Results matching “paint”

Sculpture in the City 2015 is a public sculpture trail around London's Square Mile. This is the fifth year of the public art event and features work by artists such as Damien Hirst, Ai Weiwei, Laura Ford, Kris Martin, Folkert de Jong, Tomoaki Suzuki, and others. As last year, workshops are also available to local schools to encourage students to explore and understand art. 

Charity by Damien Hirst

This sculpture was publicised the most last summer because it was based on a real image for Scope charity's collection box, which would have been outside of local shops in the 1960s and 1970s. The sculpture was completed in 2003 and is made of bronze and stands at 22 feet tall. The sculpture was in the news for the portrayal of 'victims' on the collection boxes and political correctness. In addition, this sculpture was made to appear vandalised with the box itself emptied with 'coins' lying on the ground.

Forever by Ai Weiwei

This sculpture is created with rows of similar steel bikes. Looking at the sculpture from different vantage points, and it appears that the sculpture moves. Weiwei is a popular Chinese artist, and the name of the sculpture is the brand of the bicycles that were mass-manufactured in Shanghai since 1940. Nowadays, the bikes are being replaced by cars. I love the sense of movement created by this piece, and it was one of the pieces that I enjoyed photographing and gazing at.

Bells II by Kris Martin

This sculpture is made up of two church bells of the same size that have been joined at the bottom. The significance of the sculpture is that the bells cannot ring as they are closed together. The bells essentially become silenced as they are closed together, and this alters the perception of the object.

Carson, Emma, Takashi, Zezi, Nia  by Tomoaki Suzuki

Suzuki was inspired by Japanese woodcarving to create detailed portraits of miniature diverse youths. These five sculptures have been cast in bronze. Each one is unique and highly-detailed. 

Altar by Kris Martin

This metal sculpture is a replica of the 15th century Ghent Alterpiece (located in Saint Bavo Cathedral) by Jan Van Eych and Hubert, which was central to Renaissance painting. The viewer looks out at the world instead of idealistic painted scenery and religious imagery that would normally be represented inside these panels. Instead, the focus is on life and 'realistic' everyday scenery instead of the ideal.

´O my friends, there are no friends´  by Sigalit Landau

This sculpture is created with bronze shoes and real laces tied together to form a circle. According to the artist, it represents a time of the future when people can put the shoes on to create a better community and a better history. The shoes are tied together and have a sense of belonging. They are tied into a large circle, and all must work together.

Broken Pillar #12 by Shan Hur

This sculpture is a series of work developed. The artist uses found objects relevant to the location of the structure, and places the objects within the pillar. This pillar's location is in St. Helen's Churchyard, and it contains a floral vase inside it.

Days of Judgement - Cats 1 & 2 by Laura Ford

Laura Ford is known for portraying animals with human characteristics. The cats sculptures are made of bronze and her inspiration was Masaccio's fresco "The Expulsion from the Garden of Eden" in Brancacci Chapel in Florence. Adam and Eve are portrayed as cats that seem to be torn apart emotionally in their postures, with featureless faces. 

Breakout II by Bruce Beasley

This sculpture consists of cubic structures placed together in an organic situation with gravity seeming to enforce the shape of the sculpture. The sculpture is created out of bronze. 

Rays (London) by Xavier Veilhan

This sculpture is a part of a series of similar sculptures that allow the viewer to look at new views of the city based on ongoing construction work. The two poles create a skeleton frame which allows the viewer to imagine that they are a new addition to the city and to provide a new relationship to the buildings and other objects around them.

Red Atlas by Ekkehard Altenburger

This sculpture is a part of a series of sculptures that relate to balance. The artist has used architectural elements in other sculptures in the series to achieve this. This black and gold sculpture is propped up against a wall, seeminlgy held up by its own weight. 

Organisms of Control #8 by Keita Miyazaki

This aculpture is based on a series that view a new vision of Japan from the rubble of the earthquake and tsunami. The sculpture is created with old car parts and the sculpture makes sound, inspired by the tunes played in the Tokyo public transport and in Japanese shops.

Ghost by Adam Chodzko

This is a sculpture of a kayak hanging above Leadenhall Market. The sculpture has been used all over the UK and ferries a passenger on a journey while recording it the memory. The artwork was created in 2010 and has travelled in Kent, Devon, Olympic Park, and Newcastle.  

Old DNA by Folkert de Jong

Artist de Jong created this sculpture using a 3D scan of armour that belonged to Henry VIII. The sculpture represents decay and how power/strength can decay over time. 

The sculptures are on display until May 2016 before they are replaced with new sculptures that will be on display until next May.

Previous years of London's Sculpture in the City are included below:

• Sculpture in the City 2014
• Sculpture in the City 2013

Last year (2015) had provided some good street art in the ever-changing London scene. I have decided to list a review of the year in this post featuring some favourites and popular pieces. 2015 has been a little different than the past few years as (from March) I have gone from working in east London and checking out the scene on a daily basis to only being able to visit at the odd weekend (as I lived outside of London). So, here's the notable pieces that I did not miss and was able to photograph so far. (Also, apologies for not posting this sooner.)

Cheese London

January: 'Je Suis Charlie' (covered here) was the mood of the month. This tragic event in Paris and the murder of cartoonists by terrorists led to some creative quick work across the city, such as the work by Pure Evil (below), who painted a few times on the hoarding off Great Eastern Street.

February: I loved the Valentine's Day tribute parody of the card 'I choo-choo-choose you' from The Simpsons. The artwork was completed by Graffiti Life. You can read more about my write-up on it here.

March: March was a busy month for street art, and I cannot choose just one good piece as the weather started to get warmer and artists started to hit the streets.

First, Femme Fierce took place in Leake Street Tunnel. This is an annual event of women artists. I checked it out this year and saw a lot of good work, which you can read more about here.

Phelgm's artwork is one of the most easily-recognisable with his unique spindly characters, and I was happy to see a new one of his pieces painted on a large wall between Rivington and Old Streets (covered here).

