BROUGHT SOME CHIPS AT LAMBETH NORTH

I was feeling slightly hungry...so, went and brought some chips across the road just above Lambeth North tube station.

Then, continued to stop and eat it...at the side of Morley College...which is where I used to go for, at least, 5 years long...class: Art for people with Learning Disabilites. So, I know that area really well.

Continued down the road...I think, it's King Edward's walk...going towards the park on the other side...which is also the location of the Imperial War Museum building.

Keep going upwards towards Lambeth Bridge...and, then, walked beside the River Thames...down to Vauxhall Bridge.

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BIKE BROKE DOWN AT VAUXHALL BRIDGE

As reached Vauxhall Bridge...I noticed that although I was pedalling hard...the bike stopped 'moving'[...?! So, I got off it...and, tried to place the chain back on to the cogs...thinking the chain must have slipped off...; tried riding, again...and, still the damn thing wouldn't 'move'...? In the end I had no other choice but to walk home/whilst, at the same time, pushing the bike along...going from Vauxhall.

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DREW STOCKWELL SCULPTURE: MOTHER AND CHILD

I pushed the bike all the way through Vauxhall up to reach Stockwell...where I encountered seeing another street sculpture...this time of a woman holding her baby up, high. I stopped to draw 2 sheets of her.

At that point, I looked up at the tower clock...and, it said...15 minutes to 12 midnight...I decided time to continue going home.

I pushed my bike through Stockwell/Clapham/Streatham...all the way to West Norwood, home, again. By the time, I arrived home it must have been past 1 AM morning.

CONCLUSION

Man, that was a long walk...; I used to walk a lot when younger...but, not so much when I've gotten older. It was tough, and, extremely 'slow' going, I'm afraid...still I was really glad to have, finally, made it home.

The bike still needs to be fixed, though...; well, that can wait, at least, until when tomorrow comes.

WHERE ARE ALL OF THE DRAWINGS...???

I'm afraid, it was not a good drawing day...in terms of my creating good work that is well worthwhile posting...; instead, nearly everything I drew came out crap...! For this reason...I'm extremely embarrassed to post here any drawing that I actually went and did...; nevermind, go and post them 'all'...? I need to learn 'precise copying'...and, I just don't seem to have managed to acquire having that skill, yet, I'm afraid. Maybe, I need to do a lot more copying...

Wednesday 8 June 2022

Thu 090622 Early morning walk...thinking about drawing outside/Discovered PDA-Pathalogical Demand Avoidance

 3 AM EARLY MORNING WALK

Walked down the road to go empty some smelly rotting food stored inside of a plastic bag...in the communal bins...which is located half way down the road.

All the time, I'm thinking about doing some drawing...buildings/streets/trees/-etc.; but, so far to date, I still haven't done any of that, yet...?

20:36 PM DISCOVERED LEARNING ABOUT: PDA/PATHALOGICAL DEMAND AVOIDANCE


PDA RELATED YOUTUBE VIDEOS...

Sally Cat's Guide to PDA
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6HgcyW-Xg4


PDA RELATED LINKS...

PDA Society
- https://www.pdasociety.org.uk

Wed 080622 SSD HDD WENT DOWN/PAID BRITISH GAS/VISITED CEMETARY

Wed 080622 MINI-PC BOX SSD HDD WENT DOWN

Most unfortunately, and, from ever since very early morning...the SDD HDD drive went down. The error message stated: 'no hard disk found'...which, in turn, meant I could not get to use 'auto-repair' tool to fix it. 

Right now, I've unplugged the mini-PC...with the intention to take it down to the West Norwood electronic shop I did originally buy it from in order to be fixed/or else, to have the SDD HDD drive replaced with a brand 'new' one, instead.

LATEST UPDATE

I delivered the mini-PC box to the electric store down the road to be fixed.  Explained that the problem is...it's telling me 'no hard drive'. The guy said he will take a look...; I took one of his business cards in order to get in touch when the work is finished. 

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I switched on the old computer machine...to find it's still working...; only trouble is, that uses a normal HDD drive...and, booting up is 'slow' as hell...10-20 minutes long just waiting for the thing to go boot...?!

Used CCleaner Professional to set up the machine/and, clear out too much junk/also, update drivers/optimise performance by putting unused programs to sleep/-etc..

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PAID £50.00 -(FORNIGHTLY, REPAYMENT SCHEME)- TO BRITISH GAS/ELECTRICTY

I'm afraid, funds are extremely 'low', at the moment...; so, this all amounts to being financial pressure that I don't really need.

Even  worse, just this morning British Gas sent me a letter stating that I've missed a payment on the Electric bill repayment scheme of £50.00, fortnightly...; therefore, I just went and paid it...now, remaining inside of my bank a/c is less than £10.00 left...which is meant to last me for 2 whole weeks...?! 

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Visited West Norwood cemetary. Discovered the grass there is pretty much over grown; I might have to return with a pair of sheers to cut the grass down a bit.

Found a £5.00 note lying on the ground; used it inside of West Norwood CoOp superstore to buy some cat food -(8 x tubs)- before I came back in. 




Tuesday 7 June 2022

Tue 070622 Attended WMCollege online art course: Drawing for absolute beginner's.

Tue 070622 Attended WMCollege online art course: Drawing for absolute beginners.

I attended WMCollege.ac.uk online art course: Tue/5 x weeks/10:30-12:30.

The teacher is called: Cleo Harrington.

The conference software used was: Zoom. I used my iPad to connect to it.

There wasn't a ton load of students there...; or, if there was, I didn't see them. I saw, maybe, only 3 or 4 others there.

The class wasn't really that deep...; but, then, if it's for 'beginners', only; therefore, what the hell else can you expect...?!

The only reason why I decided to join in with this 'beginners' class...is I wanted to get 'started' with having a WMCollege/Working Men's College student a/c.


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In all I believe I executed doing around 3 drawings...

1. Fill 6 squares with different shapes/patterns.

2. Copy drawing some mountains...; and, fill the simple 'outline shapes' in using patterns of your own choosing.

3. Create your own landscape work...purely from your own 'invention'.

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The teacher said she will set up a WordPress site for us to go and visit...; but, so far, I haven't seen any link to it, yet...