Bloomsbury I

A few weeks ago, blipper Booky Goatherd posted a blip of some books that interested her from her bookshelves and posed a question about what was "our" odd interest. I guess I've been thinking about what I would do so started collecting my Bloomsbury books - oh my, I had no idea there were so many on different bookshelves! In the 80's when I had a small painting business, a friend said I had the attitude of those Bloomsbury painters and I should go see Charleston Farmhouse in E. Sussex for inspiration. It was just restored and opened to the public, so I went to a festival they had there. In 1916 Virginia Woolf found this place for her sister, Vanessa Bell and her 2 children to live in, not far from where they (Virginia and Leonard Woolf) lived. The painter Duncan Grant took up residence there as well and was the father of Vanessa's third child, Angelica. Maynard Keynes, Lytton Strachey and Roger Fry and other artistic and literary folk spent time there. Vanessa and Duncan, both practicing artists, took it upon themselves to redecorate with paint - everything from walls to floors to furniture and utensils was painted - I LOVED it! Well, I could go on and on with all that gossip (like Angelica eventually married Duncan Grants's lover, David Garnett) but I can't write that much. One thing led to another so although I was most interested in the visual arts, of course had to read some of the literary arts too. And books about them. Some are gifts. You can read the titles in large, I think, if you are interested.

The treasured little watercolor painting of Venice is by Vanessa, (my heroine), the 2 boxes are from the Charleston shop in the manner of..... Bloomsbury and the Omega Workshops in London which employed artists to make domestic articles, but had to quit during the war. The poster shows the mantle in Duncan Grant's studio at Charleston, so I piled these up on my mantle in my living room, which I have painted (to look like marble) as well as the wall....

There is another "Bloomsbury collection" at our cabin so in about a week I plan to blip Bloomsbury II from there! (Also an opportunity for more description....)

Tonight I'm off to see the legacy tour production of Merce Cunningham's Dance Co. He changed modern dance in this country...was born in this state and lived in Seattle and attended Cornish Academy before going to NYC. I'm not too knowledgeable about dance but I love to watch it (no words involved..) and am really looking forward to this. My foot is much better - I can walk anyway.

Sorry this is too wordy.