Results matching “paint”

London-based street artist Fanakapan has been known in more recent years to paint chrome and foil balloons across London's walls. In the week leading up to Halloween, a new mural appeared at the popular Pedley Street wall off Brick Lane. This work, titled "BITER", shows a vampire balloon staring at a pink neon smile emoticon. I love seeing work by this artist, and I am glad to see this wall reclaimed with some great street art. I watched as the artwork was being completed.

I also snapped a photograph of another mural that I discovered by the artist peeking out from the Star Yard wall onto Brick Lane. Fanakapan has painted in this location before, so it is good to see that the wall has been refreshed with another balloon face. 

In 2019, Australian street artist JimmyC (James Cochran) painted a mural of two swans near Borough Market, and I discovered them after visiting the area recently. The swans are located in a railway tunnel on Redcross Way, virtually opposite Borough Market. 

More artwork by JimmyC that I have posted about in this blog are:

JimmyC Updates South Bank Shakespeare Mural
JimmyC Paints Wall of Hearts to Honour Victims of Borough Market Attack
JimmyC Paints "Royal Wedding" Mural for St. Christopher's Place
Mick's Hands
'Open the Mind'
JimmyC Redchurch Street Heart
JimmyC Paints Shakespeare on South Bank
Street Artist JimmyC Paints Caledonian Road
RIP David Bowie & An Afternoon in Brixton
New Mural in Ever-Changing Shoreditch by JimmyC
New 'Spring Offering' Mural by Bailon and Sliks (JimmyC, Zadok Sonar Uno)
New JimmyC Mural on Joe's Kid (Cafe), Fashion Street
JimmyC Street Art - New Inn Yard, Brick Lane, Hackney Road
New Street Art by JimmyC
Street Art: JimmyC

A sunny day makes exploring National Trust properties much nicer, and I had some sunshine when I visited Lytes Cary in Somerset in mid-September. Lytes Cary is a manor house with a chapel and gardens, and the manor dates from the 14th century (although it has had parts added to it throughout the centuries). The chapel was constructed in the mid-1300s. The name of the property comes from the Lyte family who lived at the manor house for over four centuries, and 'Cary' is the name of the river.

The Great Hall at the manor was added in the 15th century, and renovations restored the house in following centuries after it was leased to farm tenants. In 1907, Walter Jenner purchased the house and restored it with 17th and 18th century furniture, tapestries, and paintings. Many of the rooms were used to store farm equipment and barrels of alcohol. The house was left to the National Trust in 1948.

A small "chapel" room in the manor house backs onto the entrance of the chapel, and a small window here permits servants and others to observe communion from the house. 

The chapel can be entered once you have exited the house.

The Parlour was restored with wood paneling.

In the Great Chamber, the ceiling has plaster decoration with the family coats of arms. The wall displays the royal coat of arms and Tudor roses, symbolising loyalty to Henry VIII.

A little room off the Great Chamber contained a "campaign bed", also known as "knockdown furniture". These items could easily be folded up and transported, and they were used primarily for traveling armies and date from Roman times (or before). The owners wanted to retain the sense of luxury. The room itself is so tiny, and I couldn't get a great photograph of the bed, but the room is only large enough for a single bed.

Another bedroom contained red wallpaper and four-posted bed.

The 17th century gardens had disappeared by the time that Jenner purchased the house, and there is record of a varied orchard. New gardens were constructed with an Arts and Crafts design. The gardens were laid out in a series of 'rooms', and these 'rooms' are separated by hedging. An orchard makes up one of the 'rooms', and another 'room' features a fountain. 

The garden at the front of the house is called 'Apostle Garden' after twelve trees planted; the twelve trees were planted over 100 years ago. This garden, when looking from the house, leads to a 'water tower' feature beyond the gate, but the 'water tower' was actually built to imitate a dovecote.

There are lovely views around the gardens.

The parkland around the house was the site of a deserted medieval settlement.

I enjoyed my visit to Lytes Cary and found it to be a nice property to visit with several different picturesque views.

I visited Melford Hall at the end of a long weekend in Suffolk at the start of September, and the weather was beautiful on my visit. Melford Hall's history is a varied one; it was home to medieval monks before the Hyde Parker family came into possession of it. The family still live in the house. One of its claims to fame is its connection with Beatrix Potter.

