Rotunda Garden, Smithfield

Seven enthusiastic Art in the Park sketchers turned up on a dry, warm, and ultimately sunny day at the Rotunda Garden, West Smithfield. We were astonished to be greeted by a multi-coloured neon art installation completely covering the resident statue, but soon realised its sketching possibilities. We discovered that this is a new temporary installation entitled Peace by artists Morag Myerscough and Luke Morgan. We were also rather dismayed by the local building projects which fortunately were not in the park, nor in the parts of Smithfield Market which we could see, but the upside was that lots of off-duty builders were available as hunky models, sitting on the installation and around on the benches, having their breakfasts and lunches in the garden. We also got stuck into capturing the Victorian architecture of Smithfield Market, and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves in this undiscovered corner of London. Another visit when the renovations are over, and more of the Victoriana is uncovered, would be worthwhile.