Winter is Coming

This site has now moved to  http://fionaferretgraffiti.co.uk/

CoLor mega wall, gettin’ trippy with it! Ogosh x Alas really like this.
Trik9 x Kisk X CoLor x Dose,staking a colorful claim to another spot with this awesome collaboration. Quite an old Phlegm this but one I’d never got up close too till now.                          Phlegms’ Green Man, again not new but I hadn’t had chance to make the trip out to it, rather different to his usual style, love it though and the location is fantastic.                                                                                                        Corpse character and a Llama! (?)  Sire x DeapStunner from Jean13 whoever she is 😉Cracking piece from Solo, but who is Ronnie Pickering?                                                  Foundry has been evolving his and Pawskis collaboration, it’s becoming quite organic.                       No idea, sweet though.Bokor, very fruity.Coloquix, lost his vowels, or maybe just changed his name to Clqx!                                     Sour x Marcus Method, so clever it hurts.                                                                                                              Cheeky little character from Xhastexo. Bob the wizard.  Wall by Skint with a dedication to a close friend who passed away recently.                                                    I met Tracy only a couple of times but I will remember her like this. RIP  Tracy x

Mantra Live, Wellington Mill, Manchester

Made a trip to Manchester to see the Mantra Live paint and music event organised in part by the masterful Jay Sharples. Initially I plotted a route to the wrong Wellington Mill, Manchester has two apparently,and then due to the fact that my phone is broke, so I had no internet or GPS, and the fact that I am rather special, I managed to get hopelessly lost! End result I had to be guided in by a very helpful friend, though it was sadly almost 4pm before I got there. On the plus side, the party was in full swing  and I was quite confident most of the pieces would be finished before my home time 🙂 Trion                      SR47, one of two pieces he completed, bur Sid was probably my favourite.

 Tasha Whittle in action.         Jay Sharples, man of many talents.    Rocket01, could’t attend on the day so rocked up a couple of days before and dropped this beauty.                  Catch22  Stemfour                                                                                       Chris ‘Bunny’ Howker                                                                 Furiouspie.       None, the devil is in the detail.       Kathy Bates being given the Akse P19 treatment. Doodlesndrips with ‘Frank’.    More weird wonderfulness from Infected by Design. Qbek, not a new piece this, but brilliant anyways, the bicycles seem to work with it too.                                N4T4, lovely guy, lovely piece, not sure if he ever got his burger! 😉                                 Trik9, this fellow is positively on fire at the moment and he went down a treat in Manchester! Pawskis’ lady complete, one of his best ever I think.                                                    Foundry applying the finishing touches to Mr Tesla.                                                                                               Seca stunner. Nomad Clan, first time I’d seen them in action, love their stuff.                                          Sorry, don’t know the artist but this was a real piece of work, fascinating watching it all come together.Since been informed the artist is Betarock75, thanks!

Had a good catch up with some friends, hopefully made a few more too. All in all a great day and fingers crossed, I will be able to find my way there without a problem next time, but I’m not holding my breath!  🙂

A Dismal Day In Weston Super Mare

Finally managed to get tickets for the penultimate day of the Dismaland Bemusement Park, after weeks of trying, and making sure I saw as little as possible about it, because I wanted to go with as few preconceptions as possible. The weather was glorious, the size of the queue was staggering, but we were there.  I loved it from the moment I was through the door, the security guard checking my ticket and confirming my similarity to the non existent photo on my ticket had me creased.  Screening equipment and guns created by Bill Barminski.The staff were such a vital part of the experience. The detail that went into this was amazing I uploaded one of the shots to facebook and it’s facial recognition software wanted me to tag all of them. The fact that the controls randomly change from the refugee vessel to western naval vessel, sending a clear message. Must have seen hundreds of pics of this before I went, but it is good. Can’t remember what this installation was called, but I’ve seen this sight far too often…Hook a Duck…from an oil slick…win a fish finger in a bag.  Dorcas Casey , brilliant sculptures created from fabric, somehow. Polly Morgans take on the rabbit that turned. Erm well, if you know,you know…   Ronit Baranga, ceramicist, I adore these, anybody want to buy me some for Christmas?  Mike Ross, created the awesome Big Jig Rig, apparently the park had to close early one day because of high winds, don’t think I’d like to see this shaking in the breeze. James Joyce revolving smiley face “Here for a Good Time Not a Long Time”. Tattooed baby in a vending machine by Dietrich Wegner. Banksys’ vision of the Grim Reaper and what he does in his spare time, rides around in a dodgem while listening to the Bee Gees Stayin’ Alive… who knew?‘Mental Escapology’ by Damien Hirst.

