Starting and ending this week with Vanessa Bell seems perfect. I am in the middle of reading Janet Malcolm’s delicious book “Forty-one False Starts: Essays on Artists and Writers,” and included is “A House of One’s Own,” Malcolm’s story of the sisters Virginia Woolf and Vanessa Bell, and the circle around them more than a hundred years ago, known as Bloomsbury.
Published in The New Yorker in 1995, I have the paper copy of the article still, much thumbed and practically memorized, because it set me off on years of wonderful reading about the characters featured in what Malcolm calls the “Bloomsbury novel.” They were writers and artists, critics and an economist, people who liked to make things and write things, and the whole complicated tale of Bloomsbury can be joyful about work, heartbreaking about life, and very complicated.
So I loved coming upon Vanessa in the V&A collections this week I loved doing all the drawings, and I thank those of you who follow along in the daily form – it’s always a treat to see your “likes” or comments.
her spirits rose... 
I remember that article very well and the excitement that went along with learning about this circle of people and their lives. I loved seeing both the vase and the print by Vanessa Bell, and have enjoyed this whole week of drawings.
I love the Algerian hoodie and the fact that it was Gertrude Jekyll’s makes it all the better. (Have you seen the famous picture of her gardening boots?)
“Miss Jekyll’s Boots,” painted by William Nicholson!
Enjoying all the paintings.
Thank you Netzy – I’ve appreciated seeing your “likes” and comments on Facebook!