A Christmas Coffee

Tuesday, 21st December 2004
Wild West Yorkshire nature diary

It's that time of year again: I have to take time out from my busy schedule to attend a Writers' Conference: me and my erotic writer pal Wendy, aka Portia da Costa, get together to chat aimlessly about what we've been up to over a mug of coffee and a cake at the Café Casbah, Batley.

We're treated to a tour of the studio space for artists that is currently being created on the top floor of the Redbrick Mills. They've made the most of the building here, leaving details like this cast iron pillar and rough stone walls exposed so that although the Mill has a plush new use as a furnishing and interiors retail outlet (there's a large Habitat here) there's still a sense of history about the place. They've made the best of the quality of light provided by the rows of windows along three sides of the middle floors - the space hasn't been divided by stud walls - and the top floor studios take advantage of the northern light provided by the mill's rooflights.

Wakefield - with it's proposed concrete bunker of a Barbara Hepworth gallery due to replace the old Arts Mill - could learn something from the Redbrick.

Old Masters

Not much time for Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain today.

The purpose of copying Winslow Homer's Child Seated in a Wicker Chair (1874) and Rubens' Studies of Arms and Legs is to focus on those negative shapes again.

The outlines of Arms and Legs were draw with the page upside down and the detail added right way up.

Richard Bell, richard@willowisland.co.uk