Evoca1 and PixelPancho (covered here) also painted in London, and I loved the roosters on Hanbury Street.

Gregos, a street artist who places up plaster masks, also visited London again and I loved finding his masks across the city.

April: April was another busy month, and I've managed to shorten the list down to a couple of amazing pieces.

JimmyC produced a stunning portrait on a local cafe (Joe's Kid) off Brick Lane. The story behind the piece is interesting (read here).

En Masse, a collective Canadian group, painted on the Village Underground wall, and it was one of the most impressive walls of the year (covered here).

May: The month of May was busy in the diary for street art. The Greenhouse Effect Paint Jam was one of the main events taking place off Pedley Street (near Brick Lane) in reclaimed land. I wasn't able to get many photographs of this before they were painted over, but you can read more about it here.

One of the largest pieces on a wall that had not really been used for street art much until this year was titled 'Spring Offering' by Bailon and Sliks (covered here).

Brazilian artist Cranio (who paints the blue tribal characters) also returned to London in the spring, and one of my favourite pieces was a collaboration between him and London Fanakapan (covered here). I loved seeing the painted foil balloons by Fankapan go up over the city over the spring and summer in 2015.

June: The summer months continued to be busy with walls changing often, and I was starting to find getting into London to get photographs a little challenging before the work changed. There are many excellent examples of work this month.

London-based artist Himbad has had a popular year on the streets of London, and a favourite of mine was a collaboration with Kyle Holbrook (Himbad and Kyle Holbrook). 

Boe & Irony also returned to create two large-scale and stunning pieces in Paradise Row (a pigeon and a cat) in Bethnal Green. More work on Paradise Row can be read in my post here.

Ben Eine also came back to create new work in the city, and he collaborated with street artist Cheese London on the piece near Columbia Road.

Furia ACK (covered here) was another artist to create several paintings across London in the spring and summer, but the artist has had a longer time here with a lot of work appearing from as early as mid-2014.

One of the most colourful and probably one of the most photographed pieces, by Alexis Diaz and Elian, was also painted on Hanbury Street this month (covered here).

July: July was the busiest month of street art, and I found that I missed a lot of the London scene as it was a very busy month for me. For me, it was all about Bristol Upfest, which I covered here. There were so many excellent pieces created by many excellent artists, and I covered it extensively in my post. 

In London, one of the most interesting street art took form in sculptures of pigeons placed in Soho Square. The pigeons were made by Patrick Murphy (covered here) and were on display throughout the summer but were particular to an event at the end of July.

August: August made the news with Banksy street art. Dismaland became a popular sensation and people struggled to get tickets. I was away on a business trip but thankfully back the following week and managed to secure tickets (before resorting to having to beg friends in Weston-super-Mare to get me in). I covered Dismaland in my post here.

Of course, being away and doing a lot of overtime at work meant that I could not make it to London for awhile. 

September: The street art scene did not show any decline over the summer months, and my schedule continued to be busy, but I was able to make it to London to photograph some pieces. I know that over the summer, glow-in-the-dark street art was all the rage, and there were at least five pieces up in London. A lot of these were commissioned and could only be really enjoyed in the evening, and they also did not last too long. I managed to photograph one by Amara por Dios, but it was in daylight only, and I also managed to photograph these owls in Camden later in the year in daylight.

Telmo Miel painted "Love Gloves" in the series of gloves and a hybrid human-panda. I covered the work in more detail here.

Masai painted a mural in order to help endangered coral reefs, and the result is a stunning piece (covered here).

October: October brought us a stunning collaboration by Nagel (popular for his mushroom sculptures) and Pang (who creates illustrations normally in black and white). They collaborated on 'The Death of Ego' off Brick Lane, which I covered here. 

October was also a popular month featuring artists from Mexico. Mazatl, Acaro, and Stinkfish all collaborated on artwork in the city (covered here).

And, finally, Bom.K. produced a stunning green mural off Brick Lane. The mural appeared realistic andwas eye-catching.

November: This year was also a changing one as places that were often painted on with street art and other familiar areas in London have started to disappear now that newer buildings are being built and these areas are being replaced. This theme was covered a lot recently, and one of the images that captures this best is by JimmyC.

The next work this month comes from one of the artists who really got me interested in street art, Stik (covered here). A new Stik was painted this month on Hackney Road, and it's been a long while since the artist has put up anything new in London. A new Stik appeared at Homerton Hospital earlier in the year, but it was a smaller scale and I have not been able to see it. I love how Stik has used the crumbling building in this new mural.

December: The biggest surprise this month was seeing Banksy's "The Drinker" sculpture re-appear in Soho with some additions to it. AK47 added a toilet seat and renamed the statue to "The Stinker".

Additionally, Gregos (the artist who appeared earlier in the year) hit the streets again in December and pasted up a new mural featuring his masks with balloons. This was an interesting concept because it encouraged visitors to post with the artwork.

Notable Mentions: Notable mention throughout the year is ALO (covered here), Zabou (covered here) and Don 'Paul' Smith, both who painted quite a bit in London throughout the year. 

Don 'Paul' Smith continued to place his artwork around the city, and I saw something new each time I visited (covered here).

I hope that 2016 is a good year for street art, despite the number of walls and areas that they were placed on is dwindling. Also, I hope to be able to keep up with the scene a little more unlike 2015.

When I was recently in Soho, I managed to take photographs of some of the new street art which has popped up earlier last year. In this post, I have covered art from Thierry Noir, Paul 'Don' Smith, Broken Fingaz, Amara por Dios, and Doctor Cream.

First up is a colourful contribution to the streets of Soho by Thierry Noir with his trademark heads in pastel colours. The artist has made several visits to London, and I think that the latest piece Thierry Noir created in London was in Shoreditch.

Paul 'Don' Smith has created several new pieces throughout Soho after most of his pieces in Shoreditch and Spitalfields were tagged over toward the end of last year. You can read more about the artist here.

The Martian

Spectre

The Revenant

Hardy - Legend

Black Mass

Batman vs Superman

Krays - Legend

Star Wars

I also discovered another 'Rolling Fool' from street artist Dr. Cream, who I have previously covered here.

