Results matching “paint”

Don "Paul" Smith, also known as "the Banker", is one of the most active London-based street artists. I've covered his work here, here, and here. I've seen the artist hard at work many times around Brick Lane and have had a chat with him, and I even got a spray-painted "banker" image to take away once. He uses stencils to create his work, which is primarily portraits of people, with famous people seemingly a favourite of the artist.

The artist has been busy regularly with some work on Hanbury Street in some of his favourite places, featuring Elvis and also Mad Max in another place on the same street.

 Some additions to Mad Max over a few days were made to this image over the past week to include lizards.

Other places in east London were also canvases...

He also painted the canvases opposite the Village Underground recently, which was a collaboration with a few other artists who owned the other three panels.

Bob Marley also featured in January, adding some brightness to a dull winter Brick Lane.

The Hulk was painted on Hanbury Street at the end of last year, but he did not last too long.

Marilyn Monroe was painted on Hanbury Street last summer.

Near Christmas and into the new year, many "banker" images with "banker and the Mrs" were painted in various places. The above one had "Merry Banker" written on it, and it appeared a couple of weeks before Christmas. 

Sadly, the world lost actor and comedian Robin Williams last summer, and a tribute was created.

I'm not sure who "Huggy Bear" is, but perhaps this is a friend of the artist.

Hopefully I will be able to get any new photographs of Don "Paul" Smith's work soon, as long as it is not painted over too quickly.

The Rolling People and Cept, a collective group of street artists, were particularly busy painting up London's walls last year. Sclater Street was a particular favourite spot for them with new work appearing quite regularly over the summer and autumn months. You can see more of their work in my blog entries here and here. They also painted on the large Village Underground wall a couple of years ago.

Their work uses bright colours and superheroes and characters that do not look out of place in science fiction comics. 

A large mural was painted onto the wall of the Leonard Street car park.

Here's another shot of it with Mysterious Al's green Frankenstein.

Sclater Street was the canvas for a lot of their recent work.

I also captured some of their older work which I have not shown yet, and the older work is below.

Hopefully, the Rolling People will continue painting up the streets of London. Enjoy.

Happy Valentine's Day to my readers. I had my free tour of London's new Walkie Talkie tower (20 Fenchurch Street) today during my lunch hour, so photographs and a write-up will be appearing soon. I've also got many more interesting pieces in store over the coming weeks, as soon as I am able to find some free time to edit the photographs and write about them. This past weekend, I was extremely ill and did not leave my bed from Friday early evening. Whatever the bug was, it floored me for a few days. The cough and congestion continue to linger, and I've only got about 85% of my ability to taste. 

A couple of days ago, I had a wander around Shoreditch and Brick Lane to see if any new street art pieces had appeared. I found this little gem on the Pedley Street disused Shoreditch underground station. The piece is by Graffiti Life, a collective group of artists who paint custom street art and advertisements for brands and the occassional piece on a couple of different walls in east London. The walls of the disused underground station is one of the places that they share with other street artists, though some disregard them as they are not the typical "street artist" and are a bit more commercialised.

I have liked some of their work in the past, and this piece is another "win" for me. It brought a smile to my face because it features in a classic episode of The Simpsons. The not-too-bright policeman's son, Ralph Wiggum, gave this Valentine's Day card to Lisa Simpson. The card shows a smiley "Simpsons-style" caricature of a train with the play on words "I choo choo choose you" above it in the smoke. The train's face looks a little like Ralph Wiggum, and everytime I read the "I choo choo choose you", I hear his silly voice. By the way, I can do a pretty good impression of Ralph Wiggum.

Whatever you plan to do this weekend, I hope that a good time is had by everyone. Enjoy!

Our next stop on the Ireland road trip was Londonderry (Derry). We visited after stopping at Dunluce Castle on Giant's Causeway. This post features the bogside murals of Derry.

Derry's population has a large number of Protestants, and according to signage there, it probably had the largest Catholic discrimination in the northern part of Ireland. In the 1960s, Civil Rights became popular and and citizens of Derry took note of what was happening across the world and started peaceful demonstrations against discrimination. However, the police broke up the peaceful demonstrations with some force.

