autumn – My London+

National Gallery visit and a short walk

I gave my friend a list of art exhibitions on in London and asked her to choose. With the prospect of dodgy weather, being indoors sounded like a good option. As it turned out, the day wasn’t too bad at all weather-wise, and the exhibition she chose was excellent.

Winslow Homer (1836-1910) was an American Realist painter of landscapes and best known for his marine paintings. The exhibition at The National Gallery is called Forces of Nature. The paintings here include scenes from the American civil war and life after slavery for black people (not such a good life with all the restrictions about what they could and could not do). There was a lot in this exhibition that made us think that sadly, not a lot has changed in the world.

It is always helpful to know what is behind a particular artwork, but I got the feeling that Winslow Homer didn’t like explaining. So, do art critiques guess?! Homer used a lot of symbolism in his art, which is common with artists, and has been for hundreds of years. Homer worked in oil and watercolour, but it was his oil paintings that we were drawn to the most.

Winslow Homer’s depiction of light is well done. His use of white against dark backgrounds really brings his work to life. His sea paintings are stunning. He loves stormy seas and has a knack with the brush of creating the waves and splash against rocks. We both enjoyed this exhibition and learning about this artist who neither of us had really come across before.

In Trafalgar Square we got to see the new art work on the fourth plinth. It rather fitted in with the exhibition we had just seen. Entitled Antelope, the work is by Samson Kabalu, and you can read about it here.

One cannot write a blog without a photo of the River Thames! Always a delight whatever time and season.

A short walk in the October sunshine

Yesterday morning dawned with blue sky that said ‘come and walk under me’! So I did. Just a local walk in places I know well and frequented many times during Covid lockdown.

I love to photograph leaves against sunlight and the changing seasons. Autumn is a great time for photographers with so many wonderful colours. Even the road where I live is alive with vibrant tones of gold, yellow and red.

Doesn’t this make you think of Christmas?

Like by dog walkers, joggers and there is a cycle lane (right)

This is actually a footpath leading to the busy A3 bypass but it could be in the countryside.

All photos were taken with my trusty mobile.

Tate Britain Exhibitions and autumn has arrived

Above is a photo of my favourite painting by Paula Rego. It is a rare happy painting, because the artist’s work is usually quite troubling, quite disturbing. Her art depicts war, the position of women in society, abortion, FGM, people trafficking and more. Born in Portugal during an oppressive regime, her work is her way of expressing herself about those times. Later, she moved to London and was a student at the Slade School of Fine Art.

The dark content and often wildly abstract paintings don’t inspire me to take many photos and these slightly more acceptable views here are the only ones I took. Paula Rego plays on the more disturbing aspect of children’s fairy stories and folk tales. Her work spans very different artist medium from oil, watercolour and ink, painting on aluminum, to collage and etchings. Her sketch books are stunning to view.

Her life is an interesting and often sad one, and I find learning the background to an artist’s life helps me understand their work. It certainly helped here. I had recently watched a TV programme about her life which brought things into perspective.

There are eleven rooms in this latest exhibition, and is the first time I have seen her work in person. I studied a couple of her paintings for art history (The Dance was one of them), so I was thrilled to finally see the scale of her work.

I do wonder how she can work so much on dark subjects. I would find that very difficult. It can be the stuff of nightmares, for sure. They are works you don’t forget when you leave the gallery. The exhibition finishes in a couple of weeks time, should you want to see it for yourself.

Adjacent to Paula Rego’s exhibition was Heather Phillipson’s installations. I found them weirdly compelling. I wonder what you think of these photos! Sound effects accompany the exhibition, giving it an eerie atmosphere.

Heather Phillipson – multiple working TV screens

Autumn is arriving now, and on Saturday I woke to fog. I was out early and spotted the brilliant colours and spiders’ webs. I always have my mobile handy for taking photos, and I actually enjoy fog for picture taking – lots of liquid drops on leaves and so on.

Have a good week everyone.

With autumn comes fog dotted with colour

South Park Gardens, Wimbledon (NaBloPoMo – Day 8)

I love it when I find somewhere new and this was rather a lovely find. I had to go and pick up a book I ordered and decided to make more of the journey than just there and back, especially as I had to use the bus. So I looked at the map and found this park close to the main road.

This is a place to return to midweek when the children are in school! It was very busy with families making the most of a rare warm sunny day in November, and who could blame them? The park has a cafe (takeaway for the moment) and the all important toilets.

I wasn’t here long, just long enough to drink my takeaway hot chocolate and wander around taking photos, but I shall certain return.

NaBloPoMo – Day 7 – Hogsmill River Walk

Hogsmill River (from the bridge on the A3 between New Malden and Tolworth)

The Hogsmill flows from Ewell in Surrey to the River Thames at Kingston. I have in the past walked the length of it, splitting it into two walks, but yesterday I revisited just a small portion of it. This section runs from the A3 in New Malden to Green Lane Park (New Malden). One of my son’s suggested it, so we walked together on a cold but bright day. The sky offered us interesting cloud formations and in the lower parts fog was still lifting.

There are various bridges and paths, some take you out to nearby residential roads.

If you look there is still some colour to be found

I must learn my trees! They are beautiful in all seasons

It’s easy to think that everything is brown and dying at this time of year. But look closer and you see the beauty

We encountered Robins, Parakeets and this lone Heron

On the left is the river, to the right of the trees is Green Lane Park

NaBloPoMo – Day 3

Richmond Park

My friend and I were on a walk through Richmond Park when we heard that our part of the UK had moved into Tier Two of the governments three tier system of Covid 19 measures. This means households are no longer allowed to mix indoor, whether that is in homes or in pubs, restaurants or cafes.

Straightaway that meant some of the things we do we can no longer take part in. I cannot play play badminton with my friends, or meet my writing friend in the cafe where we sit and write for a couple of hours a week. These things only resumed about a month ago, and now that’s it, for however long.

It is even more important for me to get outside and walk whenever the weather permits, and unless complete lockdown happens again, that’s what I intend to do.

This walk was put off from the week before due to bad weather, but this day we were lucky. There were showers, but we managed to dodge them, and the sun came out frequently. There was a warning about the deer in Richmond Park – it is the rutting season – but we didn’t see one deer!

We began the walk at the Kingston Gate. My friend has walked the park many times so I was totally in her hands. We headed across towards Pertersham Nurseries, near Richmond. When we arrived it was busy. The place is much smaller than I expected, and there were queues for the shop. To eat there you had to book in advance. However, I had seen the price for the cafe online – £10 or so for a sandwich! We sheltered from a brief shower under an awning and then headed straight out again! We walked down to the River Thames at Richmond and had lunch at the veggie/vegan cafe caled The Hollyhocks, which sits on The Terraces, high up, with wonderful views across the river.

We lingered a while before heading back the same way. The changeable weather made for some dramatic skies and the autum coklours were wonderful. This time we headed uphill towards King Henry’s Mound where there is a viewing point into London. On a good day you can see St Paul’s Cathedral, 13 miles away. There is a law that this view must not be obscured, though planners have tried. I took a photo, not thinking I had captured anything as I couldn’t see the cathedral with my naked eye, yet my camera captured a ghostly white image of the cathedral with my lens on full zoom. Amazing.

We sat on a bench here and read ‘lockdown poems’ we’d written. What a view!

From King Henry’s Mound you can see St Paul’s Cathedral 13 miles away (just)

In the other direction you can see right across to Windsor apparently (though I couldn’t). There is a telescope you can use to pin point things. Afterwards we wandered around some gardens before heading back to the Kingston Gate.

It was a lovely day, even though my legs were aching like hell! Enjoy the photos.