Results matching “paint”

Last year, US-based street artist Nether410 painted a mural of Carol Burns, a local resident of Brick Lane/Shoreditch, on Bacon Street (Nether410 Paints "Carol Burns" Street Art on Bacon Street). Recently, the artist returned to London and painted Charlie Burns, who was a popular figure in the area and who would sit in his car here. This wall has seen several incarnations of the local figure, and it replaces one painted by Kevin Ledo (Kevin Ledo Paints "Charlie Burns" Street Art on Bacon Street, London).

Additional work of Charlie Burns that I managed to photograph on this wall is below:

Ben Slow's New Charlie Burns Mural
Street Art: Ben Slow

I do not get to Bristol too often, so I've had to make some guesses to what was painted for Upfest 2018 and then what was painted previously to 2018's Upfest. Bristol has some stunning street art, and its street art scene rivals what is happening in London at the moment. It does have the largest street art festival in Europe, though, and it is the home of Banksy, so I would not expect anything less. I hope you enjoy some of the photographs I captured of Bristol's street art this summer.

Inkie, 2016

Angus

Loch Ness

Birdo

Penfold

Diff

Xenz and Will Barras

Aspire

Unauthorised Heritage

Inkie and Cheba

For Upfest 2018, please follow the below link:

Bristol Upfest 2018

UK-based street artist Dan Kitchener (also known as Dank) has been painting a series of his cityscapes known as "Ghost Cities" to start off the new year well. One of his most popular walls to paint on last year was on Pedley Steet at the corner of Brick Lane. I last covered his work from Bristol' for Upfest 2018, though I know that he had painted at least one other mural on the Pedley Street wall that I wasn't able to photograph in time. Other cityscapes on this wall that have been photographed are included in the links at the bottom of this post.

Unfortunately, the mural has been tagged only a few days after it was put up. But, the scene if of a Tokyo night cityscape with a portrait of an Asian female. The subjects are common with the artist's work.

For more work by Dan Kitchener (DANK) featured in this blog, please read the following links:

Dank Paints 'Ghost Cities - Bristol' for Upfest 2018
Dan Kitchener Paints "Meeting of Styles"
'Future Tokyo and Tokyo Ghosts'
Dank "London Rush"
Dan Kitchener's Street Art on Sclater Street and More
Street Art: Dan Kitchener
"Downtown" Mural by Dan Kitchener
Goswell Road

Yesterday was January 6, and that day (also known as Ephiphany) marks the official end of the Christmas season and the day where all Christmas decorations should be taken down or left up all year to prevent bad omens. I celebrated the end to the season by going to Bankside to watch "the Lions part" perform their 25th traditional Twelfth Night traditional events and celebrations (I've previously been to their Apple Day at Borough Market 'October Plenty'). These traditions included the Green Man (Holly Man) arriving across the river Thames, Wassailing through Bankside, a Mummer's Play, traditional dancing, and the crowning of the King Bean and Queen Pea. I will explain more in detail about these different traditions below. (Last year, I celebrated Twelfth Night at the Geffrye Museum, but the museum is currently closed for a couple of years due to renovations.)

'Ephiphany' comes from a Greek word that means "manifestation", and in Christain religion, this was written as the day when the wise men arrived to see the baby Jesus and presented him with gifts. Further back in time, this time of the year was celebrated as the Winter Solstice when the days start to get lighter earlier again. The Romans called it "Saturnalia", and they spent the time feasting, exchanging gifts, playing games, and swapping social status. They also decorated the buildings with greenery to welcome the promise of spring and warmer months. The bonfire was important to keep a Yule log alight through the dark winter months. A "Lord of Misrule" was appointed on Twelfth Night to conduct the merry-making. These traditions continued throughout the past years with some evolving into indoor Christmas trees, pine branches, and mistletoe and chocolate Yule logs.

The Twelfth Night was the final day of celebrations before people had to return to work in medieval England. What happened on the night was the "topsy turvy" gender and social status reversals, which was one of the traditions carried over from the Roman Saturnalia. Master and slave would have had rules reversed, but in medieval England, the person who found a pea or a bean would be queen or king for the day. The Twelfth Night also meant playing games, drinking, and feasting. 

The celebrations of Twelfth Night started on Bankside about ten minutes prior to the main event with entertainers dressed as drinking pirates firing up the crowd.

When the time came, part of the group paraded through the street of Bankside to arrive at the crowd. These included the bell-ringers and a symbol of the apple tree. They announced the arrival of the Green Man, known as the Holly Man in winter form. The Green Man is meant to arrive by boat on the Thames, but they have not been permitted to arrive by the river for health and safety reasons for the past couple of years.