You are now entering free Derry

After the protests and riots in 1969, the slogan "You are now entering free Derry" was painted on the side of a building. It has become a symbol of resistance. The houses on this street (Lecky Road) were all destroyed in 1975, but this one wall of a house remains with the slogan repainted onto it.

Many of the street art murals in Derry have the political themes and themes of the Troubles. Civil Rights, peace, and war are other themes of the Bogside Murals. (Belfast's murals also focus on these themes as well as religious, famous people, victims of the Troubles, and neutral subjects.) The Bogside Artists (http://www.bogsideartists.com), who created the murals in Derry, refer to their murals as "The People's Gallery".

On July 30, 1972 at 4:00 in the morning, "Free Derry" (Bogside) was invaded by British troops in armoured vehicles. Operation Motorman, as it was called, tore down barricades with bulldozers. The mural artists decided to depict an individual hammering through a wall to represent this, and the title of the work is called "Motorman".

A couple of the murals we noticed had been damaged with paint.

One of the saddest murals we saw was the one below, titled "Death of Innocence". It shows Anette McGavigan, who was shot by a British soldier. She was the 100th victim and one of the first children to be killed during the Troubles. 

We also saw a clay brick face sticking out of the brickwork.  

The Bogside murals and the murals of Belfast are traditionally painted in working class areas of the city. From the Londonderry City walls, you can actually see some of the murals. The area may feel a little daunting with the murals and its sad history, but it was not. We stayed at a bed and breakfast in Bogside and did not have any problems in Londonderry at all. So, let's hope for peace.

Bogside and murals from Londonderry city walls

In my next Ireland post, I will be looking at Londonderry and the City Walls walk. 

In the autumn last year, street artist Bambi painted street art on a new wall in east London, opposite the Cargo club on Rivington Street, where there's a lot of famous street art by Banksy and other high-profile artists. Bambi's subject deals with the case of Michael Brown, a man who was shot by police in the state of Missouri in the USA. The shooting led to public unease in that community. (I personally have not followed this story, but I will just state that a loss of life is sad, and it's particularly sad when the victim was so young. The artist Bambi was inspired by the story to paint about it.)

Bambi hasn't really painted much in this part of London, but her work is commonly seen around north London and Islington/Camden. I did see her white van, painted with "Bambi" in the area at about the same time that this piece appeared. The artwork uses the Nike "just do it" logo along with "DON'T SHOOT" repeated across a repeated young child raising his hand in a wave and standing on a skull. The artwork has text that accompanies it:

You abuse your powers again and again
Another innocent unarmed soul is murdered in your name
Filthy blue lies flow and flow
You shot him six times for just jaywalking home
Left in a pool of blood on the street
But you think it's just another day on the beat
Come on justice must be done or anarchy will bite you on the bum

The following lines are repeated above:

You abuse your powers again and again
Filthy blue lies flow and flow
You shot him six times for just jaywalking home

I visited the artwork again recently as my photograph of it in the autumn did not turn out well; it was blurry as it was a dreary and very rainy day and my camera on my phone did not like it. I noticed that the owner of the black building to the right had painted over the artwork on their part of the building.

Across the street is another new piece by Bambi. It features two girls.

I'd walked past the cafe Maison Trois Garcons on Redchurch Street in Shoreditch so many times over the past couple of years. Finally, I decided to pop in with a colleague awhile ago to see if it was good. Awhile ago is actually the summer of 2013! The cafe markets itself as a "lifestyle cafe" as it offers various gift items, accessories, home furnishings, and antiques for sale. I loved the vintage style and the "Wizard of Oz" neon sign at the back, and the cafe has adequate room; an additional seating area at the back of the restaurant provides more tables. 

The desserts always appealed to me as there's quite a selection on offer. They also serve afternoon tea, so I really want to visit the cafe to try this. The only catch is that afternoon tea is not served until after 2:00pm, so I'd have to take a late lunch in order to do this.

