London seems to have really upped it game in regards to Christmas lights this year. I really liked these baubles
London Christmas lights
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Category Archives: Art
Light Field
I visited a light art installation by Anthony James which is currently being shown at Marble Arch. It’s called Light field. I really enjoy light art, especially if creates optical effects.
Looking into the hexagonal shapes made it look like the space went on forever. There was a similar styled longer shape too. I also liked the square boxes, all placed in a uniform way. The boxes changed colour in time to some music being played, which I found quite relaxing to watch.
The exhibition is at the Mound and is free. Worth a look I think.
Local mammoths
My local borough decided to get in on the art trail idea as they seem to be quite successful. There are mammoths scattered around the town centre for you to find. I didn’t find all of them but these are the ones that I came across while out and about. I thought they were quite fun and brightened up my walk.
Gratitude statues
There seems to be a lot of art exhibitions in London this year, and I’m always up to see people’s artistic expressions. I heard about the Gratitude trail and thought the idea of decorating statues to acknowledge key workers and pay tribute to the NHS was really nice and needed, especially after all the hard work they have put in over what has been a really tough year or so.
The statues were place in the courtyard of Southwark cathedral in aesthetically pleasing neat rows.
Here are some closer pictures of some of them. Most of them were really colourful. I thought the bubblegum machine and ballerina ones were fun.
I really liked this blue and white one. It reminds me of the pattern you find on traditional English china.
I had a look around, some were amusing, and others had a lot of detail on them.
I also liked this one with the head the shape of a bottle pump, something I’m sure we’ve all become more familiar with.
It didn’t take too long to have a look around. I really enjoyed the statues and how they were all creatively decorated, and for a great cause too.
Van Gogh Alive
One of my favourite artists is Vincent van Gogh, so when I managed to get free tickets to the latest artshow in London based on his work, I was pretty excited.
We arrived on time and got checked in. We then made our way to the main part of the exhibition which was a room filled with floor to ceiling screens. The screens all lit up to start the story of Vincent and his journey of how he created his art.
I managed to find a space where I could see the screens clearly and took in the displays. The various screens showed different art pieces and quotes by Vincent, so I did do a lot of looking around.
One of the parts I really liked was when the screens all showed his blossom painting and it had been animated by showing falling petals across the screens.
The show lasted around 30 minutes. Afterwards I headed towards a small room filled with sunflowers and mirrors which was a nice touch.
There was also a space where there were easels and a video showing you how to draw like Vincent but I didn’t do this bit. I then headed towards the giftshop and treated myself to some magnets with a some of Vincent’s famous artworks.
I enjoyed the exhibition which was meant to feel immersive by being surrounded by screens showing Vincent’s work but I didn’t think it was that engaging and I felt the quotes selected romanticised the artist too much. I have to admit I enjoyed a Vincent van Gogh exhibition I visited a couple of years ago more as I felt I learnt a lot more about Vincent making him more real and it felt more interactive too.
Big Trunk trail Luton
I visited my sister who lives in Luton for the day, and on our walk around town we spotted some elephant statues. Here are the ones we found, but my sister told me there were loads more scattered about. Finding these were enough though, seeing as my objective for the visit was to spend time with my sister and her family and not go on an art trail no matter how curious I was.
I really liked the elephant with Sir Captain Tom painted on one side and a message of inspiration on the other.
I thought the elephants were really fun and liked how vibrant they were painted.
The statues are part of the Big Truck trail, and they will eventually be auctioned off to raise money for charity.
Looking for lions in London
I came across the Tusk Trail on social media and thought it would be a nice way to wander around London. There are 27 life sized lion statues dotted around London so my sister and I decided to try and find them all.
Like previous trails that have been left in years past, these statues too have been painted by various celebrates to be auctioned later for charity.
These first ones we found were around Burlington arcades. I really like the flowery lion. And the sunset scene on the other was a liked too, it made me think of the savannah.
There were also a few outside on the road nearby. I think my favourite is the ombre lion, with the colours going from orange, yellow and silver seamlessly. I really like the shiny-ness of it too.