When I visited, we had a really good guide who gave us in-depth history of the house and told us about the 1942 fire. The fire was started by soldiers who had requisitioned the hall during the war. The fire destroyed one of the wings of the hall, and it was rebuilt. Originally, the site of the hall was a medieval building held by abbots of the Bury St. Edmunds monastery. The hall was primarily built in the 16th century and incorporated these medieval rooms into its layout.

The entrance to the manor opens into the Great Hall, which is thought to be the oldest part of the house.

A guest book is signed by Beatrix Potter with a little drawing of a clothed rabbit.

Off of the Great Hall (on the right), is the entrance to the wing that burned in the 1942 fire that the soldiers started in the upstairs floor when they decided to pick a lock to play cards and smoke. The wing was rebuilt, and the rooms are not nearly as lavish.

Additional rooms include the parlour and library.

Up the stairs at the top of the stairs is the boudoir, which was created for the wife as a wedding present.

It is a small room with chandelier, piano, mirrors, and several seats.

The upstairs hallway contains some paintings and stained glass windows, such as the one below that features Elizabeth I.

Further along the hallway are additional bedrooms for nursery and guests.

The connection with Beatrix Potter to the house is via a cousin of the family. She frequented the hall from the late-1800s. The below room is where Beatrix Potter stayed during her visits. Some of these upstairs rooms contain her drawings.

The original Jemima Puddle-duck is on display in the house, and these were Potter's toys that helped her make her drawings. This one was a gift to the Hyde Parker children. Potter often brought animals with her, and the children loved to see them.

There are quite a lot of Potter's illustrations around the house.

Further along is one of the main bedrooms.

There are some lovely views over the grounds from the upper windows.

Near the exit and cafe is a series of Potter's drawings of different items or areas around Melford Hall. Her studies of different objects helped her in her illustrations, and visitors may recognise many that she used in her illustrations.

A garden room or gate house could also be visited, and it sits at one corner of the garden.

National Trust have been managing the property since 1960, and it was first opened to the public in 1955. It is a pleasant visit, but the property has few opening hours for the house. I would recommend a visit if you are in the area.

A trail of elephants have come to the city of Worcester for ten weeks during the summer. Each of the elephants has been painted or designed by an artist. The elephants were on display across the city from the middle of July unti, the beginning of September, and I went to visit them at the end of August. The elephants are part of Wild In Art trails, and their purpose is to raise charity for St. Richard's Hospice. An elephant design was chosen to represent the trail due to the elephant's memory, and the trail hopes that visitors will remember their fun looking for them for many years.

"Inky the Elephant" - Helen Haynes

"Alex the Cleaniphant" - Shilpi Sharma

"The Pears" - Sue Guthrie

"Azalea" - MrASingh and "Silverella" - Lena Kibbler

"Lucy Lavdender" - Lissie Art

"Zentangle" - Neil Morris

"Worcester in Porcelain" - Alice Pickworth

"Dare to Bee Different" - Betti Moretti

"Muddy Walks" - Sophia Wolsey and "Wild World" - Rachel and PhillippaCorcutt

"The Gardener" - Rachael and Phillippa Corcutt and "The Elephant Tree" - Marinie Mauri

"Sundar" - MrASingh

"Jackson" - Cherrie Mansfield

"Strawberrelephant" - Matthew Smith and "Global Warming" - INKIE

"Hive in the Mind" - Jess Perrin

"It's What's Inside that Counts" - Sian Ellis

"Woolyphant" - Reilly Creative

"Life's Snakes and Ladders" - Sally Adams and "What's the Elephant in the Room" - DRPG Creative Team

"Leave the Herd Behind" - Kathleen Smith

"The Panda" - Steve Johnson

"We Are the Music Makers" - Sophie Handy

"Porcelain Elephant" - Amy Bourbon

"An Elephant Never Forgets" - Katie Hodgetts

"Wellyphant" - Sarah Roberts

"Ash" - Popbangcolour Ian Cook

"Sundown Stroll" - Kristina Butigan

"Inky the Elephant" - Helen Haynes

I really enjoyed my visit to Worcester at the end of August to see the elephant trail, and walking the trail in sunny weather was the perfect day.

Audley End House, located in Essex, dates from the 17th century, and it is one of the best Jacobean houses in England. The existing house is only a third of its original size, and it is under management of English Heritage. It was the site of Walden Abbey monastery, and the abbey was converted into a house by Thomas Audley, who was given it by Henry VIII. Elizabeth I visited the house in 1578, and the house was demolished in place of a grander one for entertaining James I, but the cost of the building may have been stolen from the king as the family were found guilty of embezzlement. Charles II bought the house for a royal palace but gave it back to the disgraced Suffolks in 1701. I visited the house in early September.