Amara Por Dios painted on Chotto Matte restaurant, saying that she was inspired to paint with a Peruvian and Japanese flair for the restaurant (1). The artist has been busy in London this year and most recent work included glow-in-the-dark pieces.

Broken Fingaz also painted a new mural on a shutter in Soho, a couple of doors from the Thierry Noir one that I pictured above. I recently covered some of their work here, but I have not seen any new work of theirs for a couple of years, so it was nice to see something new.

1) Chotto Matte. http://www.amarapordios.com/#!Chotto-Matte-x-Amara-Por-Dios/c1onc/55b20ee40cf2f7a6a93156e6 [3 January 2016].

Thanks to InspiringCity (http://inspiringcity.com) for alerting me to this next piece when they featured it on their blog; I don't often visit Soho, so I doubt that I would have come across this statue otherwise. While I was in London on the Seven Noses of Soho tour on New Year's Day, I convinced the rest of the group to walk across the road to have a look with me. Everyone loves Banksy, so I hope no one minded the walk across the road to have a look. 

The history behind the statue is that Banksy created it and placed it on this little 'square' off Shaftesbury Avenue about ten years ago. The statue is modelled after Rodin's "The Thinker", but it was changed to "The Drinker" and included the traffic cone on the head. I suppose this was a dig at the drunks in Soho and how drunk people can get excited about playing with street furniture, such as cones. That is how I've interpreted it anyway. Who hasn't seen a drunk person playing with a traffic cone?

A group known as AK47 'kidnapped' "The Drinker" and demanded a ransom for it, but Banksy never paid it. You can read more about "The Drinker" and its kidnap at The Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2004/apr/02/art

Three weeks ago, AK47 brought it back to the same location with some alterations. The statue has been renamed "The Stinker" and a large toilet seat has been added. It appears that "The Drinker" is sitting on a toilet seat with the cone on its head. AK47 have added their tag in red and crossed out the "Dr" in "drinker" and added a "St" in red paint on the plinth.

The piece is located off Shaftesbury Avenue near Shaftesbury Theatre, and I suggest seeing it soon before it's taken again. 

Banksy was in the news last summer for creating the Dismaland Bemusement Park, which I covered here. 

I spent New Year's Day walking around London on a guided tour to track down the seven noses of Soho. The tours to see the Seven Noses of Soho are held a few times throughout the year by qualified guide Peter Berthoud, and the tours are small in size (a maximum of ten people) to allow everyone to mingle, and we were lucky to be in a nice group. The Seven Noses tour on New Year's Day is special in that it also includes stops at various pubs that have decided to open on the day. Viewing the seven noses is also meant to bring infinite wealth, but the wealth may not include money; it may be in the form of money, happiness, health, love, cats, or something else.

Many myths have surrounded the noses before learning in 2011 who the artist was and why they were placed on the walls. The artist is Rick Buckley, and in 1997, he added around 35 noses to buildings in London, including high-profile buildings such as South Bank Centre, the Tate, and National Gallery. The noses are a cast of his own and created with Plaster of Paris and polymer and usually painted to match the wall placed on. The reason for them is that the artist saw them as a form of silent protest against the increase of CCTV cameras; he wanted to see if he could add them without being caught. Essentially, they are a form of street art, such as Space Invader or Gregos's masks.

Today, only about ten of the noses exist. Seven of these are located in (or near) Soho, and there's also meant to be one at St. Pancras, two at Hayward Gallery, and one at South Bank walkway. We saw the seven original ones by Rick Buckley around Soho, an ear, and a bonus nose that has nothing to do with Rick Buckley. 

The most famous nose is located on the Admirality Arch, and the myth was that it was modelled on Napoleon's and rubbed by horse-riders for good luck. This one is commonly known, but I am going to keep the other locations secret. You'll just have to go on the tour.

The first sculpture that we spotted was the ear on the side of a building. This was put up by Tim Fishlock. There are a few more ear sculptures around London.

We were also provided with chocolates to begin our walking tour.

On the tour, we came across a sculpture set into the side of a building. We were told that these are from the London Guild (livery company) of Mercers (traders). They had a similar sculpture (called Mercers' Maidens) on each of their buildings.

Around the corner was our first pub visit, the Cross Keys. I've been to this pub before, but it was packed. When we visited, it was virtually empty. We were able to sit at a table and have drinks and chat. The pub is decorated for the holidays, and we saw items signed by the Beatles and Elvis hanging on the wall.

We then came across the bonus nose in Soho. This is not one of the original noses by Buckley. In fact, we were told that the person behind this nose was on one of the other tours. The nose was placed on the wall because of a dispute with the council over building work. 

After hunting down more noses and being disappointed by a lot of pubs being shut that we'd hoped to visit, we eventually ended up next to Liberty Department store where it was quite busy. However, we managed to have a 'standing' drink and chat in The Clachan.

Some of the pubs we visited had specialist ales and other drinks and they're perfect for a quick stop and to try something different. Unfortunately, I'm not a drinker of ale/beer/cider, so these eludes me a bit. But if you are a drinker of these, then you won't be disappointed. I did, however, have a glass of fizz.

After walking further and seeing more noses, we ended up in Tom Cribb pub. This pub is named after a boxer and contained a lot of specialist drinks.

The tour ended near Trafalgar Square, but a few of us headed off to Walkers Wine & Ale Bar not far away. There was a lot of room in the basement of the bar, and we were able to chat longer before heading home.

We really enjoyed our tour around London to the pubs and to see the Seven Noses of Soho and I recommend it. For more information about this tour, other London tours, and to book the tour, view the EventBrite page here: http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/discovering-london-with-peter-berthoud-2311088161

I will admit that 2015 was not the best year for me. It's not been the worst by any means; it's just been "difficult". I have nicknamed it "limbo year" as most of the time this year seems to be "in limbo" and "waiting". First of all, we moved. Yay! The bloke and I were living in my flat in Basingstoke, which was too small from day one, but was all I could afford. Now, we moved into a house and have more room and can do what we want to it without the restrictions that come with living in a flat, such as getting a kitten. Getting to this point took many months, and we did not know when we were likely to move until nearly two weeks before. Yikes! (It was also unplanned; I didn't go into 2015 thinking we were definately going to move.)

