David Hockney at the Walker Art Gallery

We popped into the Walker Art Gallery on our way home from work. 

It's a great place to stop for coffee and cake after a busy day, as we literally have to pass by the gallery as we head into the Mersey Tunnel.

We came to see the Hockney: Early Reflections exhibition which shows works from his early years.

  

Recurring themes are his fascination with painting water, from swimming pools to showers .... and his obsession with Cliff Richard! Who knew? 

To be honest it's quite a small exhibition based around the gallery's own painting "Peter getting out of Nick's Pool" and there's a lot of sketches rather than paintings, but it's worth a look if you like Hockney and you're passing by. 

What shall we do on Wednesday?

We haven't managed our Wednesday date nights for a few weeks .... a combination of school inspections, parents' evenings and decorators in our house .... and we've really missed them.

So, yesterday, we were glad to stop off at Liverpool's Maritime Museum on our way home from work.

 We had heard there was an exhibition of photographs from the Toxteth Riots which took place in Liverpool thirty years ago. We can both remember how frightening it was at that time, and although we were nowhere near where the riots took place, there was a real fear that the rioting could spread to other parts of the city.

Sadly, the 'exhibition' turned out to be two boards on a wall inside the Slavery Gallery, and was almost insignificant, so we were very disappointed. 

 While we were there we had a little look around the Slavery Gallery itself. There has been a Slavery Gallery in the Maritime Museum for years and years, and it used to be an excellent portrayal of Liverpool's shameful part in the Slave Trade. Recently, it has been revamped and moved to a different floor. It seems much larger, but we found it really dull, with far too much to read, and nothing to engage the visitor, or create an empathy. What a a missed opportunity!

They must have spent millions on the upgrade, and on the newly opened Museum of Liverpool, also at the waterfront..... but they're not exciting at all. In fact I haven't heard one good review about the Museum of Liverpool .... even the children in school say it's boring, but the old Museum of Liverpool Life, which it replaced, was a wonderful place for a school visit.

I read yesterday, that the Liverpool Museums may have to start charging admission fees again ... but unless they up their game, people will only pay once and will never return!

 Moan over .... here's a few things that caught my eye as we looked round.

As ever, I'm drawn to brightly coloured things that are cheerful!!!

This is my Wednesday

Tonight we decided to visit the new Museum of Liverpool down at the waterfront on our way home from work. It opened last summer, but we hadn't been inside yet.

The building is enormous, but to be honest I was a bit disappointed with the exhibits. There's lots to see, but I found it all a bit muddled. Lots of flavours of Liverpool's past, but in no particular order. We only had an hour, so we'll have to return another day.

 The view from this window was stunning, with the iconic Liver building in the background!

On our way back to the car, the sun was going down over the river across the Wirral where we live.

The buildings were fleetingly bathed in a golden glow.

I've never seen the Albert Dock looking so beautiful!

This is my Wednesday ~ The Minton Floor

Last Wednesday we visited St George's Hall, one of Liverpool's most famous landmarks.

(google images)

 It is said to be the finest neo-classical Grade One building in Europe, and is a UNESCO World heritage site. It was completed in 1855, at the height of Liverpool's prosperity, and housed a cultural venue in the Great Hall, where the rich could attend concerts and listen to readings by the likes of Charles Dickens. It was also a Law Court, where the poor could be gaoled for drunkenness and theft.

During Liverpool's decline in the late 20th Century, the interior of the building was neglected and it was eventually closed to the public.  As the city's fortunes have improved, the hall has been restored to its former glory and it was re-opened in 2007.

Come and have a peek inside.

Great bronze doors lead into the Great Hall

The Hall is huge, and is sumptuously decorated in typical Victorian style.

However, it is the floor which we had come to see. It is magnificently laid with 30,000 Minton encaustic tiles.  This wonderful floor is usually covered by a wooden sprung dance floor which was in fitted in 1883.Fortunately, the wooden blocks are lifted on rare occasions for public viewing of the floor underneath. 

Well, it just so happens that the tiles are on view during part of January, and, as neither of us had seen them before, we popped in on our way home from work. It was quite dark inside, so the photographs don't do it justice!

These sections of floor are around the edge of the room and are not covered up, and you can see how the colours have faded and the pattern worn away. 