The Green Man conducted the Wassails. The first one was for the boat, and the second wassail was for the symbolic apple tree present and being carried.

The tradition of wassailing is a rural one. Wassail is a drink of mulled apple cider or ale, and on the Twelfth Night, a group of people would gather together. They would be led by the king and queen of the wassailing party and sing and put drink amongst the apple trees to promote good health and to keep away the evil spirits. If successful, this would produce good harvests. The wassailing can also be done in the town from house-to-house where people would sing and drink the mulled drink. Today, the tradition of caroling replaces wassailing.

The Green Man drank the drink from a wooden bowl, as per tradition, during the Wassail.

The Green Man is a symbol that pre-dates Christianity and has been adopted by Christianity possibly in earlier days to promote pagan conversions to Christainity. He is almost always depicted as male and can be found in cathedrals. He is depicted with vines and branches making up his head or coming from his head. "The Green Man" is also a popular name for English pubs. He has become a motif, and his symbol essentially means "rebirth". 

After the Green Man performed the boat and apple tree wassails, the event continued to the front of the Globe theatre.

We met the mayor of Southwark, who attended the special Twelfth Night event.

The Globe Wassail was then recited.

After this wassail, the event continued with the Mummer's Play. What is a Mummer's Play? A Mummer's Play is a traditional play, and it essentially involves two characters who participate in a sword dance and sword combat; the loser of this combat is then revived by a doctor character. These plays are usually held on special days, such as Halloween, Bonfire Night, Shrove Tuesday, and Twelfth Night.

The primary characters are King George and the main opponent (sometimes called the Turkish Knight as a country of conflict to the nation), a doctor, Father Christmas, and Beelzebub (devil). The mummers would paint their faces and wear their coats inside out, adorning it with colourful rags. 

Mumming was the most popular in the late 19th and early 20th century. It slowed down after the Great War. There are slight variations of the story based on the time of the year.

The Mummer's Play started off with singing and dancing. I was lucky to have a space in the front to watch considering that each aspect of the event required moving and walking around to a different area on Bankside, so it did not matter how early you visited but you needed to be in the right place at the right time.

After the doctor brought King George back to life, the singing and dancing continued, and Twelfth Night cakes were handed out. Traditionally, these are fruit cakes, but the cakes passed out were modern day sponge cakes. A pea or bean could be found in any of the cakes, and this would make the finder the Queen or King of the day.

A little girl found the pea, and she became the queen and had a straw crown and had to also carry a parsnip. An older man found the bean and was crowned, and he had to carry a cabbage and sprouts.

This was then the beginning of the group wassail through the streets from The Globe theatre, through Borough Market, and to the George Inn pub.

The George Inn is a listed building owned by the National Trust and dates from the medieval ages. This is the only surviving galleried coaching innm and it was frequented by Charles Dickens. This part of London had many inns, and one of those was the Tabard, where Chaucer started to write "The Canterbury Tales"; it was demolished in the late 1800s. The George was rebuilt after a fire in Southwark in 1677. These types of inns with galleries were used for Elizabethan theatre productions, called inn-yard theatre. So, this was a perfect place for the continuation of the Twelfth Night celebrations.

The events continued with the "George Inn Wassail" to celebrate the old building, its patrons and drinking. And several people started to drink and enjoy the festivities.

The George Inn also had a wishing tree. A wishing tree is a tree that has spiritual value, and people place offerings on the tree in the hope that the wish is granted. One type of wishing tree is a tree trunk that has coins hammered into it. Some timbers in pubs have a beam for coins to be hammered into them as offerings too. In addition to hammering coins in, pieces of cloth can also be tied to trees as offerings. This tree had ribbons tied to it.

Morris dancers also started to dance at one end of the inn's yard, and the other end of the yard also had traditional dancing, though I am not sure if it was Morris dancing or not.

And, this concludes with the Twelfth Night celebrations. I did not stay at the George Inn for too long because I had had a long day and I went to the celebrations by myself so wasn't really in the mood for hanging around by myself. I did not event attempt to get a drink as I thought that the pub would be busy. However, I enjoyed this event and learning about the traditional aspects of Twelfth Night and celebrating the day or understanding how to celebrate the day as it had been celebrated in the past. I think that it would be very nice if we continued to celebrate this day as in a lot of places, the event and festivities end after Christmas Day. Imagine if we had a few more days to have parties. Spreading it out may make it less stressful.