Jeff Gillette, stunning stuff. Brock Davis, making wonderful use of everyday objects.  Kate MacDowell producer of exquisite figures in porcelain.   Portrait by Laura Lancaster, who started painting her own family photos because she never knew who was who as she has a twin sister.  Lithuanian artist, Severija Incirauskaite-Kriauneviciene, recreates traditional patterns and floral embroidery designs on things like cars. Jessica Harrison,creates beautiful tattooed ladies. Maskull Laserres striking study of the anatomy of a carousel horse.Compelling portrait by Shadi Al Zaqzouq, Palestinian artist. Ben Long ‘Cornice Ice Cream’ Neta Harari Navaon, surreal photorealistic paintings, breathtaking.  Banksy, doesnt have any issue with Disney, must just be mice then… The Aftermath Displacement Principle by Jimmy Cauty, the most fantastic and annoying thing at once. My only irritation of the day was that we were rushed around this and not able to have a proper look, the security fence didn’t help. Sadly the fence wasn’t there at the beginning of the exhibition, but was put in place due to over enthusiastic trophy hunters stealing the figures.            The gloriously dark Dismaland castle was created by Block 9 (of Glastonbury fame),and is currently en route to the migrant camp in Calais.Dismal bossy britches.  Death of a princess, clever and yet disturbing. Huda Beydouns portraits of girls and women in Saudi Arabia wearing Burqas, the mouse heads are used to conceal the womens true identity to protect them from deportation.  This young lady was an absolute star on the Crazy Gulf, a proper jobsworth, I could have watched her all day!Supersize sand castle. Pocket Money Loans by Darren Cullen, easy cash for kids!Paul Insect and Bast, dancing dude. Donald Duck has fallen on hard times.  Seagull pizza thieves.   And then it was over, yes there were a couple of things we didn’t get to see because of the lengthy queues, but we’d gotten around most of it. And I’m sorry, but I thought it was fantastic, I’m only dismal because it’s gone now…

Still Brightening The City Wall by Wall And Board By Board

Izal, king of his own Castle!  Eug – Neatness aint my weakness, but f**k me it gets boring! First world problems 😉 No idea who did this but it’s really rather good. Marcus Method x STOG wall for Fifty Shades of Spray, probably looked better without the varnish or whatever it is thown on it, but the quality shines through. Dmak x Cynik Trik x STOG x Hyro x Kisk x Marcus Method, glorious! Dyson, he’s a Full Metal Brother. Rocket01, brilliant part of a wall that will be amazing when it’s all finished. Tofu, probably New banging piece from Form.Skam, new to me, much like 🙂  Bob x Skint x Suek, painting them awkward to photograph places, again!Beautiful Peacock by Moenipulation, part of what is going to be, hopefully, a massive art project in the Sheffield Antiques Quarter. Grips, this is just awesome!Fishy Gums..?Stunner from Mars and Kode.Deap x Dese x Ensa x Narke loving the colours!

Visited a few places I haven’t been in a while recently, some had changed more than others,but all change is good(hopefully), noticing a few new spots appearing too, fingers crossed they keep appearing as fast as the old ones are being demolished!

Goodnight Mr Heathcote

Once upon a time there was a woman who made an amazing discovery ( to her)… 0f an artist called Phlegm… and the rest, as they say, is history…

A very important part of that history evolves around one building A. R.Heathcote…                                                                    my first urbex….. .         my first hidden Phlegm and Rocket01…      my first Fauna…      It could even be Phlegms first painting spot, got to be a very early one anyway.

Teas and Booms (I hadn’t got a clue at the time)

Early Clem Alice

Tekonta Secta, yes really.                                                     Following a partial demolition of the site, the place became a little more airy,but at least it was easier to photograph the ‘Beauty is a Beast’ in all it’s glory 🙂                                                                   The walls were still quite bare, I would visit regularly just to see if anything new had appeared.

Kid Acne was quite a regular visitor too.

But Phlegm was the busiest I think.

More artists began to visit the site, Perms went large.

The Phlegm and Rocket wall was painted over, initially with a Kid Acne x EMA x Drot collab  (there were tears, I can tell you!) and then this appeared by… mmm ..I wonder…

Dscreet painted one of his signature owls, I was quite giddy about this.

  Absolutely loved this, it was ages before I knew who did it, Jay Sharples.

 Mr Wolf, used to be all over the place.

 Kid Acnes’ woolly mammoth looking at home in the snow.

Colourful collaboration from Mila K and Color Art.

  Never knew for sure, but think this was by Misred.

