Results matching “paint”

Between last summer and earlier this year, Portuguese artist Furia ACK painted several murals across London. The artist creates stunning black and white portraits which convey emotion, and I've documented the work over the past year. One of my favourites is one of the artist's newer pieces, painted on a shutter on Commercial Street (directly below). 

Costah (Nuno Costah), another artist from Portugal who pastes up street art and makes tattoos, contributed with Furia ACK on a couple of murals. Recently, Costah's bird paste-ups have been added all over the streets of London.

The beautiful image below was painted off of Brick Lane, and someone (Jess?) added Santa hats to the figures. The hats appeared just before Christmas. The image is a sad one, but with the hats, it loses the effect.

Another mural that appeared toward the end of last year shows a woman opening Pandora's Box.

And we also have Medusa.

The mural below is titled 'Eve'. She eats the apple with the snake in the background.

Below was the tribute to Charlie Hebdo. The writing did not last long before being painted over.

The image below is titled 'Mercedes Sosa'.

The next portrait is titled 'Victor Jara', with the words 'Freedom of speech is worth dying for.'

Zeca Afonso is the next portrait.

One of the first murals that I discovered from Furia ACK last year was this stunning image of an older man. The portrait looks as though it was created using charcoal.

Furia ACK is based in London, so we may see some more of his work appear across the city.

This is a post that I've had ready to publish awhile ago, and I thought that I should do it before I head off to Britsol again this summer. I visited Bristol a couple of summers ago to see an art and sculpture trail. I had previously seen some of the street art in Bristol as I used to live in Bath and work near Bristol, so Bristol is no stranger to me. However, I'd never properly photographed and documented the street art that I saw when I used to visit there more often that I do now. There's no better way to introduce the Bristol street art scene than to publish some work by Banksy, arguably the most famous street or grafitti artists in the world. Back in 2009, I went to his exhibition held in Bristol, and you can see photographs and a write-up from it here: Banksy Exhibit - Grafitti Art. I'd just moved back to Hampshire about 1.5 years prior to this exhibit, and the queues were quite long; I think I had waited three hours in the queue before I was able to enter.

This famous piece (above) is on a high-profile wall on a busy street, and it's not fared well lately with damage. It's a pity to see such an iconic piece of art destroyed.

Of course, Bristol is now one of the top street art destinations of the world. Each year, a street art event "Upfest" is held, and new pieces of street art appear continuously. Bristol has always had a strong art community. A collection of some of the pieces is below, but I am not sure who painted many of the murals. I captured some of these around Bedminster.

Semtitic Servants painted the mural below, and it was a collaboration with other street artists, including Cheo.

I was happy to see some work of artists that I recognised in Bristol. Sweet Toof painted outside the pub called "The Looking Glass", and Cheo painted some with his signature characters as well. I am unsure who the other artists are.

Dan Kitchener is an artist that I recognised from London, and you can see some more of his work here. I've seen the below image in some of his previous artwork in London.

Nick Walker painted "The Coat of Arms" mural on a wall below.

I spotted new pieces throughout Bristol.

This year, I will be visiting Bristol again, and I'll be posting some photographs from new work produced at the famous street art event, "Upfest", so keep checking back!

After visiting Cahir Castle, we made our way down the road to the Rock of Cashel. The Rock of Cashel is one of the most popular sites in Ireland and has a long history. It was once the seat of the kings of Ireland, and it is the location where Saint Patrick preached. The legend says that he banished the devil from the caves near the rock. The Rock of Cashel is an early Christain site and contains medieval buildings. It includes the cathedral (and Romanesque doorway), round tower and Cormac's Chapel. Nearby and at the bottom of the rock (hill) is Hore Abbey.

The Rock of Cashel was the seat of Irish kings from the 4th century until 1101, when power was given to the church. St. Patrick preached at the Rock of Cashel in the 5th century. Although Cashel has ancient history, it was only documented since the 4th century. The cathedral actually replaces an earlier structure, and the buildings here date from the 15th century.

