On the easel

Just back from London; we visited Tate Modern, an exhibition space I've never much cared for and my feelings were confirmed: it seems all 'space' and shop and elevator and at the top of the elevator you might find some art. We did find art but it was relegated to a 'walk on' part in a thousand selfies - I watched people walk up to picassos, Kandinskys, Hirsts and Chapmans, take a photo and walk on! We left and went to the Clore to look at Turners. They were of course, dazzling and I was touched by his Self Portrait painted around 1799 when he would have been 24. On my return to Norton Conyers the portrait theme continues on my return thanks to some catalogues and exhibition invitations given to me by James and Halina and the discovery of an unfinished portrait of the photographer Michael Dunne. So that's the launch pad for the painting on the easel at the moment: