I had read a book about an American writer,
named Helene Hanff visiting London
and bloomsbury(a real story about herself),
in which she stayed for 2 monthes was very intriguing,
the atmosphere of the streets, the conversations made with
the people and little hotels that filled with guests.
The book was first published in 70s, in response to what she had described,
the area changed little. From what I read, traveling in
another country is a big thing and it'd always take them
over 1 year or two to plan and gather the expenses so when they did get
a chance like she did, they must be ecstatic.
There are a lot of beautiful bookshops in this area,
dealing especially with rare out-of-print books.
The One that was on 84 charing cross road appeal to me the most.
Another book mentioned how handy and sweet this bookshop was,
but in the end from the same author I found out
it was shut down about 50 years ago which explained why there is no no.84 whatsoever.
The first thing I chose from the market stall is a red mirror,
could be fold in and pull out with effortless effort.
From the smell you can tell it's quite old and with the scratches
on the mirror itself, it brings out more history.
I like the fact that its shape can be changed as you pull,
from rectangle to triangle and the reflections change too, rapidly.
There are words emerged from my mind when I look at it, lighting and grandma.
And I chose an image of sets of barbies, it was the wallpaper in a shop in Soho,
every barbie is wearing something different,
which to me is like looking at patterns within patterns.
It's apparent these barbies are not in a current trend but they still look nice,
just like someone who would use the mirror I found.
At last there is a painting in the National Gallery that I want to talk about,
Les Andelys, the Washerwoman, 1886, oil on canvas by Paul Signac.
This is his first painting in a neo-impressionist style,
the highly geometric composition has inspired me
to create depth in my drawings and designs.
I can see the scene was animated vividly that
the river seems to be running peacefully on its surface and
the painting gently floats out of itself.
