Autumn Art Fairs

The weather has turned and it’s definitely autumn. Time for art fairs again. This weekend it’s Landmark Arts Centre Autumn Art Fair in Teddington and Affordable Art in Battersea, which is a great place to visit at this time of the year.

Unfortunately I won’t be going to either this time as it’s the annual sibling get together having not put the fairs on my calendar early enough. Bit of a shame as it turns out that one of my artist friends, Ama Menec, will have her bronze red kite sculptures on show at Affordable Art (with Hayloft Gallery - image below copyright Ama Menec), but still, it’s great to see Ama showing her excellent work in the big shows. It was so cool to see her life size buzzard at the Summer Exhibition a couple of years ago.

Instead, I’ll be in (hopefully) sunny Coventry for a weekend of mad catching up with brother, sisters, husbands/wives (ok only one wife) and niece and nephew. We are scattered the length and breadth of the UK so we make sure to get everyone in the same place at least once a year and pick a different location each time so no one gets landed with the longest journey every time. As we spend most of the days and evenings yakking and scouring the locality for the best breakfast and dinner options, the venue is not especially important!

We are actually pretty creative all round, considering we definitely didn’t inherit any interest or skill from the parents. Between us, we have dabbled, to a greater or lesser degree in (not including my painting, sculpture, books, bowls and decorative box making etc.) - wedding cake decoration, interior design/house doctoring, calligraphy, soft toys, felting, cupcake making, handmade books…add in spouses and children and you get jewellery making, music (piano, violin and various other things over the years), a thriving pretzel making business and two other neices over in Ireland who both studied art and design/textiles.

Don’t ask me where all that creativity came from. Maybe it was our keep-yourselves-amused style of upbringing that forced us to make our own entertainment? Who knows, but it keeps us off the streets. And no hope of minimalist décor at home – all those materials to store, instruments in corners and books on many subjects on shelves. Anybody else feel like a house with no books is sooo weird?