
On 26th February, our University group were scheduled to visit the House of Illustration in London. I was looking forward to the trip immensely and had a full day planned, the exhibitions at the House of Illustration and the guest speakers, a trip to the Portrait Gallery and it's next door neighbour the National Gallery, and a coffee and chat with an illustrator. Train tickets were purchased (it worked better for me with travel and childcare to travel from Nottingham rather than the provided-by-the-University coaches). I have worked in London on many occasions so I dusted off my Oyster card and anticipated the trip with excitement.
And then my Aunt passed away. My Aunt was a huge influence on my childhood love of art, as referred to in previous blogs. A celebration of her life and her humanistic funeral were planned for 26th February.
I missed the trip. Of course. We celebrated the life of a fantastic lady and I inherited a small dog of indeterminate breed. However I was also reminded of the passion for art that my Aunt had, and shared, just by staying in her lovely Hampstead house.
Her house is filled with art, some reproduction, some original, including the portrait of my late Uncle, William Hare,5th Earl of Listowel, shown at the top of this blog entry. Again I was reminded of years of looking at paintings, buying postcard prints from Galleries and pinning them to the cork tiles of my 1970's bedroom, and drawing, drawing, scribbling and reproducing in my own childish hand on any available surface.
So I missed the trip. But I did research it a little, mainly by grilling my peers over coffee in the University cafe.

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Helen Collard |
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Merlin Evans |
So although it was disappointing to miss the trip, all is not lost. The galleries I intended to visit are still there. The illustrator I had planned to meet has kindly given me an e-mail interview instead, and the House of Illustration is available to visit, so this will be rescheduled at some point as I plan to do a couple of days of London galleries. I have not been to the RA, the Tate Modern or, my personal favourite, the Tate itself, for far too long.
H. x
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