Results matching “paint”

I finally got over to Penge at the end of 2021 on a street art tour arranged by London Calling Blog to see the street art in the area. I am not familiar with Penge, so this helped me to get my bearings, and I've been back to visit the area twice since then to see the artwork that I didn't get to see. On the visit, I also watched Airbourne Mark creating one of his newest murals in a residential area in Penge. 

The largest of the murals is titled "The Clinging Cat of Penge", and it took the artist three days to complete last summer. Below are some of the individual details of the large mural.

This rose was painted off the main road in Penge in a back alley, and it is one of the original Origami Riots works.

Airbourne Mark has also painted a series of cards with a heart on them, and these are numbered pieces. I have located numbers four and five in Penge below.

The mural that I saw being painted on a residential shed is "Fallen", and it was painted at the end of 2021. The below piece was the artwork in progress and not too far from being completed.

The below rabbit painted in a residential area on a garage in Penge was painted in 2020.

"Paper Stars and Origami Cranes" on Maple Road, painted in 2017.

For those interested in seeing more form Airbourne Mark, I previously covered some of his work, in with a round-up of other artwork in early 2014 here, a round-up in 2015 here and here, in early 2016. In addition, see the below:

Airbourne Mark Street Art Roundup - 2020-2022
Airbourne Mark and Aspire Collaboration - "Music to Prey To"
Airbourne Mark's "Workhorse" - Origami Riots 
Camden Street Art Self-Guided Trail
Airborne Mark Paints "Greek Mask" - Origami Riots
Airborne Mark Paints 'African Mask' - Origami Riots
Airborne Mark Paints "Paper Sprite" - Origami Riots

For the second year in a row, Canary Wharf have hosted "Summer Lights", the summer edition of their popular Winter Lights festival featuring various colourful sculptures. The "Winter Lights" festival was cancelled this year as there was uncertainty about lockdowns, and due to last year's disruption, the summer edition was born. Whereas "Winter Lights" focuses on illuminated sculptures to bring some brightness into the dull January days, "Summer Lights" focuses on colour and using the sun to project colourful artwork. Below are the sculptures for this year's "Summer Lights", including some items that have previously been on display.

Expanded Landscapes by Nathaniel Rackowe

Tear by Richard Hudson

Hudson's work is organic in form, and this mirrored tear-shaped form is displayed permanently.

Lights on Data by Fisheye

Visitors are encouraged to sit inside this sculpture and to see how the sun casts shadow and colour around you. This sculpture contains a solar-powered phone charger.

Love Birds by Atelier Sisu

This immersive installation glides above the viewer; colourful birds move in the breeze, and their semi-translucent form casts shadows and colours.

Kaleidoscopic Prisms by Fiona Grady

Not pictured as I photographed it last year, and it's mainly covered by bikes and kiosks, the pyramid of glass above Jubilee Place Mall contains trinagular shapes and colour that reflect as the visitors walk through.

Gleamhhh by OGE Design Group

This sculpture was designed to create a sense of awe as the sunshine and wind interact with it. Visitors can also spin it. Apparently, it is meant to play melodies, but I did not hear anything when I interacted with it.

The Knot by Richard Hudson

Organic and natural shapes are created by this sculptor, who also created the mirroed "Tear" mentioned earlier. This is an abstract form of organic shapes, which looks almost like a mirrored body at certain angles. 

Planet @ Risk by Mark Swysen

This globe-like sculpture uses the sun to appear to shine through and reflect the light while it also projects their reflection. I'm not sure it was working correctly during my visit as it was fenced in and underneath a tree, so it wasn't able to get much sunlight.

The Long and Winding Road by Ottotto

This structure is made from recycled materials - yellow pipes that encourage visitors to walk through and to be immersed in yellow. The sculpture has been made to tour different festivals, and it can be dismantled and reused, resulting in zero waste.

Infinity and Beyond by Martin Richman & Emma Kate Matthews

Visitors can look through the holes in these sculptures to see the reflections of themselves and their surroundings, similar to a kaleidoscope. The panels are located at different heights so that different visitors of all different sizes (and wheelchairs) can view the work.

Expanded Landscapes by Nathaniel Rackowe

Colourful and transparent panels appear like architectural forms, which depicts the scenery of Canary Wharf. The reflections and light create shadows and shapes.

O.T. 1131 by Stefan Reiss

This sculpure started its life as a digital drawing transformed into 3D. 

Love IRL by Stuart Langley

This colourful heart encourages people to connect with it to create photographs.

Captivated by Colour by Camille Walala

This is a permanent installation at Canary Wharf and uses patterns and colours to create shapes and forms. It is always a popular spot for photographs.

