royal academy of arts.

as usual, my wednesday started with my shift at St. aloysius infant school. it was typically manic. it was career day so a lot of kids came in costumes of what they want to become when they grow up; lots of doctors, nurses, artists and an archeologist, who brought a fossil for show and tell. but obviously not everyone had costumes so that caused some unnecessary drama.

today was the first time i realized how under-resourced the school is. the kids wanted to draw on the whiteboard with markers, but the teacher looked around and couldn't find them. so, she sighed and told me, "we never have resources." this is pretty evident in the chaotic layout of the room and its constantly disorganized state. the purpose of the SHINE project, the organization that i'm volunteering with, is to help schools serving underprivileged areas, and today was the first time that actually hit me.

then, i met up with natalie to go check out the Van Gogh exhibit at the Royal Academy of Arts.

on the way, we got sidetracked by harry potter and very posh, delicious looking sweets.

on my way to hogwarts.

princes arcade near piccadilly circus. a little shopping area that was made for when the royals/aristocrats wanted to shop in the rain without getting wet.

we got sidetracked by the delicious looking displays on the windows. so we went in and discovered.....

chocolate haven. aka fortnum & mason. i'd never heard of it, but it's apparently a famous company of sweets. chocolate, jellies, shortbread, biscuits and all that good stuff. established in 1707!

as you can see, it was very posh. i was hoping they'd have loads and loads of samples out, but no. just one kind of belgian waffles, which were amazing!

and finally, the Royal Academy of Arts.

had to wait an hour in line in the cold before getting in, but it was worth it.

so here's my shpeel about van gogh.

-in his letters, he included 'croquis' or sketches, that show the paintings he's working on. about 40 of his letters were on display, and it was fun comparing the pen sketches with his actual finished paintings. in some cases, i liked the pen sketches more.

-' the duty of the painter is the study nature in depth and to use his intelligence to put his feelings into his works.'

-inspired by jean francois millet's representation of rural,agricultural, peasant life in the countryside.

-moved to paris in '86, and that's when he started exploring with color and becoming the 'colourist' van gogh we are most familiar with

-"intense colour and not a grey harmony"

- inspired by japanese art. its bold contours and flat tones.

-hated the "dead realism of photography" hmm.......

- in '88, lived with gauguin for 2 months but they got into a lot of fights, and when gauguin left, it ultimately led to van gogh's first mental breakdown and he cut off a part of his ear.

- Art & literature: admired the french naturalist authors like emile zola.

my favorite painting from the exhibit: lullaby: Madame Augustine Roulin Rocking a Cradle 1889.

why i like this painting...

- love that it's a portrait of a 'normal' person. a wife of a random postal man he befriended.

- green!

- the implied presence of the baby in the cradle via the role she's holding onto.

- yellow face

- most importantly, the contrast of the patterned wall paper and the flat, velvety red floor. actually, the background is rather ambiguous. the whole thing may just be a piece of interesting wallpaper.