We found some more in a church courtyard too. There were kids ticking off the lions they found on a sheet of paper they each had, which was I thought that was a nice activity.
These next ones were placed near Piccadilly Circus.
After finding these we moved towards Leicester Square.
On other roads nearby there were a few more. I really like the blue one with the scenery.
We then made our way towards Trafalgar square where we found a couple in the square itself and a few more in the area. I like the detail of the black and white with the red mane really standing out.
Last stop was Covent Garden where there were 2 more.
We found 26 out 27 as one had been removed, and we had a long but enjoyable walk around London. I think these trails are quite fun and inexpensive and something that anyone can take part in. I look forward to seeing what comes in future years.
Windy Southend
I had a few days off after Eid so I decided to take a trip down to the coast. The easiest coast for me to get to is Southend-on-Sea, and on this particular day it was grey and windy but not wet like it had been all week.
The first thing I did was walk along what Southend boasts as having the longest pleasure pier in the world, at 1.33 miles. I always enjoy the long walk to the end where there are a few souvenir shops and a restaurant.
At the end of the pier I walked around and then went in to one of the shops to look around and warm up as it was really windy out on the sea.
After having enough of being blown about at the end of the pier I walked back down to the shore to grab some lunch. Having had a sit down I was ready to venture out again. I made my way to the sea front, which it seemed I had all to myself! I found some really pretty shells as I made my way up the pebbly beach.
There wasn’t much else to do at the sea front, so feeling windswept I made my way back to the station, doing some window shopping as I went. I did come across some cool street along the way.
I always enjoy my trips to Southend, I love the long pier to walk along, and being by the coast always feels relaxing, although less so on this visit as the blustery wind and grey skies made the coast seem more dramatic than usual.
Local Streetart
My local borough has been trying to create a cultural area that celebrates art. To kick things off they invited a couple of street artists to do some work.
This first piece is by @einsigns and is a word that has a lot of meaning due to the pandemic that has been with us for a year now. I love the font and colours against that black backdrop.
The second piece is by @dotmasters. I love the print on the background and the blue and white contrast. I like the playfulness of this piece too.
I think these pieces of streetart are great and a joy to look at. I hope that we get more talented artists showing us their work too.
Scotland Trip – part 2
The fourth day into our trip we decided to spend seeing parts of what Scotland was well known for. We had a good plan for the day but as the day went on we ended up doing all sorts of other things instead.
We were up early to go to some local markets. We made our way to one nearby only to find that it was closed. We then had to circle round to another one we found further away. This market wasn’t great but it was good to look around and see what was on offer. I ended up buying a blue stone necklace for my little niece as it was her birthday. It caught her eye and I couldn’t say no.
After spending half an hour or so at the market we were still on schedule, so the next stop was going to the Kelingrove Art Gallery and Museum.
Walking up to the entrance we were told that due to the pandemic we had to pre-book and that they had no slots for walk ins! Helpfully though the staff told us that there was another museum nearby that we could go to that did have free slots. We booked our places online and made our way to the Royal College of Surgeons where the Hunterian Museum is based. It was a steep walk up but the building and the view from the top was stunning.
We also found this iconic view, I love the symmetry and elegance of the arches.
We located the entrance to the Hunterian Museum and made our way up the beautiful yellow staircase.
The museum itself was lovely, high ceilings and lots of light. I also really liked the exposed wood beams in the ceiling. Inside there was an array of beautiful and strange objects. I only took photos of artefacts that were attractive or interesting to me but there were lots of jars with eyeballs, and other odd animal parts in that I didn’t take to too well.
After walking around the museum we headed back to the car to drive into town to find something to eat. There was some cool street art around although I wasn’t able to have a proper look around for them.
As we had to find food that was suitable for a halal diet we found restaurants were closed either permanently or due to the pandemic, so it took a lot longer than expected. After finding our patience frayed we finally found a restaurant and then headed back to the hotel to freshen up.
everyphototunity 