Ebb & Flow by Louis Thompson

This installation is located inside One Canary Wharf and was inspired by towering skylines, and it celebrates United Nations 'Year of Glass 2022'. There are thirteen sculpture installations in this series, and I have photographed a few of them below.

Pointillist Bird by Yoni Alter

The artist was inspired by the 1880s pointillist painting movement (small dots like pixels to create a picture when stepping back). These large dots create the form of a bird, and the forms create shadows to help give it definition. I think you have to use your imagination to see the bird.

Helix by Calidos

The form of this rainbow-coloured sculpture represents a DNA strand. Visitors can interact with it by spinning it.

Ocean Rise by Aphra Shemza

The purpose of the sculpture, which is a permanent edition at Canary Wharf, is to highlight the rising sea levels. It is made from recycled materials. 

Shine Your Colours by Tine Bech

These coloured glass panels reflect the different forms behind them, so visitors can become a part of the artwork.

Summer Lights takes place until the 20th of August.

Previous Summer Lights sculptures at Canary Wharf:

• Summer Lights at Canary Wharf (2021)

Previous Winter Lights sculptures at Canary Wharf

• Canary Wharf Winter Lights (2022) - Cancelled
• Canary Wharf "Connected By Light" 2021
• Canary Wharf Winter Lights 2020
• Canary Wharf Winter Lights 2019
• Winter Lights @ Canary Wharf 2018
• Canary Wharf Winter Lights (2017)
• Winter Lights @ Canary Wharf (2016)

London-based street artist Airborne Mark is inspired by paper-crafting Origami. Airborne Mark's street art career started in 2005 in Poland before coming to live in the U.K, and he created a series of murals called "Origami Riots". The artist continues to paint these murals inspired by Origami, and he creates the murals from models that has has made. Part of the ritual is that he will burn the paper model once the mural is completed. I've captured several of his murals across the past few months to show.

I caught the artist painting "Clipped Rose", which is a paper rose with cardboard leaves. I captured the image this spring. The finished piece is below.

"Swift Arrival", painted in February 2022.

A collaboration with Eyesaw for Halloween last year. 

"May the Folds Be With You", featuring Yoda. This was painted in the spring of 2021.

The paper rose is located in Camden and part of the "Origami Riots" series. It was painted in 2016.

This piece also appeared in Camden town and features an emoji.

This mural features paper airplanes for "Meeting of Styles" in 2016.

"C R E A S E S A U R U S M A R X" dinosaur painted near Shoreditch station.

"Frogger" appeared near Grey Eagle street in the back alleys, and a stupid white van kept blocking it when I visited.

"Shoreditch Sonata" was painted in time for Valentine's Day this year.

This piece was painted in early 2020, before the pandemic.

This "Pussy Cat, Pussy Cat" was painted in Camden Town in 2018.

"Bottled Up" was painted in the spring of 2021.

Th last mural that I captured ("Fat Cap Morgana") was taken this spring in Allen Gardens, and I watched it being painted. 

For those interested in seeing more form Airbourne Mark, I previously covered some of his work, in with a round-up of other artwork in early 2014 here, a round-up in 2015 here and here, in early 2016. In addition, see the below:

Airbourne Mark and Aspire Collaboration - "Music to Prey To"
Airbourne Mark's "Workhorse" - Origami Riots 
Camden Street Art Self-Guided Trail
Airborne Mark Paints "Greek Mask" - Origami Riots
Airborne Mark Paints 'African Mask' - Origami Riots
Airborne Mark Paints "Paper Sprite" - Origami Riots

Street art with the tag "Helch" has been appearing across London and outside of London along the roads and on motorway bridges for a few years now, but his artwork seems to be almost everywhere now and across all of London. The first tag or reference to "Helch" that I discovered was on the M25 near Denham in 2019. This was the famous grafitti bridge that used to read "Give PEAS a chance" in capitol letters. An artist named "PEAS" tagged the bridge, and someone else added "Give" and "a chance" as a play on words, such as the famous John Lennon song. 

A lot of people were upset when Helch tagged over the name "PEAS", ruining the grafitti. For many, it was a game to spot the bridge or acted as a timing mark in a journey between London and Oxford. The grafitti had a lot of fans, and that's why it was sad to see it ruined in 2019. The following year, it became painted over again with a tribute to the NHS.

This post contains several Helch tags that I have spotted across London.

Street artist Jim Vision is one of London's busiest street artists; many of London's walls have had his work on it at some point. The photographs in this post have mainly dated from a couple of years ago. Jim Vision's style is quickly-drawn illustrations that primarily feature fantasy heroes and adventure scenes with an element of science fiction or fantasy.

One of my favourite murals by Jim Vision was located on Hanbury Street and featured fantasy-style tribal portraits. The wall seemed to be a collaborative effort with grafitti on either side of the work, which I pictured belo

One of his pieces I spotted in Soho.