We had a look inside some of the buildings before wandering outside.

Some of the interiors contained original artwork, such as sculpture. Even more rare is evidence of painting that depicts religious scenery.

The cemetery is walled and does contain some high crosses.

In the distance and at the foot of the hill is Hore Abbey.

After exploring outside, we went to Cormac's Chapel. Cormac's Chapel is one of the most important religious chapels in Ireland. It was built in the mid-1100s. The plaster inside the chapel is being eroded away by environmental factors, so it is often closed off so that UV lights can be added in order to kill the harmful microbiological growths. Traces of the paint and plaster can be seen in the chapel, which is astonishing considering the age.

A replica of St. Patrick's cross, one of the high crosses of Ireland, stands in the entrance to the cathedral. The original is located inside, along with other artefacts. As mentioned, the cemerery contains other high crosses. There was one (pictured below) that was struck by lightning in 1976. The cross was one of the most impressive and dated from the mid-1800s.

There is a video of the history of the Rock of Cashel, but we did not get to see it. Unfortunately, the video is not shown in English until every two or three hours as they show it in other languages. I wish the other languages had shown English subtitles, at least. That way, we could have watched and understood it. So, we did leave without really understanding the importance of this site.

Our next stop was Hore Abbey, and the photograph of the Rock of Cashel above was taken from Hore Abbey. The other side of the Rock of Cashel was covered in scaffolding, sadly. This is a pity because the ruins are beautiful; I've seen photographs of them without the scaffolding.

Hore Abbey is located at the bottom of the hill from the Rock of Cashel. It is a Benedictine monestary, and it was founded in the early 1200s. The monestary changed religious factions; it was given to the Cistercians in the mid 1200s because the archbishop dreamed that the Benedictines were plotting to murder him. The structure dates from the 13th century.

We had to make our way through the muddy field, following the narrow stone pathway to the abbey ruins. Bits of this pathway were extremely dirty and muddy thanks to our bovine friends in the image above. A word of warning: there are cow patties, so do wear boots or shoes that you do not mind getting muddy. There was no way to avoid stepping through this, and walking around on the grass is much worse because of the wet patch further down the path. However, we'd had rain on the day we visited and a few days of rain prior to that.

The builders of the abbey would have also been responsible for building the cathedral at the Rock fo Cashel, and the same rock was used.

Glimpses of the Rock of Cashel could be seen at different angles from Hore Abbey.

I hope you have enjoyed these photographs of Hore Abbey and the Rock of Cashel. Come back again to see what else we got up to in the Ireland road trip. 

Last Saturday, I enjoyed a guided walk around Belgravia and Knightsbridge on the "Macarons and Mews" tour. The guided tour is conducted by Yannick Pucci, who is knowledgeable about London history and architecture. Yannick's story was similar to my own in that he was born in another country and came to the UK to study and liked it so much that he stayed. The tour that I was on was quite small, and there were four of us in total. I met another girl from the USA (Chicago) and a couple who were originally from amazing Basingstoke (where I live). We were all around the same age and had the same interests, so it was a great tour to be on. I think I can vouch for everyone when I say that we had a lot of fun and laughter, and we learned a lot too.

For regular readers of my blog, you know that I like to get up to new and interesting events in London and around the world. I love history, art, travel, and I do have a bit of a sweet tooth (I love afternoon tea). A few months ago, I came across the walk and wanted to sign up. I do love macarons, and I have tried many in London as I endeavour to find the best London macarons. I also know a little bit about the mews as I came across some on a walk through London by mistake several years ago.  

Mews. For those who do not know what mews are, they were a series of terraced buildings and stables where the horses were kept, and the rooms above were reserved for the workers. The mews are amongst the most desireable central London residences now. They are located throughout London, but this walk covered some located in Belgravia and Knightsbridge. They are often considered hidden gems of London that one would overlook.

