Edward Hopper, Christmas card, 1928 whitney.org/collection/w...

The Solstice Sunrise from Sussex.

Every winter the Dutch hope for freezing temps so we can skate again! On this painting by Hendrick Avercamp people are playing 'kolf' – basically 17th-century ice hockey. On the left some have fallen through the ice and in the middle a woman takes a tumble, flashing more than she planned. 😅

‘‘Tis the year's midnight …’ St Lucy’s Day, Aldeburgh. #AlphabetChallenge #WeekXforXmas 📷 #photography

Word of the day, should you be feeling a little huffish, is ‘apanthropy’ (18th century): a love of solitude and the desire to be away from other people.

RIP #MartinParr x

Two scenes by Richard Scarry to gladden the hearts of all introverts 🙂

The opening page of 'Bleak House' by Charles Dickens is always a treat.

Good morning.

Seals singing in a sea cave #Orkney 🦭🎧

Lower Norwood, 1871 #pissarro #camillepissarro

And so it shall be

ARRIVAL was released 9 years ago today. Acclaimed as one of the great science fiction movies of the 21st century, and among the most popular of director Denis Villeneuve, the story of how it was made may change the way you perceive time… 1/52

I love the old Face The Music episodes on @bbciplayer.bsky.social particularly the ones with a very young, very clever, very handsome David Attenborough.

Cup of water and a rose: mundane, yet almost visionary. Useful too if you just need something calming, from Francisco de Zurbarán.

Perfectly imperfect. Just what I needed. #janeaustenwreckedmylife

Bonnets #autumn #fungi #Wakehurst

A Louise Glück miniature that appeared in The Threepenny Review in 2023. To my knowledge, it remains uncollected.

Mood.

Happy birthday to one of the greatest series and *the* greatest title sequence.

My latest cartoon for @newscientist.com p.s. this week I am on a USA/Canada tour with my new book. Details and preorder links at tomgauld.com

Sky, West Norfolk, this afternoon

I hope this ishmael finds you whale

REAR WINDOW was released 71 years ago today. One of the most enduring Alfred Hitchcock thrillers, and among the most popular films of James Stewart and Grace Kelly, the story of how it was made might give you the feeling you’re being watched… 1/40

Coasting. The Seven Sisters from Birling Gap (well, just offshore).

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m... 7.15pm British Summer Time, GMT +1, Tx from New Broadcasting House, Portland Place, London W1A, on the digital, FM, Long Wave, AM and MW spectra and frequencies to the Universe, known and unknown. Please listen! We mean, as men, every single word xx

A brief history of England's love affair with church bells.

tyrants, butchers, murderers!

Bricks, plumbing and timber at the wonderful Weald and Downland Museum #Sussex

Went to look for the Blue fleabane in Ely. #WildflowerHour

'Nothing but man of all envenomed things/Doth work upon itself, with inborn stings' This exuberant biography of John Donne was a joy to read #KatherineRundell #JohnDonne #BookSky

The Summer Solstice will soon be upon us, and here's what Stonehenge looked like in the 16th century. #SummerSolstice British Library Add MS 28330; Lucas De Heere, Corte Beschryvinghe van Engheland, Schotland, ende Irland; 1573 CE-1575 CE; England (London); f.36r

This book made me want to count things. #BookSky

Unshowy and unsentimental but so very moving. Best book about wildlife I've ready for ages. #BookSky #ChloeDalton

Things are about to get a bit ancient. I baked these biscuity sherds on a hemisphere cake tin in an attempt to recreate Ancient Greek pottery fragments in all three dimensions. The originals, dating from c.1600-435 BCE, can be found in the collections of the Ashmolean Museum.

Delftware tiles! There were hundreds of fabulous examples to choose from in the Victoria & Albert Museum’s online catalogue, but I eventually settled on nine. These 18th-century ships, shepherds, castles, figures, and flowers brought me joy. I hope they’ll do the same for you, too.

RIP Sebastião Salgado. An outstanding photographer. I will never forget seeing you, on a bench outside the Natural History Exhibition showing of Genesis, hoping no one recognised you. (Photo: Renato Amoroso) #photography #salgado

Sunset in Pourville, open sea - 1882, #artbots #monet https://botfrens.com/collections/41/contents/3110004

'People are cleaner to-day, she said, but I don't know that I like them any better' #BookSky #MollyPanter-Downes

Here's a new painting. Staircase at Charleston. 28x35cm.

Purple haze #spring #bluebells #Sussex

... the bedroom was a mausoleum ... #MaxPorter #BookSky #TedHughes

Anemone blanda. 📷 #photography

‘History says, Don’t hope On this side of the grave. But then, once in a lifetime The longed-for tidal wave Of justice can rise up, And hope and history rhyme.’ Seamus Heaney was born on this day in 1939.

I know this is unfashionable but there are loads of things I don’t really have a fully-formed opinion about.

The Quartermaster's log: "... a diary accurately recording the sea's caprice in compensation for man's inability to chart his own moods." A grim story, but beautiful writing #Mishima #reading #booksky

Speckled beauty #butterfly #Sussex