Hurray for Hollywood!!

What a brilliant day it has been! After an energetic start to the day with a very enjoyable KettleWorx class (it's SO good to be back now that the wrist is recovering!!), it was off to the Museum of Brisbane to see the Hollywood costume exhibition with Janet de Boer. I haven't been there since the renovation, and it was all very different, and quite lovely!! I was actually involved with setting up the MoB Store many years ago when it first began - I didn't realise that the shop no longer existed! The entrance to the Hollywood Costume exhibition, featuring garments collected by local lawyer Nicholas Inglis over the last two decades, was nice and twinkly - a good start! The exhibition was very popular, and as there was so much information to read on the didactics as well as the beautiful garments to look at, a slow moving one! There was also a wall of  beautiful fashion sketches - some with actual fabric swatches as well.
The costumes were beautiful, and well displayed, but nothing was better than seeing them in motion on the film clips provided. Actually, it was pretty cool to look from the film, to the actual garment, back to the film. They all appeared so much more vibrant in the films, some even changing colour completely?! I was really impressed with the presentation of the exhibition, and thought the mannequins were quite beautiful - right down to this rather jaunty one for the Don Juan costume! Well done, Museum of Brisbane!! I was quite tempted to buy the catalogue, which featured lovely shots of the exhibition - having the film shots included as well would have certainly tipped me over the edge.
On our way out through the David Malouf exhibition, we found the BEST ART GALLERY COUCH EVER!! This thing was firm, plush, and velvety, and Janet took full advantage of it. We WANT one!! (Please note also the fabulous Elvis scarf, celebrating his recent 80th birthday. I have to admit, I did enjoy Elvis joining us over lunch). Our experience was then rounded off with lunch at the Shingle Inn - the original Shingle Inn reconstructed in City Hall!! OMG, I had no idea it was there, and was so excited to step back into my childhood! Whenever we went into the city, the Shingle Inn was the place to have lunch, and of course, those delicious patty cakes. What a perfect place to reconstruct it, and how wonderful to be back in those wooden booths, looking at the cake cabinet! The food was great, and we also indulged in a couple of glasses of Pol Roger. The waitresses were even wearing the lovely old fashioned uniforms.
My dear Matt was my chauffeur today, which was just lovely. On my return home, I went straight
into the studio, where I spent the afternoon tidying up. I put the fabric I bought in New York on rolls, drew out the pattern for Matt's waistcoat from the toilé, and just tidied in general. I decided to look for something I suspected was in one of my sketchbooks, which was when I discovered that I do not need to buy another one for quite some time. It's a bit like shoes for me - I just love them, and on the chair is my collection of as yet totally unused sketchbooks. See?!!  (On the floor is another pile of half used ones.....) But there are also quite a few which are totally full, thank you very much, which provide a very interesting trip into the past. I've left one of them open at an interesting sketch, an idea which looks worth pursuing....