Gaby Young and Other Animals

A while ago Dean and I went along to The Barbican to see The Irrepressibles who we'd seen at Latitude a couple of times. The bad news was they weren't very good, but the good news was we got to see Gaby Young and Other Animals who were really fun.
So here's a link if you fancy a look

My Mum

Sorry I'm rubbish and aren't with you to say Happy Birthday.

Hope you are going to enjoy your day just like you promised.

Jimmie Martin

Ever since I saw Gayle's powerpoint she made for the styling project I've been racking my brains to think of the name of the designer I saw a couple of years ago, because the chairs with rabbits on (in her powerpoint) had reminded me of his work.

I've finally, thanks to the usually wonderful and sometimes frustrating Google, tracked him down - Jimmie Martin.

He can turn his hand to other furniture as well as chairs

and everyone should know I'm a sucker for a chandelier.

Too busy

I know I promised to complete my St Petersburgh posts soon, but I'm just so busy at work that it will have to wait a little while, well a few weeks probably. But I didn't want to abandon my posting totally as I had just got back into it after a gap over the Christmas holidays.

Anyway last night was spent at college for an open evening helped by 4 extremely helpful and fun students, Becca and Courtney (Foundation Art) and Becky and Ellie (As Textiles), so I decided that to supplement all the lovely student's work which Gayle, Brooke and I had laid out we would play some videos. For me it had to start with some Alexander McQueen catwalk/runway shows. But later on Becca got us all hooked on the work of Holly Fulton who I have seen before, but never looked at in detail. Anyway here's a peek at some of her designs from S/S 2011 and A/W 2011.









and just for Becca the dress she's losing sleep over at the moment.


 

Day 2 and 3 - the Mariinsky Theatre

               



The Mariinsky is certainly a wonderful theatre and without doubt this was the best production of a ballet I have ever seen.



A seat at the opera



A seat at the ballet



 








The best seat in the house



The ballet was the most beautiful event and definitely no falling asleep.

Students all dressed up and looking lovely.

Off to London for the day

Well no St Petersburg post today I'm afraid, hopefully I'll post tomorrow. Today I'm off to London to see Alex and my sister, Jane, who'll be in London doing some research or going to, or giving a lecture; she's always busy.

I think I'll be spending quite a while in a hospital somewhere as Alex has to have a blood test. She went earlier in the week for one but the doctors say she doesn't have any veins, hence a visit to hospital for them to suck some out!

But I do know that later we will be going to the excellent Wholefoods Market on Kensington High Street. It's absolutely gigantic, filling a lot of what was Barkers Department store, and packed with everything you could want; both healthy and not so healthy. They have brownies to die for, the largest and most tempting array of salads I've ever seen and if you love cheese then rather than a cheese board there's a cheese room!

  

A beautiful city - Churches, continued

On our way to St Isaac's we crossed a bridge which provided Mark with a photo opportunity. But poor Gayle had so much trouble trying to smile while looking at the camera as the sun was just too bright. Not much like a British winter!

St Isaac's Cathedral

St Isaac's dominates St Isaac's Square but Gayle and I did nearly become distracted by the very lovely looking Hotel Astoria which obviously had a beautiful restaurant, gorgeous for tea and cakes I'm sure. However we didn't feel that Ivan would be so understanding about our weakness so we stayed strong and continued with the planned itinerary. How saintly we felt!

  Rotonda Lounge

"In the cosy Rotonda Lounge, exquisite desserts, snacks and hot and cold beverages are served. During afternoon tea from 3 pm to 7.30 pm, guests can taste rich Russian blini pancakes and a chocolate fountain accompanied with a selection of fresh fruit. There are magnificent floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the St Isaac’s Square in the Rotonda Lounge".

But back to St Isaac's and another magnificent church to photograph and admire. I opted not to climb the stairs for the roof top views of the city which were apparently spectacular, but also showed the hugh, industrial chimneys surrounding the city.