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From Rome

15/6/2018

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Last year I visited Rome but I've only just realised that I didn't make a post about it, probably because I posted about it, sporadically, in other places. I visited at the end of October, the weather was a perfect 'Not To Hot' and I had gelato every day.
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Bedroom window, to the North of Rome. A lot of hustle and bustle bellow.
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Busts in bags. Its more horror film than I realised.
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Busts in museums.
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Hearts clustered on walls, in dark recesses of churches with cool air inside.
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I couldn't capture them all, and some were missing from their recesses anyway. But they gaze from high corners.
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Fountains at night, the best time to see them.
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Top of the list, the first church to visit.
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The final day, a part left still to explore, lunch on a bench will have to do.
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From the burger place I liked, dark and rocky, loud with writing on the walls. Cobbled stones outside.
You Can see more pictures from Rome on my Flickr HERE.
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Bantry Bay

11/5/2018

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Back in April I went on a trip to Ireland and travelled a (very) small part of the Wild Atlantic Way. Part of the trip was a stop off in Bantry Bay and if that was the case then it wasn't an option to miss Bantry House, inside and out.
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Unknown sitter and artist.
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The blue and gold room is set for dinner, the plates and serving bowls are crazy cracked with age and care but the colours are still there.
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White and cream and wooden floors. Windows to the corner of the room looking out onto green stretching out to the bay, trees and statues, birds and sky.
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You Can See more pictures from Bantry Bay and Bantry House And Gardens on my Flickr Here. A few pictures from the rest of my trip are Here.
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Versailles. Gold And Green.

2/1/2018

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This was a cold, bright December day and so the palace itself is closed but the gardens open to visitors and the freezing wind that gusts through the wide open spaces. Best to shelter among the moss covered branches that stand straight up from the neatly arranged trees that line long pathways.
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The statues are covered up, draped and tied, top middle and bottom. Green tarps blend in with the mossy green branches. These statues seem full of frozen intent from mid stride to whispering gossips, leaning in.
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You can see more pictures from Versailles on my Flickr Here.
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Moss And Mourning

20/11/2017

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Its a grey and damp day at Arlington Court, but its busy with visitors. It feels like autumn is over, the colour from the trees is now on the ground, trampled in to the beginnings of mud under foot.
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A Woman at Her Toilet, William Hoare (1707–1792)
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A Woman at the Bath, William Hoare (1707–1792)
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covered mirror
A room in mourning and the leftovers of such days are surprisingly vivid even with the visitors strolling through the small dark bedroom.
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You can see more pictures from Arlington Court on my Flickr here
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The last light at Knightshayes

12/11/2017

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knightshayes
Its getting late in the year for visits now, the houses and gardens might start to close early and the gardens are usually going through a dramatic change from summer to autumn and then through to winter but actually this can be the best time to visit (less people, more fallen leaves). Mindful of visitors gardens are usually planted in such a way that the grounds are still beautiful and interesting, its true of Knightshayes too.
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Lady in A White Cap, German School
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Wallpaper uncovered in the kitchen area
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Bird, Martin Brothers
Its a slightly strange and eclectic collection at the house, and the building and downstairs nudges a particular kind of nostalgia in me, particularly the kitchen area and the library. So although its not a big house compared to some other NT's, I feel small and clumsy. Even the smell around the place is a bit school like for me. But there are some great details.
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The Library
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Detail from a leather and wood screen
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Finishing up with a picture from the kitchen garden, I think I caught the last of the colour happening and its a nice way to end, now the days are getting shorter again. You can see more pictures from Knightshayes on my Flickr here. 
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Dark Corners And Ghostly Portraits

17/10/2017

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National Trust - Saltram
Its a bright, crisp autumn day at Saltram and although the gardens are probably more colourful in spring or summer, the planting seems just perfect for this day, with some blooms giving their absolute best last effort. Its in contrast to the inside of the house which is dark and slightly oppressive but not unpleasant. The house is packed full of painting and where there are less paintings there is intricately patterned Chinese wall paper and wall fabrics, painted mirrors and surfaces dotted with figurines.
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Dark Rooms at Saltram
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Chinese wall covering
I'm not sure if its conservation techniques, the time of year or my imagination but the house was dark. Shadowy corners harbour paintings, portraits under glass reflect the viewer but only just and theres a solomn feel to the place.
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Dark Corridor Bust
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Simulated relief of the Three Graces, Louis Gabriel Blanchet (1705–1772)
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Classical figures against black back drop, 1800 - 1820. British School.
I hadn't planed to go to Saltram, theres a few NT sites I want to visit before my membership runs out, so looking at the list of what I had left to see and being not to far away, I picked Saltram for a Sunday afternoon. Saltram happens to be full of Italian inspired art and its Rome thats been on my mind for a whole now.
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Piazza del Popolo, Canaletto (1697–1768) (style of)
How great to happen across Popolo, theres lots of Rome inspired work in the house which was a happy coincidence because I have recently visited Rome and since returning I have been working up a few ideas I had while I was there, I've been documenting some of it here.

You can find more pictures from Saltram on my Flickr here.
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Bringing Out The Strangeness (Strange & Romantic)

22/8/2017

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PictureAfter Pollard, 2016
Strange & Romantic took place at Exeter Phoenix in 2017. A solo show of paintings inspired by the works within and history of the National Trusts Killerton House. Now that the show has ended its a good time to reflect on the work and its origins. As the posts here on Limerence indicate I have spent a fair bit of time visiting National Trust properties while soaking in the paintings, buildings and stories of the past and as I collected all of these images and experiences of visiting them, it seemed that to make a project directly related to one of the visits would be ineviteble but i was always unsure as to what form it would take. Portrait Of A Lady at Nottingham Castle 2015/16 had gone some way to bring the unknown woman in a historical setting to the centre of my work but could have benefitted from a more specific thread through the piece. Strange And Romantic was an example of a specific story from a specific time and place in history that as a visitor to Killerton House I could learn more about and integrate into some other areas of concern within my work.

