Saturday, March 27, 2010
Beautiful Paintings
'Il Dolce Far Niente' by Holman Hunt
I can't wait to see the exhibition that's coming to the Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney, from 20th May to 29th August 2010. It's called 'Victorian Visions: Nineteenth-century art from the John Schaeffer Collection', and contains 45 paintings, watercolours and drawings by Pre-Raphaelites and other nineteenth century artists such as Rossetti, Holman Hunt, Burne-Jones, Leighton, Poynter, Watts and Waterhouse. Among the artworks are 'Mariamne' by J W Waterhouse; Holman Hunt’s 'Il dolce far niente'; Richard Redgrave’s 'The sempstress'; and Leighton’s 'Athlete struggling with a python'.
Information courtesy of AGNSW website.
Earth Hour at the Boatshed
And lit some candles:
Here is some information on Earth Hour, care of the Bigpond News site:
Sydney's Opera House and Harbour Bridge fell into darkness on Saturday night as millions of lights were switched off across the city, kicking off a global energy-saving marathon. A swathe of homes and businesses also killed the lights at 8.30pm (AEDT) for 'Earth Hour' in an effort to lower the planet's carbon footprint and raise awareness of the environment.
Harbour ferry horns blared to signal the rolling event, which began in New Zealand, Fiji and Australia, and will wrap up 25 hours later in Apia, Samoa, at 6.30pm (AEDT) on Sunday. Supporters clasping candles gathered at city viewpoints to watch the spectacle and photograph Sydney's CBD before and after.
Earth Hour is supported by 4,000 cities in a record 125 countries and includes 1,200 famous landmarks. Egypt's Pyramids and Sphinx, the Trevi Fountain and Tower of Pisa in Italy will also take part, led by a five-minute blackout of the Eiffel Tower. For the first time this year, the Forbidden city in Beijing will also be taking part, along with 20 cities across China, despite the country's resistance at Copenhagen.
Now run by the WWF, Earth Hour began in Sydney in 2007 when 2.2 million people switched off the lights in their homes, offices and businesses for 60 minutes to make a point about electricity consumption and carbon pollution. The campaign went global the following year, and it has now harnessed support from a raft of multinational companies including Google, Coca-Cola, Hilton, McDonalds, Canon, HSBC and IKEA.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Desperately Romantic
The members of the the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood - John Everett Millais, Rossetti and William Holman Hunt. Second from the left is a fictional character, Fred:
While the series has been condemned by some critics for being a type of "Carry On" film for its many sex scenes, and for what some see as the dumbing down of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, it certainly is lovely to look at.
Images courtesy of the official BBC2 "Desperate Romantics" website and "La Maison de Vie" website
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Essentially French
It's written by Josephine Ryan, a London antiques dealer:
Luxe for Less
It was at the op shop, and was the first thing I'd found there for ages. Unfortunately, I think the word is spreading that vintage is good, so the op shop is no longer the treasure trove it used to be. Anyway, something about this vase caught my eye. Maybe the shape or the colours: