Results matching “paint”

Shaw's Corner is the former home of author and socialist George Bernard Shaw, and it is now managed by the Natonal Trust. At the end of September, I visited Shaw's Corner for the first time. Visitors who wish to visit the property must book in advance for visiting the house as National Trust permit visiting the house by guided tour only. In addition to the house, visitors can explore the garden and see the writing hut in the garden.

We were booked on the guided tour of the home first, and we learned about the house in its Arts and Crafts style, which was built in 1902. It's not too old of a house, and the National Trust took it on due to its association with the author. On the tour, were told about some of the items in the house, which belonged to Shaw and his wife. The rooms in the house have been left as a museum in the way that Shaw wanted to leave them for future visitors. 

The house itself, which was built in 1902, was a rectory for the church. It was larger than it needed to be for the parish and put up for rent. It was rented by Shaw and his wife from 1906 until his death in 1950. (Shaw and his wife purchased the house in 1920.) The house also included 3.5 acres of land, which is a garden, orchard, and small wooded area.

On entering, we were told about the reception hallway. From the hallway, we explored four rooms: the library, the living room, the dining room, and the kitchen/scullery. The staircase is located in the hallway, and a couple of the rooms upstairs were open to view. The hallway includes paintings from travels, artwork gifted from Virginia Woolf's sister, and a collection of hats that Shaw wore for different activities.

The hearts in the staircase pillars are an Arts and Craft style.

After the hallway, we looked at the library. Shaw loved photography, so an old camera was on display as well as a typewriter and William Morris patterned curtains.

We then went into the living area and were told some information about the art and items in the room. The room included a painting of Shaw's wife, which she had painted for a friend but was told to keep it. Also are sculptures of Shaw's hand in marble and the Oscar that Shaw won. Shaw won a Nobel Prize for literature in 1925 and an Oscar in 1939 for "Pygmalion" (known today as "My Fair Lady").

The dining room had several photographs of some of the people that Shaw envied. 

Up the stairs, we saw the bathroom and a bedroom as well as some prizes in a glass case.

The tour concluded in the kitchen.

After the house tour, we had a wander around the gardens. 

Shaw wrote many of his works in the home and the revolving writer's hut in the garden. This hut could be moved to follow the sun's light. Shaw named the writer's hut "London" so that he could tell unwanted visitors that he was in London. After Shaw died, his ashes were mixed with his wife's, and they were scattered around the writer's hut.

We admired the views of the house and the plants in the garden, which were coming to their end in late September. 

We enjoyed the thorough and interesting tour of Shaw's Corner, which was put together very well by the National Trust and volunteers. I always get a lot out of the guided tours as they pick out interesting items and facts. The garden is beautiful as well and would be worth a visit in the summer.

I've previously covered the street art of Jay Kaes whose work uses bright colour and an illustrative style. Jay Kaes moved from Spain to the UK, but he paints all over the globe. His work depicts social themes, and he has worked with a number of large brands. His work also has a hint of popular culture, technology, and fantasy themes. In some of his artwork, he appears to criticise the rule of social media and technology as easy gratification and people being absorbed by it.

For more work by Jay Kaes on this blog, see the links below:

Street Art by Jay Kaes
Meeting of Styles Wall 2018
Jay Kaes Refreshes Pedley Street's Street Art
Jay Kaes and Falko One Murals on Old Street
Jay Kaes on Pedley Street
Early January Street Art and All-Female Paint-up in Blackall Street
Mural on Old Street by Kaes and Core246
The Final Days - Leonard Street and Blackall Street (Street Art)
'Meeting of Styles' London Street Art Festival 2014

Those who have walked around east London's streets may recognise the dark landscape style that street artist Ed Hicks paints on hoardings and walls. Street artist Ed Hicks, also known as Hicks, started painting in London in 2007 as part of a street art crew. His dark landscapes are not planned up front; he creates shapes and morphs them into landscapes and subjects. Below are some of the murals that I've photographed over the past few years.

