Revive – Wakefield Jam 2

Ended up a here a day late due to a family wedding, congratulations Joe and Lissy!

It was a beautiful day, I’d got a train ticket and a hangover from hell, what better way to recover from it than to go and see what I’d missed!

Again there had been a great turn out and the standard was amazing. Sheffield was very well represented with at least 8 painting and plenty of local supporters too.

I have to apologise that the quality of the pics is a bit below what I’m happy with, I blame the champagne. Why I haven’t got a full shot of this collaboration I do not know

Pryme and Rota One TPN, brain meltingly good.

Hull Graffiti, love it.

Kink, the last to finish on the day and still not happy with it, I think it’s ace.

I remember Isker and the guy above from the last jam, hope we get to catch up next time.

Pawski, Mace and Duse, WSK produced this awesome piece, probably the best on the day.

Spel and Beyond from Den Haag had come over from Holland to take part in the Jam. It was great to meet them and see them in action the next day with Martin, who organises these events. I hope they come over for the next one too.

The next one is in August, I apologise in advance to anyone who may be getting married or having any other such event and want me to be there. I won’t be. I’m not missing this again!

No Head For Heights

So, after a tip off,  I found myself on a rooftop early one morning before going to work. It’s a pretty good vantage point for the cheeky Narke piece, but imagine my surprise when a security guard arrived to escort me off the roof, I think he thought I was going to jump! To be fair, I was quite happy to see him, I hate heights and was starting to hyperventilate. Still a first though!

Double Bubba!

Dose, lovely letters piece.

Zoo, love the character, especially his little feet!

Xhastexo, missed this little ensemble last time I was here and had to have a return trip.

Phlegm, Tragedy and Comedy, which describes my access to this place, narrowly avoiding tragedy providing huge comedy for my son! This is a place I’d been looking at for a couple of years and was really surprised that this masterpiece was the only piece in here.

A revisit to a place we had been escorted from previously, I liked this a lot.

This was the Rocket01 piece we didn’t get to see on our first visit. Nice to have a more relaxed trip this time and no security guard, although he was a jolly decent chap.

Nearly up to date now, although this keeping up lark is a bit like painting the Forth Bridge, neverending, but I wouldn’t have it any other way

 

 

Mums the Word!

I guess that there aren’t too many mums who would request a tour of derelict sites as a mothers day present, but I couldn’t think of anything better. Mars has been very busy and I wanted to try and catch up with his work. I think this skull is my favourite.

 

ButI do love Marvin the Martian too.

And this collaboration with Evo looks quite impressive as well.

I’m guessing at Suek, but it is a guess, it’s certainly not new, but I hadn’t seen it before.

 Last stop on my trip required a bit of climbing and avoiding broken glass and the local constabulary, as you do. Well worth it though to see another of Color Arts creations.

Skint too had been here, always good to see and a great way to end my day.

It’s a sign of something, although I’m not sure what when somebody dumps a caravan in the middle of town. But, one mans rubbish is another mans blank canvas, or so they say.

 

Snow Beautiful Snow

I do like a bit of snow, although I’m heartily sick of it at the moment, but I think it makes this piece by Mila K look fantastic.

And the bad weather isn’t holding Mr Boms back at all. Hooray to that.

The Stabby Women by Kid Acne are suffering due to the damp conditions, good to see this one still intact.

Rain shine or snow, that is a splendid sight!

Never seem to manage to be the first anymore, the footprints of a graff hunter perhaps?  I do like this little ensemble,Phlegm, Mila and CoLor.

It looks like this character by Xhastexo is trying to catch snowflakes on his tongue (after consuming copious quantities of Red Stripe, apparently).

So I had a nice little walk and sorted my christmas cards for next year, can we have some better weather now please?

Amsterdam for Graffiti Lovers

So, we land in Amsterdam in snow and ice, not ideal, when you’re on crutches, but at least the hotel was near the station………….. Nearly 3 hours later, after 3 boat trips and staggering around the centre, we realised our hotel had moved, well it was a boat.

Most people would probably be unimpressed to find that their hotel had moved to the north end of the harbor, a 10 minute ferry ride, and is moored at the side of a derelict submarine in a rather run down area with abandoned looking buildings covered in graffiti.

Lucky we’re not most people then.

The snow had gone by the next day, replaced by heavy rain and strong winds, but it didn’t dampen my enthusiasm until the rain became horizontal and my camera went on strike.

To say I loved this place was an understatement.

And then there was Spuistraat,

Zaira, not a name I’d heard of before, but one I will be looking out for now.

Bustart, I had heard of before we came, he has quite a presence in Amsterdam.