Cue Merlin. He's cute, but he can be a handful at times. He's a brown tabby Maine Coon. He has the classic tabby pattern (with black swirls on his sides) instead of the makerel (black stripes down the sides) pattern. I actually learned this year that there is more than one pattern of tabby cat.

The second item was that I had to move on to a new role at the beginning of the year. Besides the initial first three months, the contract became a rolling monthly contract with a lot of overtime on top. The rolling monthly contract made it impossible to plan anything in my life as I was not sure if I would have a contract by the time four weeks were up. I would not rush into a rolling monthly contract again, so I am keeping my fingers crossed that I can find a long-term contract.

What you read about the new contract is correct. I think I mentioned a week ago that due to company transitions and a screw-up caused by a large offshore IT outsourcing company, that my last work day is today (December 31). I was actually meant to be extended until the end of March 2016, but I only found out on the last day of my previous contract (30 November) that they'd messed it up. The IT offshore company wanted to charge the company I was contracted to a large mark-up on top of my rate. Due to a lot of hard work by the project manager (my boss), the contract was secured for the final three weeks of December (not including the four working days it took to sort the mess).

I do hope that 2016 is not another transition-year. I hope that it is more settled for me and enables new opportunities with the ability to settle and make the home into what I want for it. I hope that I am also able to meet up with friends and family and have a much-needed vacation (or three!) as I've not been able to this year, except for the odd day out in England.

To cut to the chase, here's a month-by-month review of my year this year.

January: January started uncertain for me as I'd been at my previous contract for two years and I was unsure about what was going to happen when it was up for renewal at the end of the month, and I was concerned about claiming expenses. In the end, the company decided to cut contractors, and I was one of those who were cut. They asked me to stay on one more month, and I actually got the next contract lined up immediately.  Before I left, I decided to hit up some restaurants that I'd been wanting to try, such as Chicken Shop/Dirty Burger in Whitechapel and MEATMission.

The 'Year of the Bus' art charity sculptures were also all on display in one place in the Olympic Park that month, and the bloke and I headed over to see them. It was the first time we both went to the Olympic Park together since the day we visited during the Olympic games. In addition to viewing the sculptures, we also took the opportunity to visit the Orbit (Days Out: ArcelorMittal Orbit).

At the end of January, I had arranged a morning tour of the abandoned underground station known as Aldwych Station. Tours of this station are rare and popular, so I made sure that I secured the tickets the previous autumn when the London Transport Museum were arranging several tours over a few weeks. The underground station was not in operation for too long because it was too expensive to maintain and did not get much use. Today, it is primarily used in filming, and you may recognise the interior from television and films.

In the afternoon of the same day, I arranged a treat for afternoon tea. This was to coincide with a visit the Natural History and Science Museums, but they were packed with long queues as earlier in the week, the museums were in the news (it appears that they will be replacing the beloved dinosaur in the entrance of the History Museum with a whale skeleton). We ended up in the Victoria & Albert Museum instead and watched a few old films. I've always found the Crystal Palace fascinating, and there was a good documentary about it. We spent the remainder of the afternoon enjoying Ampersand Hotel's Science Afternoon Tea. It came with chocolate dinosaurs (a tribute to the History Museum), a planet, a beaker of liquid, a volcano, and other science and history-related pastries.

February: During the month of February, I made the most of London before I had to leave. I visited the Spitalfields Textile Designs in Denis Severs' House during my lunch break one day. The designs were a beautiful snapshot of history of this part of London as it is known for its silk weaving. The house was also beautiful and boasted Oscar Wilde's mantle. I've been wanting to see inside the beautiful silk weaver houses for a long while. I would love to live in one as they are beautiful and spacious inside. I love the Georgian style of house the best.

I also saw the Spitalfields Great Pancake Race, which takes place in front of the office where I used to work, and I was lucky to see it as that was my last week at the company. The annual pancake race is held on Pancake Day. This year, it attracted a particularly large crowd due to it falling later than usual, warm, and during the week when schools were off. This was the third year in a row that I watched it. I love it. There are prizes for the fastest team and team with the most creative costumes.

The Walkie Talkie Tower (20 Fenchurch Street) and its beautiful sky garden also opened to the public earlier in the year, and I could have booked tickets for the first days that it was open to the public, but I reserved it to the day before Valentine's Day (a Friday) instead as I thought that it would be romantic to visit with the bloke for a drink and quick lunch. We both worked a short distance from the building, so it made sense to visit during lunch. The garden is worth visiting, and the views are amazing.

For Valentine's Day, I surprised the bloke by taking him to play crazy golf at Swingers Golf Club in Shoreditch. (Yes, I snickered at the name 'Swingers' too.) We were the first in the queue and managed to get two rounds of golf in in addition to eating delicious street food. I had Pizza Pilgrims. We also received a free glass of pink champagne as we visited on Valentine's Day. We had so much fun.

Toward the end of the month, I had to say my goodbyes to working in London and the team that I had worked with for the past two years. I found this very difficult as I really liked everyone in the team a lot, and (except for the long commutes), I enjoyed my time at the company. I also managed to explore and became very familiar with that part of London and keep updated on the street art scene. 

However, after saying goodbye to one team at the end of one week, I said hello to another. I started a new role immediately and spent the next couple of weeks with part of the new team in Ashby de la Zouch, which took me into first week of March. Of course, I ended up enjoying this team that I worked in, but the company was going through a transition. From the first day, I was told that my bosses and all of the other staff were being made redundant at some point (no one knew when it would be, but it ended up being at the end of September) and the large IT offshore company would be taking their jobs. That's never a nice feeling, and they were all very good and knowledgable people. (I feel that companies should not do this to their staff, and I disagree that it will cut costs in the long term. I think a lot of us are under the same impression that this is a mistake.)