We met up at Hyde Park Corner in front of the Lanesborough Hotel to wait for the tour to begin. I've walked by here so many times, but I actually never knew that the building was a hotel or gave it any thought. Admittedly, I typically walk on the opposite side of the road. The hotel is currently being refurbished. Near to it is an old entrance to the tube station. The roads here are always busy, and I always see (or hear first) expensive cars on the roads here.

We walked off the main road, and as we walked further amongst the buildings, London's noise became much quieter. We were in Belgravia near the square, and this is where a lot of embassies are. We were told some more facts about the area, but I not going to give everything away; you'll have to book the tour to see the mews for yourselves and try the macarons.

We checked out the first mews, which was a beautiful and quiet area. Some of the buildings were painted in pastel colours, and many had potted plants and window boxes in front. 

Amongst some of the mews we visited is a pub known as 'The Grenadier'. The pub served the Royal Foot Regiment of Foot Guards and senior officials whose barracks were located nearby. The regiment was awarded for its bravery in the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. The pub is rumoured to be haunted as a young man was caught cheating on cards and thrown out of the window where he died. Visitors attempt to pay off the ghost's debts by attaching money to the ceiling of the pub. The entrance to the pub is actually not on the street; it is via the yard where the barracks were.

We came across some more exclusive mews that were gated, so we could not enter them. We also passed an estate agent's shop window, and we saw the prices of the mews (for both the sale and rental markets). Most of them were selling for about the 3,500,000 mark.

These mews contained their own community shops. In the past, they would have contained a larger variety of shops for the people who lived and worked here. Today, those that exist are speciality shops and get their trade through word-of-mouth. In fact, I did read recently that the restaurants and businesses in this area and other areas of London and really struggling because most of the buildings are empty. The people that bought the places that could afford it do not live there most of the time and do not really contribute back to the community. Some of the areas are like a 'ghost town'. That's London prices pricing everyone out of London except for the mega-rich.

We also came across another pub opposite some mews, with an alleyway leading to more mews. We were shown an older photograph of these buildings here, which used to be shops for the people who lived in the area.

We came across several sports cars, like the one below. We also learned about one of London's lost rivers (the Tyburn) and saw where it is located (underground). 

The walk includes a visit to five macaron sellers for a tasting, which is included in the price. The walking helped to walk those calories off, and we headed to grab our first macarons. I will not say which brand or shop we visited, but we were first told of some interesting stories about the impressive building nearby. You may, of course, recognise the macarons. They are my favourite macarons (in taste and consistency). I will tell you that I had the peppermint one, which is a new flavour and a flavour that I have not tried before. It did not disappoint.

Next, we visited Harvy Nichols department store. I had never been inside it before. In the top is a nice cafe and food shop, and our second tasting was here. I have previously had their macarons before as well. I had the peach champagne macaron, and it did taste lovely. 

I had a chocolate macaron from the next shop. The shop is famous for its chocolate, so I thought I could not go wrong. I did find this macaron to be too sweet, so it was my least favourite. These macarons are slightly larger in size, and some of the flavours are inspired by the oriental/east.

Next up, I had a coconut and lime macaron. This did taste nice.

Our final macaron shop was located in Harrods, and it is the famous Laduree. I have actually never had their macarons before, even though they are probably the most popular. I ended up buying a box. I had the cherry blossom macaron, and it did taste delicious. The marshmallow one was nice, and vanilla is always a nice flavour. I enjoyed these, and they are just about as good as my favourite macaron brand (Pierre Hermé).

We found more mews and walked a bit further down and certainly walked off at least some of the calories we indulged in.

Overall, we had a perfect day, and the weather was perfect for eating macarons and discovering hidden areas of London.

For more information or to book the walk, visit: http://macaronsmewswalk.eventbrite.co.uk 

Fanakapan and Horror Crew are London-based street artists, and their work is always popping up in east London. Their work always brings a smile as they create detailed pieces using everyday objects. A few years ago, it was characters made from Liquorice All-Sorts or balloon animals and birds. I've previously covered their work here and here.

