Pre-Raphelites - Victorian Avant-Garde at Tate Britain

I came to this exhibition with a history and an open mind. I admit that in my early 20's I saw these young artists as romantic idealists - representing life and love in the intensity of pure pleasure, indulgence and at times total despair. I oscillated between experiencing life as the Lady of Shallott and Ophelia. So, this time as we drove down to the Tate Britain in autumnal sunshine, I was ready to see these artists in a new light. Thankfully, the curator was in tune with my advancing maturity. They had taken a developmental and educational approach across the 7 main rooms. We began to recreate the origins and history of the group. So many pieces were descriptive of mediaeval life, as described by Shakespeare and other historians. Then we were taken to the painstaking recreation of nature in all of its beauty and detail. Throughout this exhibition, every painting could be examined at a distance for a total effect, and at close quarters for detailed investigation. Later in the exhibition, the themes were salvation, seen from a very Christian perspective in a sensually indulgent world, beauty and paradise, which were interpreted fairly literally. I really enjoyed the final room titled mythologies and populated by large paintings by Rosetti and Burne-Jones. From here, it was a natural progression to the symbolism of turn of the century art nouveau and the Vienna Seccession. It is great to see this art in its historical context and to continue to enjoy the romantic idealism for exactly what it is...

Anna Karenina - classic but frustrating

Is Tolstoy as universal as Shakespeare? sadly, I don't think so. I must admit that I have never read the novel - but Anna's idealistic naivete seems to outweigh the universal theme of love vs marriage. So it seems that Anna Karenina has as it's core theme the challenge of whether marriage is for love or stability. It seems that Russian society of the late 1800's was fairly conservative - marriage was for prosperity and life; love was a much more dangerous and idealistic construct. So it was kind of fun to see the movie occur on and beyond a traditional stage, and to see the child's train set become larger than life - okay it is extremely cold in Russia but it seems impossible and implausible for a train to arrive at a station compeletly covered in ice!

This adaptation of the great novel was written by Tom Stoppard and directed by Joe Wright, and oscillated between Anna’s home town of St. Petersburg and the social and political center of Moscow. The costumes were truly magnificent and Keira Knightley pouted less often than in previous roles. But it seems that the passion ignited at a railway station was somewhat shallow. Perhaps she really thought she loved him, but to sacrifice her marriage and her son for this serial flirtatious maniac seemed to be totally crazy and unbelievable. I was not happy to be proven right,as I consider myself a true romantic, but this whole crazy relationship was totally unrealistic. I just don't know why she did not take the courage to leave her longsuffering husband and start again. Although this might well have been difficult at the time, her personal integrity was seriously in doubt. So by the end of this extended film, I felt deep respect and allegiance to her boringly conservative but deeply moral husband!

Shadow dancer - subtely and intrigue

This was a film I wanted to see - I really do not understand what has been happening in Northern Ireland and this film offered me a chance to see it from the inside... The chance to be a spy to opt out of a jail sentence as a terrorist sets the tone at the beginning - and all this as a consequence of guilt at her brother being caught in the IRA crossfire. But can someone ever be free once you have sold your soul in this way? Strangely though, it seems as if her MI5 contact is also not abreast of what is really going on - could they really care for each other, or just be trapped together and desperately dependent on each other? I was horrified at the way the anger spans generations and how the men carry the fury while the women just get on with it and make the ultimate sacrifices... I am so thankful that I did not gorw up in this society as I know I would not have found a way through it...

creating mixed media designs at West Dean

I impulsively decided to treat myself to an artist retreat in the idyllic oasis of West Dean College, West Sussex. I chose to spend 3 days learning about mixed media techniques - a combination of using colour, style and texture in a range of painting, printing, stencilling and collage techniques. There were 11 other very capable and prolific artists learning with me, from an impressive Oxford artist, Jo Dixon. Jo is a patient and intuitive teacher - she taught us some new techniques each day, to play and experiment with. We all tried out some new strategies and experimented with our individual colour pallete and artistic themes - and by the last day, our self- contained Orangery studio was full of colour, texture, design and creativity. I was so inspired that I created some amazing new work.

Each day, we enjoyed long lunches of freshly prepared food, and afterwards, I enjoyed exploring the extensive walled gardens, with their floral and fruit medleys. The gardens were meticulously arranged, both inside the traditional greenhouses, and outside in the geometric garden. I quickly realised that I was the only newbie in our class, all others were regulars to this wonderful place and its selection of over 300 short courses per year. There was an exhibition of Julie Collin's mixed media work and I think she will be the drawcard for me to come back...

360' a poorly reviewed movie that I really enjoyed!

I do love chancing movies that have been poorly reviewed - but I also know that sometimes there are very good reasons. This time, I think the reasons were academic - something about looking for deep meaning, when in fact sometimes in life there is not so much depth - we just live it and in lots of different ways and places. This is where I parted from the reviewers - I enjoyed the simple messages, the cinematography, the music and the general ambience of the film. I walked out of the theatre entertained, feeling good and slightly affirmed as a person that life is not always what it seems, and sometimes good things happen, sometimes they don't....

So the music was edgy, we travelled between Vienna, Paris and London - although we were not overloaded with the classic shots of these cities. We saw side streets, interiors and people in transit. I loved the way we saw split screens of conversations. And to the theme - life is random, sex is an important driver and we all dream of being somewhere else than where we are - and often with someone else - but sometimes we stop and recognise the futility of chasing the dream, and we get away with it - other times relationships fall apart.

The film starts in Vienna where a businessman, played by Jude Law, is married to a woman (Rachel Weisz) who's cheating on him with a photographer who's unfaithful to his girlfriend. She is dumped and is returning to her home city of Rio de Janeiro when she runs into Anthony Hopkins, sitting beside her on the plane. He is off to see if a corpse is that of his long-missing daughter. Instead of meeting him for dinner, she opts for (and survives) an evening with a recently released rapist grappling with the outside world. Then there's the Bratislavan novice prostitute Law hopes to hire, her sister who accompanies her to Vienna for her evenings out, a Russian mobster, his sympathetic driver, his unhappy wife and her smitten Muslim dentist boss.

It all happens and in something of a random order - so when we see the other side of decision taken it makes for genuine interest. The message is reminiscent of sliding doors - life has many paths and we have the options to take one of the many forks - and so do all of the people we come into contact with - this is introduced at the beginning and is pervasive throughout. I found it's simplicity refreshing and very affirming. It is not just our decisions that inform our life - it is also the decisions of those around us and sometimes we can do nothing about this, but just regroup and continue the best way we can...

an afternoon cycle to Brill

A great way to appreciate the long summer afternoons is to jump on my bike and head out of Oxford. One of my challenging destinations is the Buckinghamshire hill of Brill. I particularly enjoyed the ride up the gently sloping back of the hill almost from Long Crendon - then I enjoyed sunset by the windmill as I headed home via Boarstall, Stanton St John and Elsfield. Altogether a great 2 hours, just over 50km and 270 m climbing up... and cruising down again...

Farewell lunch in Berlin

I have always enjoyed french dining just off the Charlottenstrasse in central Berlin. Entrecote looks like a classic French brasserie and sounds like it, at times also. Both French and German are used interchangeably - so we maintained our tradition of ordering the menu du jour - a classic steak frites with a simple salad starter. I love the scattering of walnuts amidst the mustardy vinaigrette. I enjoy they way they slice the rare steak and place it in a rich gravy beside the slimmest crunchiest fries I have ever enjoyed. and the best is that they only serve half the portion at a time, keeping the second half warm and fresh - such simple and elegant style. It is, as always a wonderful way to enjoy a business lunch with both businessmen and tourists...