All Things Considered

Indian Spring – Toby Morison
Posted by Simon Lewin

Illustrator Toby Morison has an exhibition of Indian watercolours opening at the Coningsby Gallery in London next week.

The thirty images were painted on the spot in the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujaret.

Toby Morison studied at the Royal College of Art. He was a founder member of the influential Big Orange studio and has worked internationally as an illustrator for the past twenty years. He is the author of Little Louis Takes Off (Simon and Schuster 2006).

Toby has always travelled widely - often with a sketchbook as companion. He has an abiding fascination and love for India. These images were painted on streets and from rooftops and balconies - often with a small audience in attendance. From a teeming Delhi through the holy town of Pushkar, to the blue washed city of Jodhpur and the boat building port of Mandvi on the shores of the Arabian Ocean these images reflect the vibrancy, ingenuity, colour and humour of India.

The exhibition runs from 8th March 2010 until 13th March 2010 at The Coningsby Gallery, 30 Tottenham Street, London W1T 4RJ. Website

Posted by Simon Lewin on March 3rd, 2010

Bird Watch
Posted by Kate Sullivan

The cold snap last month made me realise the importance of feeding our wild birds. We melted lard, adding handfuls of nutritious seeds and nuts and now feed them constantly throughout the day - making sure the greedy pigeons don't consume more than their fair share. 

Watching the different birds arriving to our city garden is a joy, so much so that I plan on spending an hour at the weekend noting down which birds fly in and out of our patch as part of the annual RSPB survey. This study has been running for over 30 years and is vital in highlighting the habits and population of birds in the UK.

If you'd like to take part visit http://www.rspb.org.uk/birdwatch. The survey runs from 30th -31st January 2010.

And here's a member of artist Emily Sutton's handmade flock (unfortunately all sold out). Emily's currently working on a fabric for St. Jude's - sign up for our e-mail newsletter for details.

Posted by Kate Sullivan on January 29th, 2010

Caught By The River
Posted by Simon Lewin

We've talked about Caught By The River a fair bit this year - it's one of the websites I find myself visiting most frequently.

Their book, a collection of words on water, was published earlier this year and is a joy. I've got a copy, but if I didn't, I'd be hoping for one for Christmas. Highly recommended for anyone with an interest in rivers or the great outdoors in general. You can purchase a copy direct online.

Posted by Simon Lewin on December 16th, 2009

The High Line
Posted by Angie Lewin

Built in the 1930s, the High Line was an elevated railway cutting through New York's Meatpacking and West Chelsea districts. Since the last train ran in 1980 nature has taken over - wild flower seeds have blown in, grasses and trees have naturalised. Friends of the High Line was founded to save it from demolition and a design team working with Piet Oudolf as consultant are transforming the space into a public park high above the streets of Manhattan. Oudolf's bold drifts of herbaceous perennials and grasses will echo the way that nature has reclaimed the disused tracks. More about the High Line.

Posted by Angie Lewin on November 25th, 2009

Cairn Daimh
Posted by Angie Lewin

Just back from another stunning walk up to the top of Cairn Daimh. One of those hill walks that suddenly reveals all once you're at the top, with views to Ben Rinnes and the rest of Moray on one side and the Cairngorms on the other. Glorious. It's one of the many waywarked walks on the Glenlivet Estate.

Posted by Angie Lewin on November 15th, 2009

Bow Gamelan Ensemble
Posted by Simon Lewin

All of these autumnal pyrotechnics put in my mind of the Bow Gamelan Ensemble who I saw a few times in what must have been (from memory) the mid-late 80s.

In 1983 Paul Burwell, Richard Wilson and Anne Bean formed the Ensemble, described in Burwell's 2007 obituary in The Independent as "a multi-media urban-junk-and-pyrotechnics percussion trio".

Here the Bow Gamelan Ensemble reunite with others to perform on Wilson's boat the Slice of Life (a slice of a tug boat on the river Thames in London). More about the Ensemble

Posted by Simon Lewin on November 7th, 2009

Gavin Maxwell
Posted by Simon Lewin

Caught most of a programme on Radio 4 this morning, presented by Terry Nutkins. I have memories of him presenting Animal Magic and the like.

I hadn't realised he had spent time working with Gavin Maxwell, best known for Ring Of Bright Water - a book about his love for otters and wildlife in general.

The programme was an intriguing and very personal profile of a clearly 'complex' man, but it left me feeling drawn back to the Highlands - but the almost cliff-hanger ending suggests that next week's episode will explore a slightly darker side to the story. This second episode will be broadcast on Friday 23rd October. You can listen to the first episode via the BBC website for the next few days.

Posted by Simon Lewin on October 16th, 2009

Ten Walking Songs
Posted by Simon Lewin

A recent posting over at Caught By The River reminded me of a walk we took on the west coast of Scotland earlier in the year (snapshot below).

In this Tracks for Tracks: Ten Walking Songs post, guest selector Robert MacFarlane lists ten "Songs to keep you company. Songs to learn by heart. Songs to lend a beat to tired feet. Songs to yell from the top of a hill..."

Here's an extract about 'The Road To The Isles'...

"The song is a map, really, of the westwards way, from the Southern Highlands to the Western Isles. Its place-names guide the singer-walker westwards, its melody lures him and its rhythm sustains his progress. The song cites the locations that will bring the singer from Tummel in Perthshire to Stornoway in the Outer Hebrides, by way of Loch Rannoch, Lochaber, Shiel, Ailort, and Morar. Singing therefore becomes a means of navigation. In this way, ‘The Road To The Isles’ has a family resemblance to Aboriginal songline cycles, which describe the ‘dreamtracks’ left by the ‘Ancestors’ at the creation of the world. The route of these dreamtracks – and they can run for hundreds of miles – is preserved in the form of songs, in which each note or phrase corresponds to a landscape feature (a claypan or rock outcrop, say, or turn in a creekbed)." Read in full

Posted by Simon Lewin on September 23rd, 2009

David Byrne’s bike racks
Posted by Simon Lewin

Had the pleasure of seeing David Byrne live at The Barbican on Monday. Was very slightly concerned when I saw our fellow audience - if someone had dropped a bomb on the venue, Waitrose's share price (were they listed) would have plummetted.

Anyway, dislike the term as much as I do, I'm inclined to say that he is potentially the 'coolest' man in pop today. Marvellous stuff.

I was going to post a video clip of Byrne or Talking Heads playing live but thought the following might be of interest.

A keen cyclist, Byrne was asked by the New York Department of Transportation to judge a competition for the city's new bike rack designs - and was so inspired that he designed a series of his own...

Posted by Simon Lewin on August 7th, 2009

Andy Lovell
Posted by Simon Lewin

'Dungeness Lighthouse' is a limited edition screenprint by artist printmaker Andy Lovell who we welcome to St. Jude's.

Observational drawing and painting act as the foundation of Andy Lovell's work, imprinting memories from which he creates screenprints, lithographs and monoprints, exploring the layering of texture and colour.

View further examples of prints by Andy Lovell.

Posted by Simon Lewin on August 5th, 2009