Two Bob

 Mila K

 There was an attempt to shut the site off, Color  registered his disdain, it was open again in no time.

Prone                                                       Mr Wolf                                                 Kaze

Foundry and Fauna Graphic

Xhastexo and Coloquix

 Zoo

Kyle Hughes Odgers x Kid Acne

Petro                                                   Leeks                                                  Bine x Xhastexo                                       Eugene Booms x Tekonta Secta x CoLor x Phes

Eugene booms biggest character piece to date.

Kid Acnes’ touching tribute to Okie Dulo, a local club owner who died suddenly.

? x Miso                                             Ryder

Boaster from Nottingham paid a visit as did many others from out of the Sheffield area.Even though the place was renowned as a crack den, it remained a very popular spot.

 Angry Face

Xhastexo to the left with an unusual portrait of the Moors Murderers by CoLor and Nameless Nat.

KRSN , from Paris.

Color, EMA, Skint and Sour.

Coloquix                                                                       Marcus Method                                                                                                         Nymph x Sico

Eugene Booms

Skint

J Davies Arts

Xhastexo

Ogosh

Skint

FMB boys

Kosh

Simon Kent

  ? x sico x Skint xSuek

CoLor                                                     Bob                                                               

Kresh                                                                              Teml x Rambo                                            Asap, from the North East.

It was a nightmare going through photos for this, my biggest ever post, I’ll be bound to have put someone out and I apologise for that. I have 6 years of photos from this place, literally thousands. I really had a connection with it, rats,crack heads and all, and I am gutted at it’s loss.

  

I haven’t included pics from the boards or the Niche wall, they’re worthy of a post on their own though, if anyone’s interested.

Below is a link that tells you about the industrial history of Heathcotes, includes pre-graffiti pics http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/a-r-heathcote-cutlers-sheffield.t21572

Sleeep well Mr Heathcote, I for one will miss you.

Always be yourself, unless you can be Batman. Then always be Batman.

Bit of a delay between posts,mostly because of this wonderful piece by Bob x Skint x Suek, which was an absolute pig to photograph, very good though, and really rather clever.  🙂  Dmak, reclaiming what is seeming to be one of his regular spots.Managed to catch the man himself, Rocket01, just putting the finishing touches to this beauty, stunning.Brayk, we can fix you…we can make you fit in. I read this wrong initially as ‘we can fix Ada’, but we can probably fix her as well..Cheeky little chap by Rateone, love this…..and I didn’t fall off the makeshift ladder I had to climb to get it… result!Fox2b, a visitor to Sheffield perhaps, I don’t know, loving this style though. Something a little different from Trik9, the Oak Elephant.  Marcus Method x Eugene Booms. Ventured into a spot where I wouldn’t normally go on my own to capture this awesomeness, needn’t have worried, place was full of photographers!Ghost Patrol paid a little visit to Sheffield, nice to see. D7606 x Martian Code, an international collaboration which I really like. Little rays of sunshine. Becoming a real fan of Ogosh, not such a bad apple at all 🙂Kode x Bern, Suicide Bear fantastic, if slightly disturbing..Looks like Coloquix lady is turning to the bottle,not surprising really…

I had wondered if there would be any implications following the demolition of the so-called ‘crack den’ as the regulars there would need a new place to go. On entering this site to visit the tipsy lady above, I bumped into a group of four men, who were just leaving, all looking rather spaced, one clutching a carrier bag and another one of them dressed ….. as Batman…..

While It’s Raining…

Dusto x Foundry x See, loving this 🙂 TBC 142, they may buff it off but they will return.Trik9 x Deap, looking good.Spade, visited for Tramlines, left his mark. Bob – The Urine Infections, ’nuff said… Kaze, not seen him about for a while. Sour, not seen him for a while either 😦 Mace x Gzos, staggering collab, brilliant work as always. Rocket01, stepping up a gear at the moment, bring it on!Lovely Gums, not met him but I’ve got a soft spot for his cheeky characters. I dunno….. made me laugh though. Misc…..mmmm…. very similar to…? Eugene Booms, feeling blue, made my day though, somehow managed to not see this on Insta, so was a wonderful surprise! Bine x Haste, the boys are back in town, didn’t think they’d ever left 😉 ABC x Peachzz psycadelic stairs. Wizo, seeing this around more and more. STOG has a clever eye for colour, lush!

Keep thinking there’s not a lot happening on the Sheffield Scene at the moment, but it is, there’s just a little more legwork to catch it all, oh well, I guess I could do with the exercise!

