An arty trip to town

We went into Edinburgh this morning.  We had arty destinations.  The first was the private view of an exhibition, In Our Element, showing work by students on Jemma Derbyshire's landscape course at the Leith School of Art.  (Jemma is my Monday morning art tutor.) There was some good stuff, and a few familiar faces, so I enjoyed it all very much!  The exhibition is being held at 11 Gayfield Square, in central Edinburgh's east end.  We nearly bought a flat there, when we first moved to Scotland.  

After the exhibition, we had a little wander around the area.  As always, Edinburgh is full of delightful and quirky surprises.  It really is a great city to visit, even if you think you know it quite well.  Across the road from the gallery there was a little backwater, tucked away.

The drying greens, or yards, in Edinburgh still have the old Victorian clothes line poles.  We had them behind our flat, when we lived in Parchment.  

Leading off the tiny square, which was rather more of a yard, there was the entrance to a common stair, leading to flats, which were also accessed from the next street over.  A typical example of some of Edinburgh's convoluted arrangements in older building stock.

Here are the flats in the next street.  They had a rather continental air to them.  They could have been in a back street in Italy or France.

I think Cinderella must have passed this way last night.  She lost a rather fabulous pump, which is sitting on a railing, waiting for her prince to come along and find it for her!

Next we went to the summer open studios at Coburg House Art Studios, in Leith.  http://www.coburghouseartstudios.co.uk  There are lots of very talented people working there, including my friends Kittie Jones and Jemma Derbyshire.  All in all, we had a very enjoyable jaunt, and saw some very nice work!