I'm not exactly sure where 2018 went, but it has been another roller-coaster of a year in which I have been unable to get caught up on most aspects of life. It has been a year of putting in long hours at work, which is something that I did not plan to do again this year, but it started at the end of last year and then carried on for the majority of this year. The one decent aspect about this year is that there has been a sense of stability for me in some aspects, although the workload has been continuously hectic. I am looking forward to seeing what 2019 brings, though I do hope 2019 is stable and relaxed year with new opportunities to travel and to look after myself, which I've been neglecting. I often end up looking after others and putting myself last, which doesn't do me any good at all. Despite that, I did manage to do quite a bit of things this year. Anyway, I will cut to some of the more memorable moments of 2018 now.

January: This month started with a continuation of December's workload where I was putting in long hours and working two jobs. The other job was carried on from my previous employer who won a project and then did not have the resources to complete the project after my contract ended; I agreed to help them out and did so until the middle of April. I enjoyed the project and it was for a huge brand. 

I did manage to take an evening off to spend Twelfth Night and Farewell Party at the Geffrye Museum. The Geffrye Museum is a museum dedicated to the British home and how it has changed throughout the centuries. The museum closed for renovations in January and is to remained closed for at least a couple of years, so the annual Twelfth Night celebrations were also a Farewell Party. I could not stay for too long, but the celebrations had a great community feeling, and I enjoyed the carol-singing and entertainment.

One of the most delicious and unique treats that I ate this year was a "wheelcake", which is inspired from Taiwan. "Wheelcake Island" is the name of the street food vendor that sells them, and they set up shop at Brick Lane Market, although at the time of writing this, they are now located in Spitalfields Market. I attempted to buy from them three additional times, but they were either shut or I failed to locate them in Spitalfields, and it's now the end of the year and I've not been able to get back. The "wheelcake" is similar to a waffle or pancake and filled with a choice of traditional bean filling, matcha, custard, or custard with chocolate (which is the one I tried). 

One of January's events that I had been most looking forward to since the middle of previous year was the return of London Lumiere, a four-day light art installation show that was held across multiple locations in London during the darkest month. It was last hosted a couple of years ago, and I loved it. This year's installations were spread out over a larger area of the city to reduce the over-crowding that the previous event suffered, and there were a few gems, but I felt that the previous Lumiere was better. The highlights were the projections onto Westminster Abbey, which was shown the previous year, the rose window powered by energy from cycling, a giant globe at Oxford Circus, an immersive blue fog at King's Cross Granary Square, and glowing portals at Jermyn Street.

Also, Canary Wharf's Winter Lights also took place again, and this is now an annual staple (similar to London Lumiere but on a smaller scale and limited to Canary Wharf) that appears to have replaced the Ice Sculpting Festival that they used to host. Overall, a nice selection of work could be seen, but not all of the installations could be displayed on some days due to the windy weather. I loved the interactive glowing blocks and the sphere. 

February: February was another busy month for me, and I spent the majority of my time working. The weather was unusually cold, so I did not mind staying in and working hard. This year, Pancake Day and Valentine's Day were on consecutive days. As I am currently not working on Brick Lane or in any place where I could watch a pancake race, I had a quiet Pancake Day lunch not far from the new office in Chiswick in an American bakery/restaurant known as Outsider Tart.

At the weekend, I enjoyed Valentine's Day Enchanted Rose Afternoon tea at Kona Taj 51 Buckingham Gate. Kona Taj 51 has been on my radar for themed afternoon teas, so I had to give the venue a try for their Valentine's Day afternoon tea. The highlight for me were the heart-shaped rose and almond-flavoured scones. They are the best scones that I have had, and thinking about them makes my mouth water. I would love to have them again.

March: "The Beast from the East" arrived at the end of February and continued in early March with snowfall and freezing temperatures, which brought more travel chaos for the first half of the month. I looked forward to a trip to Disneyland Paris in the middle of the month, and by then, the weather wasn't too dreary or cold. This year marked the 25th anniversary of Disneyland Paris, and a special "Star Wars" event was held until the end of the month at Disneyland Paris. I am a huge fan of "Star Wars", so visiting while the special "Star Wars" events were taking place was awesome.

This was my third visit to Disneyland Paris. I went on the rides, watched the illuminations/fireworks and the parade, had meals at some nice places, and went to the Buffalo Bills dinner entertainment. I spent just over two days here,  and I cannot believe just how busy Disneyland Paris has become since my last visit ten years ago, and that visit was in high season in summer.