On my first visit with my colleague, I had the thai chicken curry with sticky rice. This was divine. This was followed by a scone with butter and jam. The chicken was so tender and delicious and packed full of flavour.

On my second visit, I was joined by the same colleague and a different colleague. The second colleague is very particular about his food, but he was even impressed, even when the meal he ordered was not a traditional one. I had the chicken curry for the second time and topped that off with a vanilla cupcake. The curry did not taste as nice or tender as my first visit, but it was still good. The restaurant was also very busy during this visit, and we were seated in the larger room at a table with the skylight directly above us, so we got quite warm.

On my most recent visit, which was last summer, I visited on my own. I took a late lunch that day, but it wasn't quite late enough to be served the afternoon tea. I waqs also in the mood for cooked savoury food and not sweets. I ordered the usual Thai chicken curry with rice, and it was spot on, despite being a little watery. I had a lemon and pistachio pudding for dessert, and this had a light citrus flavour. I was hoping the flavour would be stronger than what it was, but it was still good.

Maison Trois Garcons is located at 45 Redchurch Street (E2 7DJ), a couple of blocks away from Shoreditch High Street overground station. 

At the time of publishing this entry, I have noticed that Maison Trois Garcons cafe has closed. The last couple of times that I walked down Redchurch Street, the cafe was boarded up and being painted. Right after Christmas, I noticed that an antiques shop occupied the building, but I assumed they were redecorating. It looks like a new bakery or cafe is going to occupy the building. I am going to miss the chicken curry, and I never did get around to having that afternoon tea. Oh well. It's the ever-changing London, particularly east London, at work.

Early last autumn, I discovered that London Transport Museum were going to be giving tours of the abandoned Aldwych underground station in January and February, so I rushed to book my tickets. The tours are always sought-after and fill up quickly, and I had been unlucky when I previously tried to book the tour. Something about visiting an abandoned tube station must appeal to quite a lot of people.

I've walked by the red-tiled facade of the closed station at the Aldwych end of the Strand many times. The station opened in 1907 and closed in 1994. Originally, the tube station was called "Strand", but it was renamed to "Aldwych". (Aldwych of course is taken from the two words 'ald" and 'wych', which means 'old village', so this would have been an 'old village' about two miles outside of the original City of London.)

The facade of the old station contains the name "Piccadilly Railway", which gives a clue as to the tube line that served the station, as they were part of individual rail lines then. Aldwych Station was a spur station, and it was served by the Piccadilly Line from Holborn, which is located directly north of Aldwych. The tunnels from the station do join up with the Piccadilly Line at Holborn.

Below is an old map of the tube network when Aldwych Station was in use; Aldwych is located on the dark blue line as a spur. A minute's walk away is Temple station, and Covent Garden and Holborn are also a short walk away.

We were told that the station was built to serve the theatre district of London, but a theatre was torn down in order to open the station. We were led into the station and saw the original green-tiled ticket office.

A row of old-fashioned wooden telephone booths were located along one wall in the ticket hall area. At the back is a newer ticket office, which has been added later but kept in the same style with dark wood and green tiles. The station is used for filming nearly every day. We were told that they are filming "Mr. Selfridge" at the moment. They have filmed "James Bond", "Atonement", "V For Vendetta", "Battle of Britain", and the new "Sherlock Holmes" here.

Ticket barriers were added later on, and they were removed, but the spot where they stood is still visible on the floor. The woman's bathroom also looked like a blast from the past with an old-style washbasin.

The Aldwych underground station project seemed doomed from the beginning; the three lift (elevator) shafts were dug by hand and held two lifts, but only one of them was ever used. The cost to fix the lift was in the low millions, so the station was closed. We were told that only about 450 people per day used the station toward the end of its life, so keeping it open was not worth the cost.

We headed down the winding stairs to check out the platforms. The platforms are only accessible via the stairs as the lifts are no longer in service.

The first stop was to see the lift shafts. We were shown all of the lift shafts, even though most of them were never in operation. 

