I’ve just arrived back from a trip to Madrid with Cambridge School of Art and wanted to share with you some of my highlights - I will try to limit this so as not to overwhelm (I took a million photos), but you want a good look at all the art, right?!
First some obligatory tourist shots of food, flags and fantastic graffiti!

The great thing about not being in charge of the itinerary is that I got to go to places and see art that I would never have chosen to see - a bredth of styles, medium and ages that has filled many gaps in my art knowledge and provided me with a whole new pool of research and inspiration for my own art. From the weird and wonderful 14th century triptychs of Museo del Prado to the quirky, vibrant lego pieces of the Contemporary Art Fair.
Let me take you through each gallery, sharing my highlights and name dropping the key famous art pieces - click each gallery and artists for more info.

A renovated power station with a vertical garden and awesome staircase! An exhibition called 'Painting, an ongoing challenge', with themes of Aura, Monochrome, Enigmatic, Expressive geometry and Mutations, I really enjoyed the curation of this show. I was especially impacted by thse size of a lot of the art and Gerhard Richter has always been a favourite.

It was the variety of sculptures, and the eyes painted by Vincente Lopez Portana that drew me in this exhibition. There might have been some famous artists I could name drop but these were the stand out pieces for me in this place.

Goya, Velazquez and Rubens would be the names to drop in this gallery (to mention but a few) but my highlight was Hieronymus Bosch from the 14th Century. Who I had never met before and despite their age surprised me with how contemporary and modern they were.

Many names to drop in this place - ones even I had heard of: Picasso, Miro, Mondrian, Kandinsky, Delauney, Degas, Toulouse Lautrec, Van Gogh, Renoir, Rauschenberg, Lichtenstein, Pollock, de Kooning, Ernst, not to mention the 2 solo shows of Joan Jonas and Rembrandt, and the whole floor I didn't even get to see.
I realised that I was significantly drawn to a number of pieces not because of what they were about but because of how they made me feel (an important point to remember wrt my own art work) - with a few surprises like a Renoir, which would normally be too chocolate boxy for my taste but had an atmosphere it created that I found really special. Here are details of my top favourites - as my week in Madrid unfolded I was drawn to photograph close ups of pieces more than the whole as I felt it helped me identify with the artist and their artwork on a different level.

I've never been much of a fan of video art, either too weird and 'arty' (meaning low quality) or like a documentary, I don't want to sit in a dark room with headphones on wondering how long it's going to take! But the Joan Jonas exhibition above had begun to change my mind and I could see there was some potential that I might want to think about tapping into for my own work. This Bill Viola exhibition took things to a whole new level for me.
Yes some of it was weird, yes it was in the dark and it was painfully slow - but that was the whole point, it was about the passage of time. As I applied a bit of patience, adjusted, left a piece and came back to see how it had changed, I found it really inspiring and profound.

This was an absolutely massive place full to the brim of a wide variety of modern artists and mediums. Being so large allowed for art work to really have space to breath, room for the gigantic and whole areas given over to installation art - from tails protruding from cupboard doors, to huge blocks of metal.

I was most impacted by art with texture - several pieces made with concrete and plaster.

Again this gallery could brag about exhibiting all the key names, including hosting Picasso's 'Guernica' which was kept under careful guard! But my favourite artist was the Spaniard Miguel Angel Campano who I'd not heard of before and was in a temporary exhibition. I found his scale and expression really exciting!

This was a solo show by Mario Merz (sculptor & painter) - pretty quirky with neon tubes and a variety of igloos. The most interesting part of this exhibition for me was that I learnt about the Fibonacci sequence (which his work was based on) - linked to the golden ratio maths equation that creates patterns found in nature (such as the fir cone, pineapple, curled fern leaves etc).

The last day of our week in Madrid was spent exploring the art of 1350+ artists at this massive art fair and what a wonderful source of inspiration I found this! I had thought by this point in the week that I would have exhibition fatigue but not a bit of it, I'd just learnt to search out the work relevant and exciting to me and not worry about the rest! Of course for me colour and gesture were the biggest draws.

Let me finish with a mash up movie of all the little videos I took, as sometimes photos just don't do the job!

I was pretty daunted about going to Madrid, if I'm honest. I didn’t really know people booked on the trip (a cross section of different fine art courses) and am always a bit out of my comfort zone travelling (which my trip to America in October hasn't helped with!). However it was totally worth me facing my fears. I’ve made new artist friends and come home with a list of things to action just from the conversations and networking that took place. Madrid is a treasure trove of art - if you ever get a chance to visit, I highly recommend it!

