Thirteen at Waterloo Arts Centre

A varied and interesting textile show - it's on at WAC till Saturday 6th October, 11-6 daily, just round the corner from Waterloo Station. Here's a taster of what's on view -

"A skulk of foxes" by Pam Smyth 

Sylvia Whitehouse's sensitive work from nature

Yvonne Blackmore

"Holding Hands" by Moe Casey

More by Moe Casey

The Hat Project by Blayne Collins

Sally Eland

Sue Mackay

More by Sue Mackay

Suzie Tucker based her work on the Booth poverty maps

Rose Chapman

Marie-Claire Mawle - based on dancers in motion

Marilyn Williams

The cosy corner under the stairs

Drawing Tuesday - National Army Museum

We're always on the lookout for museums with accommodating cafes, and the Army Museum looks like a place we'll be returning to. During our visit there were three busloads of schoolchildren, which made things quite lively sometimes, but mostly we just got on with the drawing ...

 Carol drew the "Desert Rat" -

As did Janet K -

Cherie found the skeleton of Napoleon's horse - "it was quite small" -

Janet B continues her fascination with chairs -

Left-hand page has been photoshopped to reveal many layers of pages with more chairs!

I was in the "War Paint" exhibition (till 18 November), copying a print by Muirhead Bone of the first tanks, in 1916 -

 Sue found a saddle - 

 Judith captured a soldier -

 Joyce tackled a 3D Union Jack -

Michelle used shadows to great effect -

Extracurricular activities

Joyce brought along an interesting printmaking technique, from a "taster" course at City Lit, using the foil side of tetrapacks as plates. Tearing the foil away gives the very black areas; cutting away all layers gives the white areas -

and also a quilt that used positive and negative shapes to great effect -

Carol's first foray into the wonderful world of life drawing sessions -

 Printmaking by Sue in her City Lit course - a combination of techniques, layered up -

Janet B showed a photo of her simple but effective collage/decoupage - layers cut from printed napkins, firmly glued to a painted tin -

Sunday forays

What better to do on a family Sunday than visit a garden centre? 

We started with pansies -

8 flats of 6 plants for £10. That's a lot of pansies ... but there are a lot of window boxes ....

Will it all fit into the car? The car seemed full of pansies already...

 Of course it fit (once Gemma and I held some things on our laps). Most of the pansies are hidden away in the secret compartment -

This looked like quite a lot needing planting - and then we remembered the pansies in the secret compartment -

Apart from new windowboxes full of pansies, and some still to plant, the front garden has wallflowers, new grasses, a bottle brush tree, a tiny japanese maple in temporary position (access to the brickwork is needed until it's repointed)

The bags are filled with rubble sifted out of the soil - they're heavy and need taking to the dump. Once the final stretch is sifted and replaced, and the repointing is finished, bulbs and seeds will go near the house.

The view from the window -

and the view through "the round window" (soon to be renewed) and its frosted glass -

Lots of greenery

The day also included a visit to a car showroom, which I mention because anything to do with cars is completely off my radar -

Another unexpected component was a twilight walk along Hornsey High Street, to the foot of Alexandra Palace park, with a glimpse of the New River, and back along pleasant streets.

Hornsey Church Tower, 13th century

The Railway Tavern (built 1897, lately refurbished) looked inviting ...

... and so did this eatery, but dinner was bubbling away in the slow cooker

Nightingale Lane - working-class housing erected around 1899

Ally Pally (opened 1873) in the drizzle

New developments along the New River

The National Hall was opened in 1888, became a cinema in 1910 and then
Hornsey Parish Hall in 1916, and is now used as a Turkish religious centre

Grand doorways on Hillsfield Avenue N8

A fashion foray

It's sometimes as interesting to see the people who are attending an exhibition as it is to see the exhibition itself. When I popped in to the Balenciaga exhibition at the V&A (till 18 Feb) there were a lot of college-age students, many sat looking at their phones but quite a few sketching -

 A sign at the entrance said "photography and sketching are encouraged".

Upstairs - in the airy space, such a good contrast to the crowded space below - are examples of Balenciaga's influence -

I liked the juxtaposition of "La Chou" and the reflection of a slide show of other dresses -

 Downstairs (crowded but informative), several x-rays of garments, showing the construction and underpinnings. On the left is a reconstruction of a toile (in calico); on the right, the finished dress revolves -

 More underpinnings - the dress on the left is inside out to show the details of the corset, with the seams covered to make it maximally comfortable. On the right, a dummy that exactly replicates the model who would be showing the dress made on it to clients in the salon -

 It was often the fabric that inspired Balenciaga - nor, though working in Paris, did he confine himself to French fabrics. Here's a print from the Swiss firm Abraham -