Tuesday 6 September 2011

Painter of Moonlight and a walk by the river.

Another day I had free I thought I would go to the Mercier Gallery in Harrogate to see an exhibition by Atkinson Grimshaw. He was a Victorian painter born I believe in Leeds. He is a painter I hadn’t heard of before but having looked him up on the internet thought he would be well worth a visit.

This day it was raining so seemed the ideal day to go to a gallery. To get there I had to go to an area of Harrogate I hadn't been to for years, around the pump rooms and the valley gardens.

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All seemed even posher than I remembered and if it hadn't been for the rain could have been some where much warmer sitting out eating yer tea.

The exhibition itself was incredible the feeling of light in his paintings smacked you in the face. The pictures I had seen on internet just didn’t do them justice. There was also an exhibition of photo’s by Liza Dracup called Chasing the Gloaming, which are images made in response to Grimshaws. I enjoyed both these exhibitions immensely.

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old hall under moonlight Atkinson Grimshaw

It was still raining when I left the gallery so on my way back to the car I found myself in various shops, so had to do some shopping cos it would be rude not too.

Not so long before I had been for a short walk by the river and saw there were some impressive reflections and had thought they could make some nice photos. That evening the rain had stopped so decided to return there with a camera this time instead of the battery guzzling excuse of a compact. I also took a tripod as well but found there was a light breeze. Not much but enough to cause ripples and the grass and wild flowers to move. All though I could get what I was after still took some photos. 

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To take photos I have to take off my glasses this time I put them in my camera bag which I left open each time I moved further along the bank. I finished and put my camera away and walked carrying my semi folded tripod to the car park. I dumped the gear in the boot then realised my glasses were in the bag. Nooooo they had fallen out so had to back track along the river bank and was very lucky to find them in the long grass. This was the first stage of me taking on the role of Granny. I decided to buy a cord to hang my glasses around my neck.

More What I did on my Holidays, Skipton Castle and Embsay

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Skipton was a place that when I was younger had been to a few times mostly at night to pubs for the odd folk night. Was never really impressed and in my memory at least the pub landlords were never that receptive to the music. On these visits I had seen signs to and walked past the castle but had some how got the impression there wasn’t much of it there. However something clicked when I was in the Dales shortly before reading leaflets in the pub, the Castle turns out to be one of the best preserved in Britain and nearly 900 years old. Was last modernised 300 years ago. Lady Anne Clifford carried out extensive restoration, after it was damaged during the Civil War.

This spurred me on to visit, and I wasn’t disappointed. On arriving in Skipton I parked the car up and decided to walk along the canal to the road near the Castle. This was perhaps a mistake as I have a fear of deep water and stayed as far from the water as possible on the tow path. But then had to go under a bridge only enough room(or so I thought) to just pass someone. So this evolved me standing pressed up against the bridge wall as people came passed I couldn’t bring myself to set off until everyone had passed. Finally I set off and half ran to get to the other side. Anyone who knows me will know I’m fairly fat and built for comfort not speed and will realise I must have looked a sight.

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The offending bridge yes I know there is a fence. But I was still way too near the water.

On entering the castle I was very impressed with what I could see and the further in I went it was still impressive. There was still a roof and everywhere just looked as if people had just moved out.

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IMGP1799Arched doorway to the courtyard.

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The Courtyard with the 300 year old Yew tree

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Kitchen roof

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View down the toilet.

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The great Hall

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various rooms windows and drainpipes.

After a walk around went back outside and had a coffee sat out in the sunshine and then set off to go home stopping again near the canal where there is a statue to the great Yorkshire bowler Freddie Truman.

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There was still some afternoon left so stopped on the way back at Embsay Station bought a platform ticket and found there was a train coming in shortly. I know nothing about trains and was a little disappointed when the train arrived and the engine was coming in backwards. This was the last train of the day and I very nearly got on it for a ride to Bolton Abbey and back again. I decided it would then make it too late for me getting home.

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This is somewhere I intend to visit again when I have more time.

To end the day I had another hiccup in my navigation skills and drove home nearly getting lost after taking a wrong turning was too busy singing along to Bob Dylan. Wasn’t really lost but had a bit of a detour before I got back to more familiar roads.

See all photos here.