Results matching “paint”

A couple of weekends ago, I visited Bristol to take part in the charity sculpture walk "Gromit Unleashed". I have been looking forward to this since January, when I first heard about it. Bristol hosted Wow! Gorillas in Bristol a couple of years ago, and I enjoyed visiting them and interacting with the mobile phone application that enabled me to find them and to mark them as discovered. This may sound a little bit sad, but I have been looking forward to "Gromit Unleashed" more than anything else this year.

'Bunty' by Paula Bowles

For those readers who do not know, Gromit is the famous canine in the Wallace and Gromit short animations. Gromit appeared in a full-length feature film a few years ago called 'The Curse of the Were-Rabbit'. Aardman Studios, the company that created Wallace and Gromit, also created the film Chicken Run. 

'Salty Sea Dog' by Peter Lord; 'The King' by Stephen McKay; 'Bark at Ee' by Leigh Flurry - outside Aardman Studios

Aardman Studios are based in Bristol, and they, along with many other businesses in and around Bristol, are sponsoring the "Gromit Unleashed" sculpture charity trail. The sculptures feature Gromit, painted and interpreted by artists; there are eighty of these unique Gromit sculptures to be discovered. All money made from merchandise and apps purchased, as well as the sale of the Gromits at the auction this fall, will be donated to Bristol Children's Hospital. This is for a good cause and gets artists and the public involved.

'What a Wind Up!' by Trevor Bayliss

I have added a few photographs of some of my favourite photographs and Gromits. (I'll also be adding another entry to display even more photographs from my weekend of discovering Gromits.) Each Gromit is uniquely designed: from comical Gromits covered with a bucket of black paint to strawberry Gromits to blueprint-machine Gromits to Union Jack Gromits to astronaut or pirate Gromits.

'Being Gromit Malkovich' by Thomas Dowdeswell; 'Watch Out, Gromit' by Gerald Scarfe; 'Gromberry' by Simon Tozer; 'Gromit-o-Matic' by Donough O'Malley; 'Jack' by Martin Band; 'Astro' by Ignition DG

I have selected a few nice Gromits to showcase. More information about these selected Gromits is below.

Tim Miness was inspired by the Bristol engineer (and creator of the Clifton Suspension Bridge), Isambard Kingdom Brunel. He created a gorilla sculpture a couple of years ago for Wow! Gorillas. Since the gorilla was so well-received, he used the same idea for his Isambark Kingdog Brunel sculpture, shown below. The detail on the back side of the sculpture shows a painting with a scene of a rocket from Wallace and Gromit above the Clifton Suspension Bridge, an icon of Bristol and work of Brunel.

'Isambark Kingdog Brunel' by Tim Miness

The Royal Mint worked with artist Stephanie Roberts to create a mosaic using ten thousand one pence pieces. The medallian on the back side of the Gromit was designed by Wallace and Gromit creator Nick Park.

'National Treasure' by The Royal Mint

Gav Strange's Gromit uses interesting typography and imagery to display statistics and facts about Aardman and 'Wallace and Gromit'. I have photographed a few of these and included them below.

'Stat's the way to do it, Lad!' by Gav Strange

Tom Deams' Gromit sculpture of a Gromit dressed as a super hero includes a street art mural. Deams is a street artist based in Bristol. (It was nice to see Gromit with street art and to see Wallace and Gromit looking very street.)

'Hero' by Tom Deams

Joanna Lumley created a poetry-laden Gromit that is painted with fragments of poems. Sadly, this Gromit was damaged by vandals about a day after the launch of the exhibit. I was happy to see it repaired and back on the street.

'Poetry in Motion' by Joanna Lumley

The following Gromit was created by the creator of 'Wallace and Gromit', Nick Park. He wanted to create a Gromit with witty headlines as used in the films. 

'Newshound' by Nick Park

Julie Vernon's Gromit is golden; it was inspired by golden Buddha statues in Thailand and the post boxes painted gold for the Olympic games (Gold Post Boxes Celebrate Olympic Gold Medals). 

'Golden Gromit' by Julie Vernon

Sarah Matthews was inspired by the city of Bristol to create these illustrations with scenes of the city.

'Ship Shape and Bristol Fashion' by Sarah Matthews

After a day of visiting as many of the Gromits in the city centre as possible, I stopped off at the hotel in Clifton where I enjoyed views of the Clifton Suspension Bridge. I also enjoyed a Gromit-shaped shortbread and chocolate biscuit.  