Next, we headed into one of the tunnels toward the platforms. The lights were switched off to show us how dark the tunnel would get, but we were all surprised when we clearly saw the tunnel light up after the lights were off. Special glow-in-the-dark paint is painted at the bottom of the tunnel, which you can see as a slight yellow colour in the photograph below. This is a safety mechanism to allow people to get out of the tunnel in case of emergencies. Apparently the paint strips can glow for twenty minutes.

There are two platforms, and not all of the station was used. We went to visit one of the platforms, which is currently used for filming "Mr. Selfridge". 

The platform also has an old tube train on it, and they use this for safety exercises. The train is dusty, and there aren't any seats inside it. This platform contains false vintage tube poster, tube signs, and tiles. The tiling was never completed to the end of the platform, so fake sticky 'tiles' were pasted up over the wall to give the illusion during filming.

In the front of the train, I took a peek at the tunnel. This faces south, toward the Thames.

I took close-up photographs of the vintage posters. These are replications used for filming.

The Aldwych underground station sign is a flimsy prop as well.

After viewing the first platform, we headed to the second, and this was the platform that was in use. The "station closed" posters are dotted around the platform as well as posters from the 1970s. Part of the letters forming the station name "STRAND" can be seen in places.

The track has some original insulators dating from when the station first came into use, and the guide said that these insulators are Grade I listed and are the oldest known in the world. They are still in their positions on the rails below where I am stood taking the below photograph.

This platform was used as for tile and glue testing, and you can see paint and colour schemes for the underground tiles for other stations here. 

I got some photographs of the 1970s posters.

We were then shown a tunnel that was in progress of being dug and constructed before the project was pulled. The workers just left their tools and a wheelbarrow inside the tunnel, which we could see.

We also saw one of the exits for this platform, which was never finished.

The last visit on our tour was back up the stairs to visit and walk inside the lifts. We were told that people could pay for their tickets on the lifts in order that the underground did not have to pay for two members of staff: one to control the lift and one to sell tickets. The lift had a desk inside where the staff member would sell the tickets, and the outline of this can be seen in front of the bench in the photograph below. The lifts also had a secret emergency escape, and the ones at Covent Garden station are similar. The wall of the lift can open so that people can transfer from one lift to the other (as there are two lifts in one shaft).

This concluded our tour of Aldwych Station, which was interesting to see. During the tour, we were also told that performances happened on the platform during the war and that this station was used as a shelter with thousands of people occupying the platform.

Late last year, I visited Chicken Shop/Dirty Burger on Whitechapel Road. I had been wanting to try these restaurants as I have read good reviews, and I happened to see that they had a branch down the road from where I worked. I promptly hopped on the bus and took a ride down Whitechapel Road so that I could finally try this restaurant. Of course, I walked across to Rinkoff Bakeries for a dessert, which I already covered in an earlier post!

Chicken Shop

I knew that although Dirty Burger are meant to do great burgers, they do not have an option that I will eat (I don't eat beef), so Chicken Shop is the menu that I went with. Both restaurants are located in the same building. In fact, from the outside, most people would not even know that there's a restaurant there. A simple doorway on a grafitti-covered green door is the entrance, and the logos for the restaurants are easy to miss.

Chicken Shop / Dirty Burger, Whitechapel

Once inside the restaurant, there's a cafeteria feel with high ceilings and industrial-style fittings. The brick wall has had a quick whitewash, and the menus are painted directly onto the brickwork. Dirty Burger is on one side, and Chicken Burger is on the other.

Restaurant interior

All of the tables were taken. Even during mid-week at lunch time, this place was popular. I was seated at the bar where I could see the rotisserie chickens turning and watch the staff prepare the orders. Several large ceramic chickens were dotted around the restaurant.

Chicken Shop

I ordered a 1/4th of a chicken and asked for breast meat and a side of chips. I did try the two sauces at the table, but these tasted a little too "manufactured" for my taste, so I disregarded them and was glad that I did not smother my chicken with them as I do at Nandos. The chips tasted lovely, and the chicken was alright but I felt that I was missing something. I was not exactly overwhelmed, even though it was a decent meal.