I've been in to the Great Hall a few times for school events, but had never seen the floor before. It was well worth the £1 fee. Just amazing!

You can also take a free tour of the old Law Courts and the prison cells, but it was getting late, so we'll have to save it for another day.

What shall we do on Wednesday?

This week we headed down to Tate Liverpool to see the new Magritte exhibition.

Rene Magritte, the Belgian Surrealist painter is, according to the guide booklet, 'most renowned for his mysterious imagery which combines the banal with the strange and erotic for disturbing effect'.

Some of the paintings were familiar, all bowler hats and pipes ....

This made me smile. I always tell my class that all teachers have eyes in the back of their heads. Being 7 years old, they usually believe me!

Things got stranger ... and some pictures were so erotic I couldn't possibly show you.

Some works were hidden behind a curtain for good reason .... we didn't linger!

I found that I couldn't relate to the work at all ... I found it all terribly flat, and just a tad boring! 

I've come to the conclusion, though, that you don't have to like every piece of art, even if everyone else praises it from the rooftops.

I did quite like the blue sky pictures  ... we have backing paper for school displays just like this.

I'll be totally honest, the only thing that got me excited in the whole show was this lovely umbrella in the shop .... wouldn't you just love to have blue skies above your head as you walk in the rain?

Sadly, at £55 it won't be me!

( All images from Google, as photography was not allowed in the exhibition)

This is my Wednesday

Regular readers may remember that we try to go somewhere every Wednesday evening after school .....

we started it in January when I first returned to work and I was struggling to cope. It gave me something to look forward to, and to break the week up into little chunks. Now, we really look forward to each Wednesday, and we take turns in choosing something nice to do. Last week I chose to go to the photo exhibition at the Walker art Gallery. 

This week we decided to walk around the Marine Lake at West Kirby.

The sky was looking very dramatic over the extensive sands stretching out to Hilbre Island. This is a nature reserve which can only be reached by walking out at low tide. It's on our list to do, as it's years since we did it last.

Behind us are the Clwyd hills in North Wales across the Dee Estuary.

The lake was incredibly busy, full of sailing racing boats, and windsurfers braving the elements. It may be June, but my goodness, it must have been freezing in that water. We were wrapped up snuggly in our duvet jackets, which kept out the wind, and even Inca didn't attempt a paddle!

After a hectic day at work, it's great to get out and blow the cobwebs away!

This is my

This weeks theme is : Home

I've chosen this photograph, which is the view I see when I drive home.

Our house is at the bottom of this hill on the banks of the River Dee, which sounds lovely, but is sadly just marshland where we live. We have to drive down a steep winding road, and we have views of the Welsh hills on the other side of the Dee.
Sometimes the river is silver as the sun shines on it ... sometimes there's a high tide and the marsh is covered with water ... sometimes the hills are shrouded in mist and it's as though Wales has vanished .... sometimes in winter we can see snow on the top of  Moel Famau and we're thankful it hasn't reached us ... at night the lights twinkle on the hills ... it's always different, always changing.
No matter where I've been, away on holiday or just to work, this view says 'home' to me ... I've lived here for 26 years now, and it 'gets' me every time!

What says 'home' for you?

Next week's theme is: Happiness

This is my ....

My daughter has been doing this over on her blog for a few weeks now following Red Boots. A theme is picked every week and you are invited to write a post about it ... in any shape or form. Other people are invited to join in and leave their posts on the linky at the bottom. Then all the posts about that theme are in one place for everyone to share.

I thought it was such a lovely idea, I thought I would start one up in our corner of Blogworld. They all do theirs on a Tuesday, but I 'll do mine on Wednesdays instead. I've added a linky at the bottom of the post ... I hope it works! Please feel free to join in.

The first theme is: Family

This is a rare photograph of my whole family: my parents, one aunty, one brother, one sister and their partners, three nieces and of course, my husband and two children. The occasion was my parents' Golden Wedding Anniversary five years ago. The day was perfect in every way.
It's not very often our family can all be in the same place at the same time, and this is the only photo we have of everyone together.
It's funny looking back at how little the adults have changed ... a few more wrinkles and grey hairs maybe ... but the children have changed enormously. My son is now 18 and 6 foot tall, and my sister's baby is a six year old school girl!

I just wish someone had told me I had my sunglasses on!

Next week's theme is: Home