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In the dog days of summer, when the art world is recovering from the Venice Biennale and preparing for Frieze, there’s little for London’s glitterati to get excited about in the capital. But this weekend sees Bethan’s Art Auction at Transition Gallery, an event that should afford some genuine excitement for anyone wanting to buy an affordable piece of art. The auction will see more than 50 works of art go on sale to raise funds for Cotlands, a small South African charity that cares for abused, abandoned, HIV- positive, orphaned and terminally ill children; the fund is named in honour of Bethan Lloyd Bonell, who died at three days old. The mix of work covers painting, illustration, sculpture, photography and printmaking, and contains some well-established names – the likes of Tom Hunter, Melanie Manchot, Antonio Gianasi, Julie Verhoeven, Cathy Lomax, Harry Borden, Maurice Broomfield, Rob Ryan and Marcus Oakley – alongside recent Royal College of Art alumni and prize-winning, emerging artists such as Bianca Brunner, Mimi Leung, Simon Ward, Fumie Kamijo, Rachel Gannon, Katherine Hardy and Sarah Douglas, a South African-born artist who has been selected for this year’s Jerwood Drawing Prize. Douglas is particularly pleased to be represented in the show. ‘Being South African, it’s a cause very close to my heart,’ she says. It’s a cause that should be close to everyone’s hearts, so if you can’t attend the auction, why not visit www.bethansfund.org and make an on-line bid?

Bethan’s Art Auction takes place on 18 August at Transition Gallery, Unit 25a Regent Studios, 8 Andrews Road, London E8