Hanging In The Gallery

It is another cold rainy Saturday here today, in contrast to yesterday which was like a little window of sunshine in between two bad weather fronts. I made the supreme effort to shake off my lethargy and caught the 11.02 bus to Bath. The good thing about going on the bus is that the bus stop is near my house, so it saves me the twenty-minute walk to the railway station. Also, it is free because I have a senior citizen’s bus pass. The downside is that it is so slow. It took over ninety minutes to travel the few miles to Bath, stopping every few minutes. I must say though that once we got past Bradford On Avon the countryside looked magnificent in the autumn sunshine. Eventually we arrived in the beautiful city of Bath.

I made my way to York Street which is just by the abbey. The reason for me coming here is because I wanted to see an art exhibition in a York Street gallery. The exhibition has been on since the beginning of October and I wanted to see it before it ended today. There were three artists work on display. There were sculptures and work by two other artists which were very good, but it was Helen’s Still Life paintings that I had come to see. I have known Helen for about thirty years since she and her family lived in Westbury. They moved away and I hadn’t seen Helen for at least fifteen years until this summer when she visited me with a mutual friend Maggie. That is how I found out about her forthcoming exhibition in Bath. In all those years I wasn’t aware of what a wonderful artist she was. I think in those days she was probably more concerned with bringing up the children rather than painting. I’m very pleased that her hard work has been recognised and she has become so successful.

I’m not an expert on art by any means and appreciating Still Life paintings isn’t something I have really considered before, but Helen’s pictures are exquisite. The way she captures light, and shadows is wonderful. Each painting must take hours and hours, if not days and weeks to complete. It must be incredibly difficult to capture a moment in time because light and shade are constantly changing. The concentration that is required for every little detail has to be admired. There was one painting I particularly admired of freesias in a jar of water. To be able to paint still water in a glass jar is an incredible achievement. 

To reach this level of perfection must be like a form of meditation I imagine, because the artist must be so totally focused on the subject, you can’t have any distractions. Just looking at the pictures evokes a feeling of calm in the viewer. It does with me anyway, the paintings are like a portal to mindfulness. I won’t say any more for fear of sounding pretentious, but I asked the attendant if it was ok to take photos and she said of course it was, so I snapped a few of the paintings. (See photos) I think you will agree with me that Helen’s work is wonderful.

I left the gallery after about an hour of admiring the art works. Right across the road from there is my favourite Bath bookshop Topping & Company. It used to be at the top of Milsom Street but has now taken over an old Quaker chapel in York Street. I spent about an hour in there as well. It is a booklover’s paradise. They have many signed first editions including recent publications signed by the likes of Greta Thunberg, Ian MacEwan, Joan Armatrading, Bob Mortimer, Nick Cave, and many others. In the end, after much umming and aahring I bought a biography of Nico and a book by Thich Nhat Hanh.

After that, I had a stroll around Bath. I noticed in the Parade Gardens near Pulteney Bridge there are still flower beds in bloom. It is November, what is going on?. I bought a vegetarian pasty in Milsom Street and sat on a bench near the abbey to eat it while listening to a busker who was a brilliant guitarist. I gave him 50 pence, then decided I’d seen enough for one afternoon. I couldn’t face another 90 minutes on the bus, so made my way to the railway station. I was glad I made the effort to get out and about, and Helen’s paintings were the highlight. On the train on the way home, thinking about the paintings brought the words of a great song by Dave Cousins of The Strawbs into my head, Is it the painter or the picture hanging in the gallery? Or is it but a still life of his own interpretation, of the way that God had made us, in the image of his eye?. I shared the song below if you want to hear it.