April: April was yet another busy month with work, so I did not get to do many social events, but I did get to attend Secret Cinema "Blade Runner". Secret Cinema is immersive cinema; the audience become a part of the film and are given an identity following the theme of the film to participate in different activities before sitting down to watch the film itself. Inside the secret location near Bermondsy, the city was reconstructed with street food vendors, a nightclub, and offices. Other actors and actresses make it come to life. Oh, and it actually rained inside the building in the busy "street" set in the metropolis created to look like it was out of the film. It was great!

Toward the end of April, the weather finally improved, and one of the best days for the weather was the day that I visited Fes-tea-val for National Tea Day at Chiswick House. I discovered historic teaware from other parts of the world and walked around the food market. I actually bought so much from the food market that I struggled to get it back home, though getting to Chiswick isn't an easy journey for me. I had won a prize but sadly did not realise that I'd won the raffle until I had already left.

The last event of April was a christening, and the weather turned chilly again. After the christening at the church in Bournemouth, all of us went out for lunch at Neo's Restaurant in Bournemouth. We had some really cool cocktails served in glasses shaped like pineapples. After lunch, we went back to the house to have cake and chat.

May: The month kicked off with a beautiful and warm Bank Holiday. I finally got to tick an item off my bucket list, and that item was to see a bluebell forest. I have seen photographs, but I had actually never seen a bluebell forest in real life. I was very impressed, and the bluebell forests at Ashridge Estate in Hertfordshire were so beautiful that my photographs cannot do them justice. After talking a couple of walks recommended by the National Trust as the best trails to see the bluebells, I stopped at Berkhamstead Castle a few miles away from the Ashridge Estate and had lunch along the canal. Berkhamstead is a beautiful village, and I'd love to go back to visit it.

Additional time this month was spent with friends and family who came to visit, to attend a birthday party, and included another visit to Bournemouth. While in Bournemouth, I wanted to go to Corfe Castle as I have never been there despite driving past it a few times and spending a good deal of my time in Bournemouth at university. We all ended up going to the village of Corfe Castle and visited Corfe Castle Model Village, which was followed by warm tea at the National Trust tearoom. I also had a quick tour around the castle at Corfe Castle on my own.

At the end of the month, everyone was talking about the Royal Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. To celebrate, I enjoyed Royal Wedding Afternoon Tea at The Royal Horseguards. The pastries did look stunning and were served well, but this was not the best afternoon tea experience that I've had. The service was incredibly slow, and the food wasn't great.

This month also provided me with the best dessert that I had this year. I found it at Alto by San Carlo at Selfridges. This rooftop Italian restaurant is decorated with vines of flowers across the ceiling, giving it a summery feel. The pistachio tart was delicious; I am not in this part of London often but did attempt to return one time when I was in the area, only to be turned away because they did not have space. I really want to go back and eat this again!

June: June is my birthday month, and this year was an important birthday. I had a couple of big holiday plans but fell short of booking them as I needed to watch my spending until May because of last year's renovations. I'd booked the time off but had to cancel due to work, and the most that I could take off was a long weekend. 

I had never been to Milan before, but it has been on my bucket list; I booked a short trip to Milan (Birthday Trip to Milan). Milan is a working city, but the people were friendly and I enjoyed good gelato and good food, and the city offered a small selection of attractions made this achievable in a long weekend. I got to see Milan Duomo, which is the largest cathedral in Europe and third largest cathedral in the world. I also got to see the famous Da Vinci painting "The Last Supper". My favourite day there was on my birthday. After an early morning start, I got back to the hotel and enjoyed Prosecco and birthday cake with the balcony opened. Shortly after I'd returned to the hotel, a singer started to sing outside on the street right below my hotel window. He was singing/playing old jazz, which is one of my favourite types of music, and he was fantastic.

The last full day was spent on a day trip to Lake Como where we had a short time to spend in Como before going on a boat ride from Como to Bellagio to see the famous villas owned by celebrities and used in films. Unfortunately, this wasn't the best trip because the tour company's audio and transport equipment did not work, so we did not get much out of it. The weather that day had also changed and was rainy and colder. Besides the boat trip, which took a long while, we spent a little bit of time exploring as much of Bellagio as we could. This is a nice village on the lakeside, and a series of steps can be climbed to an upper road with tourist shops along it. It was a picturesque place.

July: The highlight of my year was July. After a hard-working June, my working hours became a little bit more manageable. Also, from the end of June and throughout July, the weather was wonderful; it was hot and sunny. At the beginning of the month, I had a last-minute Fourth of July BBQ (which doubled as birthday and engagement parties) that a few friends came to. The weather was perfect for it.