Capability Brown sculpted the parkland and created monuments for it, and the walled garden and kitchen garden were restored in 2000 to appear as it would have done in Victorian times. It was opened by Prince Charles. The garden contains 120 apple varities of apple.

A tour of the house was first on the agenda. The house contents still belong to the last family to inherit the house, the Barons Braybrooke, and photography inside the house is not permitted. The house contains a great collection of items and paintings with a stunning great Hall. The nursery was interesting and covered with multiple rooms, and adjacent is the coal room, which is a feature that I had not seen in a mansion before. The coal was used to heat water.

After the visit to the house, I explored the formal gardens, which are beautiful.

Next to the house are a couple of working buildings: the creamery and the laundry. The creamery showed how milk was transformed into cream and butter.

The laundry mentioned how clothing would be washed. Both of these tasks are completed without too much effort in today's world, but they would have required much effort and been very manual in past ages.

The grounds at Audley End are extensive, but I did not get to explore them on this visit, sadly, but as the whole house was not yet open, I will return at some point anyway and know what to expect.

The walled garden is a short walk away from the house.

A lot of vegetables and fruits were growing and ripening during my visit, and there are some beautiful flowers.

I will definitely be visiting Audley End house at some point in the future. There is so much to see and do here, and I suggest that visitors plan half at day (at least) to make a visit.

Three weeks ago, I went to check out this year's Frieze Sculpture festival in Regent's Park. Normally, Frieze Sculpture takes place in Regent's Park every July through October and brings many visitors to the park to enjoy visiting the free artwork. Last year, it was held in October, and this year, it arrived in September. This year, the theme is on powerful structures and environmental concerns.

"Pineapple" - Rosie Wylie

Wylie has been creating pineapples since 2013, and this large white and red sculpture of a pineapple invites visitors into the Regent's Park area.

"Meditation Tree" - Ibrahim El-Salahi

The artist was inspired by the Haraza Tree and uses the tree series of sculptures to investigate the body and tree metaphor that links earth and the heavens.

"Stack 9 Ultramarine Blue" - Annie Morris

This series of bronze organic sphere shapes have been painted and stacked on top of each other and sybolises a balance of motherhood and belonging.

"Lovers in The Regents Park" - Rasheed Araeen

These prisms interlock in different ways and symbolises a minimum shape and form.

"Event Horizon" - Stoyan Dechev

Thundercloud and lightning has multiple symbols in society and mythology.

"Environment de Transchromie Circulaire" - Carlos Cruz-Diez

This uses semi-transparent coloured shapes to encourage interaction and changes to the sculpture by the landscape and other visitors around it whilst observing it. The colours and shapes change.

"Quantum Shift" - Gisela Colon

The large sculpture appears to be not of this earth with the shape and reflection; it appears as if an alien creature. The artist uses classic shapes to create futuristic energy.

"Palanquin" - Anthony Caro

This sculpture appears as a room or bus stop with its interior space. It encourages the viewer to interact with it.

"Untitled" - Tatiana Wolska

This artist's sculptures are on display in two areas in London this year; they are also on display at Sculpture in the City (see my post about Sculpture in the City 2021 here). The artwork is light-weight and has an organic biomorphic form to be placed into the urban or natural environment to highlight plastic waste. The sculpture appears to be living.

"Untitled" - Hose Pedro Croft

This large-scale sculpture includes several rectangular planes of different colour placed against each other. Some of them are solid colours, and some of them are semi-transparent and create their own shapes. They appear to hold each other up.

"Fragment of Serpentine Pavilion for Frieze Sculpture Pak, 2021" - Counterspace

I did not visit the Serpentine Pavilion this year or the past few years. The fragment represents places of meeting and belonging across London.

"Muamba Grove" - Vanessa Da Silva

These shapes appear as though they are organic almost-human forms. Unfortunately, there was someone playing guitar in the middle of the sculptures, so I could not get a better photograph of these playful-looking sculptures.

"Play Sculpture" - Isamu Nogughi

This sculpture is made from sewer pipes. It reminds me of red lips.