The majority of the contract was working from home, and I was happy that I could take a break from the draining long commutes. I also took the opportunity with this extra time and energy in order to look for a place in London or closer to London to avoid future long commutes. (At this point, I did not have any idea where to move to, but I discovered Ruislip in the spring and I concentrated my efforts there.)

March: While in Ashby de la Zouch at the beginning of the month, I visited Ashby de la Zouch castle. There was an audio guide that I used to learn about the castle. Climbing the remains of the tower was impressive, and I enjoyed going underground and underneath the castle where there is a tunnel from the kitchen to the courtyard. I actually did enjoy my two weeks in the office in Ashby de la Zouch and exploring (though very briefly) a new area.

I missed working in Basingstoke (where I lived). I moved to the city for a job in 2007, and I enjoyed visiting the shops at lunch with colleagues or alone. After that role was made redundant, I ended up commuting to London for work. I really loved being able to work in Basingstoke again, so I took advantage of the city. On one weekend, the bloke and I spent the day learning how to make a stained glass decoration, and cake and lunch was included. I absolutely loved doing this and I wanted to do it again. The classes take place from time to time at Proteus Creation Space. Basingstoke does have an arts scene (including a theatre and music venue), and I will disagree with anyone who puts the city down as I feel it gets unfair press.

During March, I also visited London to see the 'Shaun the Sheep' (from Wallace & Gromit) art sculpture charity trails. This year, the sculpture trail (made in conjunction with Aardman Animations) takes place in the city of London in the spring. A herd of new Shauns will be in Bristol over the summer.

At the end of the month, the bloke and I visited our first MINI-related event for the past few years as we've both been busy and working in London. In the past, I never managed to make it to the Brooklands MINI Day, even though it is just down the road from me. This is the first big MINI event of the year. We went inside a Concord, walked around the car and plane museums, and walked around the other visitors' MINIs. Some of the cars were parked on the old Brooklands race track, which is the oldest race track.

April: Easter was at the beginning of the month of April this year, and I'd arranged to have a short break in North Yorkshire. We stayed at the Old Swan Hotel in Harrogate, which was made famous by Agatha Christie. This is the hotel she was staying at when she disappeared. I have not completed uploading and posting all of my photographs for the attractions that we visited in Yorkshire, but we went to some beautiful places that I will be posting at some point. There's a lot to see in that area of the country, and I will be posting about these places.

Our first day in Harrogate was rainy, but we enjoyed afternoon tea at Betty's Tea Rooms in Harrogate, which has been on my list for awhile now. I'm glad that I managed to reserve it for the afternoon on the first day of our visit. The tea room is very popular, and I love looking at the easter displays and giant Easter eggs in the shop window. I remember doing the same about ten Easters ago when a friend and I went to York and Harrogate, so it brings back fond memories.

Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal Water Gardens were one of the attractions that we visited in North Yorkshire. We visited on Easter Sunday afternoon, after a lunch at the pub/restaurant Guy Fawkes Arms. (The pub is named after its most famous resident.) We had a wonderful Easter Sunday meal, and this was my favourite meal of the year. I would love to go back as the food was that excellent, and I do find many restaurants/pubs to be mediocre anymore. The day was gorgeous with beautiful sunshine, and this was one of the best days out that I have had in a long while. We spent a few hours exploring the abbey ruins and walking the grounds. For some reason, I had some memory of this attraction as well, but I've never been here before (at least not in this life). That feeling of déjà vu and the memory of this perfect day will never leave me.

Later in the month, I dragged the bloke along as we went to try the W Fashion / Power Afternoon Tea at W Hotel in Leicester Square. This tea celebrates women in fashion and featured a nice selection of beautifully-designed pastries. Think Lady Gaga and the meat dress, Vivienne Westwood, and Chanel.

May: May was a busy month with work, and I put in a lot of overtime in the evenings, mornings, and weekends. As a result, I did not get out too much. I did enjoy a stroll around St. James' Park in London where I love to see the daffodils, and I also saw green parakeets. I love visiting this park every spring because I love the carpet of daffodils. They are one of my favourite flowers.

The most notable events in May took place toward the end of the month when I visited Sake No Hana to enjoy the Sakura Cherry Blossom. I had the traditional picnic lunch that the Japanese eat when they enjoy the beautiful blooms, and the seasonal alcoholic drink with the special sakura menu (Violet Risshun) was my favourite alcoholic cocktail of the year. The cocktail was served in two parts, symbolising the beginning of spring (tart) and the height of spring (sweet and floral).

At the end of the month, I went on the Guided Tour of Macarons and Mews, led by Yannick Pucci. I saw many beautiful London mews and tasted a few nice macarons. The tour was a nice and small one, and we were all around the same age with similar interests in history and London. I recommend his tours.

June: The month of June started off with a visit to Bubba Gump Shrimp and a trip to see Miss Saigon. The bloke was going to see the play with his work colleagues in the social club, and I had been told by a colleague earlier in the year that it was a brilliant play. I'd been wanting to visit Bubba Gump Shrimp restaurant for awhile. Although it did not wow me, the restaurant was worth a visit to see memorabilia from the film Forrest Gump. The play Miss Saigon was a touching one, and I was sat next to a lady who knew members of the production team and was interesting to talk to.

June is also my birthday month, so I took the day off to go to Lymington in the New Forest. The day was partially-sunny but not very warm. We enjoyed the day and went on a treasure hunt around the village and the outskirts of the village. I bought the book for the treasure trail a few years ago. I love the New Forest, and it's been so long since I've been able to visit it. When we arrived back home in Basingstoke, we made a stop off at a tea room and had a birthday cupcake.

At the weekend, I'd booked brunch at Duck & Waffle. I've been wanting to visit Duck & Waffle for ages now and had to cancel previous reservations, including the previous week due to falling ill. Unfortunately, the weather on the weekend that we went was dreary. The weekend before (when I fell ill) was beautiful. Typical. I will need to go back. I absolutely loved the waffles, and this was my favourite brunch/breakfast of the year.

