Jane Dallaway

  • Explorer Day: Hampstead

    2 October 2026

    Somehow, despite living in London for 8 years once upon a time, I’ve never been to Hampstead until today. My friend and I made the most of a warm and sunny late-summer-feeling day and had a great explore, really getting a feel for the place.

    Inside The Well Walk Theatre cafe, with a chandelier, dark panelling and a broomstick hanging in the window

    We started the day with a cup of tea at The Well Walk Theatre cafe. A lovely space. Elegant and stylish but also cosy. We liked it so much that we returned here for a bite to eat after our explore of the Heath. Just across the road was Burgh House, so we had a wander around there enjoying the building and the art. The cafe looked wonderful with a great cake selection.

    St Paul's Cathedral rising behind bomb rubble, a war painting by Donald Towner at Burgh House

    Continuing the summer’s theme of war art, here’s another piece that I spotted in the Amongst the Trees and Terraces: Donald Chisholm Towner (1903 - 1985) exhibition. The information panel told me he was born and brought up in Eastbourne so I wondered if he was related to the Towner of the gallery there. It turns out that he was the Great-Nephew of that Towner.

    Snowy Heath with bare trees and a frozen pond by Donald Towner at Burgh House

    Another piece by Donald Towner, this time of the Heath.

    Colourful painting of Hampstead buildings and trees by Duncan Grant at Burgh House

    I spotted this in the Hampstead Vanished and Imagined exhibition and recognised it as Duncan Grant after spending time at Charleston last week.

    Samizdat installation at Burgh House, a tower of chained books topped with a typewriter

    This piece was arresting, almost literally. The information panel tells me it relates “to the clandestine copying and distribution of banned literature, particularly in Eastern Europe during the 1960s-1980s”, and that “This installation pays homage to those who risked their freedom to keep suppressed voices alive.”

    One of the Hampstead Heath ponds, still and green, ringed with trees

    From here we headed to the Heath. We walked through woodland, across meadows, through fields and around ponds. I hadn’t appreciated how varied the landscape would be.

    Big clouds over treetops, taken from a bench at the top of Parliament Hill

    Looking over the London skyline from Parliament Hill, with two people on a bench

    And then we made it to the viewpoint at Parliament Hill, where we sat on a bench at the top and looked over to trees and greenery on one side, and the city on the other. It felt really special, and peaceful.

    Kenwood House seen across the dry meadow below it

    After leaving our bench we headed off around some of the ponds and found ourselves in the Kenwood Estate looking at the house from the water’s edge. An impressive building which must have had quite the view in its history.

    A pistachio ice cream sandwich dipped in dark chocolate

    After re-tracing our steps to the Well Walk Theatre cafe for a late lunch, we walked back towards the train station through Hampstead village. I couldn’t resist ending my day out with this beautiful piece of ice cream art, a pistachio ice cream sandwich.

  • It’s safe to cross

    29 September 2026

    A pedestrian crossing light in Berlin showing a green walking man in a hat, against a clear blue sky

    Many years ago, when I was in Berlin, I took this photo. I liked the sprightly hatted man telling me it was safe to cross. A bit of research tells me that he is an Ampelmännchen.

    I’m not the only one to have enjoyed the different “it’s safe to walk” lights. Yesterday’s edition of The Knowledge pointed me at Walking Men From Around the World.

    Nine green crossing figures from Lyon, Corunna, Puno, Andorra, Barcelona, Cuenca, Buenos Aires, Hoi An and Cape Town, with Corunna's a woman in a skirt with a ponytail

    I enjoyed seeing that Corunna uses a female figure to let people know it’s safe to cross. Perhaps the Moss and Fog article should be called “Walking Men (and Women) From Around the World”. That said, the original art installation behind the imagery in the article is called Walking Men Worldwide, so perhaps it’s OK?!

    It did leave me wondering if there are other places that use women on their crossing lights, so I did a bit of an AI search. Turns out that there are, though they seem to be rare. Germany has the Ampelfrau, with her skirt and pigtails, and Amersfoort in the Netherlands has (or had) Sofie, with a ponytail. Pingtung in Taiwan even had a couple who became parents. I think it’s the variety I find charming.

  • Dip marbling

    25 September 2026

    Many months ago I was looking for some different craft related activities to try during my sabbatical. I came across this Dip marbling workshop and booked on. I was interested in it because of the idea of playing with colour.

    There were three of us in the class so we had plenty of time with and attention from our teacher and she showed us two different styles during the class.

    Attempt 1 of Suminagashi using blue and orange inks

    Attempt 2 of Suminagashi using blue and green inks

    Attempt 3 of Suminagashi using blue, orange and pink inks

    The first method was Suminagashi, Japanese ink on water. We then moved on to Ebru marbling with acrylics over seaweed infused gloopy water.

    Attempt 1 of Ebru, worked into heart shapes using oranges, whites and turquoise acrylics

    Inks floating in the marbling bath before being worked into attempt 2

    Work in progress, when most of the acrylics were in place but before the surface got worked.

    Attempt 2 of Ebru, the finished piece on paper, using pinks, purples, blues, white and gold acrylics

    Attempt 3 of Ebru, a similar palette to attempt 1 but worked into a feathered finish

    I came back round to a similar palette for that third attempt, though it took me a while to settle on it. I think I was getting a bit tired by that point.

    What was really noticeable here was that some of the paints behaved differently to others - some really spread out, and some didn’t, some feathered a lot, and others stayed sharp around the edges. I think it would take quite a lot of experimentation to get a predictable output.

    I enjoyed the workshop. I liked the simplicity of the ink based marbling, but I loved the colour combinations of the acrylics. Now I need to work out what to do with my marbled paper.