Below are some of the street art murals by Jim Vision that I have spotted over the past several years.

Jim Vision's Street Art Tribute to Stan Lee
Street Art: 2Square, CodeFC, Jim Vision, Mr. Cenz, Peter Drew, Zadok
Jim Vision "Battlechasers" Street Art
Jim Vision "Lost Paradise" and Other Street Art
Jim Vision Adds to Tagged ROA Hedgehog and New Work
HumanNature Endangered13 Street Art Paint Jam, Day 2
New 'Star Wars' Street Art in Shoreditch

Not far from London Fields is a doggy daycare (Molly and George), and there is a giant street art pug painted on the building. I happened to locate it this winter while I was out walking around, and I could not locate the artist until visiting Instagram. The artist is Thomas Moore, and I loved this giant blue pug peeking out at me from the building.

Painted in 2015, this looks like a one off commission as this artist seems to be more paper-based. Their Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/thomasmooreillustrates/?hl=en

Street artists Aspire and Airbourne Mark have collaborated on a few murals in London in the past couple of years, but I never got to see the previous results in person due to pandemics and the work being tagged over. However, earlier this year, I discovered this new mural freshly painted. The mural is titled "Music to Prey To" and features a cardinal, the official bird for the state of Ohio, a praying mantis and scissors. There are musical notes, and the mantis is in Airbourne Mark's origami style featuring the mantis constructed out of a music sheet.

For those interested in seeing more form Airbourne Mark, I previously covered some of his work, in with a round-up of other artwork in early 2014 here, a round-up in 2015 here and here, in early 2016. In addition, see the below:

Airbourne Mark's "Workhorse" - Origami Riots 
Camden Street Art Self-Guided Trail
Airborne Mark Paints "Greek Mask" - Origami Riots
Airborne Mark Paints 'African Mask' - Origami Riots
Airborne Mark Paints "Paper Sprite" - Origami Riots

I'll be covering the artwork of Aspire soon.

Dorneywood, located in the Buckinghamshire countryside, is one of the most unique properties managed by the National Trust via The Dorneywood Trust. The house and gardens are only open for a couple of weeks each year, and tickets book up quickly. I managed to secure tickets this year to visit last weekend. The most important fact is that this home is a private residence of a senior government official.

Dorneywood house dates from the 18th century. It started as a farmhouse, but it was renovated after a fire and remodelled in 1919. The property was given to the National Trust in 1947 as an agreement to be a residence for a senior government member. The Dorneywood Trust maintains the house and gardens. We were told that the latest resident was Rishi Sunak, and he moved out only a few days ago as we had visited only a few days after the resignation of Boris Johnson. The prime minister decides which member of government can occupy the house, so it's anyone's guess as to who will next occupy it. 

Photographs were not permitted inside the property, and there aren't any new photographs of its interior online, so I will describe what I saw. Upon entry to the house, there's a small hallway with a door on the left. This leads into the dining room. There is a door almost immediately in front of you upon entering. There is a portrait painting, but I cannot remember who it was. Turning to face to your right, there is a large dining table, and the room (rectangular in shape) continues onto the right. There is a staircase and a couple of closed doors to this side of the house on the right-most side of the room). There is a fireplace in the room on the back left wall. At the back of the dining room (right-most wall) was a beautiful blue john vase that was quite large. However, the most impressive item in the room was the Rex Whistler painting, which appears on the wall at the back of the "hallway" and next to the staircase. 

Going through to the next room, it has been split into two sections. The smaller section at back includes a book with signatures of visitors, such as the queen and Churchill. There are books here, and many of them are modern. The majority of the room is a living area; it's cozy with some furniture and some paintings (Eton College), and a television is hidden inside a cabinet with the doors closed. The door is at the back.

Going through the door is a small hallway with some artwork; I think it was a floral wallpaper here. This leads immediately to the largest room, which is very light and includes a door to the back of the house with views over the gardens at the back and on the side. There is a lot to look at here, including the impressive fireplace with marble and various paintings and other artwork. A book on the table contains a note about a pinball game Churchill played on his visit and beat the time. The pinball game is also on display.

I drew a map of the gardens and house. The beds and garden areas are in green. The house is in red, and other buildings in brown. There is a lilly pond in blue and a swimming pool also in blue. The gardens date from the 1930s.  

Upon arriving at the property, the house is sign-posted across a green lawn. On the left side is an attractive-looking cottage.

On the right is an old barn or stable with beautiful stained glass windows.

At the back of the house are impressive flower beds.

I saw some white lavender growing, but it doesn't smell as nice as the standard purple lavendar.

On the side of the house is a lower garden in a circular shape.