Another birthday treat was to see "War Horse" before it finished in London and dinner at "Vintage Salt", the pop-up restaurant on Selfridge's rooftop for the summer. We previously visited the restaurant when it was branded as the winter pop-up Le Chalet ski lodge, and I enjoyed the food. "Vintage Salt" was equally enjoyable, and the highlight was a dessert that resembled a hamburger. While the mechanism for "War Horse" was excellent, I was not impressed with the story.

Keeping with my promise to attend local events, I went to Basingstoke Festival Parade toward the end of June. It was a blast and combined music, fancy costume, dance, and food/drink. This marked the first event of many celebrating a summer of events in the calendar for Basingstoke. I went to a couple of other events and markets in the city.

The last event for the month was attending 'Star Wars' Secret Cinema Secret Cantina. We visited in the evening, attending the Formula E race at Battersea Park in the morning. The Secret Cantina was a bar/nightclub with 'Star Wars' characters and actors who had events for us to do. We wanted to check out the Cantina before going to the actual big event a few days later, which brings us to July.

July: On the 4th of July, a group of us went to 'Star Wars' Secret Cinema. We had lunch at Bob Bob Ricard (famous for the 'press for champagne' button), and this was my favourite meal in London. I recommend it and would like to visit again. We indulged in champagne and Prosecco. With a 'press for champagne' button, indulgence in champagne is a must.

Secret Cinema's "The Empire Strikes Back" was good fun, and we had a blast pretending we were rebels and living in the "Star Wars" universe. I really wanted to visit it again, but we just never got the opportunity.

The Overton Scarecrow Festival was one of the highlights of the summer for me. Overton is a village near Basingstoke, and they have a scarecrow festival every year or two. I had a good time on one of the warmest days of the summer walking around Overton and viewing the scarecrows. A lot of residents and businesses participated in creating their own scarecrows, and some of these were very creative.

That same weekend also marked Basingstoke's free live music event, Basingstoke Live. I could hear the music on Saturday afternoon after we returned from Overton and the last few acts sounded particularly good. However, I was feeling a little tired and decided to spend the full day there on Sunday instead of visiting on Saturday. Sunday was also a good day, but the music was more 'chilled'. In particular, I wanted to see Mungo Jerry perform on the Sunday as I recognised his music from the 1960s; he had a hit with 'In the Summertime'. I also got his autograph.

. 

Toward the end of the month of July, I made a visit to Salisbury to see the charity art baron sculptures (The Baron's Charter), which celebrate 800 years of the Magna Carta. I love visiting Salisbury.

I worked a lot of overtime in July, so I decided to take a day off toward the end of the month in order to visit one of the open day tours of Lavender Fields near Alton in Hampshire. I've passed the lavender many times and always wanted to stop, so we had a tour at short notice. The weather was pouring with rain, but I still managed to get several beautiful photographs of the lavender and other wildflowers.

The week at the end of the month was particularly busy, and I had to go away for business. Just before I had to do so, I visited Bristol during Bristol Upfest and also used the time to see the 'Shaun the Sheep' charity art sculptures in Bristol. I managed to track them all down and had a wonderful time. The weather was perfect during the two days we spent walking over the city, but the day we walked around Bedminster to look at street art was very wet and rainy.

August: The month of August started with a bang as I'd returned from my business trip and had tickets with friends to go to Battle Proms at Highclere Castle. (For those who do not know, Highclere Castle is just down the road from Basingstoke and is the location where Downton Abbey is filmed.) We brought picnics, listened to music, watched horse displays and people in historic dress, and watched cannons and fireworks explode at dusk. I had a good time despite initial problems and rush due to my unfortunate friends getting stuck in bad traffic on the way. They only just turned up before the concert began, so we had a mad dash of inhaling food and drink so that we could enjoy the music.

The following weekend, we spent two days in Norwich to explore the city and track down Norwich's GoGoDragons art charity sculptures. Everyone in the city of Norwich supported the dragons, and we loved finding them and exploring the city in the process. Norwich is beautiful, and I was happy to visit it to see the charity art dragons. I was also amazed and happy at how popular these dragons were to the community over the summer.

In the middle of the month, we celebrated the bloke's birthday. We both had the day off and visited Old Wardour Castle, which was used in the film "Robin Hood Prince of Thieves". We had a dreary day for it, but the bloke told me that his birthday is always rainy.

We also went to Bournemouth one evening to Bournemouth Candlelight Nights. I went to university there and always remember the lower gardens and the candle light sculptures. After seeing the candles in jars (which kept breaking and exploding due to the heat), we had dinner before heading home back through the New Forest where we found a dark area and stopped off to look at the comets. There's no chance we'd have ever seen them in the town centre flat.

At the end of the month, I had to go away on business for two weeks. However, I was able to enjoy Amsterdam's SAIL event on the weekend in between. This is the largest maritime event in the world, and it is only held once every five years. Visitors can view the ships and climb onto the decks or below decks at certain times and days. We visited a tall ship, a working war ship, and a working submarine. I had a wonderful time viewing the ships and watching the fireworks. The weather was also perfect for it, and the ships covered such a large area and came from all over the world. Some of them were also historical. The oldest one dated from sometime in the 1700s. I would have loved to have gone onto other ships, but the event was a popular one and the queues were quite long.

After returning to the UK from Amsterdam, the last weekend in August was a very busy one. While in Amsterdam, I managed to successfully book tickets to Banksy's Dismaland in Weston-super-Mare. This was a major news story, and the event was very busy as anything relating to Banksy seems to draw crowds. The attraction was memorable, and I saw some good art installations. 

On the Bank Holiday Monday, I had a reservation for the BB Bakery Bus Afternoon Tea tour. This was a Christmas gift, and I had to book over eight months in advance in order to get a seat on the top deck, and I decided to get the forward-facing seat. I did wonder if the day would be rainy as Bank Mondays typically are, but I remembered that last year's August Bank Holiday was pleasant. However, I was not lucky with the weather this time. Despite this, we did have a nice tour around west London. Getting decent photographs was next to impossible with the raindrops on the windows, though.