Gromit biscuits

Have you been to see the Gromits yet? Which one is your favoruite?

One of my favourite street artists has been busy painting on the east London streets. I saw him painting on the wall that was updated with many of his pieces during the Olympics last year. I originally covered his work in the article: Street Art: Don Smith. 

Paul 'Don' Smith's newest work near Brick Lane: Frank Sinatra

On the Thursday of the week before last, I saw him half-way through painting a portrait of Jimi Hendrix while I popped out of the office in the middle of the afternoon to get a drink. By the time it was time to leave work at 18:00, the work was finished. I watched as he completed some of the fine detail on Hendrix using a spray can of white paint. I recognised his style immediately. I was really excited to see him painting, and we had a quick chat. I told him that I really liked seeing his work and he mentioned being in the area recently to correct his Nelson Mandela portrait (located on Brick Lane near the train bridge) that had been tagged over.

Don Smith adds highlights and detail to the Jimi Hendrix painting; the finished painting; the stencil on the ground with cans of paint.

On the Friday that just passed, I was on my way out of the office at 18:00 when I saw Paul Don Smith painting on the same wall again, over the top of paste-ups that covered the Olympic Gold Medalist pieces. He was just starting the Frank Sinatra piece that I pictured above. He had not been there long as I watched him in the first stage of painting a new portrait over a stencil.  This time, he had placed his famous Banker tag image on what looked like a tube map so that others would recognise him. This did the trick as a little crowd had formed, and a couple of the people knew the Banker image and called him "Tap-man." He responded by spray-painting the banker image onto items before continuing with his street art. I asked him for one, and he recognised me from the previous week as we had chatted for a few minutes. 

I had the Banker image spray-painted inside my sketch book that I keep inside my handbag. This really made my day to get a copy of the famous Banker tag to take away with me.

Unfortunately, I could not stay to watch or document the work being finished. Trains out of London were delayed, and I had had an exhausting week at work. 

Paul Don Smith uses a stencil to paint a portrait; the first stage of the portrait is complete; the Banker image spray-painted onto a tube map with a rolled-up stencil and cans of spray paint; Don Smith painting the Banker image for a fan and photographs of the Banker image in my sketchbook with the street art in the background.

While exploring east London in the past few months, since I last published the original article about the street artist, I have discovered other pieces. Many of these are new. 

A weeping queen near Nude Espresso (image has recently been painted over); image of Union Jack on a shutter on Brick Lane; Johnny Cash on Hanbury Street (2013); Nelson Mandela appeared recently over the top of the artist's rainbow image; birds (2013 and possibly 2012); the Banker image; 'The Who', located near Hoxton station (2013); a tribute to Lee Rigby (June 2013); Banker image

I will keep you posted for any new pieces of street art that I find. 

A year ago, the Olympics were under way, and we watched the opening celebration ceremony for the Olympic games. As a tribute to last year's games, I have discovered some of my unpublished photographs of Olympic-related street art that I recently discovered. (I've got another entry full of Olympic street art here: http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2012/08/street-art-london-olympics-gra.html)

Code FC. (Piece has since been covered.)

Sadly, most of the Olympics street art has been painted over. However, such is the nature of street art that it gets replaced over time; the street is always evolving. Most pieces survived for several months. 

Various Olympics pieces. Bricks with the Olympic colours can still be seen in some areas, and the beefeater mascot (by Mark Hayward) is still on Brick Lane. A few paste-ups may still be seen on Blackall Street.

More Olympic-painted bricks. I'm not sure who the artist is.

A very worn piece from Code FC, located just off Brick Lane.

Otto Schade

Dan Kitchener is a street artist from the UK, and he sometimes signs his work 'DANK' (Dan K.). His artwork includes street scenes and portraits. In particular, one wall on Brick Lane constantly evolves with his work. This work is comprised of night city street scenes with people, cars, and bright lights. I enjoy seeing these, and a selection of them is posted below.

The following street scene underneath Usain Bolt (by artist Jimmy C) was painted in the summer of 2012 by the artist. It no longer exists.

In addition to the street scenes, I have taken a few photographs of Dan's portraits. The same image of the dark-haired girl is repeated on various shutters and walls around east London.