Fanakapan's latest work features silver foil balloons in letters to spell out different words. The lighting and the 'shine' of these balloons is perfect to give them a three-dimensional effect. The artwork pops off the wall. The first that I discovered was in Star Yard, off Brick Lane. The word created from the foil balloons was 'STAR', no doubt after its location.

A few weeks later, I went back to the area to discover Fanakapan creating a new piece on Pedley Street. The work was more than half of the way finished, and I watched Fanapakan create the piece. He did mention to others who were watching that he was getting tired of creating the piece and was getting a little bored of it. I thought that was unfortunate because the work is stunning, and I really love the foil balloon effect.

I went back to Brick Lane a couple of weeks later in order to get a photograph of the finished piece. I am glad that it was not tagged over. The work is highly-detailed, and there's a blue and gold cast of reflection; all of this is achieved through spray paint.

The work reads "Rise & Shine" and is signed "FAN" by the artist (short for Fanakapan).

Fanakapan is based in London, and he's been painting from an early age; he started to paint with spray cans from about ten years of age. He enjoys creating non-offensive pieces that viewers could recognise, and he lets his work bring smiles to faces (1).

On the same wall next to the large mural by Fanakapan is a portrait of a bird, and this is work by Horror Crew. An older piece by Horror Crew is below, and it appeared off Brick Lane (Star Yard) at some point last year.

Just before Easter, a little chick appeared. This is a stunning piece, and I love the detail of the features and the light and shadow.

My next photographs feature older pieces that I had not got around to posting. In the summer and autumn of last year, Fanakapan and Horror Crew were busy with creating new pieces, and I've posted these below. The first was a set of skulls with a balloon-like crown and bubbles, and it appeared on Brick Lane.

Fanakapan and Horror Crew collaborated on the balloon animals and the portrait of a deer.

Fanakapan was painting a lot of balloon animals last year, and in the same spot where the large foil balloon "Rise & Shine", was a selection of balloon animals. This mural had two different iterations.

In the first iteration, The Real Dill painted next to it.

Fanakapan also created toy hip-hop and soldiers off Hackney Road last summer.

On Pedley Street, a mural dedicated to pink elephants was created, and this did last a little while before being replaced. The wording in the background of the balloon animals is the lyrics to the "Pink Elephants on Parade" song from Disney's Dumbo.

This skeleton with a balloon dog looks like a quick piece. I discovered it near Bethnal Green.

Christmas brought us two penguins with a crown. Penguins were the icon of last year's Christmas season and they featured in commercials and shop fronts.

I'm hoping to see some new pieces by Fanakapan and Horror Crew appear in London over the coming months. There's also another pice that I have captured in collaboration with another street artist, so keep checking back.

A few weeks ago, I posted about new walls painted in east London by Brazilian street artist Cranio. Cranio's work is well-known as his subjects feature blue natives usually getting up to mischief. They sometimes have political, social and economical meanings. The first piece to appear this year was a fresh repaint of the wall on Brick Lane, covered here. Soon after this was painted, the wall at the corner of Pedley Street and Brick Lane (opposite) was painted with the blue natives surrounded by a lot of money and luxury items.

Since then, more walls have been painted in London with Cranio's natives getting up to all sorts of adventures. First, I discovered this little fellow asleep on the side of the road. 

I took some photographs and didn't disturb him. A loud group of people walked past, and he stayed asleep! Just around the corner, though, he had a few friends. 

First, I've snapped a photograph of Cranio's signature, on the scaffolding on the other side of the corner from the blue native. 

Cranio's additional murals featuring the blue natives were located further down Sclater Street. It is a collaboration mural, and it has recently been painted. The collaboration section is painted in bright red-orange, and it contains the work of Cranio, Kazz, Himbad and Zadok. First, we have Cranio's blue native dressed like Batman. He appears to be holding a mobile phone.

