Sunday in the Park with ...

Our walk in the park followed on from a visit to the Threadneedle Prize at Mall Galleries (on till 11 Oct), more of which below.

Across the Mall and down a side road is Horse Guards Parade, a nice white building that was once the headquarters of the British Army. Until 1997, 500 civil servants used to park their cars there; this was known as the "Great Perk" -

(Big bollards)

 In St James Park is an exhibition of photos that capture the 21st century peace of WWI battlefields -

Part of "Fields of Battle, Lands of Peace 14-18"

 The photos are by Michael St Maur Shiels, and the exhibition will be touring the UK and internationally.

Unperturbed by history, people were enjoying the sunshine and the birds and each others' company and people watching and ice creams -

Since 1994 Green Park is the site of the Canada Memorial, which commemorates the million Canadians who fought in the two world wars and the 113,663 who were killed. The sculptor is Pierre Granche; the halves represent Britain and Canada's joint participation in the wars -

The compass aligned to Halifax NS, where most soldiers embarked on troop ships. Under the water are bronze maple leaves -

Further along, at Hyde Park Corner, the Wellington Arch. When it was built (1826-30) the intention was to have it topped by a quadriga (chariot pulled by four horses), but the intention wasn't realised till 1912. Till then it was topped by a statue of the Duke of Wellington - and indeed his residence, No.1 London, is nearby (and very worth visiting to see the splendid booty from his conquest of Napoleon).

Rather than climbing to the top, we went to find our bus ... but now I wish we had. As Tony said, you have to do things (rather than defer them to "another day").

To backtrack to the Threadneedle Prize - this is an annual prize for figurative painting, and the winner gets £20K. This year over 3600 works were entered, and 64 chosen. You can see them all here.

A corner of the exhibition. The work on the right is "Acrylic Paint on Canvas and Stretcher" by James Tailor

A group of smaller works

Paul Dash's pen and ink "The Float" got my vote for Visitors' Choice. The collaged strips blend in, subtly...

I was surprised to see two "drawings on sewn cotton fabric", by Tom Jean Webb. As quilts, they'd get some scathing comments from judges, not least about the use of blanket stitch (large!) around the edges -

"Its Always Hardest to See Right Before the Moonlight"

Untitled - the satin stitch of the outline is carried into the white area by drawing

Again I'm asking "why fabric?" ... you certainly see its draping qualities ...