More street art by Ed Hicks on this blog can be seen below:

Connectivity Matters Wall in Shoreditch
Meeting of the Styles 2018

Frieze Sculpture returned to Regent's Park for 2022 and runs from the middle of September until the 13th of November. It's the eleventh year of Frieze Sculptures in Regent's Park this year. I recently visited, and I was not disappointed. There is a lot of colour and form to see, and some of the sculptors are well-known. I think this year has a little something for everyone.

Below are the sculptures for the 2022 edition of Frieze in Regent's Park.

Matthew Darbyshire - "Hercules Meets Galatea"

This is a re-imagining of classic Greek and Roman sculptures, though the sculptor encourages the viewer to examine symbolism in the work through the structure, surface, and sexuality.

Ugo Rondinone - "Yellow Blue Monk"

The artist is currently creating a series of sculptures called "nuns + monks", and this is one of the recent in the series. The work is made in bronze and painted in blue with a yellow "head". 

Robert Indiana - "Imperial LOVE" 

Robert Indiana is known as "painter of signs", and his work features text and large letters and numbers transformed into large sculptures. The "LOVE" sculptures by him are his most-known.

John Giorno - "SPACE MIRRORS MIND"

This sculpture is one in the series of sculptures "Stone Poems", and it has not been seen before. It is constructed out of glacial granite.

Alicja Kwade - "Tunnel-Tell" 

This sculpture appears to be a granite boulder pierced by a stainless-steel reflective tube. It encourages the viewer to interact with it; to look at the reflections and to walk around and peer through the tunnel.

Ron Arad - "Dubito Ergo Cogito"

This bronze sculpture appears to be a seated pedestal, and the artist was inspired by Rodin's "The Thinker" sculpture of a seated man in thought. The artist looks at the space left behind from the human form, leaving behind an imprint of his feet and rear. It encourages interaction of the viewer to sit in the space place.

Jody Kerwick - "Vertical Plane Me"

Folklore and a dream world are created in the symbols out of Portland stone.

Tim Etchells - "Don't Look Back"

This phrase "Don't Look Back" is stenciled out into the steel, and it can be read from either side and to consider the placement and landscape that the sculpture is set in.

N.S. Harsha - "Desired for -Arrived at"

The sculpture is described as being a basis to describe life; we often want to be somewhere, but it can take on a non-linear approach to get there.

Ro Robertson - "Drench"

This sculpture explores the figure and body as landscape.

Pablo Reinoso - "Speaker's Corner"

I am guessing that this sculpture was inspired by the people that hang out and speak at the corner in Hyde Park.

Shaikha Al Mazrou - "Red Stack"

This painted steel sculpture describes weight, space, and form. The artist's sculptures often resemble balloons or origami. I thought that this one looked like a stack of pillows.

Ida Ekblad - "Book of Boredum"

This bronze sculpture has been painted with bright angular shapes and patterns.

Beverly Pepper - "Curvae in Curvae"

This Latin word means "curve" and the steel sculpture appears less heavy as a curved form.

George Rickey - "Five Lines in Parrallel Planes"

A series of steel poles changes form and shape in the breeze. This is not a stationary sculpture.

Emma Hart - "Big Time"

Colourful ceramic sundials are on display with painted faces and have words on the ground such as "no time", or "after time".

Peju Alatise - "Sim and the Yellow Glass Birds"

A story is printed onto the different individual sculptures, which display children and birds. The story is about Sim, a nine-year old girl who lives in two worlds. One world is a domestic servant, and the other world is a dreamland of talking birds and butterflies, and she can fly.

John Wood and Paul Harrison - "10 signs for a park"

A series of green signs have been placed around the park to discover with odd phrases, such as "you are reading these words", "tree ->", and "daylight". I saw all ten of them, though the "tree ->" photograph is missing below.