In the middle of the month, the annual MINI event in Poole, "Quay For My Car" (MINIs in Poole Quay), took place. I met up with friends and saw classic and new MINI cars. This event used to take place in three months over summer, but it now only takes place in one month and always happens on a Friday early evening.

My friends from America had also come to visit and were staying in Manchester. The next morning, I went to Manchester for the weekend and then spent a day in London with them. It was a whirlwind trip, and I have not managed to post about everything we got up to. The first stop was that we had Brunch at The Alchemist in Manchester, and then we had fun looking at Manchester's street art before visiting Manchester's Cat Cafe. We toured BBC Media City the following day.

At the end of July, I had a long weekend in Norfolk. I had been to the city of Norwich twice before, but this trip allowed me to see Norfolk, and I was able to spend nearly three days in the area. I originally visited to see the charity sculpture trail GoGoHares! Hop Around Norwich and Norfolk, but I also had some time for sight-seeing. I visited Baconsthorpe Castle, Caister Castle and Caister Castle Car Collection. I hope that I am able to get back to see more of the area and have equally excellent weather for it in 2019.

The last amazing attraction that I saw at the end of the month was Hell-Fire Caves. These man-made caves have a wealth of history and many stories surrounding the Hell-Fire Club, and I loved the tour. I had no idea that something like this existed. I have recommended this place to a few people as it's really neat and someplace I had not heard of before.

August: Unfortunately, the wonderful weather did not stick around for August. Near the middle of the month, I had a long weekend in Bristol for the bloke's birthday and expected to see Gromit Unleashed 2.0, the newest charity sculpture trail, and the Bristol Balloon Festival. Despite a promising start very early on the first morning (we arrived the night before), the weather was dismal and the Balloon Festival was cancelled. I had lived in the area for a few years and had never been to the Balloon Festival, so it is still on my list. I was really disappointed. 

I went to two more charity sculpture trails in August. The second one was Hoodwinked!, which featured many large-scale robins dressed as Robin Hood in Nottingham. I also went to see Minerva's Owls of Bath at the end of the month for a day, but I only ended up seeing very few and the weather was not kind. Overall, I found August to be a very disappointing month.

September: I guess that the first day in September felt like it needed to make up for the wash-out August, so we had a day of unexpected heatwave. This was spent (caught off-guard) on Bournemouth's Beach with thousands of other people and family to watch the Bournemouth Air Show. This year marked 100 years of the RAF (Royal Air Force), so this aspect was brought into the display.

Autumn this year was all about weddings. I had three weddings to attend, and all three were within six weeks of each other. Two of the weddings took place in September. The first wedding was the wedding of my good friends Andrew, who I have known for years, and Agnes. Agnes' and Andrew's Wedding took place at the Wokefield Estate near Reading, and I stayed overnight at the venue to help them celebrate into the early hours.

The second wedding was held in rural Kent at the end of the month, and we had surprise sunny weather. It was to celebrate Mini and Chris, a really lovely couple that I've only got to know in the past few years and hope to spend more time with.

October: The final wedding was held at the end of October for my cousin Elizabeth and her fiance Brian in America, so my October focused on a nearly-two week visit to Ohio. I have been hoping to return to Ohio for autumn for nearly fifteen years and nearly went last year but did not get to due to my work situation. Autumn is my favourite season, and I love the colourful autumns in Ohio where a couple of weeks of warm weather (Indian Summer) can be enjoyed before the cold weather sets in. Unfortunately, Ohio's weather has been odd this year and the leaves were not changed when I arrived in the middle of the month, and after the first few days, the weather was not great. 

I've always wanted to go to the Circleville Pumpkin Show, so I planned to go to Ohio in the middle of the month so that I could go when it was on. I really enjoyed trying the pumpkin-flavoured foods and exploring the pumpkins. I really wanted to watch the parades and stay later, but we did not get to and it ended up being a very rushed trip, so I want to go back again and see it properly.

I also met up with friends. I went with friends to "Wine Your Way Out" wine-tasting in a corn maze, followed by a hay ride around the corn field. I also went to Utica to the Velvet Ice Cream Factory with my mother and then out to eat with her father and step-mother (my grandparents), and her sister and brother-in-law (my aunt and uncle). 

The highlight was the trip to Hocking Hills state park where part of my cousin's wedding celebrations were due to take place. We arrived early and had fun walking on three of the trails (Old Man's Cave, Cedar Falls, and Ash Cave) before the weather got worse. We stayed in a lovely cabin while we attended the wedding celebreations. We saw some awesome places, and you can read all about the visit by reading this post, where I have included everything that I got up to and a wealth of knowledge; many of the hints and tips were from the bride and groom.

