She who hesitates misses out

The Australian Tapestry Workshop (ATW) is offering some classes later this year and early next year.  I thought I would see how I was going time-wise, closer to the date, and see if I could get into the class.  But, alas, I found out today that the masterclass is already full and has a waiting list.  They are advertising that there could be another class mid-year in 2013 but that seems to be even harder to plan for.  I'll just have to risk waiting again.

I called in to the ATW today to get some wool for weaving and then headed on to the National Gallery Victoria (NGV) to see the Napoleon exhibition.  It was wonderful - it also made me realise that I don't really know my Napoleonic history, I got quite confused about the different periods of government in France and how he got to be Consul, Emperor, etc. (There are some interesting links at the NGV site.) I was also surprised at how much of Europe he had under his control.  Part of the exhibition was a history lesson for me.

There were various artworks, pieces of furniture, porcelains, jewellery and wonderful books of maps and botanical drawings on show.  The botanical drawings were of flora of Australia, done during the 18th century, at about the same time the English were exploring the area. There were also drawings of the indigenous people and some of the animals.
It is not like now, when we can take a digital image and work on the drawings in the comfort of our studios - they must have been working away in rather primitive conditions.  The works are wonderful to see.
It is amazing to think how close south-east Australia came to being a French colony.

It was also amazing to see the map of Australia that had part of the coast missing - it had not been drawn yet.  The map was recognisably Australia.  I cannot understand how they could draw such accurate maps simply by sailing around the country. I've always been mystified by how sailors navigated so accurately by the stars too.

There were a few tapestries that had been woven at the Gobelins workshop, which I was lucky enough to visit last year.  That trip is being run again this year, almost the same, and I am going to follow their progress here, at a travel blog.  I am already jealous, they are going to Stirling Castle to see the tapestries that are replicas of the Hunt of the Unicorn, which is housed at The Cloisters in New York, USA, and the Dovecot Studios in Scotland, something we didn't do last year.

Black swans, just like Josephine had at Malmaison.

The Cloisters

We went to the Cloisters today. It was a very long bus trip from about 65th street all the way to 190th. But we went through different areas and it is always interesting to see the locals getting on and off the public transport. Some people get on for only one or two stops, which amazes me. Our trip took over an hour to get there and nearly an hour and a half to return but it was worth it, the Cloisters was terrific.
The focus of my visit was to see the tapestries. They were so big and you could get very close to them - in fact I managed to set off the alarm when I gestured to one a bit too closely. Then an alarm went off when I got out my camera to take a photo. I was actually quite surprised that I could use my camera at all but you can, if you do not use the flash. I assume that the security camera person saw me and thought I might be going to use flash but I was a good girl and fiddled with my camera settings. I got some pictures but they were a bit dull, due to the low lighting to keep the tapestries in good shape. I haven't managed to get them onto my friend's computer yet, I may wait until I return to Australia and can play with them on my PhotoShop and perhaps lighten them.
There was other stuff to look at too, of course. There were some amazingly small and intricate carvings, mostly in wood or ivory. There was also a page of tiny manuscript as well as some beautiful illuminated book pages. You can get quite close to most of the things, so it is possible to really examine them to your heart's content. There were some beautiful stained glass windows too, I was especially taken with the deep red colours in them.
On the bus trip back, I was able to pass quite a lot of the time by looking at the fire escapes on the outsides of the buildings and looking at all the different designs they have incorporated into them to pretty them up. It would be interesting to find out if there are any books of photos of the various fire escapes around New York. It reminded me of being in Carlton and looking at all the wrought iron balconies and decorations on the terrace houses.

White Christmas - perhaps

I'm sitting here, all packed to go to New York for Christmas. I am lucky enough to have a good friend living there and she has invited me over for a few weeks. I have just checked the weather forecast and it looks COLD. Perhaps there will be a payoff of a white Christmas, something that we do not get here in Melbourne.

We had a hot day here on Wednesday, about 39 degrees celsius (or should I call it centigrade?), with the last few days in the low 20s. But the HIGH forecast for Sunday (in New York) is -1 degree!! I hope the snow doesn't mean that the plane can't go to New York. One of the joys of travel, I suppose, the uncertainty.

I am hoping to go to the new medieval display at The Cloisters to see, among other things, the tapestry. I have heard that there has been a 5 year renovation going on, so it should be good to see.

I went to K Spoering's blog and she tells me that there are more tapestries to see at the MET, not that I am only going to look at tapestries, but it does give me a focus for my 'touristing'.