. . . with red braces

One might have thought I had seen enough Hockney over the last few years, but it turns out I had not.

As we were going into London again today (the novelty of being able to walk down the road and catch a train to the city never wears off), and I had been reminded that the Hockney portraits exhibition was still on -https://www.blipfoto.com/entry/3190807645581741972 - I booked us into the National Portrait Gallery for this morning. It was a beautiful day of blue skies and sunshine as we wandered up from Charing Cross Station.

David Hockney: Drawing from Life

I loved this. So different from any other exhibition of his work, it shows how he has been, and still is, honing his drawing skills with portraits in a wide range of media and techniques. Spanning so many years, here were very perceptive portraits of friends, family and himself. So many frank self-portraits - ‘blast’ posted one drawn when he was seventeen; mine here were more recent. I was also very taken with the many portraits he made of people who came to his studio in Normandy in 2022 - anyone who would sit for him, in their own choice of wear and pose - see extra. . A fascinating exhibition altogether.

Later we walked through to Covent Garden, spent time at the Apple Store and had a lovely lunch at ‘Frenchie’.

We are watching the weather for our journey home tomorrow.