Have you seen his work around? Feel free to leave a message to let me know what you think. For more information about this artist, visit one of the following links: http://www.saatchionline.com/dankitchener or http://dankitchener.bigcartel.com/

Earlier this summer, I came across a few brightly-coloured sketches of women's faces across east London. A few of these had an encouraging message, such as "be yourself". More kept popping up, and I eventually saw the artist painting the long wall near Shoreditch High Street station during one of my lunch breaks. She was adding to the wall, which already contains street art, and around the existing street art. The artist is Anna Laurini. 

Anna Laurini studied art in London, and she has worked in London and New York. She enjoys using bright colours and adding positive messages for the visitors. Her work uses a lot of expression, such as the quick and fluid shapes of the figures she creates.  

I visited the wall again when it was finished and snapped up a few more photographs. Anna's new additions of artwork to this wall add a bright splash of colours and encouraging messages for busy and stressed Londoners. Some of the encouraging messages are:

• "The world we will invent"
• "You make me real"
• "To live means to be aware"
• "Let your children play"
• "Unveil yourself, and things will be unveiled"
• "The street is life"
• "Take a long holiday"
• "Together, we are stronger"
• "Art is to enjoy"
• "Where there is love, there is life"

I captured a few more photographs of Anna Laurini's work across east London. These could be discovered on and just off of Brick Lane, near Old Street (at the end of Rivington Street), and on Redchurch Street. Like the previous wall, these had messages:

• "I don't explain"
• "My blue romance"
• "If you can keep me, I like to stay"
• "Such a perfect day"
• "It's time for something great"
• "We should all shine"
• "Be yourself"

I found some shutters decorated by Anna Laurini on Redchurch Street.

The final work from this artist was discovered on the way to Broadway Market one weekend. I snapped a photograph of the following wall with more bright colours, faces, and writing.

For more information about the artist, view her Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/pages/anna-laurini/) or Twitter (https://twitter.com/annalaurini) or official website (http://www.saatchionline.com/annalaurini).

Malarky

Street artist Malarky is from Barcelona, and he painted brightly-coloured artwork on shutters and walls around Shoreditch/Spitalfields in London. Most of his artwork features cartoonish fox-like or cat characters. He created a lot of new work in 2011 and 2012, but I have not seen anything from him recently. He also collaborates with other street artists; Lucas, Billy, and Mr. Penfold. All of these artists have a similar style of work. I like the idea of these happy, urban foxes.

More of his work can be seen here: http://malark.blogspot.co.uk/

A Malarky 'fox'

Mr. Penfold

Billy

From top:   1) Malarky 2) Malarky and others 3) Malarky 4) Lucas and Malarky 5) Malarky 6) Malarky and Billy 

Malarky and Lucas 

Lucas

Malarky cat

Malarky fox

Malarky cat

As you may have read from my previous entries, I enjoy visiting "animal parades" that are organised by a community to encourage an interest in the arts as well as to raise money for charity. There are a few of these taking place in the UK this year, and I have been looking forward to them since the beginning of this year. (Past ones that I have created entries for include Spot the Lions in Bath Using Mobile Barcode Technology, Visiting the 'Swans of Wells' Art Sculptures, Wow! Gorillas in Bristol, and Parading Artistic Elephants in London.)

Today, I went on a rhino-spotting walk around the city of Soutampton. I was not the only one; the warm weather did not keep everyone indoors. I had a lovely time discovering the rhinos. I've posted a few of my favourite photographs of these and managed to track down all of the ones in the centre of Southampton in a couple of hours.

Beatrix - Stewart Waite Davidson designed for Terence O'Rourke.

Go! Rhinos has been launched by Marwell Zoo for its 40th anniversary. The event was launched this weekend and continues until the 22nd of September. The rhinos will all be on display in the middle of October at Marwell Zoo. The charity helps the conservation of wild rhinos.

Glint. Sven Odendaal.

All of the rhinos have been designed by local artists, and each is unique. These include painted, mosaic, mirror, and electronic rhinos. One of the rhinos (located in Marlands Shopping Centre) could interact with visitors by making rhino noises when certain parts of it were touched; it also had LED lights on its head to make it light up, and its ears could move.

From top: Will Rosie for Skandia. Artism for Ordnance Survey. Laura Schillemore for Mazars. Damien Jeffery for 3663.

