Regents, Roses and Reading

Another weekend in London!

Today I set off early. The weather forecast predicted rain for the afternoon so I figured I'd want to do all my outdoorsy stuff in the morning.

So I hopped on a bus to Regent's Park (which I somewhat surprisingly have never been to before).

They have a Frieze Sculpture exhibition on at the moment, which is the main reason I went this particular weekend. Here are some photos of some of the works that caught my eye...

'L'Age d'Or (Green and Red)' by Gavin Turk

This was a beautiful first sculpture to come across. It was just so mystical and fantastical. Very 'Alice in Wonderland'-y. And such a beautiful setting with the backdrop of trees. I expected to walk through the door and come out in another land/ world/ universe/ reality...

'Torso' by Eric Fischl

'Lupine Tower' by Arne Quinze

'Torre di Saba' by Gianpietro Carlesso

'The Plait' by Kalliopi Lemos

I quite like the way the light illuminates the outer edges of the plait as it hits the sculpture from behind... And I also quite like how the giant plait could almost semi-disguise itself as a dark tree trunk.

'Five Conversations' by Lubaina Himid

'Untitled 1 (Bronze Bodybuilders)' by David Altmejd

Apart from the mystical door at the beginning, this sculpture was my favourite.

Brings a whole new meaning to 'bodybuilders' - a man seemingly forming and constructing his own body, multiple hands scraping and shaping the bright white.

'Humans-Animals-Monsters' by Patrick Goddard

So after browsing the sculptures I decided to spend some time slowly admiring the park itself.

I didn't actually go too far around the park, spending most of the time in the rose garden of Queen Mary's Gardens, where I took the time to stop and smell almost every type of rose.

'Rock & Roll'

'Nostalgia'

One type of rose was called 'Rachel'!

But my favourite by far was this beautifully bright yellow rose which somehow magically smelt of lemons (and reminded me of my yellow umbrella), suitably called 'Keep Smiling'.

After pulling myself away from the roses I found myself in a water area (I'm not even sure if it has a name) which was beautiful too!

View from the top of the waterfall

Looking up the waterfall

They're so easy to photograph.

And so after photographing the little tracks and gardens and trees and wildlife, I stopped off for lunch on a bench in the rose garden (where a number of magpies and pigeons joined me, waiting eagerly for some morsel to be dropped) before walking half an hour eastwards...

This morning, when I was finalising what I might like to do today, and browsing what places of interest were nearby Regent's Park, I found that the Wellcome Collection's Reading Room was surprisingly open to the public, and there was only one space left available to book (entry time 12pm - another reason why I set off early this morning).

Having been here once before I knew I'd want to return again, and now, due to limited entry to help social distancing, is the perfect time to visit, since it is so empty. At times there was only me and one other person in the room. It was lovely to have some peace and quiet.

In one section of the Reading Room is a desk set up with a mirror (like on a vanity desk) and a sign encouraging people to draw self-portraits. And so I sat down to draw.

I then also did a little sketch of the room from a position halfway up the grand red-carpeted stairway.

And then after my sketching I settled down into one of the cushioned chairs by a window, opened up my own book ('Hopscotch' by Julio Cortazar - I have a lot to read before it's due back in the library next weekend!) and just let myself read for a while.