The month ended with the wedding of Elizabeth and Brian at the orchard with a reception at Hocking Hills, which was great fun. The sad part was having to leave and then get back to normality. Work was crazy-busy when I returned.

November: November brought me back into reality and kept me busy. I got to see the local Ruislip Bonfire Night fireworks a few days after I returned from being away. I always thought fireworks should happen in July, but I now have a fondness for seeing them light up the sky in the crisp early November evenings with the smell of firework smoke and bonfire in the air.

Armistice Day was also a big deal this year as it marked 100 years since the end of World War I, and a couple of art installations took place in London. The first one was candle-lighting at the Tower of London for the week up to the 11th of November (The Tower Remembers).

My favourite of the art installations was "Shrouds of the Somme", a large-scale art installation representing the scale of the lives lost during the battle in the trenches in France. The names of the soldiers who died and their rank, division, and home towns were all read out. It was very moving and sombre.

November is Thanksgiving, and Thanksgiving fell early this year. I had an evening Thanksgiving dinner organised by the Benjamin Franklin House, and it took place in the beautiful Clothworker's Hall in the City of London. This was a traditional-style Thanksgiving dinner with complete strangers and other American expats.

At the end of the month, I went to the New Forest to the Christmas at Beaulieu event. This was the first Christmassy event that I went to this year. There were many different installations and light shows, and I enjoyed the light show on the front of the house and the Christmas tree lights, which were in time to the Christmas music being played. It was a very festive evening.

December: December was eventful for me. First of all, I took a walk around London to look at the Christmas lights and then I had drinks at Christmas Cocktails @ Miracle at Henrietta. I loved this pop-up bar with the festive drinks and festive vintage Christmas decorations, but it was always too busy to get in. I would love if they made this permanent and a larger venue; it was so popular. 

I also finally got to go to Peggy Porschen's Cakes cafe: A Christmas Visit to Peggy Porschen Bakery. I've been wanting to visit Peggy Porschen's for a long while. I visited early in the morning during the week and had a hot chocolate and a cupcake and sat outside. This cafe is picturesque, and I spent the remainder of the day looking at a few Christmas lights and displays and visited the new "Peanuts" comic strip exhibition at Somerset House (I'll be covering this next month).

Right before the holidays, I went with a couple friends to Festive Afternoon Tea at Jean-Georges, The Connaught Hotel London. We were looked after very well and enjoyed the festive afternoon tea.

Japanese pop artist Yayoi Kusama, popular for her large flower and pumpkin sculptures, has a new exhibition on at Victoria Miro galleries in Islington, London. Last year, she had a popular sell-out exhibition in London, so this was a smaller-scale one. The exhibition is free to visit and available in timed slots from the beginning of October until the middle of December, though it is now fully-booked. For those who did not get to go, the photographs and write-up will (I hope) make up for it in some way.

The gallery was separated into four parts. The first part was upstairs at the "Infinity Mirrored Room". Visitors were put into a queue system in order to go into the small room, and between three and five people entered the room at a time. Once inside, we got to look at the mirrored colour-changing orbs for a whole fourty-five seconds, which went super-quickly. Personally, I think we should have been given slightly longer and it was a lot to take in after just arriving and rushing to get to the gallery. (The gallery is a little over a twelve-minute walk from the closest tube stations, so commuting, waiting, and being ushered in for such a short time was what I found difficult to get into the mindset. This was a pity because I felt that it was the star of the exhibition.)

After the mirrored room, the exhibition continued downstairs with a room full of paintings and pumpkins. The colours of the room were the primary colours of red, yellow and green. A pumpkin sculpture of each colour was in the room, and the paintings hung on the walls featured pumpkins or dots, which created patterns.

The next part of the exhibition led to an outside garden behind the galleries. This area included a little pond and trees and was a perfect setting for the giant and colourful flowers that Yayoi Kusama is known for. (The collection of the flowers is called "FLOWERS THAT SPEAK ALL ABOUT MY HEART GIVEN TO THE SKY"). For those readers who have ever visited Lille in France, her giant flower sculptures are located right outside the train station there. The outside area had three of these flowers. As my time slot for the exhibition was in the late afternoon on a rainy day, capturing the sculptures was a challenge.

After seeing the outside terrace, the exhibition continued in the neighbouring building and on a ride up an elevator to the first floor where several large-scale paintings were hung on the walls. The series of artwork is in Kusama's "My Eternal Soul" collection. The collection uses bright and solid colours with various illustrations, shapes and patterns.