"Biosgimature Preservation" - Jorge Otero-Pailos

This sculpture is made from security fencing that surrounded the U.S. Embassy in Oslo and highlights the militarisation of public spaces caused by 9/11.

"Untitled" - Solange Pessoa

These "stones" appear natural, and they are part of the artist's "Skull" series.

"Induk Monster" - Yunizar

These bronze sculptures appear as creatures - natural but man-made at the same time.

There was one sculpture on the map that has not been placed, and I am not sure if it will actually be placed. So, don't worry if you cannot locate all of the sculptures. There is also another "sculpture" that will only be placed during Frieze week for visitors to interact with.

This wraps it up for Frieze Sculpture in Regent's Park for 2021. For previous years, see my posts below:

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

When I was in Leicester at the end of August this year, I noticed a wonderful mural of foxes and a trophy. The artwork is by street artist SMUG (also known as Smug One), Sam Bates. SMUG is based in Glasgow but was born in Australia. There are several murals by SMUG in Leicester, and the newest one is the mural off Walnut Street, which appears to be on the side of a club or pub. 

The mural actually celebrates Leicester City's win against Chelsea, which won them the FA Cup. Leicester City are known as "The Foxes".The blue and yellow are the colours of the team. Apparently, they used to play here.

The mural was painted in July of this year. There is additional football-related street art around the area.

I have previously covered artwork by street artist Voyder in London, and this is the first time I have seen the artist's work outside London. In 2019, Voyder collaborated with other street artists in a street art festival in Leicester called "Bring the Paint". The artist produced two murals for the event. One of the murals is on Calais Hill, a bit of a boring street with a parking garage and not much else. The other one is located in an area with a lot of street art, Midland Street.

The Calais Hill mural features what appears to be a blurry ghost image duplicated and layered with different colours. Over the top of the image is the artist's trademark "Voyder" tag in script text. It appears to be tagged over the image in spray paint. 

The other mural shows a portrait of a Superman-esque man with the background of sky and a broken wire fence with the text "all you see is crime in the city" grafitti on a building. The artist's tag can be made out underneath the portrait. Cars had parked in front of the mural as it is in a parking area, so getting a great photograph was not possible.

I discovered both murals in the summer of 2021, and they were both in good shape.

More work by Voyder on this blog can be seen here:

Halloween Street Art (2018 and 2019)
Meeting of Styles Wall 2018
Bristol Upfest 2015

Over 1,800 acres make up the Ickworth estate in Suffolk, which has been managed by the National Trust since 1998. Ickworth House is the neoclassical building on site, and part of the building is a museum today, and part of it is a luxury hotel. The house was built in the early 1800s, and it was built as an art gallery. Unfortunately, the owner's collection was taken by Napoleon.

The estate was given to the National Trust in 1956 with a 99-year lease on the 60-room east wing. The lease was sold in 1998 to the National Trust, and it is now run as The Ickworth Hotel. The west wing at Ickworth was left uncompleted until 2006 with a partnership as a centre for conferences and events.

The rotunda, the main part of the house, started renovation in 2019. The house was built from inspiration of an Italian design. Friezes are located around the rotunda.

The items on display are changed from time to time, and there is a collection of paintings, silver, and porcelain.

In the entrance hall, which is looking dark at the moment due to the scaffolding still in place, is a statue depicting "The Fury of Athamas", a Greek story about a man killing his son.

A few of the rooms were open to either peek inside or walk around, but the majority of the house was not yet fully open to the public. 

After looking around the house, I explored the formal gardens, which do look beautiful in the sun.

I then decided to go on a wander to see the lake and walled garden. On the way to it is St. Mary's Church. I peeked inside to have a look before continuing on my way.

The walled garden is primarily empty today. It did have some fruit trees. There is a large lake at the bottom.

I resumed my walk around the estate, which led me through woodland and bordering pastures and meadows of grazing sheep. 

The path led me through a pasture amongst the grazing sheep, but there was not a clear way to exit the pasture for some reason, and I had to climb over a locked fence. I must have taken a wrong turn somewhere, but I did not see any other place to go. 

Ickworth is a remote place, and there are some decent walks here, but the house/museum seemed a bit cold and dark to me. It felt as if it lacked "soul", which is strange because it is a highly-decorated building and certainly built to look luxurious. It just felt like it was missing something to me. I will have to re-visit it at some point; a lot of the house was locked down, and the dark entrance hall (due to scaffolding) probably was not the best for the house to show off.