If we hadn’t had the docks and Spuistraat, our graffiti tour could have been a bit of a let down. This was because Flevopark, world famous graffiti spot, has had a bit of a makeover, structural renovations have meant that, for our visit at least, the volume of graff  was nowhere near what we had expected.  But what there was, was pretty good.

I love Amsterdam, this was my 4th visit, but my first for 7 years, the first pictures of graff I took were then. I believe the scene has exploded since that time, previously, I stumbled upon it, it’s pretty much inescapable now.

And I’m pleased to report that Flevopark since my return home is filling up nicely 🙂

I’d just like to say, if anyone is familiar with the very posh NH Grand Krasnapolsky in Dam Square and heard about it being taken over by Santa and his elves briefly during one night in December……………….it was nothing to do with me 😉

Amsterdam Sticker Edition

We went to Amsterdam for a friends birthday. I love Amsterdam, the first pictures I took of graff were in Amsterdam in 2005. It’s fair to say it’s changed a bit since then.

I have done a sticker edition and will do a writing/painting post next, just because there is so much.

 

These were all over with various comments on them, sadly again, I don’t know who does them.

I know some people don’t like stickers, but I do, the sheer variation and quality is amazing.

 

I wish I knew who they were by, more research needed me thinks.

One of (many) favourites.

Sweet. Everybody loves bunnies, don’t they?

An egg by CoLor art and a Kisk sticker, no idea how they got there 😉

 

Speeding up a Gear

Good to see new pieces by CoLor and Skint. Getting back to a semblance of normality was great and I really appreciated that the local lads had kept been busy creating things for me to go and look at, not that they had done it for me really, but all the same…

Although to be fair, I was still on catch up too, like this CoLor x Narke x Mila piece, which I had known of for a while but not been able to access.

Rocket01 and Boms wall, fantastic!

Seasonal piece by Riseone, whom I believe I met although he was adamant he wasn’t him…

Atik, relocated from Brighton and a top bloke, had seen some of his work before and not known who it was.

Not sure of the names, but I believe these guys are from the north east, they certainly get about a bit.

 

Espre, love this piece, he doesn’t paint as often as I’d like.

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This was done a couple of years ago by Ziru a french artist, I’ve only just seen it and I really like it.

So, I’m trying to get straight for the end of the year, so I can start 2013 blogging in real time instead of retrospective, so I apologise that I may have omitted some valuable works, it won’t happen again, honest.

 

 

Common Sense at Last

Gzos, with a little help from Jaer completed their last big production of the year which due to the cold snap felt more like a chore than a labour of love, but for the viewer at least, it was definitely worth it.  Around this time a forward thinking foreman was approached by Gzos regarding boards around the building site on Shoreham Street and local artists and writers were invited to paint the hoardings.

Following Gzos lead, Boms was quick to make a contribution.

Rocket01 was soon spotted working on another of his unusual characters.

Fauna Graphic did these beautiful gannets.

A newcomer to the Sheffield scene Bousche, certainly caught peoples attention with this exceptional character.

Trik9 painted this and I thought it was  awesome but sadly someone took offence to it and it had to be painted over.

But in spite of  that little hiccup I think it’s great that finally somebody realised that street art is a thing of beauty and worth encouraging in our city. I hope that more companies follow suit.

Disabled Access Only

When you’re used to walking everywhere and all the time, to be told you’re out of action is frustrating. To be told to put my feet up for 6 weeks was just beyond my comprehension. Ended up hiring a wheelchair and bugging the living daylights out of my family to take me out. After all I’d got to see Boms new style of character, this handsome hippo.

It was great to get out even briefly. Rocket01 had done the excellent piece above.

I had seen the piece by Trik9 in production before I broke my leg, it was awesome to sit in front of the finished piece which I think is the best he’s ever done.

I had needed to see CoLor Arts’squirrel ‘Phattening up for Winter’ and despite having to hop down the steps to get into the ballcourt, it was worth it.

Rast, Dmek(?)Dyson – Keeping cool and breaking rules…

And obviously I wouldn’t have missed Gzos in his hat for the world!

 

Can’t keep up!

To say that as summers go, this one has been rubbish, it’s amazing how busy the scene as been, the boards above were done by visitors, some from Newcastle.

This was where the geordies should have been painting, but there was a technical hitch and they had to change location.

CoLor Art had been prolific as always, this piece done with Mila K….

…and this piece with Duse WSK.

Kase and Prone, both of whom had had a break from graffiti were back on it in style.

And then there was this, curious, not really sure what to make of it, interesting though.

I’ve missed loads out there’s so much going on, how I love my city and all the talented people in it!