There are beds around this, but they are mostly over. On the other side of one of the beds is a smaller circular bed with a sculpture in the middle.

Passing by the sunken garden, there are hedges and the sound of running water. This leads into a lilly pond with a greenhouse.

Dorneywood is only open a couple of days a year, so you have to watch for tickets to visit. The house tickets are timed, and they must be booked in advance. The house is open a couple weeks a year because the National Trust invested around 250,000 to make repairs.

Castle Coch (translated from Welsh to "Red Castle") was owned by Lord Bute, an extremely wealthy landowner (one of Britain's wealthiest at the time) who also owned Cardiff Castle and Tredegar House. The castle is a 19th century Gothic Revival design, but the earlier castle on the site was placed by the Normans and built after 1081. Ruins of the castle, which were destroyed in other uprisings, were purchased in the middle of the 1700s, and it was inherited by Bute in the mid-1800s. Bute was interested in art, architecture, and antiques, and he employed William Burges to rebuild the castle as a summer residence. The castle appears as a "fairy tale castle", and visitors can see it from the major roadway.

I visited the castle on Good Friday, and a lot of people were at the castle to hunt for Easter eggs. When first entering the castle, you are welcomed into the internal courtyard, and you can see why this is called "red castle". A stairway on the left takes you to the first rooms on the tour.

The first room is the banqueting hall, which is elaborately decorated with murals and statues.

There is an impressive view over the surrounding grounds; as we are on a hill, we can see below and even see into Cardiff from the castle.

From the banqueting hall, a small room at the back leads to the drawing room. The murals depict "Aesop's Fables".

Lady Bute's bedroom is at the top of the stairs, and it is a circular room with drawings of monkeys along the ceiling. Some of these monkeys had to be repainted as they looked too suggestive for Bute. The room was designed after the main architect died, and it is similar in style to the Arab Room at Cardiff Castle.

Lord Bute's room is actually a small room just down (or up) the stairs from Lady Bute's room. He would have shared the room with her, which would have been considered to be odd for that time period.

At the top of Castle Coch was a chapel, but all that remains of it today are the stained glass windows. Ten of these can be seen here at the castle, and the others are on display at Cardiff Castle. They probably would have held a special meaning for Bute on his Scottish and Catholic heritage. Bute was very religious, and the small chapel was removed sometime in the 1890s for reasons unknown.

I had a wander around the exterior hallway of the castle to get to other rooms.

The basement of the castle is one of the surviving parts of the medieval castle. It has a vaulted roof and was used as a store room.

Also on display was a diarama. The Pentyrch Hunt has been associated with Castle Coch for most of the 20th century as it was the meeting place. This was an organised hunt, led by Bute as the master of the hunt. 

Another room lay empty on the side and was displayed as a bedroom - Lady Margaret Bute's bedroom. Further down the hallway was the kitchen, which was filled with children and adults partaking in crafts.

I took a couple of photographs of the front of the castle looking a little empty.

That concludes my visit to Castle Coch. It's been on my "to visit" list for awhile.

Located in the Somerset Levels, Muchelney Abbey is a set of ruins and a couple of surviving buildings of a Benedictine abbey that dates from the 7th century. It was damaged by Vikings and rebuilt in the 10th century. The abbot's house is the re-purposed 16th century Tudor house. The parish chirch of St. Peter and St. Paul next to the ruins were built using stone from the ruins. A rare feature at the location is the monks' lavatory, and it is located next to the abbot's house. It is intact, and visitors can climb up stairs to see the seating with archways below where someone would clean out the mess.

The abbey was built on an island in the middle of marshy land, and the site was actually used with other religious buildings in 693. The abbey was mentioned in the Domesday book.

Visitors to the abbey can explore the abbot's house, which now houses some items as a museum. The remaining part of the cloisters houses some interesting stonework, carvings, and tiles from the abbey. The abbot's house survived because it was used as a farmhouse.

One of the rooms on display was the kitchen. It is thought that up to 50 monks would have lived at Muchelney in the 12th and 13th centuries, but there would have been less in later centuries due to the Black Death.

Other rooms had different functions to the life of the monks, and some other rooms contained items on display.

A few rooms retrain traces of wall painting, and visitors can make out some of the patterns and colours. The "painted chamber" is one of those rooms. It is thought to date to the 1500s.

The abbot's room is the most lavishly-decorated with beautiful carvings over the fireplace and stained glass in the windows. It dates to the 1500s.

Outside the house, visitors can see the footprint of the old church and some tombs buried in the ground.

The thatched lavatory is a rare example in England of this type of building which has miraculously survived. It is the best-preserved latrine building in Europe and could be accessed from the first floor of the dormitory.

Muchelney Abbey is under the management of English Heritage.