We have just had a weekend of Kulcha having come up to Canberra to see the Turner exhibition which is on display at the National Gallery. A few weeks ago, we visited the Monet exhibition at home in Melbourne. It has been one of the most popular exhibitions ever held at the Gallery there and we thought that we should double it up by seeing the paintings by the famous English artist, Turner.
The spring weather in Canberra has been very pleasant with warm sunny days and masses of pink blossom around the Capital. After we arrived yesterday, we headed out to the little town of Bungendore which is reinventing itself as a ‘crafty and arty’ town. There is a wonderful wood gallery there which is always worth a visit and a new photographic studio run by Paul Kowalski. He specialises in landscape panoramas and has some spectacular works on display. We chatted.for quite a while and he was kind enough to give some compliments on some of my photos from Sth Georgia Our evening continued with a relaxed dinner and some nice wine.
Today, we were at the gallery by 10.00 am when it opened and in a short time, we had our tickets and were looking at Turner’s works. He was a prolific painter and obviously experimented with light and composition. Some of his techniques, such as making the point of interest lighter, are still used by photographers today
We found that Jill’s Art’s Centre membership in Melbourne gave us access to the member’s lounge for a coffee. On our departure we visited Jackson Pollock’s famous painting of Blue Poles which caused an outcry when it was first purchased many years ago because of its price. It has turned out to be a great investment as it is now worth at least ten times more.
Taking advantage of the lovely sunny day, we had a very pleasant lunch in one of the many cafes in Manuka and then popped over into the New South Wales town of Queenbeyan where Jill’s grandparents had lived. The old house was pulled down long ago and the land consumed by the adjoining school. We are now at the airport waiting for our short flight home.
