The Sneaky Magpie

I had a great day today and yesterday, I have posted near to 30 items on ebay and they caused a stir! Fingers crossed all will sell which will give my wardrobe much needed breathing space. I have decided that if I haven’t worn something for a year or longer I will never wear it again and it must go. I have also revisited the boxes of designer treasures that are not such treasures now I look at them, no classics, time to go. My fashion investments will remain in the bag and shoe stock.

I have loaded a bag for charity shop and will deliver it to Oxfam with all the ebay failures.

You know all the tasks that get put away like mending your clothing, polishing shoes and sewing missing buttons on? They have been staring at me from the depths of my wardrobe for some time and yesterday I finally faced them all at the same time. Such a relief.

I have invested into a small catering business in Philippines on Kiva. I really hope these ladies do well.

I have purchased two nice belts from All Saints, in brown and black leather. They are my only sales hunts so far, unfortunately the other belt sold out so I don’t have a picture.

I have really cracked on with my book pile, I have managed to read:

High Raise the Roof Beam, Carpenters by J.D. Salinger

Seymour an Introduction by J.D. Salinger

Nine Stories by J.D.Salinger

I know it is a lot of Salinger but he is such a good writer, I also found out that he is still alive, 100 years old!

The Most Beautiful Woman in Town by Charles Bukowski

The Faithful River by Stefan Zeromski

I have decided to put away Ulysses and The Corporation, at least for now.

So the only remaining books left are Tropic of Capricorn and some Chekhov stories and plays. This means I will be able to move onto some brand new books very soon. Really looking forward to it.

I have watched the 2 new episodes of Cranford and am awaiting the DVD of the first series, I might even start reading the books. I am quite glad I have not discovered it earlier because I am in real need of a costume drama fix.

I have made it to Tate Britain today to see the wonderful Turner and the Masters show, they had some amazing Rembrandts and Canalettos. I also checked out the Turner Prize which is definitely better than last year’s and glimpsed at some beautiful sculptures in the hall. This reminds me of few more exhibitions I must see and the time is running out. Especially for Ed Ruscha at The Hayward (Friday 6.00-10.00pm two for one deal) on till the 10th of January, Maharaja at V&A till 17th January and Jacob Epstein, Henri Gaudier-Brzeska and Eric Gill at The Royal Academy till 24th January. I knew I left it too late and now will have to rush.

The Mill by Rembrandt

And tomorrow I will have to take it easy….

Another weekend came and went.

On Friday evening I went to the South Bank to meet my friend Emma.

On my way there I stopped half way through the Waterloo Bridge to admire the views, the light was so beautiful.

The Pestival – an insect art festival – was taking place and there was a lot of activity, outdoor art installations and sculpture as well as a food market.

The Termite Pavilion

I had a quick look around and went to join a very long queue at the Hayward Gallery to see Walking in My Mind, the show ends today and there was a lot of people like me trying to catch it before it’s too late.

I had mixed feelings about the artwork in general but managed to find a couple of gems nevertheless. A Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara created a sweet little house – he recreated his student room full of cute stuff … and a couple of bottles of beer. We could see the room through the windows but were not allowed to go inside, the interior was full of drawings, figurines, books, stuff that Nara collected and got inspired by over the years.

I was looking forward to see Yayoi Kusama’s work who paints polka dots, 25 trees along the South Bank are wrapped in her signature fabric making it look pretty nice. Her inflatable red shapes covered in white dots filled out a mirrored room which should have been a pretty amazing effect but it felt too small for me, I was hoping to get overwhelmed by the pattern. More dotted sculptures were placed outside against a green background and this looked more fairytale-like to me, an impression of weirdly shaped toadstools in a meadow.

The third artist I liked, Chiharu Shiota, created a web of wool thread that filled out a whole large space, inside it giant white dresses were trapped. A slightly claustrophobic space, one might imagine being trapped in the web, but also wandering through it in a mad dreamy way.

We had dinner afterward and it took me a very long time to cycle home, an unknown route made me stop several times to consult the map.

Saturday was a pretty chilled out affair consisting of:

cleaning

food shopping

organising stuff

baking a hazelnut chocolate banana cake, gluten free, almost dairy free and not very sweet, it was good

packing away all of the summer clothing, preparing a new ebay pile and a charity shop bag

cooking gnocchi with vodka sauce for lunch, it was delicious, the alcohol evaporates in cooking leaving a rather nice flavor

watching Remains and the Day which made me want to go to a manor house and walk through wilderness

watching Seven Years in Tibet which made me want to go traveling and eat dumplings

started to watch Elizabethtown on TV but lost interest 5 minutes into the movie and read American Vogue instead

finished rereading Generation X

I am really annoyed with the Royal Mail, there was no post for most of the week which caused a havoc in my routine, no DVD from Love Film (Woody Allen’s Husbands and Wives apparently on its way), no Vogue or ELLE and no Generation A (in fact two copies, one a birthday gift for my friend).