From top: Totton College art students for Totton College. Drew Saunders for Crest Nicholson. Sian Storey for Festival Place.

From top: Natalie Guy for Wave 105. David McDiarmid for Balfour Beatty Living Places. Sian Storey for Radcliffe and Co. Richard Taunton Sixth Form College for 'Mrs. Hearty' for Wessex Heartbeat.

Keep reading my blog over the coming weeks to see photographs of other animal parades. For more information about Go! Rhinos, visit the following official website for the event: http://gorhinos.co.uk/

I have been noticing several stenciled roses in London over the past few months. I've started to photograph these. I like how they add a small bright patch of colour, like a rose growing out of the concrete, to dull walls and corners. The artist who has been painting these rose stencils across Spitalfields and Shoreditch is known as Flower Guy. His Facebook page is here: https://www.facebook.com/LondonStreetArtistFlowerGuy 

I've taken a few photographs of some of these, and new ones are popping up every month or so. I just spotted two new ones near the office where I work, and one of these was right outside the door.

I posted some more street art flowers from this artist in February here: London Street Art Roses

One street artist that keeps busy painting the walls of Shoreditch in London is RUN. RUN is an Italian street artist living in London, and he recently painted the large Village Underground wall off Great Eastern Street in Shoreditch. RUN's subjects involve large side-profile heads and hands. He's also been painting telephones around walls in Shoreditch.

I photographed more of RUN's artwork at the Dulwich art house: Open Day at the Street Art House, Dulwich Arts Festival: Part 2 and Open Day at the Street Art House, Dulwich Arts Festival: Part 1. At this Dulwich art house, RUN painted telephones on the walls inside the house and a large mural of a head and figures on the largest exterior wall.

For the Village Underground wall, which is repainted every couple of months, RUN created a swan-like figure using hands and a side-profile head. These are both common trade-marked subjects for the artist, as I have mentioned. This mural has been up for about three weeks now.

The Village Underground wall

This spring, I started noticing painted telephones appearing on some of the walls just off of Brick Lane. All of these old-style dial telephones look different; some are them have the receiver on the side while others are 'hung up' on top. Others have a cord running to the ground, while some do not. Another group of telephones forms a running man. The telephones are painted with a thin outline and light and shadows, characteristic of RUN's other artwork. (More of these can be seen in the Dulwich art house galleries.) 

A selection of RUN's telephones photographed around Brick Lane.

A telephone hidden away...

Phone on a door with many tags over it

The most common trademark for this artist are the side-profile and normally large-scale heads. I have photographed a selection of these. Most of the time, the artist likes to put the heads at an odd angle, or upside-down. This really makes the work stand out on the streets.  

A selection of RUN's figures in various locations around Shoreditch.

I discovered this bird skeleton crossed with a human hand in a car park around the same time that RUN painted the large mural on the Village Underground. It was difficult to take a photograph because there's a lot of street art on the walls here, but you're not allowed to take photographs from inside the car park.

RUN

For more examples of RUN's work, visit the official website: http://www.runabc.org/

Visitors to Shoreditch or Brick Lane will sooner or later walk past one of Dscreet's murals. Dscreet's artwork mainly features owls, and there are many of these dotted around on the shutters or on walls in this area of London.  

According to an interview, Dscreet preferred painting cartoon figures and used the owl image as it was quick for him to paint it and the owl had a meaning for him (1).

Recently, Dscreet painted doors of the Tramshed with a white owl and the lyrics to a Black Sabbath song.

'Black Sabbath' Dscreet owl

Located just off Brick Lane, these symetrical owls and a skull (common in Dscreet's artwork) sit on top of the tag of the artist.

 

 
Dscreet skulls and owls

 

The artwork below is one I walk past a lot, and it's located on some shutters. 

 

This mural takes a large section of wall near many other works by famous street artists, off Brick Lane.

More of Dscreet's owls on shutters.

Additional artwork by Dscreet.

This Dscreet artwork features the owls on top of an ice cream.

Have you noticed Dscreet's artwork in London? What do you think about it? Let me know by leaving me a comment. Dscreet's Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DscreetArtist

1) Interview: Dscreet. London Street Art. http://streetartlondon.co.uk/blog/2012/07/17/interview-dscreet/ [17 July, 2012].