It looks like Cranio-Batman is fending off a large purple tri-clops creature by artist Kazz. Kazz is an Iranian artist, and I've seen some of his work in London before. Kazz's art features primarily abstract faces painted in black and white with a lot of lines, and they remind me of tribal style faces.

Further along the wall are two of Himbad's characters. The cat-like character on the right is a character that Himbad always paints, and in the bottom image, you can see a pair of eyes in the upper right hand side of the photograph. That's another one of Himbad's specialities. She's based in London.

Zadok, another street artist that I'd previously covered here, also collaborated on this piece with a plant. Zadok normally paints birds, and the work is very detailed.

A little further away, on Rivington Street, I discovered a final mural by Cranio inside a corner of scaffolding. The blue native was holding two neon lights, and Cranio's signature is along one wall of the scaffolding. 

I found this a difficult piece to photograph as it was inside the dark corner, and the neon lights did appear to glow. It's a clever piece.

I know that there were a couple of murals by Cranio that I have not been able to photograph, and one was painted over. I do have another one to share with you, so keep checking back.

Over the past several months, I've captured some nice pieces of street art across east London from Artista, Saki and Amara por Dios. I've covered their work here: Amara por Dios, Artista, and Saki. My favourite recent pieces by Saki included the interactive wooden puzzle games. These are the games where you spin the panels around to match up the image, and she made these out of wooden panels and included them onto several posts. The first one appeared on Whitecross Street for the summer street fest. Another appeared on Columbia Road, and a third one appeared on Bacon Street. I loved these pieces as they were interactive, so this was one of my favourite works that appeared at the beginning of this year (end of last year).

Saki and Amara por Dios collaborated on a piece near Brick Lane, and Saki's work could be found in several places across east London last year, in particular some of the roads leading off of Brick Lane. 

Artista collaborated on a few pieces with Amara por Dios in the past and also painted several flying toast (or bread) pieces across the city. I know that Artista continues to be busy creating the flying toast around the city, and Amara created several new pieces this year, including a piece on the massive Village Underground wall.

A flowery heart tribute was painted for Valentine's Day.

The below artwork features the flying toast in some form.

I caught a couple of new glimpses of street art by Amara por Dios earlier this year. The one directly below is a collaboration with Vlong (Vanesa Longchamp).

Let me know if you spot anything new by these artists.

After our morning drive around the Ring of Kerry, we drove back to Killarney National Park. We wanted to take a tour of Ross Castle, a traditional Irish tower house. The castle closes fairly early each day, and visits are by guided tour only. When we arrived, we saw jaunting cars (horses and carriages) lined up and asked one of them if he would take us for a dash around Killarney National Park. 

We ended up with a pretty black horse named Rosie, and she and her Irish friend took us on a ride around Killarney National Park. We were told about some of the plantlife and shown some beautiful views. Some of the route led us down these forested trails.

St. Mary's Cathedral in Killarney came into view at one point, and this beautiful cathedral is built in the gothic style. It dates from the mid-1800s. The cathedral was built by Augustus Pugin, and the building work was suspended during the famine. It was used as a shelter for the sick during this time. 

The views over the fields were absolutely stunning. With the mixture of grey and white clouds, the landscape looked like a beautiful painting.

Rosie led us down more trails with beautiful flowers and trees and through meadows. We saw yellow iris flowers growing along the trail in some places. We were told a little about the trees and plant life, but I do not remember what we were told now.

Finally, we came to one of the sides of the lakes and were rewarded with beautiful views.

Although it was not raining on our ride, we could see that the rain was evident in the clouds and the tops of the mountains were covered with fog. This was a pity because I could imagine how beautiful Killarney would look in the nice weather and sunshine.

In front of us, we saw an amazing view of Ross Castle along the lake.

Rosie took us toward the castle. In the distance, we saw the Purple Mountains. The fog took the colour away, but you can see the tinge of purple on the hillside. This is from the rhododendron flowers. I can imagine that this looks stunning in the sunshine.