September: September was very busy from a work point of view as I put in a lot of overtime in order to finish the project. Socially, it was not as crazy as August was because I expected that we would be moving, so I kept the weekends free. In the middle of the month, we went with friends to Mattingley have a pub lunch and then to Silchester to walk around the ruins. I thoroughly enjoyed our little walk on the pleasant autumn day.

In the middle of the month, I had a week in Ashby de la Zouch in order to say my goodbyes to my colleagues who were being made redundant on 30 September. I really enjoyed working with them and the team that we had for a short time. I would not have minded working with the people in this team for a lot longer.

Toward the end of the month, the bloke booked tickets to see the Battle of Britain at 75 concert at Biggin Hill. We watched Spitfires and listened to music and memories from those who fought in the Battle of Britain. This was an event hosted by BBC Radio 2.

The big news for the month is that we learned in mid-September that the rest of the chain of buyers/sellers was ready for the house purchase to complete. We had been waiting to hear news about it for the past couple of months, so we felt relieved to actually have a date and a date that worked for us as it otherwise it would not have been possible for the bloke to take off work due to his colleague expecting a baby. The day finally did arrive. On the 30th of September, we picked up the keys to our house and moved in the next day (October 1). That brings us to October.

October: In October, I had to say goodbye to my flat in Basingstoke. I spent the first several days of the month cleaning, painting, and finishing the big move. Meanwhile, the bloke and I continued to get familiar with the new house and new area that we had moved to. 

Our first outing of the month had been planned in advance for the middle of October, and this was to see the final race of British Touring Cars at Brands Hatch. We had race hospitality, and the food provided was excellent. Hospitality also included free drinks (alcohol and non-alcohol) throughout the day, and we managed to get to the pits to get Jason Plato's autograph.

Later in the month, we indulged in Matthew Williamson AW15 Afternoon Tea at Balthazar in Covent Garden. As the title of this afternoon tea suggests, it celebrates the autumn and winter range of Matthew Williamson fashion.

At the end of the month, we went to see the Jacksonville Jaguars play the Buffalo Bills at Wembley Stadium, but we really went to see the Ohio State University Marching Band perform. Ohio is the state where I was born, and they have the best marching band who create moving imagery to music. This was the first American football game that I have ever been to. 

November: November was fairly quiet, but we had a big milestone in the form of a ball of fluff. Merlin the Maine Coon came to live with us early in the month. He's gotten larger in the past couple of months from the little ball of fluff who travelled from North Yorkshire with hardly a peep in the back of the car. He's still incredibly cute.

Race of Champions was the first event we went to later in the month, and it was the coldest day of the year. I didn't really enjoy myself as I found it to be a lot of stopping and starting and waiting around. Of course, being very cold did not help. The event was held in the Olympic stadium, which is open to the elements, so it was very cold and a clear sky.

At the end of the month, we celebrated Thanksgiving lunch at Balthazar restaurant in Covent Garden. I love Thanksgiving as it marks the beginning of the Christmas season. On Thanksgiving, it is deemed acceptable to listen to Christmas music and get into the mood. After we ate our Thanksgiving meal, we had a long walk around London in order to see the Christmas lights. We also indulged in winter cocktails and a visit to the theatre to see "Sunny Afternoon", which was my favourite play of the year. One of the types of music that I have always enjoyed is the 1960s, and I really enjoy the music of the Kinks. "Sunny Afternoon" is a documentary musical for the band the Kinks.

The next day, I was still in the mood for the start of the Christmas season, and we spent the long weekend in Bath and Bristol. We explored the Bath Christmas Markets, which I have been to numerous times as I used to live there and always enjoyed going back to visit again. Despite living in Bath city, I never visited the Pump Rooms restaurant. We ended up having lunch here, but it was a bit disappointing.

December: December has not brought me the best news. I already mentioned my contract being messed up by the large IT offshore company. The result ended up with me sitting around and waiting for news that it was sorted. This did get sorted after a week for me to start on December 7 with the old process, but I was told that they could not extend beyond that. This means that I will have to find something in the new year. The job market is understandably quiet with everyone thinking about the holidays. I've said my goodbyes to colleagues, although most of them are away at the moment. I worked with some good people, and the company is going to have to go through more transitioning as they are also leaving the company.

Because of this sudden change in circumstance, I've not done much socially this month. My mind has been elsewhere and not on Christmas. The bloke had tickets to Christmas Carols at Southwark Cathedral to attend with his colleagues, and they had spare tickets due to drop-outs, so I also went along to that after work one evening. Before the concert, we had mulled wine and mince pies at Borough Market with views of the Shard lit up for the holidays.

What I was looking most forward to this month was to see 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens', so we went to the midnight showing at Shepherd's Bush on the release day in mid-December. We also saw it with friends a couple of days later and had a good meal at Big Easy BBQ and cocktails before seeing the film at the IMAX.

On the weekend before Christmas, I tried to get into the Christmas mood by having Winter Afternoon Tea at Chesterfield Mayfair. This did help initially.

Now that December has come to an end, I am just looking for the new year to begin so that I can look for my next role. This new year symbolises more than just an incremented number to me. I did not mean to end this on a downer, and I am not feeling down. I am feeling disappointed with the turn-out of the later part of this year. More importantly, I am feeling impatient for the new year to kick off. For that reason, I will leave with a couple inspiring quotations. 

"This is a new year. A new beginning. And things will change." - Taylor Swift

"For last year's words belong to last year's language
And next year's words await another voice.
And to make an end is to make a beginning." - T.S. Eliot

I hope that all of my readers have a great 2016, and Happy New Year!

The area of east London (namely Shoreditch/Hoxton/Hackney) is changing at a rapid pace as gentrification takes over. When this happens, many independent shops cannot compete and close down. Older buildings are torn down to make way for high-rise flats and hotels. Empty lots where cars could park and where walls could be made beautiful by spray paint are built on. The area is cleaned, removing all walls that once held beautiful artwork.

