Over the long Bank Holiday weekend last week I headed to London to catch up with my old pals & absorb some culture.
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First stop on the agenda was the
Prints & Drawings dept. at the
British Museum. Pete Weston & I donned the white gloves & dug through all the original Ronald Searle's in the
collection. It was fascinating to view the drawings up close & see the details that are lost in the printed books.
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Next day we had perfect weather for a fantastic afternoon in the Grillo's garden talking art & animation with
Oscar, Patricia, Gerby &
Crookie. We took a crash course in the South American version of the
Famous Artists Drawing programme & marvelled at footage of Saul Steinberg's shorts.
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Oscar had highly recommended the
Kuniyoshi exhibition at the Royal Academy so I checked it out the next day. Kuniyoshi was a contemporary & rival of Hokusai. A couple of his sketchbooks were on display. The page above is courtesy of Oscar's
blog He thought it bears remarkable similarity to some of Ronald Searle's sketches.
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On the last day I caught a screening of
CORALINE in 3-D. Breath-taking artistry & gorgeous designs on show. The 3-D effect is quite subtle giving it a view-master feeling. There are really inventive moments & it keeps springing delicious surprises. The fat naked lady, the scottie dogs, the garden & the insect furniture were stand-outs. I was impressed that
LAIKA had managed to keep the material pretty dark & hope that they can continue to produce such outstanding films.