Rainy Wednesday, from my table

It's so quick and easy when I only have one photo! It was taken from my seat at the table. It's technically a dining table, but we have an open plan kitchen and dining area, so this is where most things happen. I could do this every day... though I would probably have to clean the window for the brighter days. I took a lot of photos yesterday, and have yet to sort through them to select and edit.

I supported J with her Art Talk this morning, on the theme of castles. She had chosen two paintings, a well known Turner one of sunrise at Norham castle, and a John Martin one of Carisbrook, from his Isle of Wight sketching holidays, which was interesting. He was born and grew up in the north east, and we knew him mainly through the works displayed in Newcastle's Laing Gallery, huge apocalyptic visions of destruction, often involving darkness, fire and brimstone. Today's painting was very different, from earlier in his career, but it was good to remind ourselves of him. I was also pleased to discover John Piper's many screen prints of castles (as well as churches and other old buildings), which are beautifully and interestingly textured and layered and especially strikingly coloured. These seem to be a major area of his work; I was more aware of his earlier, more abstract paintings and his stained glass (notably for Coventry cathedral), and now want to explore more.