Hackney Road and Columbia Road

The area can lose its culture and atmosphere and its sense of community. I've seen this slowly start to happen in Shoreditch as more shops are replaced with chain shops, buildings are torn down in favour of hotels and flats, and open land for parking is turned into flats and shops. Independent shops disappear and coffee shops and sandwich shops move in.

Below are a series of photographs that I have taken around Shoreditch, Hoxton, and Hackney in the last few years. Soon, these may be our only memories of this time in London.

The Shard from Shoreditch

Under the rail bridge, Hoxton (top of Shoreditch High Street)

Tiled facade on Shoreditch High Street

Tiled facade on Shoreditch High Street

Housing estate at the top of Brick Lane and close to Columbia Road 

Tiled facade on Shoreditch High Street

The Royal Oak - Columbia Road, sells Truman beer

The Crown - sells Truman beer

John Tann's Reliance Locks and Fire and Burglar-proof safes, iron doors, rooms, warehouse... off Hackney Road

Redchurch Street

Old warehouses on south part of Kingsland Road

Hackney Road buildings - glass and frame shop and ghost sign

Hackney Road buildings - radiator covers, fire surround, stairs and spindles

Hackney Road buildings, looking south

St. Leonard

Salvation Army ghosts sign - near Old Street

Courtyard in warehouses, near Curtain Road

Take as many memories as you can.

A couple of weekends ago, I noticed a wall on Bacon Street was being prepared for a new mural. Eager to discover what it was, I headed back last weekend and saw the finished piece by street artist JimmyC, an artist that I originally covered here. The artist painted a mural off Brick Lane at the beginning of the year featuring a local family on the side of their shop, Joe's Kid.

The new mural features the face of another resident of Shoreditch on Bacon Street. It's painted next to the Charlie Burns mural by Ben Slow, another resident. This mural shows Mick. 

The mural shows buildings coming out of Mick's hat, and according to JimmyC, this shows that the area of Shoreditch is changing forever due to ongoing gentification around Bacon and Sclater Street. The artist also anticipated that the buildings would be boarded up for removal in a couple of weeks, so do see these wonderful murals before they are lost forever. The street has hosted several new murals in the past few weeks, so a visit will be worthwhile.

Bacon Street, off of Brick Lane, has been recently painted with the work of several artists this summer. It's been a little while since the street was painted with anything new, so it was a nice surprise for me to walk past the street and discover several new murals. Saki & B is one of the artists who have contributed to a lot of recent work on this street. However, Amara Por Dios and Dscreet have also contributed.

Amara Por Dios

The last part of the street where the shutters are for a shop selling used items (furniture, antiques, and so on), Saki & B and Zina collaborated on a mural and Amara Por Dios and Flesh contributed on another. 

Saki & Zina; Flesh and Amara Por Dios

Dscreet normally paint on the wall where their current work is located. This is a tribute to The Doors' song "Break on Through". The artist has used lyrics in some of his past murals.

Dscreet

Saki & B. (covered here) painted a two-panel mural with her female figures. The figures are normally part animal, and these have fish tails. Her work is normally witty and features female figures, often with alien or animal appendages and often partially nude.

Saki & B

On a wall close is a woman figure in a butcher's outfit with a knife, and this is Saki & B.'s third mural on the wall. This woman appears to be sneaking up on ROA's pig mural, which has been on the wall for many years (covered here). 

ROA and Saki & B.

These new additions to the Bacon Street walls are worth a visit before they disappear, and my favourite is the butcher above.

Paradise Row has been getting a lot of street art attention recently, and several really excellent pieces have been sprayed and pasted up here in the past few weeks. I recently covered the new mural by Stinkfish and Mazatl, but I've taken a walk down the street from Bethnal Green tube station to capture more photographs. This post features work by Boe & Irony, JimmyC, Cheese London, Cardboard Skeleton, Trust Icon, Airbourne Mark, and more.

The first piece, a giant portrait of a pigeon, was painted by Boe & Irony. Sadly, this impressive mural was replaced fairly recently. This pigeon mural is probably an ode to London as pigeons are so common in the city.

When I visited the pigeon, someone was getting a photoshoot with a red velvet couch in front of it. 

The above piece is another example from one of the artists who contributed to the pigeon mural. The cat was painted by Irony and features the portrait of a giant tabby cat looking down on the street. Perhaps the cat is ready to pounce on the pigeon.

Further down the street (toward Bethnal Green), JimmyC (covered here) painted a mural on the wall. The mural features an eye and spheres using the point style of painting that JimmyC does so well.

The piece was added to by Cheese London, who is a graffiti artist whose work I have seen in Dalston, Hackney Road, Broadway Market, and Shoreditch. The artist typically paints yellow lettering with the name or sometimes just a block of yellow cheese.

Along the road, I also discovered a piece by Cardboard Skeleton and also saw an additional large mural by Pang, but this was covered and I was unable to get a good photograph.

Another excellent mural in Paradise Row is a piece by an artist known simply as Adam. The man in the bath is holding a newspaper from Network Rail informing them to move as gentrification takes hold of another area of east London.

23rdKey are another artist whose work I discovered on the street. The hands forming the shadow of a deer with antlers is a stunning piece visually.

I loved this portrait of a lady, but I could not find reference to the artist. I am certain that I've seen the style of portrait before, but I cannot remember.

Next to this mural is a stunning mural by Amara por Dios (covered here). Several other murals are located on the street, and I've snapped a few photographs to include them below.

Amara Por Dios

Dscreet (covered here)

Lilly

Vidiam

Sweet Toof

Himbad

Himbad

Airbourne Mark

One of the most amusing walls on the street is a recent addition by Trust Icon, whose work always has an element of humour. This piece features a showering woman washing with a sponge, and the sponge is none other than Spongebob Squarepants. 

Trust Icon

To visit these murals, the nearest station is Bethnal Green underground station. Head directly north down Paradise Row and follow the rail arches to Hackney Road.