Ten of us had a very surprising time in Leicester Square: the weather was fine, and we were just settling down to careful consideration of the horses of the Hippodrome, the statue of Shakespeare, etc., etc., when we became aware of raucus singing and crowds of men with bottles and football supporters' gear. We had selected the assembly and celebration point for Ajax (a Dutch football team) supporters! They were starting the day early, and would continue in Leicester Square until it became time to move to Tottenham Hotspur's stadium in the late afternoon.
We carried on in the midst of the crowd and rather zonked by the noise, until lunchtime, incorporating the fans as necessary into our artwork. Some of the fans actually admired our sketches and presented us with Ajax stickers, also incorporated into the work. Quite an experience, but rather disruptive for the art; despite the many fascinations of Leicester Square probably not a location to repeat.
Most of us sketched with our normal materials, but one of us completed a woven picture, created by painting two pictures of the same view down one of the streets leading from the square, cutting them into strips, and weaving them together. A lovely mosaic-style picture emerged at the end. We are still trying to work out how she got it to turn out so well. We are all on a learning curve on these Art in the Park days.
We hastened away at our pre-arranged time, to a pre-selected vegetarian restaurant off Regent Street (Titbits). The food was delicious and healthy, and we were able to find a nice large table with natural light, and plenty of space.
After lunch, only two stalwarts continued. We went to Piccadilly Circus, which had tourists and street artists and musicians, as well as Eros in all his glory. We found a secluded nook on the pedestrianised side of the Circus, enjoyed the guitarist-singers and felt that the standard of music was much much higher, and a bit quieter, than at Leicester Square.
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