I've visited a number of noteworthy exhibitions this year. Some that included my own artwork and some that didn't, some local and some further afield. I'm always fascinated by what art draws and resonates with different people. I am repeatedly surprised how often the pieces I love are not necessarily the ones that other people are enthusing about and win the prizes, and how disinterested I am with the ones that excite the crowds!

There is so much wealth of inspiration within an art exhibition from colour choices, subject matter, materials and techniques, size, texture and style. My favourites are always the more contemporary ones – give me a degree show over a 'museumy' art gallery any day! Those undiscovered and emerging over the old masters... am I allowed to say that?!
Here are some of my favourites from 2018:

I wonder what new talent and inspiration 2019 will hold.

This has also been shared today as a guest blog post for 'Science and Belief'

I am repeatedly amazed how powerfully God speaks through his creation. Its vastness and intricacies whisper from God to anyone who will listen ‘I created you, I know your every detail, and love you so much’. In moments when I’ve felt lost I’ve walked by the shore and found that the expanse of the sea awakens a trust and renewed security in the one who is greater than I. At my lowest point looking up and counting the tiny stars in the black canopy above reminded me of God’s sovereignty, and all the happiest times in my life have embraced my senses with special smells, touches, tastes, sounds and sights, handcrafted by our creator God, helping memories to linger.

HOLY OVERSHADOWING, 2016

You, God, shield me on all sides, you ground my feet and you lift my head. Rested, tall and steady. Your blessing clothes your people, what a feast of favour and bliss you give us!
                                                                                                                                                                                                               Psalm 3:3

In this piece I have used shapes similar to seeds, pods and cells which represent a person’s soul or inner self, their potential and their vulnerability. I have used symbolic colours, the contrast between the hugeness of God (blue sky) and our fragility (flesh pink), between the mundane (pavement grey) and the supernatural (sunshine yellow/gold). The overshadowing of God’s holiness is represented by a star constellation-type cloud. This speaks of God’s protection and sheltering. He is our safe place and the lifter of our head.

DUCKS IN A ROW, 2017
The Lord directs our steps, he delights in every detail of our lives. Though we stumble, we will never fall, for the Lord holds us by the hand.
                                                                                                                                                                                                            Psalm 37:23

Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Matt 6:33

This speaks of God being a God of order and detail. As we rest in him, focus on him, trust him, he takes care of everything else. Spend time at his feet, bring your perfume, bring your tears, bring your attention, come as you are.
This painting is inspired by God’s incredible attention to detail within his beautiful and ordered creation. He knows the number of hairs on our head, he calls the stars by name, he saw us in our mother’s womb. The tiny spots of colour and splashes of light reflect the intricacies of his care, creativity and sovereignty. From dust particles that catch the sunlight and blossom petals that fall with the breeze, to the equations and calculations that hold the whole universe in perfect balance.

YET STILL, 2017
Though the cherry trees don’t blossom, the strawberries don’t ripen, the apples are worm eaten and the wheat fields stunted. Though the sheep pens are sheepless and cattle barns empty. YET STILL I will sing joyful praise to God, rejoicing in the God of my salvation. He is my strength.
                                                                                                                                                                                                           Habakkuk 3
Even in my disappointment I will praise you, Even in my hopeless places I will give thanks.
                                                                                                                                                Lyrics from ‘Overcomer’ by Lucy Grimble

This painting is about giving a sacrifice of praise. There are times when joyfulness and worship are easy, and times when it’s a choice, a decision. My painting shows ‘bubbles’ of praise rising upwards, one after the other, layer on layer. A pouring of ourselves, a praising through tears (I have dripped paint and wiped it like tears) From the sorrowful cloudy-day greys, to quiet hopes of light blue skies & new-shoot greens, then on to transformation and strengthening joy (represented by the brighter colours of flowers). Blistering type marks symbolise perseverance.


I am particularly drawn to the each end of the spectrum of God’s creation. I wrote earlier about the comfort I’ve found gazing at the sea and the stars, but my other favourite places are behind the macro lens of my camera, lying in the dirt observing raindrops caught in the hairs on a leaf, or poring through my husband’s medical text books at images taken through microscopes. So I’ll end with a poem that I wrote after sketching and meditating on the teeny tiny things that God has made.

MAGNITUDE OF MINUTIAE

Seeing beyond, beneath, behind

Drawing out detail
Calling out the gold
Connections
Paradigm of the lovely

Always more
Unnoticed, untold
Acknowledged and significant
The magnitude of the minutiae
No stone unturned
Extravagant play in obscurity
Intricacy shouts glory, shouts holy, shouts worthy
Intimacy singing songs of love
Passion to communicate
You entered the minuscule
Deepest needs met
Pardoned, made whole
Understood, with purpose
Accepted, adored, aghast
Held in your delight
Embraced in the detail.