Bit of culture today – the Joan Eardley Exhibition at the National Gallery. This is ‘Three Children at a Tenement Window’. It was good. I do have a tendency to lapse into people-watching in these moments – Edinburgh is unparalleled on that front. I also liked the idea that she kept on painting the same things – Samson children and her cottage in NE Scotland – bit like Monet and the Water Lilies. I thought maybe that this showed a lack of creative imagination until I realised on reflection that I am about to have my 31st attempt at the Christmas sermon. And I don’t expect to get it complete this time either.
The Joan Eardley exhibition was well worth seeing. The pictures were all good, but I liked her ‘people’ better than her seascapes.
The only problem I had with the exhibition was the video which had a sountrack you had to concentrate on, because it was old and scratchy. When we were there, the man at the ticket desk was right beside the video (on the other side of the string) and he was short of change, so was begging each person coming in for the correct coins. He won the battle and made the video completely incomprehensible, so we moved into the next room.
so why not preach on Joan Eardley, tenements, and people-watching – all very incarnational and christmassy themes!!