Would I go back? Well, I would not hurry back. I did not feel overwhelmed by it, but it was worth a try. That's not to say it was awful as it really wasn't. It just didn't meet my expectations. I do wonder if it's special because of the brand, and it's very "in" with the "hip" east London crowd, so it may be the type of place where people like to be seen at.  

For those wishing to try either restaurant, visit the company's websites for a full list of locations and opening times. Note that all of the different locations have a different interior 'theme':

Chicken Shop: http://www.chickenshop.com 
Dirty Burger: http://www.eatdirtyburger.com

Malarky's street art (typically found on shutters) is easy to recognise and was quite common in east London, although it has been a little while since a lot of the artwork was painted and the original pieces are either looking worn or have disappeared. The artist is known for painting foxes or cats, and he also collaborates with other street artists. I recently covered his work here: Malarky, Mr. Penfold, Billy and Lucas.

Malarky's work was one of the first pieces of street art that I had seen a couple of years before I started to blog about and take a big interest in the street art scene. I saw one of his foxes, and it was probably on a shutter on or just off of Brick Lane.

At the later part of last year, Malarky returned to London to create some new work on the shutters of shops. He also collaborated with fellow artist David Shillinglaw. The new pieces from the end of last year are below.

The first piece that I saw being completed in the middle of the summer was a high-profile shutter on the middle of Brick Lane. I saw Malarky painting the piece, and in the photograph below, you can see his paint spray cans and a bit of his ladder. (I didn't want to include a photograph of the artist, but he was painting the "Hello" on the left-hand side.)

A couple of shops away and still on Brick Lane, this yellow cat popped up. The piece by Mr. Penfold (that the cat appears to be looking at) remains, miraculously, but it has been tagged over a little.

And a few shops away, this new-to-east-London shop gets the Malarky treatment. It's located on Sclater Street.

More recently, Malarky collaborated with David Shillinglaw (Street Art: David Shillinglaw) to create this artwork near Old Street.

It was later painted over again by David Shillinglaw. 

I think the one below is new as I don't remember seeing it before. Perhaps I just walked by it when the shop's shutters were down.

The following Malarky fox and a face by David Shillinglaw was discovered on Hackney Road as I was riding past in a car.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Malarky/147873188573671

Over this weekend, all sixty of the "Year of the Bus" charity art sculptures were on display in the Olympic Park so that they could be seen by the public before being auctioned off for charity. I tracked them all down on their trails last autumn, except I never got to get to see the ones in Croydon as they were only there for about a month over December. My original post with the London "Year of the Bus" bus art sculptures is here: London Bus Art Sculptures Celebrate 2014 'Year of the Bus'.

All sixty of the buses were on display with views of the Olympic stadiums and the ArcelorMittal Orbit in the background, and I went down earlier today to see them all. I got to see all of the buses that I had previously seen on the trails, and I also got to see all of the Croydon ones.

The Croydon trail also had some real gems, so I was happy to get to see these.

Diversity - Croydon BID

The Library - Year of the Bus

Pearl - Year of the Bus, Surrey Street Market - Year of the Bus, Trammin' - Berkeley Homes, Poppy the Party Bus - Centrale Shopping Centre, Flower Fairies - Whitgift Shopping Centre, The '75 Crocous Valley - Berkeley Homes

I really liked the bus with the crocus flowers; most of the above images are of the buses that were in Croydon.

Croydon Layers

Magic Bus Magic Carpet

The other one I liked was the tiled "Magic Bus Magic Carpet", which was also in Croydon.

Of course, I got some photographs of some of the old gems in front of the Olympic Stadium, such as the Kath Kidston sculpture.

Jungle Bus and Moquette (Whitgift Shopping Centre)

A couple of the buses at the Olympic Park were currently being painted, such as the "60 Years" bus, which I caught in progress.

In addition to the bus sculptures, a new Routemaster bus was also on display, and people could board it. These buses were launched last year. The "Battle Bus", dating from 1914, was also on display and could be boarded. This bus took soldiers to the front in World War I and was in Belgium and France.

Battle Bus (1914)

Did you visit the Olympic Park at the weekend and catch a glimpse of all sixty buses?