A Day of Colour In Cambridge
Last week I had a day in Cambridge for a study session on 800 Years of Colour at the Fitzwilliam Museum. A conservation scientist would be talking about artists' materials throughout the ages, and would be taking us round the museum's collection to see how different painters had used them.
On the train journey there, to chime in with the theme I read a book I'd bought at a car boot sale, Helen Graham's Healing with Colour. This goes into how different colours are likely to affect us, and how we can improve our state of mind by wearing, eating or surrounding ourselves with objects of particular colours. It made me think I probably don't wear enough red and pink and wear too much blue, and perhaps I should seek to wear more of these energising colours!
Walking to the Museum, I took the opportunity to check out the local dancewear shop (which didn't have the great range of product's of Porselli's in Norwich), and also visited the big Catholic church and an antiques shop. Then it was time for lunch! I tried out a fish restaurant near the museum, where there was a very good offer for October-November: 2 courses for £10. It was OK but not marvellous - the mussels and mackerel I had were too dominated by the sauces they were in, whereas I like still to be aware of the original taste of the fish. And although I often serve new potatoes at home without peeling them, this was the first occasion I've ever met carrots that haven't been peeled - even the green tops were there, though not the ferns! That's taking fibre very seriously! (To put a charitable interpretation on it).
The Museum session began at 2, giving me the chance to visit some paintings and porcelain beforehand. Then Dr. Spike Bucklow started taking us round various art works. It was not so much an art-historical appreciation as a focus on the surfaces that artists painted on and the type of pigments and media they need to use, which gave a different dimension to our understanding of artists' works. He considered such things as the preparation of the working surfaces, how wet or dry were the paints used, and which colours faded most quickly. We finished by considering a painting which had just returned from conservation, and learning something about conservation students' training. The only downside was perhaps that we only considered 5 or 6 paintings, so it was 800 Years of Colour in 5 or 6 paintings, and a greater number would have been welcome.
This event was free, but one had to book a place on it. You'd find out about this from picking up one of the Fitzwilliam Museum's leaflets. Benefiting from a Senior Rail Card, the return fare was only £8-60, so the day hardly broke the bank, and was certainly cheaper than driving there.
It was a satisfying day, although I had to miss a ballet class to attend it. But I find art uplifting, and I'm even going to enter a few items in the art exhibition my parish is holding in November - a watercolour and pastel portrait I did, a pot I threw on the wheel in a pottery course, and a few of my Advent/Christmas poems. Quite a number of our parishioners participate in the decorative arts, and it should be interesting. I've exhibited pottery and poems before, but never ventured any paintings. I must be brave!