For previous years of Frieze Sculpture in Regent's Park, see my posts below:

Frieze Sculpture 2021
Frieze Sculpture 2020
Frieze Sculpture 2019
Frieze Sculpture 2018
Frieze Art Fair 2017

Street artist Roo is best known for her illustrative style featuring cartoony characters with an element of fun. The characters are usually animals painted in bright colours. In Penge, the artist created a duck having a snorkle around the corner from East Penge station. It's a really fun piece of work unexpectedly in a residential area. Roo's background is in illustration, and bringing her work to the streets allows more people to enjoy it.

Previous work by Roo on this blog:

Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park

Tomorrow marks the funeral of Elizabeth II, who died on 8 September. Queen Elizabeth II was 96 years of age and celebrated her Platinum Jubilee (70 years as queen) in June of this year. Most of us have never lived through any other monarchy leader for the United Kingdom, and she was regarded highly. On the day that she passed away, I was out of the country. I only returned on Wednesday, and I was gutted to have missed King Charles' arrival and the Queen's coffin, just down the road from me in RAF Northolt the evening before I returned. My neighbours had walked down to take photographs and videos, which they then circulated. People have been leaving tributes to the Queen in Green Park, Hyde Park, Buckingham Palace, Windsor, and other places. There has also been a queue stretching across London for people to visit the coffin of the Queen lying in state. The queue is over several hours long. I think the longest the waiting time has been nineteen hours.

I've had jet lag after returning in the late morning on Wedesday, and it was straight to work from me as soon as I landed. I wanted to get up early on Sunday, but I ended up not being able to get up too early, though I did make it to London by around 8:40, and the queues of people entering the tribute garden in Green Park picked up in the time that I was there with a heavy stream of people entering from 10:00. At that time, they also closed off the queue to Buckingham Palace, so I missed visiting as they introduced a one-way system more than halfway down the length of the mall. They were obviously getting ready for the events tomorrow and the visiting world leaders.

Below are my favourite photographs of the tributes that I took in Green Park this morning. Some of the tributes were really good: a painting of the Queen, knitted corgis and queens, a sparkly panel of the queen's head (as appears on stamps), floral crowns, photographs, scrapbooks, and more. There were touching letters left by people; some had photographs with them and the Queen. Children and groups had created artwork to leave. There were balloons and handbags and hats. There were a lot of corgis and some horses, animals the Queen loved. One of the most common items were the Paddington Bears. This unlikely bear has become a symbol recently, which started with a touching video starring the Queen and Paddington Bear, which was made for the Platinum Jubilee. Paddington Bear has tea with the Queen, and they both share a love of marmalade sandwiches, which the Queen took from her handbag.

Before I end this post, I'll include a couple of photographs of the Queen's coffin being driven through West End Road in Ruislip from RAF Northolt. These were taken by my neighbours. I would have been there to see this and the King had I not been out of the country last Tuesday evening.

R.I.P. Queen Elizabeth II. She inspired so many.

Downtown Marion, Ohio, has seventeen cardinal sculptures to find. The cardinal was selected as it is Ohio's state bird, and there are seventeen sculptures to mark Ohio beng the 17th state to be added to the United States. The creator of this project is Dean Jacob, who was inspired by similar sculpture trails seen in other cities. Many of the sculptures feature historical Marion scenes, and they have been painted by thirteen local artists. The art trail kicked off in 2017 when the designs were created, and the sculptures have been in place since 2021 except for one that has not yet been placed.

Cardinal of Carnations - Amanda Adkins

Blue Skies Over Marion - William Obenour
Gen Francis Marion "The Swamp Fox" - Lou Graziani
Good Olde Marion Town - Jane Nelson

Marion County Courthouse - Kevin Tackett

Oorang Indians - Kevin Tackett

Seasons of a Buckeye - Ben Kern

Zenburda - Diana Krumnow

Fire Bird - Amanda Adkins

My Feathered Friend - Amanda Adkins

Marion County Fair - Amanda Adkins

Magical Gem - Jane Nelson

Celebrating the Women of Marion - Amanda Adkins

Marion's Peacekeepers - Amanda Adkins

I visited the Grade I listed medieval moated mansion known as Ightham Mote in July. The mansion is located in Kent and is owned by the National Trust. This is my first proper visit; I had originally visited the mansion over Christmas in 2019 to see the house decorated for the season, but the upstairs and some of the other rooms were closed off, and the house was too busy to have a proper look. The rooms are fairly small in this mansion, so it can be a bit difficult seeing all that it has to offer. However, on this visit, I arrived in time to hear a little bit of history of the house before going in to have a look. 

