Despite the brilliant sunshine and the promise of a lovely day, I was feeling a bit the worse for wear after the previous day’s overindulgence courtesy of England’s win over Ireland in the Six Nations rugby and late night celebrations at a local St Patrick Day’s ceili. Still, Alfie was his usual buoyant self and so we ventured out to the train station for the planned walk in Battersea Park.
My heart sank at the sight of the ominous “Engineering works” sign (again!) at my local train station and picking Alfie up, we boarded the Rail Replacement Bus service. Alfie settled down for a snooze in my lap while I tried to summon up the enthusiasm to read something on my iPad. But my mind was a bit of a blur so I did the usual “gaze out the window” whilst trying to blot out the sounds of a fractious baby a few seats ahead. As the bus passed through Barnes, I seriously contemplated aborting the planned mission and spending the afternoon walking around the common and settling into one of the pubs overlooking the lovely village pond.
However, at Barnes station we dutifully waited on the platform for the train to take us to Queenstown Road and struck up a conversation with the owner of a short haired Chihuahua called Minnie who was currently in Cornwall. Alfie was petted and photo’d as we chatted and the short journey passed in a flash.
It’s a 10 minute walk from the station to Battersea Park (although the signs aren’t that helpful) and after a somewhat tortuous journey we were both rather pleased to be finally surrounded by greenery. The AAF did not appear on the park map nor signs telling us where to go so we took a right and trotted along to the Gondola Café which looks out over the lake. Alfie watched the swans, geese and ducks nervously. We continued walking – across grass, past war memorial statues until we spied the distant signs of the Affordable Art Show across a car park.
Affordable Art Fair
I picked up Alfie and in we went. I had phoned in advance to check that dogs would be welcomed and had been assured that they loved dogs. Happiness. I’ve been coming to the AAF for a number of years. In fact, in 2001 I bought a rather nice oil and acrylic from Woodbine Contemporary Arts and on another occasion (when I had somewhat more disposable income than I do now) splashed out a stunning figurative oil painting by Scottish artist Gavin Penn from the Tallantyre Gallery. I was thinking that on this occasion if I bought any art it would probably need to be closer to the £40 end of the spectrum rather than the £4,000 end.
The place was extremely busy – no doubt lots of mums had said that they wished to enjoy Mothering Sunday appreciating art – possibly with the hope of being bought a piece. There were art and studio areas which were inhabited by enthusiastic helpers and joyous kids – no doubt the mums were either enjoying a quiet coffee somewhere or were perched on a stall at the Laithwaites Wine Bar.
Each time I stopped at one of the stalls managed by one of the 120 galleries present, Alfie tended to dominate the conversation rather than the art. There was quite a lot of animal and dog art although most seemed to be focused on Boston Terriers – although I saw a couple featuring Border Collies and Bulldogs. But I wasn’t seeking animal art so we moved on.
There were some excellent lenticular pieces (Wanrooij Gallery had some almost cartoon people with apples and other objects obscuring their faces) – one which really stood out was Superman from one angle and a series of colourful scenes from another. There were some lovely paintings of the power station at StandARTE and some peaceful landscapes at Scotlandart.com. I was absorbed with some intricate paper construction pieces and some huge multi-media pieces.
With Alfie in one arm and a bag on the other it was rather hard to take photos or notes as I walked around. And I could only look longingly at the coffee and wine on offer as I passed the stalls. I was afraid that if I put him on the floor he would either get trodden on or we’d trip someone over with his lead – although he was perfectly content to be held at a level where people could pet him.
There were also some fabulous sculptures made from fine wire mesh in body shapes and some beautiful metal parrot sculptures. My favourite series of paintings were of books – they were arranged in a way that gave the impression of a library with deep, rich colours in immaculate oils. My arms were aching although my credit cards were intact and so we decided to venture back into the sunlight.
Battersea Park
We headed towards the riverside so that we could take in the views of the two bridges. We passed the children’s zoo from where we could hear lots of happy kids having fun. I had wondered about strolling over to the Pump House Gallery but figured that it would probably be a bit of a walk – and I was tiring. So at the Peace Pagoda there were a fair few visitors but we stopped for a while and enjoyed a relatively quiet moment in contemplation.
Then we walked along the river towards the exit – passed the car park. Chatting as we did to some of the numerous people out walking their dogs, and dodging the low level bike thingies that are available for hire. On previous visits I had seen special vehicles on which you could load your children or dogs if you were tired of walking or wanted to get round a bit quicker and I keep meaning to have a go at one of those with Alfie. But not today. We exited the park, walked past the shiny new apartment and hotel developments and that temple to home shopping (the QVC building) and started our journey home.
I noticed that there are some Jubilee events planned for June in the park and also on 17th June a Police Dog Show and Armed Forces Day. And I don’t think dogs are allowed but parents might like to be aware that there is a BBQ at the Children’s Zoo on 19th June.
http://www.batterseapark.org/
http://www.affordableartfair.com/battersea/
