Awesome Art and Pillow Fights

My Mum took me to London yesterday on a birthday adventure (I should probably stop milking the whole birthday thing now, huh?) to visit the Lichtenstein retrospective at the Tate Modern. 

I haven't spoken about my love of art much on here before (apart from the sculptural form of Jo Manganiello's abs, obviously) but art galleries are actually one of the few places I feel happy wandering about in on my own. 

I like art that makes me smile; whether through bright colour, the unexpected, or just because it's beautiful. I once saw an installation which had filled a room with huuuge tree trunks and bright green leafy patterns were being projected onto the floor via theatre-like spotlights; it was like being in A Midsummer Night's Dream. I also like any painting with fat baby cherubs in it, because they are adorable. 

Lichtenstein has been one of my favourite artists for as long as I can remember. I've even painted a teapot with my (wobbly) interpretation of Whaam. I found the retrospective fascinating because I got to see some of my favourite pieces in the flesh canvas, and discover some new pieces too.

Until yesterday I hadn't realised how much of Lichtenstein's work was actually copied from other people. He did put his own spin on it, but when looking at the display of comics that had "inspired" him I was startled by the similarity. Clearly, I can't be one to point fingers here- as my house is filled with copy-cat versions of things I've found on the internet and been too cheap to pay retail price for- but I felt a bit sorry for the comic book artists who will never be as famous as the man who replicated their work. 

I found the whole exhibition really inspiring; the bold, primary colours were so cheering (even in the paintings about war), and the graphic black and white pieces were amazing- even though they were depicting everyday objects like golf balls and car tyres. I felt inspired to try my hand at my own version of one or two; especially after my Mum told me that Lichtenstein actually used a stencil to create his famous polka-dots! 

I would highly recommend a visit if you enjoy Lichtenstein's work, and if you go by train you can get a two-for-one ticket offer too (saving you plenty of money for cake!). These were a few of my favourite pieces:

This sculpture had holes in the white areas shown above, so you could see all the way through

The front of the sculpture from the previous picture. This side shows her in sunlight, the other side shows her in moonlight. Beautiful, no? :)

Aside from the exhibition, we spent the day walking and walking until I feared our feet would fall off (we did at least 10 miles according to Google maps). 

We had lunch at Food for Thought near Covent Garden; an unbelievably welcoming vegetarian restaurant which makes you feel positively virtuous for eating enough food to feed a small village, because everything is so fresh and packed full of goodness.

We saw some weird and wonderful Easter eggs that were part of a city-wide hunt, and managed to catch the end of a flash-mob pillow fight in Trafalgar Square. There were feathers absolutely everywhere.

Easter egg with strawberries (I think). And my gorgeous Mum in the background.

Pillow fiiiiiiiight!!!!

Feathers in the fountain

After a whole day on my feet, and my eyes positively popping out due to staring non-stop at beautiful buildings, I was absolutely exhausted. Tom and I spent our evening at a dinner party with 6 friends being utterly spoilt with a three course dinner, playing Brighton Monopoly, and cackling* pretty much constantly due to excessive red wine consumption. Bliss. 

Katie xxx

*NB Tom did not partake in the cackling, so I cackled enough for both of us.