From a young age I was taught to appreciate art. It was always a big part of my life, the only thing is that it got majorly eclipsed by my passion for food (I know this is kind of horrid, but becoming a foodie has really kind of dumbed me down, now all I seem to care about is eating). Nevertheless, I do love art in many of its different forms. My tastes range from everything from Burne-Jones to Banksy. My favorite artist of all time, however, has to be J.W. Waterhouse, and I was lucky enough to see his exhibit this weekend in London at the Royal Academy of the Arts. Just thought I would share some of his beautiful works with you which I had the pleasure of seeing (oh, and for you foodies… scroll down *wink*). The exhibit was spectacular. It is amazing how much more beautiful and vibrant these paintings are in person than when you view them on the computer or in a book. As I was uploading the pictures here on this post, I couldn’t help but think how they pale in comparison to the originals.
Someone is cooking some trouble:
The women in the Waterhouse paintings are so beautiful. He mostly used the same model for a lot of his works. The redish/brown haired girl that he often paints looks a lot like my mother when she was in her late teens/early 20s. This beautiful mermaid below always makes me think of her (minus the tail).
Well after looking at these beautiful works of art, it was time for a teeny bit of nourishment, you know what I’m saying? So we went to the lower ground floor where they have a really georgous cafe. You couldn’t wish for a more beautiful environment to have tea and cake in! It is a lovely wood panelled room with beautiful murals painted on the walls. Museum cafe’s seem to me like untapped gems. I mean, how could anyone want to go to a Starbucks when you can go somewhere like this for the same price?
It was around 11 o’clock, so the lunch stuff wasn’t out yet. They just had these beautiful cookies and cakes. I let Hubby pick out my desert (he always knows what I like, he is gifted that way).
Hubby picked out a delicious orange and almond cake for me, and I had it with some tea. It was super! I got to try and recreate something like this at home. It was very dense and sweet, which was perfectly balanced by the tang of the orange glaze on the top. Ahh… sometimes life is really good 
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Beautiful paintings….
I would go for the orange cake too..
The first “cake and culture” story ever!?! Wow. So beautiful yet underappreciated! I like Waterhouse a lot too. I’ve seen the first painting of Guenievere? in the boat before. Really lovely.
As to True Blood, of course I watch it! Everyone on that show is so good looking, it seems. Like your Waterhouse paintings.
You’re really misisng out on Twilight if you like romance with a dash of excitement, though their diet is horrid. Blood for the vampires–ewh!–and even worse, dreadful processed stuff for the human teenagers and their naive parents.