Sunday came and turned out to be nice and sunny however my poor friend got sick so I had to spend the day on my own which I don’t mind at all.

I decided to cook huevos rancheros for breakfast.

Later I headed to the East End, first stop was The Whitechapel Gallery, Live Forever: Elizabeth Payton exhibition is on at the moment. A collection of portraits of friends, historical figures and modern artists in watercolour, oil paint and pencil. Absolutely stunning work, angelic androgynious faces of rock stars like Pete Doherty, Liam Gallagher or Jarvis Cocker as well as icons like Georgia O’Keefe, Napoleon or Elizabeth II.

My next stop was supposed to be a gallery on the other end of Brick Lane but I reminded myself that Truman Brewery holds sample sales on Sundays and sidetracked there. Why, oh why did I go there?! They had a boutique clearance from places like The Cross and Aime, the rails were full of Isabel Marant, A.P.C., Paul&Joe, Olivia Morris (at some point I had her fabulous pair of boots on my feet and contemplated buying them even though they were one size too big but cost only £50, madness), See by Chloé, 3.1 Phillip Lim, Acne, Vanessa Bruno and more, more, more. I tried few things on and ended up buying this Paul&Joe 60s style, slightly A line trench with sailor buttons, a couple of super cute things for my niece at £10 a piece for a top notch French stuff it was a real bargain, and 3 for £10 Nails Inc. varnishes (they even let me swap colors in the pack). I was totally hyper after I left and wondered if I can buy another coat….

I went back to Brick Lane, saw this poster of one of my very favorite books.

Stopped by my all time favorite shop Labour and Wait but was disciplined enough not to buy anything.

Doesn’t this girl look cool?

Headed to Cinephilia to have a look at the Polish film posted exhibition but it was closed. Here are few of the posters.

Clockwork Orange, Blade Runner

The Shining, Breakfast at Tiffany’s

It was time to go home, on my way to the station I passed some street stalls and in a moment of sheer madness bought a box of red peppers for £2.50. I came home exhausted and now have to figure out what to do with 34 red peppers. What was i thinking? Why didn’t I get a small vase instead?

Usually I am really good with exhibitions and see most of them but summer is slightly different, there is always a picnic or an outdoor activity I’d rather do. I had a scan through all the events and there are few I definitely want to go and see:

The Popeye Series by Jeff Koons at The Serpentine

Futurism at Tate Modern

Richard Long and Classified at Tate Britain

Walking In My Mind at Hayward Gallery

Elizabeth Peyton at The Whitechapel Gallery

Cinema is a different matter, I was not attracted by any of the films so far this year apart from Synecdoche NY. I love Charlie Kaufman and his directorial debut did not disappoint, however it was bit too long.

This summer there are few films that I would love to see:

Coco avant Chanel, can’t wait for this one, out end of July

The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, debut by Rebecca Miller, out now

Katyn by A. Wajda, out now

Antichrist by Lars von Trier, I am a huge fan of his work, out July 24th

So fingers crossed I will see them all!

It’s only the 2nd of September but it feels like autumn has been with us for a while. Rainy days, cold wind, Wellington boots and umbrellas are the daily reality.

I love autumn, in fact it is my favorite season, but I feel I didn’t have enough sunny days this year.

So what’s out there to look forward to? Well, there is great fashion, few good movies coming out, stodgy food, golden leaves and open fire, there are also few very exciting exhibitions coming out.

Victoria and Albert Museum presents Cold War Modern: Design 1945-1970. This exhibition will focus of post war design from around the world, it will show how design was shaped by history and the difference between the West and the Iron Curtain. It will cover design, architecture, film and art of that period. Opens September 25th.

The Hayward Gallery will be showing Andy Warhol Other Voices, Other Rooms from October the 7th. It will be a major retrospective of the artist’s films, TV programmes, painting and illustrations. I wonder what the connection with Capote will be?

Francis Bacon exhibition starts on 11th September at Tate Britain. It will include the triptych Thee Studies for the Crucifixion and portraits of Pope Innocent X. This is something I am really looking forward to see. Furthermore the Turner Prize is back.

Tate Modern – Rothko exhibition opens on 26th September, perfect for everyone who likes big canvases with soft squares.

Royal Academy will show two big exhibitions: objects from collection of the Fondation Maeght by Miró, Calder, Giacometti, Braque from October 4th, and Byzantium 330-1453 from October 25th.

From 15th October National Gallery will treat us with great masters in Renaissance Faces – Van Eyck to Titian.

Apart from the current blockbuster Hadrian at the British Museum look out for Babylon exhibition starting on 13th November.

National Portrait Gallery will have few shows, one of them is a must see – Annie Leibovitz A Photographer’s Life 1990-2005. Starts October 16th.

Additional treats are the opening of the new Saatchi Gallery in October and ICA scrapping their entry fee.

This autumn will be exciting!