I WENT to a talk by John Moores Painting Prize 2010 finalist Nick Fox on Friday, in front of his painting Metatopia, which he has donated to the gallery.

It was really interesting to hear about his work - both the theories behind it and also the method of creating it by building up layers of paint, which he describes as akin to print making. He paints on glass so that the first marks he makes become the surface of the finished work. Once completed and dry, Fox peels it off - "it becomes like a floppy pancake" and places it on to a piece of Victorian furniture or, in the case of Metatopia, a circular disc because "it was about not reading it as a painting, about another sort of space".

His work is inspired by nostalgia so it makes sense that he has donated this work to the Walker Art Gallery, which he has such fond memories of from his time as a student in Liverpool. But he also sees his donation as a gift to the city - or as he puts it "a love letter to Liverpool".

GREAT news - the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra is playing at the Proms again this year. I went along two years ago and it remains one of my favourite experiences in my job of arts editor.

Details. . .

The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Chief Conductor, Vasily Petrenko will perform at the BBC Proms on Thursday, 23 August 2012.

HAVING spent three days running around after the giants, tweeting as I went, I thought it would be nice to share it here on this blog. So here are the three days presented as a Storify timeline.

A BRILLIANT end to a fantastic weekend - the giants may be gone but we're richer for them having been here.

Here's my round-up of today's events.

And here's today in (wobbly) video:

JUST a quick blog from me tonight as it's been a long - but very happy - day. For a full recap of the day click here to read the piece I wrote for our main website.

I filmed a bit of footage on my Flip camera as I followed the giants around and here it is. A bit shaky but you get the idea...

WOW - what an incredible day. I spent roughly 12 hours chasing giants around the streets of Liverpool, with a brief gap in the middle when I had a tour of Marianne Faithfull's new exhibition at Tate Liverpool from the woman herself (more of that in a future blog post).

I have probably driven any of my followers on Twitter slightly bonkers by taking up their timelines with hundreds of Sea Odyssey tweets - with all of them going on to our live blog. We'll be continuing to live blog the event all weekend so if you're planning to attend it then we'd love it if you shared your experience or, if you can't get to it, you can follow it online instead.

THE giants are finally here and ready to take us on a 23-mile journey around our city that will make us see it with fresh eyes.

I and the Liverpool Post's team of reporters will be live-blogging the event all weekend on the paper's homepage so you can ask questions, share your own opinions and reaction and post your photographs.

In the meantime, here are a few articles to whet your appetite:

Interview with artistic director Jean-Luc Courcault

Party weekend planned for Liverpool

The story of the little girl who inspired Sea Odyssey

My column on why Liverpool is the perfect place for the giants to visit

LIVERPOOL City Council and Tate Liverpool have launched a new photography competition...

The Liverpool Parks Friends Forum - a forum for all the Friends of Parks groups in the city - stages the annual competition which shows the best of Liverpool's 70-plus parks, gardens, recreation grounds, playgrounds and nature reserves.

This year to celebrate the major summer exhibition at Tate Liverpool -Turner Monet Twombly: Later Paintings.(June 22 to October 28) - there are three special categories in the competition, inspired by the exhibition: ark Landscapes - 'My favourite view', People and Parks, Flora and Fauna - park plants or wildlife.

ARTIST Mark Greenwood is providing an alternative to the Grand National at Camp and Furnace this weekend.

Lad Broke is a a 48-hour durational, performance work - the final one of his PhD at Kingston University - and looks at issues around gambling, chance, habitual behaviour and the betting shop as a social gathering place. It's been organised by Mercy and is aimed to appeal to artists and the general public. There is a gathering at the space 5.30-7pm at Friday and the work will be available for viewing throughout the 48 hours.

A FEW visual arts events coming up in Merseyside that you might want to get involved in:

The Liverpool Art Fair

Showcasing a wide range of affordable original art by 50-plus local artists, including a section of specially created work under £100, the Liverpool Art Fair aims to provide a unique insight into the region's creative talent. Whether seasoned collector or first time art buyer, the fair will give everyone the opportunity to own their own piece of the Liverpool art world.