Pure forms

The exhibition has preoccupied me this week and will do so until Saturday afternoon. Last night we had the AGM of the Preservation Trust followed by an illustrated talk about a youthful local architectural practice who do fascinating work appropriate to the local landscape. I was very impressed with the manner of their approach, their innovation and their subsequent success. Great to see new ideas being introduced in a harmonious and practical way.

I promised to act as a steward at our exhibition this morning so had to be at the Subscription Rooms in Stroud by 10am in order to open the doors. After a slow rising, I had just enough time to drive into town and park. But when I got to the car I found that there had been a very intense frost in the night, following yesterday's torrential rains and strong winds. At midnight the rain had ceased but the air wasn't too cold. Things obviously changed rapidly in the early morning.

I started the car's engine and prepared to clear the frost from the windscreen, when I noticed the roof of the car was covered by these amazing patterns, the like of which I have never seen on the car before. I have no idea how they form like this, and knew that they would be my strongest and strangest image for today. They disappeared within a couple of minutes of starting the engine and the bright sun warming the roof. The blue colour is formed by the reflected light of the deep blue sky above looking towards the west, although the car is painted blue. It is worth looking at this large version.

The morning went well too, with a regular flow of interested people from all sectors of the community. One man told me about erecting the scaffolding which we could see in one of the pictures from the 1960s where the protestors against the demolition plans were congregated into a rooftop demonstration. Others remembered the shops we had renovated and told us about what they originally sold. Everyone was impressed by John. W.'s 3d stereoscopic photo images from the Brunel Goods Shed, as well as 3d images from his microscope showing hugely magnified 400 year old oak beams from a shop on the High Street, and detail of oolitic limestone from which the Goods shed was built.

I made good contacts with a variety of people, some of whom might help us to move the Trust forward into next and possibly novel stages of our work. Much food for thought. It has been a very successful and well received exhibition.