PictureLady Fox Strangeways (after reynolds), 2017
The title, Strange And Romantic, refers to Anne Acland’s description of the life of Harriet Fox Strangeways (1750-1815) a portrait of whom hangs at Killerton House, painted by Joshua Reynolds at the time of her marriage to John Dyke Acland. Lady Acland was known for accompanying her husband and then caring for him while captured during the American war of independence. I was interested in the adventure of the story, though romanticised in hindsight, Lady Acland kept a diary of the events, some entries written by her, others perhaps not and on the whole sparse in emotion. There is something slightly sterile about it. The weather conditions are recorded, the diary feels like a list. The painting depicting part of her journey is far more evocative than the diary. The painting by Pollard can be found at Killerton House. My version is at the top of this post.

Within Strange & Romantic were key paintings regarding the story as well as paintings inspired by the larger collection at Killerton House and, almost as a 'Part 2' to the show, portraits of 1000 imaginary women as a counterbalance to the stories which are known, these paintings represent those which are not. This theme has carried through from Nottingham Museums Portrait Of A Lady.

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Killerton House, Exeter
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Empty Frames, 2017
Paintings from the 1000 Portraits purposefully sat opposite the painting 'Empty Frames' as a not so subtle, reminder of the faceless women from the past, from Killerton House, but all of the NT properties I have visited. It is this looking back into the past, particularly at womens faces, which has been driving my work of late. The title Portrait Of A Lady often used in my work is a reference to the unknown sitter and staple painting found in old houses and museums. Of course it is also suitably vague and we can project our own imaginations onto these open faces.
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Some of the 1000 portraits made for Strange & Romantic at Exeter Phoenix
PictureThe Lady, 2017
Bringing out the strangeness: Beyond Strange & Romantic I'm interested in allowing the historical elements of my work to continue to muddle themselves with other concerns (loves and deaths, mourning and loss) let the specific stories get a little lost within the work as all of the themes come together.  And make, a little more seamlessly, the strangeness of experiencing history (when, a bit like amusement parks, we queue in our hundreds). But while keeping the female images central I'd like to make the historical parts of my work find themselves to be neither here nor there, of not contemporary or historical but some otherness. And this post has been my notes on how to go about finding that balance  with historical strangeness.

Pictures from Strange & Romantic can be viewed on my Flickr here and Pictures from Killerton House can be viewed here.
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Stoats and Portraits

9/7/2016

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Killerton House
Welcome to Killerton House, Exeter, with one of my favourite NT gardens, brilliant wildlife if like me you have recently been glued to BBC Spring Watch and a lot of portraiture.
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Margaret Miller (1578–1647), Lady Heath, Cornelius Johnson.
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Family photographs arranged throughout the house.
There are always family photographs dotted about houses like this, so its not a surprise to see them but Killerton seems unusual in the amount, placement and subject of the family photographs displayed in every room. It goes some way to make up for the upstairs rooms being stripped of any personal furniture and turned into gallery and event space. The photographs, some from news paper cuttings, others reproductions, bring the family back to the house with a candid presence.
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The music room at Killerton House
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Lady Christian Henrietta Caroline ‘Harriot’ Acland, née Fox-Strangways (1749/1750–1815), Joshua Reynolds.
You can see more pictures from Killerton House on my Flickr here.
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Wobbly Topiary

19/6/2016

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Portrait of an Unknown Young Woman British (English) School
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Portrait of an Unknown Young Woman, George Knapton (1698–1778) (style of)
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Wobbly Topiary
Welcome to Montacute House and its brilliant bumpy topiary. An optical illusion (I'm sure) meant that all I could see were massive faces in these neat and tidy lumps.
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Susan Murrill (1717–1794), Thomas Gainsborough (1727–1788)
I was really keen to see the portraiture at Montacute and in particular the room of fake Holbeins turned out to be more of a treat than I expected. 
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Anne Of Denmark, by unknown artist, 1628-44. Posthumous portrait shows the queen in deep mourning for her son Henry, Price of Wales, who died 1612. Probably based on a lifetime portrait now lost.
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Letitia Morison (d.1646/1647), Cornelius Johnson (1593–1661)
You can see more pictures from Mantacute House on my Flickr here.
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A Mummified Cat By The Sea

3/5/2016

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Its been a a few months since my last post, my NT visits slowed down to nothing while work and practical matters took precedence. There has also been an inevitable period of reflection. But my first NT visit of 2016 was St Michaels Mount, Marazion,Cornwall.

Welcome to a place that is an Island (for much of its day), when it isn't an island you can walk along the causeway to the beach. Its worth the wait. On top of the island is a castle, beautiful gardens and bellow that, some homes.
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One of the many picture windows to the sea.
I can tell its been a while since I have visited NT's, I am very out of practice, I didn't note down any info, read many, or any, information labels and generally got carried away with the scenery and the romance of the whole thing. A castle filled with art and history, on top of a hill thats cut off from the world twice a day (more so in winter) looks jolly good to me.
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A very long, thin, mummified cat which I thought about all day and evening.
You Can see more pictures from my trip to St Michaels Mount on my Flickr here.
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    Author


    Corinna Spencer
    Contemporary artist.


    The representation of women in historical settings both remembered and long forgotten, real and fictional,
    their loves, lives, obsessions and deaths are central to my work.
    ​

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