This was the last room in the exhibition. Visitors could spend as long as they wanted in the other rooms to admire the art. Overall, I spent about thirty minutes at the exhibition. The highlight was the infinity mirrored room, though I do like the large pumpkin sculptures too. I was less keen on the last room of the exhibition. I did not get to go to the exhibition last year, so I cannot comment on how this exhibition compared. 

For the past few years, I have made an effort to celebrate Thanksgiving in London, even though it is a totally American holiday. Explaining the holiday to my British friends and colleagues is always meant with bemusement, although they are aware of "Black Friday" and associate it with that, and this is one aspect of the holidays that is unwelcome to me and paints a poor image of America. I think most people have heard the stories about greedy people fighting over sale items and waiting hours outside the shops for them to open so they can grab bargains. "Black Friday" has never been of any interest to me, and I am sad that it has taken over more of people's minds whereas Thanksgiving Day, a holiday worth celebrating, seems to be forgotten. I love Thanksgiving for many reasons; I love that it brings people together and it is a time to reflect. As a child, I also loved watching the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (please allow us to watch this in the UK, television networks!) Thanksgiving ushers in the Christmas season.

Of course, we do not get the day off of work, so most of my Thanksgivings have actually been spent working. This one was also spent working, but I had lined up Thanksgiving dinner in the evening after work. This was arranged and organised through the Benjamin Franklin House, named after the man who lived here, who was one of America's founding fathers. I'm actually going to see the house in a couple of weeks, so keep on checking back for photographs and a write-up.

The Thanksgiving Day feast took place in the Clothworker's Hall, one of London's famous livery companies or guilds. These companies were set up to ensure that standards, fairness, and consistency were maintained in the different areas of expertise. The halls tend to be lavishly decorated, as you can see from my photographs. Clothworker's Hall is located near Fenchurch Street station.

On entering, each guest received a glass of mulled wine, which was then topped up for the next twenty minutes while we waited to sit inside the main hall. I do not generally care for mulled wine, but this one was sweet and did not taste much like red wine, so it was good. I met a couple new people here - New Jersey and my home state of Ohio.

The table accommodated a large number of guests, and there must have been about seventy people. I wasn't able to capture the full length of the table, but you can get an idea above and also see how lavish the main hall looks.

We had flattened leaves on our placemats!

Then, the turkey arrived, and it was followed by all of the sides. Each "area" of dishes served six to eight people. The sides included cornbread (the good sweet kind as opposed to the more savoury kind), a mixture of roast carrots/sweet potato, green beans, mashed potato, roasted baby onions (I've not come across these before), stuffing, and the turkey. Gravy and cranberry sauce were available to have as well.

The turkey came out with a miniature American flag, which was a nice touch.

Overall, it was really nice to meet new people. I met people from New Jersey, Ohio (my home state), Illinois, Mississippi, and Texas. Most had been in London a short time or were just visiting. Topics of discussion ranged from travel to music to auctions to food to work. Just like that, the time flew!

For dessert, we had pumpkin pie and then seconds of more pumpkin pie. This was served with whipped cream, and it was a good traditional American pumpkin pie. After pie, we were treated to coffee (or tea) and a chocolate.

On the way out, I captured the beautiful little room on the side at the top of the staircase, which contains an old stained glass window.

The window is dedicated to Samuel Pepys, who was a member of Clothworkers. Pepys was an MP, naval administrator, and was famous for having a diary that has proved important historical use. He wrote about the Great Fire of London, the Plague, and many more events and details about London that would have been lost forever if he had not written them down.

Overall, Thanksgiving Day this year was fun, but it was over so quickly. I had such a nice time meeting new people and enjoying the good food that the time flew! (Also, it did not help that work was busy and I rushed across London.) This was the most traditional Thanksgiving that I have had in London, and I recommend it for American visitors/expats and also for British people who want to experience a traditional American Thanksgiving. With that said, Happy Thanksgiving (or belated Happy Thanksgiving)! 

Previous Thanksgivings that I have eaten at various venues in London are below:

Thanksgiving Lunch @ Jackson + Rye, Chiswick
Thanksgiving at The Jones Family Project
Thanksgiving at Balthazar (Covent Garden)
Thanksgiving at Christopher's Restaurant in London (Covent Garden)

This November marked 100 years since the Great War (World War I) ended, and an art installation by Rob Heard was brought to the Olympic Park for two weeks. The art installation features 72,396 shrouded figures laid out in rows, covering 400 square meters of grass land next to the ArcelorMittal Orbit sculpture. Each shrouded figure represents a British person who was killed at the Battle of the Somme. Most of these have no known grave in the battlefield because they were never recovered. The shrouds have all been hand-stitched so that they appear as though they are sleeping. Some visitors have put poppies and painted rocks on or near the figures. The installation hopes to bring about some individuality to each and every Briton who perished at this battle.