Ightham moat dates from around the middle of the 1300s, and it changed family a few time before it became in dire need of repairs. It was purchased, and then sold again when the buyers realised how much work it required. It was purchased by an American man who had visited it as a child in the 1900s, and he restored it. It was later given to the National Trust, who also spent a lot of money repairing it. The visitor centre has some information about the repairs and excavations on site.

There is a short walk down to the mansion from the parking and visitor centre, and the mansion comes into view in part timber-frame and stone, surrounded by a moat. The entrance is around the front.

The first time I visited was in December a few years ago, so visiting the estate in the summer was different, and I enjoyed a wander around the gardens. The stable building was constructed at a later date and was originally constructed with three sides with an internal courtyard. It was used for guests and the staff.

The front of Ightham Mote from the courtyard of the stables. I'd just checked out the second hand bookstore and then waited for the talk about the history of the house.

I didn't go straight into the mansion as quit a large group had arrived, so I wandered around the garden first so that I could later enjoy the house without too many people around. There were some lovely flowers and views of the mansion.

I walked to the end of the garden in a little walk with views over the house and a lake.

I headed over the bridge into courtyard to take a look inside Ightham Mote. It has a little courtyard with clock, and one of the doorways leads off to a billiards room, and the other leads off to the main house through the Great Hall.

The Great Hall. There were freshly-cut flowers in some of the rooms, which was a nice touch.

The room off the Great Hall.

The Butler's Pantry. A locked safe would have stored more expensive items.

The crypt.

Upstairs in the house...

A beautiful carved fireplace.

A bedroom.

The chapel with its stained glass windows. The bottom panels were put in afterwards.

This large room was separated into two parts and functioned as a music room and games room.

The fireplace was ordered from a catalog.

The library was located back down the stairs, and it was one room that was originally separated into multiple rooms. It was simpified by painting in a neutral grey.

Back out into the courtyard, I went to check out the billards room.

More posts about Ightham Mote:

Christmas at Ightham Mote

Street artist Wild Drawing (WD) often uses dimension and existing features of the wall to create unique street art. The artist, who was born in Bali but now lives in Greece, has painted walls all over the world since 2000 after degrees in fine art. He is inspired by graphic arts in comics and graphic novels, and he visited London at the end of 2019 in order to paint this mural off Parish Street in Penge. The mural itself is tucked in the corner between terraced buildings.

The mural appears to depict a mermaid creature in the 3D effect while using the architecture of the building to add to the work. The artist painted the work using long rollers on poles, which was perfected in his home country of Bali. To get this fine level of detail with the perspective is amazing.

I hope to see this artist return to London to paint additional walls as this is a stunning piece.

I had previously covered street art by Nether410, a US-based street artist who has previously painted a few murals in London. On his last visits, he had painted Charlie and Carol Burns murals on Bacon Street off Brick Lane. They were both popular figures in the east end of London and well-known at the markets. Nether410 painted a new tribute to Charlie Burns as the last one got tagged over, and he also painted a couple of birds that I managed to photograph - birds being another popular subject of the artist. 

The Charlie Burns, who passed away in 2012, mural shows the man with his boxing gloves and "king of Bacon Street".

Additional work of Charlie Burns that I managed to photograph on this wall is below:

Ben Slow's New Charlie Burns Mural
Street Art: Ben Slow
Nether410 Paints "Carol Burns" Street Art on Bacon Street
Nether410 Paints "Charlie Burns" on Bacon Street