A day in London with David Hockney

On Monday I rediscovered my love for art and painting, thanks to David Hockney’s ‘A Bigger Picture’ exhibition at the Royal Academy. We were lucky enough to book tickets a few months ago (and therefore didn’t have to wait in the 3 hour queue outside) and since I had heard nothing but good things about the exhibition, I was relieved to find the reviews were right. It was brilliant. The exhibition displays a few of his earlier works but the main rooms are filled with landscapes of Yorkshire, mostly created within the last few years. His impressionist style is evident in his series of acrylics, water colours and ipad drawings, which all focus on a particular view of the landscape and how it changes with the seasons, through weather, lighting and nature. All his paintings are beautiful and some are so large they take up an entire wall, so much so that whilst surrounded by trees and fields you almost forget you are in a gallery, you could easily be spending a few hours in the countryside!  

Unfortunately you couldn’t take photos inside, so here’s one from the paper guide and a link to a video of Hockney talking about the exhibition. I’d really recommend it, even with the queuing time but it’s due to close on the 9^th April so you’ve not got long!

Whilst in London we also (completely by accident) happened to see the changing of the guards, which felt very patriotic, and had a stroll though St James’s Park, where I felt inspired to take a few photographs of the flowers and trees in the hope of finding the time to start painting again...