Amsterdam - A Bat and a Box of Wool

 

A few years back I went to the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and took photographs of some of the exhibits. There is one of a stuffed bat that I've yet to investigate and then there is this one, a Chinese lacquered box containing a paltry collection of woollen yarn - not even enough to knit an infant's bonnet.

Apparently, Van Gogh used coloured yarn to experiment with colour matching which he then brought to his painting. Recently, whilst at the Van Gogh exhibit in Belfast I learned that some art historians have a theory that the artist suffered from a form of colour vision deficiency*  where there is a predominance of yellow in vision. Before I had my cataracts removed I had become accustomed to yellow tones in my vision but not quite as yellow as looking through the Lucozade cellophane wrapping**. After my procedure blues were clearer. It was like seeing through the eyes of a child, the colours were wonderful.

Now I've realised that what I have always loved best about knitting stripey jumpers is using different colours and what will do first when beginning a new project is decide what colours I will not be using. The last one (I finished it yesterday and still have a little bit of sewing to do) was to have no green, yellow, white or orange. The one I started today will definitely exclude pinks and bright reds. 

Which gives me a problem. Sometime before Leitrim Sister's special birthday, I promised I would make her a jumper or cardigan with sixty colours. I must have been on the wine. If you are reading this LS, could you please let me know which colours to leave out?

Research completed, too easy with Google. Stuffed bat, maybe this one, was painted by the  artist.

*Xanthopsia

**Only Boomers will know about the yellow cellophane

Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience

 Back in November I booked myself a ticket for the Van Gogh exhibition in Belfast.

Christmas happened, then Covid 19 happened and about a week after that I thought to myself,

Really must find out when this event is taking place. Maybe the 17^th?

So I checked out my booking and guess what? It was happening in two hours' time. I’d got my Van Gogh mixed up with my Emily’s birthday. Obviously, I didn’t go. Instead, I booked another ticket.

My new slot was at 10am today so it was an early start. I took the train to Yorkgate and walked to Carlisle Circus. But I was still too early. There is not a lot going on there. Not even a coffee shop! So I went for a walk. When I got back to the venue there was a small queue where almost everyone waiting was eligible for the bus pass.

The event was described as an immersive experience; I wasn’t sure what that would mean. It wasn’t quite what I imagined but then I’d imagined a dream. Despite having been to the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam a few years ago I learned more about the artist today than I ever knew.

The immersive part of the exhibit was wonderful, the only downside being that it was cold, cold, cold. We had fleecy blankets but they weren’t enough to keep us from freezing. It would have been much better if it had been warmer and our experience would have transcended perfection if we’d been offered some hot tea with a pinch or two of magic mushrooms. The only downside about that would have been the decanting onto Carlisle Circus of several dozen tripping elders. It is to be hoped that the few young couples present with infants would have declined the offer of hallucinogenics.