The list of names is from the Thiepval Memorial in France. These names were read out in the upper part of the installation; the area was so vast that you could not hear the names read out (and on speaker) at the other end of the installation. According to an article by the BBC, around 700,000 Britons died during World War I, so image how much ground that would cover if each one was laid out (1). 

The Battle of the Somme took place in July of 1916 when the British soldiers stormed out of the trenches to attack the German forces in France. The battle actually lasted for 141 days with massive casualities on both sides. Because of the nature of the battle and the battle making the bodies unretrievable, the soldiers who fell were never identified and left to remain buried in the mud and trenches. To equally commemorate all of these soldiers, the War Graves Commission built the Thiepval Memorial. This was built in France above the battlefields and lists all names, role, and where they were from.

The art installation is moving and really brings to light the scale of the Battle of the Somme by putting it into a unique perspective. The artist made up to 200 of these shrouds a day and started the task in 2017.

Four years ago, several different art installations and events took place throughout the country to mark the 100 years since the start of World War I; the most popular of these turned out to be Tower of London Poppies (also covered here: Tower of London Poppies Commemorate The Great War and #LightsOut). This year, to mark the end of World War I, we have had fewer events. The artist who brought the popular poppies installation to The Tower of London has returned with The Tower Remembers @ The Tower of London (Beyond the Deepening Shadow) as one of the key events, which was only on for a week. Both art installations are equally moving in their own ways.

Visitors to the "Shrouds of the Somme" art installation could also purchase a shroud. The shroud was either given a soldier's name who fought in the battle or can be ordered to include a random name from the battle. (This was similar to the poppies where the public could purchase one of the poppies that made up the display in the Tower of London.)

In addition to these two events, the wave of poppies toured the country for the past four years to give others who could not make it to the Tower of London the chance to see them. They became one of London's most popular art installations in more recent years. The wave of poppies ends this month with the final installation climbing up the Imperial War Museum in south London. (Photographs will follow of this in due course.)

The "Shroud of the Somme" was available to view in the Olympic Park from the 8th to the 18th of November. 

1) Viewpoint: Ten Big Myths about World War I. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25776836 [24 February, 2014].

The huge wall of the Village Underground in Shoreditch has now had a new mural painted onto it. The new mural, painted by Spanish street artist Sr X (Senor X), was finished only a couple of weeks ago and features graphic illustrated vintage-style expressions with Chinese or Japanese text and imagery. The new mural is titled "The Rapture" and really grabs attention.

Previous work that I covered by Sr.X is located on the following links:

Sr. X (Señor X) "The Itching" Street Art off Brick Lane
New Sr X Octopus on Hackney Road
Sr.X Paints Village Underground Wall
Sr.X "Buy Shit!" Sign on Village Underground
Sr X Collaborates with Zabou

Many weeks ago, I went to Bath to see Minerva's Owls, a sculpture trail of over 80 painted owl sculptures available to auction to raise money for different charities local to Bath. The weekend that I visited them was a wash-out, so I did not get to see many of the sculptures and vowed to return if they had an event showing them all in one place, which they did. The owl sculptures, which were on display until the 10^th of September, were brought together at the Bath Rugby Grounds for their final public event at the end of September before the auction.

Oswold by Charlotte and Claire Self

Below are photographs of the owls during their final public event before the auction. All 82 owls were auctioned in mid-October, and the owls raised nearly £140,000 for charity. 

Nocturnowl by Annabel Menheneott

The Owl and the Pussycat by Jane Veveris Callan

Forest Stump by Jane Robinson

Forest Stump by Jane Robinson

Basanti by Elysia Paterson

Cosmos the Owlstranaut by Tony Hitchcock

Spokes by Perry Harris

Octavius by Joanna Dewfall; Cosmic Allen by Cheba; Speculo by Bath Aqua Glass community project; Street Wise Owl by Laura Fearn

Golden Civetta by Josie Bahar

Emma the Community Rail Owl by Keynsham ArtSpace/Joe Tymkow

Emily by Vera Carbin

JK Owling by Jo McCarron

Digitowl by John Gould

Owls

Lumin15 by James Aveling

The owls that fetched the highest prices at auction were the mosaic 'Octavius', which received £7,500 and JK Owling, which made £5,500.