The views were amazing.

Finally, we were on the 'home stretch'. Rosie seemed to know this and trotted a little quicker.

We said goodbye to Rosie and got some photographs in the car park area next to the castle. Our next visit was to Ross Castle to go on a guided tour.

Ross Castle is a traditional Irish tower house, and it was built by the O'Donoghue family in the late 1400s. There are thousands of these tower houses across Ireland, all ruled by different chiefs. The O'Donoghue family ruled this area (Killarney) of Ireland. The castle did change hands a few times, and it also changed shape as some of the towers and walls were added or removed. It was siezed by the English Protestants and also by Cromwell in the 1600s. It was expanded in the 1700s for protection against France and was much larger in size then than its traditional shape of today. The castle's appearance closely matches what it  was like before that time.

We entered the castle to wait for our tour to begin. In the waiting room is a museum with information about the castle and a model of it, which we read while we waited for the guided tour. Photographs of the interior were not permitted, but I did manage to take a couple sneaky ones. The castle's interior matches what it would have been like in the 1500s. The furniture and furnishing are of the time. 

The castle was described as being damp-smelling and cramped. Only a little bit of natural light came in, and there was not a lot of privacy for the lord either. The Great Hall is at the top of the tower, and this is where the dinner and entertainment would be held.

The walls inside were white-washed, and the outside walls were also white-washed. They must have looked impressive. These tower houses were built to show strength and power, and the later ones were built more for convenience over defense. For example, the entrance was on the ground floor; entrances in earlier tower houses were on the first floor because it was more difficult to gain access.

After the guided tour, we walked around the castle in order to get some nice views. I caught a glimpse of sun poking through the low clouds and fog and it highlighted the beautiful Purple Mountain.

A little sun came out, but it did not stay for too long. At least the rain had stopped.

The below photograph is a beautiful bit to the lake next to the castle. We saw some ducks here.

Our next stop in Killarney would be the Meeting of the Waters.

Mr. Cenz is a street grafitti artist who has been painting the walls since the late 1980s. One of his walls in London that he regularly paints on is off of Redchurch Street, which has been painted with his work for at least two years. Around Brick Lane and Hackney Road are other areas where his work has been painted. His work features primarily female portraits in abstract views with bright colours, and the style is a grafitti style.

The artist was busy in London over the past several months, and a lot of new pieces appeared in new areas. He also had a show on at Pure Evil Gallery at the end of last year. Below are a selection of photographs of the artist's work in various locations.

The photograph above was taken in Croydon; sorry about the quality, but we couldn't stop to take it. It's a colourful piece, and it does look stunning.

Below is the building off of Redchurch Street that always has a piece by the artist.

JimmyC and Mr Cenz

For more information, see the artist's Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/MrCenz

To view his official website, see: http://mrcenz.com

Street artist Mateus Bailon and Sliks (covered here) have recently painted a large wall at the end of Hanbury Street off of Brick Lane in London. Both artists formerly visited London in 2013, and they created some work. Bailon typically paints birds, using black outlines and bright colours. Sliks paints images or patterns with different colours of lines. The wall painted has been a busy street art wall for the past few months, and Bailon and Sliks (with some help from JimmyC) managed to transform it into one large mural. The name of the mural is "Spring Offering".

The mural features a human-like figure handing out apples to birds. There are various cherry blossom trees in the mural, and these were painted by JimmyC using his 'dot' technique. I've included some different angles of the mural below. 

The artists painted over the different face masks that were pasted onto the wall by Gregos earlier this year. I've coverd these in my post Gregos Adds New Face Masks to London Walls.

At the end of last year, Bailon was also in London and he painted a wall off of Great Eastern Street, which I'll include here.

A few buildings away, he also painted a shutter. This was a collaboration piece with Sonar Uno and Zadok. 

Perhaps we will be seeing some new artwork from these artists over the coming weeks.