<img class="alignleft" src="http://images.tate.org.uk/sites/default/files/styles/grid-normal-16-cols/public/images/picasso%20and%20moern%20british%20art%20final%20weeks%20banner.jpg" alt="Picasso and Moern British Art final weeks banner" width="224" height="141" />We really like to get every month off to a busy start and once more we planned to experience four events in two days.

Firstly we travelled down to London on the train ( a very cheap deal) and dumped our overnight bag with Jane's brother, Richard, in Islington. After lunch out he drove us to <a title="Picasso Exhibition" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/exhibition/picasso-modern-british-art?gclid=CPS777XK_7ACFYwhtAoduyKGPQ" target="_blank">Tate Britain for the Picasso Exhibition</a>. Of course Picasso is a surrealist and a cubist so it was interesting and puzzling in equal measure. It also introduced some of the british artists who were influenced by Picasso like <a title="Wyndham Lewis" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wyndham_Lewis" target="_blank">Wyndham Lewis</a>. The works of art were displayed in what I thought was a confusing way because it was neither chronological or by style however I'm never surprised by my own ignorance in such matters and my innate desire for pattern and order may well crowd out creative understanding.

The exhibition created some interesting discussions about shape and form and Jane and I had a debate about paintings that were seemingly child like ("I could have painted that") but alongside the "childlike" were well crafted drawings and paintings so obviously Picasso had skill as well as an eye for the surreal. The following day we saw an old, oriental looking beggar on the streets "playing" a battered guitar by bowing a broken bic pen across the strings. It wouldn't be possible to call this music but in some ways it was the equivalent of some of Picasso's work. Art like beauty is in the eye (or ear) of the observer.