…the Queen’s Beasts
At Kew Gardens there are a series of 10 sculptures that were created by James Woodford, OBE, RA in 1958.
According to the Kew Gardens website:
Each of these ten statues represent the heraldic badges of Queen Elizabeth II’s royal ancestors. They are Portland stone replicas of the plaster models that were placed outside the Westminster Abbey annex for the Queen’s coronation in 1953. — Read on www.kew.org/kew-gardens/visit-kew-gardens/trails/art-architecture-trail
…closer to home
We didn’t want to go too far afield today because we had to pick up Sevin from school. After a good hearty breakfast at the flat we headed out to catch the #4 bus to Islington Green.
We stopped in Waterstones bookstore to look around and purchased a couple of paperbacks. After that we were desperate for a coffee and we stopped at the same coffee kiosk that we went to the last time we were here. Once we were satisfactorily caffeinated we continued our journey down Camden Passage.
We stopped in a great cheese store and purchased some yummy cheeses made in Britain. One of the cheeses, the cheddar to be exact came from a dairy in Devon. The cheese monger told us that he had been to that dairy and he claimed that the owner knew her cheese as well as she knew her cows. She has a herd of over 100 cows and she has named each one.
Before heading home to pick up Sevin we stopped at Cass Art to pick up more sketchbooks and watercolour paper. All in all a very enjoyable afternoon.
…a gem in Piccadilly Circus
After seeing the Victor Hugo show we made our way to the first floor to check out the main permanent collection. We were blown away when we rounded the corner and came across two giant murals on opposite sides of the room.
One was a replica of the Last Supper.
I had no idea that the original painted by Leonardo da Vinci had deteriorated very quickly and many of the features seen in the replica are no longer visible on the original. Several of da Vinci’s students painted the replica roughly 20 years after the original was completed.
These threes paintings are replicas of Rafael’s work created by Sir James Thornhill, almost 200 years after the originals were made.
The rest of the gallery housed everything from classical to contemporary sculptures and paintings.
We ended our day with a lovely soup from the RA café.
…London, England
Street art is everywhere in London but especially on the walls surrounding construction sites. These panels are directly across from Clissold Park.
…Thanks to Dan from No Facilities for hosting CFFC https://nofacilities.com/2025/06/02/things-made-of-metal-cffc/
…thanks to Xing Fu Mama for hosting the Pull Up a Seat Photo Challenge https://xingfumama.blog/2025/05/30/pull-up-a-seat-photo-challenge-2025-week-22/
The V&A East Storehouse officially opens to the public this weekend. Kevin and I were given a private tour of the facility on Thursday by our son Brendan.
Vivienne Chow from Artnet News has written an excellent article about this amazing space and one press release said that ´the museum is the exhibit’ . https://news.artnet.com/art-world/inside-va-east-storehouse-2651021?amp=1
One place where you can actually pull up a seat is here where you can recline back and enjoy this wooden Spanish fresco from the 15th century.
Here are a few more seats to enjoy.
If you live in London or are planning a trip to this great city, the V&A East Storehouse is a must see.
…the bus took 29 stops before we arrived at our destination
By the time we arrived in Piccadilly we needed a coffee. We knew that we were going to a pay a premium price going into the bistro that we chose but we didn’t care. We just wanted a comfortable place to sit, a good cup of coffee and a small treat. We thoroughly enjoyed our coffees and Kevin said that his pain de raisin was the best one he ever had. I checked the prices for the same thing in the art gallery coffee shop and they were very similar. In fact coffee everywhere in London runs about £4 or more in coffee shops.
After being thoroughly caffeinated we headed out to find the Royal Academy of Art. We walked too far and passed some very pricey shops but happened to stumble upon a gallery shop featuring David Hockney. Kevin and I love his work but a single print sells for £80,000.
We had a very nice conversation with gallery administrator about Hockney’s work and she directed us back to the RAA.
The Royal Academy of Art is featuring the drawings of Victor Hugo, the famous French author and play write from the 19th century.
More about the RAA tomorrow…..
What an amazing place. I’ll be writing about our visit in a separate post. If you have any photos of trios to share just copy my link and paste it into your post. I’ll be sure to check it out.
…back to using watercolours
This week Kevin decided to lay down some watercolour onto to paper and then looked for any shapes that emerged and from there created his monsters.
…yesterday we spent quite a bit of time in this lovely little gallery
The Bakery Art Run Gallery is situated on a small side street and is home to the work of 19 artists who curate the work themselves and is always manned by one the artists. On the day we went we met Natalie Kingdoms who specializes in silk screen printing using half tone dots. For more information about the gallery you can check out their website: https://thebakeryartgallery.com/
Mama Cormier 