Living It Up In Leicester

I’ve had a couple of visits to Leicester and surrounding areas recently. Initially I hadn’t been keen on the idea of the trip, didn’t think there would be much to see, how wrong I was…Ample, great to find some of his work on his home turf. I would dearly love to know who did this, I think it’s a few years old, but I love it. Sweet 🙂Fantastic, this reminds me of photos I’ve seen of graffiti in New York. So much good stuff. Mono x Kaption, surreal. Love this one too! I think it’s by Fidget.Riot68 x MonoReally appreciate big walls like this!Brilliant!Strange, but I like it. How could you not like this?Mig29 love his work.‘The FlyerBrigade’Random….. I have been told this is by Frankie Strand. Foundry beautiful Goldfinch study.Two for joy – MonoCreedCould be Mono, could be someone else entirely… Riot68 x Wrest1 x Mono Mono Love this too… Boaster x Kid30 winning!Amazing spot this, apart from the angry cow, I won’t ever forget her, scared me s***less!

It’s fair to say that Leicester was pretty awesome, I have barely posted a fraction of the photos there was just so much, it was amazing. And yes, this post is a bit Mono heavy, I make no apology for that, he’s all over the place and he’s so good. Some of the spots are not really close together, but should you have access to a car and a few hours to spare, it’s well worth the trip  🙂

Sand Sea and Spray and Mozfest!

Landed in Blackpool just in time to catch the man himself taking a pic of his finished wall, Dale Grimshaw, stunning as always.C3 was there, managed to miss the biggest piece she had done  😦  Truly glorious owl by Bane. Kafka Cat by D7606, good to see him too, D7606 that is, not Kafka. Gorgeous piece by Pipsqueak was Here. I particularly like the girl, she reminds me of a much younger me…Trik9 checking his own handiwork, must be pretty pleased with it.  Lowdown just finishing off.  He Dreamt Mars, love this.  Tankpetrol, awesome. Ador painted several of these quirky characters around the place.  20/20 in action.Catch22, I heard Robin Ross say he thought this was the best piece he’d ever done, I wouldn’t disagree.Mystical carousel horses by Leona Beth. Not part of SSS but worth the hike up the other end of town to see this beauty by The Mural Artists.In another area was a rather cool gathering of writing elite Mef, Moz, Cry, Mez, Kawps, Care and Teaone, otherwise known as Mozfest.Moz, lovely bloke and Stellas’ new best friend. Cry in action.Teaone (I think) Really like this by Jay Sharples, SSS regular, always ready to go home by the time I get there, good to have a quick chat though.  🙂 Smile assisting Seca One. This wall by Smile was spectacular, totally floored Stella! Meet Stinki, painted by Ship as part of www.projectomatilha.com  tremendous.Annatomix and her origami bunnies 😀Amarapordios lovely Lion.Nils Westergard, monochrome masterpiece. Pawski with a beautiful woman, again…    😉 Onesto, new to SSS, and Zina brilliant again. Richard Harrow (Boardwalk Empire) expertly recreated by AkseP19. Cheeky character by Infected by Design. All in all another very good day, had a nice catch up with a few regulars and made some new friends, Stella made quite a lot more, and she had her first charge about on a beach! Looking forward to SSS and Mozfest 2016

It’s Alive (and Kicking!)

Hopefully I’ll be back up to date with my blog (don’t hold your breath) just had my internet repaired for the third time, so for the moment it’s back to being rubbish as opposed to none existent. This is some of what’s been going on in Sheffield. Well he’s definitely back, Hungry Horace rides again….Hooray!!  Dala pasting pretty ladies everywhere.Yabba Dabba Doo! Love it, can’t read it though…. although I am informed it’s Deap. (thanks to my secret mine of graff information)Touching tribute wall by Byne for his dad. Dealt x Kosy, homage to Viz. Nice to see Kosy in the city again.Ogosh x Alas much like.  Pfog M4 buzzing colourscheme.  Gums, very fond of his cheeky characters. Quite like this, Toefoo.   Little ray of sunshine, seen a few of these now, always make me smile. STOG x Meth A Trik9, a rhapsody in blue, fantastic! Double Rocket01, does it get any better than this?  😀  Brayk Graff, kind of cute , kind of creepy, a bit like me 😉Coloquix’s lady is beginning to write…and so is her cat, lovely.Osim x Jonas, a cracking combination, always good to see.Mace, absolute banger! JDavies (Kame) 4 pieces to melt your mind. 4eyes, always consistent but seems a bit more active recently. No idea, but I like the colours,some one should give me a job as an art critic…….I’d be absolutely useless! Ha! 😀