A Little Jaunt Into London

Along with the wonderful trip to the Festival of Quilts I was able to tag along with my husband into London via the train for a day trip.  While he had a business meeting, I had an adventure!  Thanks to my London friends I was all set to wander in a new (to me) outdoor market and go to the Tate Modern to take in the Matisse Cut-Outs exhibition.

Taking a picture of the guy taking a.....well. #nerd

Nice train ride into London with my guy.

I. Love. Trains.

After parting ways I heading into the Tube..

I love subway travel and people-watching.

And double-decker London buses.

Claire told me about the Borough Market (she is a foodie, too)

and I was so happy she did.  I loved wandering here!

wonderful.

truffles

color and texture...

The Shard

I sneaked this photo in the Matisse Cut-Outs exhibition because I simply

adored watching this little girl.  She approached this large installation 

and stood right in the center looking at it, then broke into dance.

She is twirling around and around, so exuberant.  She captured the true 

essence of being inspired by a visual experience, in my mind.

Claire encouraged me to go to the members lounge for tea.

The view up there was stunning!  I sent this image to my 

youngest daughter and she responded by saying,

"I thought the Death-Eaters destroyed that bridge!"

If you are a Harry Potter person you will get that.

Rotko.  Love.

The ruins of Winchester Palace.

Texture on the wall of a church.  So interesting!

Back to the Tube.

Back to Birmingham on another train.

I had such a good day!

Thanks for coming along with me!

What Have I Been Doing??

I'm waaay behind in posting and I apologize!  Lots of travel, lots of happenings, lots of studio work.
I'll try to catch up in chronological order.
I made two trips to California in January:  the first was for a beautiful family wedding, the second was for the Palm Springs International Film Festival.

Tim's Vermeer opened in late January in Los Angeles and is rolling out in theaters across the US.

Check out the website for a theater near you because it is awesome!

Yes, I'm a bit excited about it.  The soundtrack is amazing and you should get it because it is great music as a creative backdrop to working in the studio.  I know this to be true.  You can download it from iTunes, too, but I can't figure out how to link that to my blog.

The film was on the Oscar short list but was not nominated.  It was nominated for a BAFTA in the documentary category, so we went to London….

We arrived on Valentine's Day so we had high tea at the Dorchester Hotel.

Fun in a phone booth...

Outside the gates of Buckingham Palace

Tim, Big Ben tower, and of course a double-decker bus

Westminster Abbey

The Tudor roses are everywhere...

We had "groomers" who came to our hotel room and, in my case, did my hair and make-up.

Lucky me:  one of my groomers was a "curly girl"!

This is my hair for the fancy cocktail party.

Tim and I pose in front of a mirror in our hotel hallway before being picked up for the party.

Here is a bank of photographers outside the venue for the party.

You could tell when someone famous walked by because the flashes went off like crazy.

Again, excitement about having a curly girl to do my hair!

This time a messy French twist.

My dress...

shoes

bracelet and clutch

Our driver pulls up to the red carpet.  

Barricades of people for blocks leading up to it.

On the red carpet.

Oprah.

Prince William.

The awards dinner.

Did I mention the film didn't win?!

We had so much fun!

The one BAFTA we did get….!