So after vowing again to make it a weekend in Blackpool for Sand Sea and Spray, we found ourselves only able to get there for the last day, again! But what a day it was, fantastic artwork and fabulous weather, what more could you want………although a reliable train service would have been nice…
First stop was the Old Rock Factory in Blackpool where the wall had been brightened by Catch22, Kashink, Lowdown, Jay Sharples, Mydog Sighs, Zed1, Infected by Design, Parlee and others.
Parlee did a series of these gorgeous characters around the town, 9 altogether or so I heard, once I’d got home, wish I’d realised while I was there.
Mydog Sighs rather than having a blank canvas to work on chose instead to go feral and choose his own spots, which he did to fantastic effect. Sadly we weren’t there in time for his free art drops, maybe next time…
There was uproar in the week before Sand Sea and Spray as the 2011 Smug piece was emulsioned over, until people realised it was being prepped for Smug to paint it again. This piece painted with Dead proved to be quite a jaw dropper.
But Steve Buscemi as painted by Akse P19 was quite a jaw dropper too.
And then there’s Dale Grimshaw, his paintings are surreal, yet photo realistic and make my brain hurt.
On our walk round we saw this piece featuring Dastardly and Muttley, love it.
Danzig, very dark and mysterious, although the man himself is lovely.
I’m guessing AP is the artist, I really like this character.
Phoneboxes by D7606. Some people don’t like paste ups, but I feel that there’s always room for different things out there. These make me smile and I don’t even know why.
Kem Mef and Title completed this piece the week after SSS 2012 I think it’s an amazing wall but one of the artists was quite disappointed to see how it has deteriorated over the last year. I think sometimes a little peely paint can add character and atmosphere to a piece, and to me it does in this case but if you want to see it in the flesh, sooner rather than later would be best.
Sheffields’ own Fauna Graphic completed this beautiful study of a pair of swans while we were here.
Foundry taking a pic of his stunning finished portrait of Siouxsie Sioux.
This piece by Idiom with a little help from Mydog Sighs has proved to be controversial, for reasons that baffle me. The origins of holidays and tourism came from people visiting the coast to take the air and the water ‘Taking the Cure’ , so that someone has decided it’s an illegal substance reference is ridiculous and speaks volumes about the narrow minded person who thought of it.
There was more, much more, and all of it was good. Robin Ross and his team have done a wonderful job again. Next year we are going for the weekend, no really we are.
fiona ferret graffiti - The Writing on the Wall 