Art and Abart

The acoustics in the Festspielhaus at Bayreuth are just as amazing as everyone reports. The music glides out from under the covered orchestr...

The paper today reported that July temperatures in northern Germany were 5 degrees C above normal. I imagine people going to Bayreuth for th...

The rye field around the corner from where I am staying is ready for harvest. It glows golden in the evening light.  

Horses are a feature of the fields around Rissen and in June I spent a good deal of time drawing them. In June many of them had foals - b...

This thatched roof house in Rissen village has just been renovated and is occupied by the local real estate agent.

I am back in Hamburg. Arriving at the airport felt like coming home. It has been hot but now the first feel of autumn is in the air, a remin...

This is the Clifton suspension bridge in Bristol. It appears on many postcards of Bristol and is the city icon. More paintings of Bristol ...

Bristol is a pretty place, built on steep hills, population of 400,000 and a tidal river that runs into the sea. Why did I expect a big indu...

 

 

Today I decamp. Off to Bristol about an hour north of Frome which I have not visitied before but heard nice things about. Then onwards to Ge...

Walking with high heels is a challenge at any time, but particularly walking down the steep cobbled lane called Gentle Street. I followe...

My walk this morning took me past this church where I hovered a while to listen in case there was an organist playing. As I listened I looke...

Today I walked the Frome historic walk. This is the Rook Lane Chapel built in 1707 . It is, to quote the tourist brochure, a grade 1 listed ...

Its raining today, probably much more like normal Somerset weather. People here refer to places by county and today I asked a woman at the t...

Goods seem to cost as much in pounds as they do in Australia in dollars. The only problem is that £1 = A$2.5

This is La Strada coffee shop at the end of Cheap Street in Frome, my second home at the moment. I read about the current Bayreuth Ring Cycl...

Today's Guardian had a very scathing piece about Rhinegold and Die Walkure, the first two operas of the new version of the Ring Cycle at...

This is St Johns, the church where the schoolchildren performed the Ring Cycle last Tuesday . Built in the 13th Century but largely rebuilt ...

About thirty people turned up for the peace vigil. It reminded me of the Peace Group in Hamburg I belonged to in the early 80s. As today, w...