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‘You can be as naughty as you want, just don’t get caught’. 17.11.2017

I came across the extraordinary work of street artist @therealbambistreetartist or Bambi and have become a big fan, particularly anything to do with Amy Winehouse who is one of my heroines. I discovered the Princess Diana graffiti and thought it might work in one of my paintings. I am interested in preserving street art as it is so often painted over, and this way someone can have a piece of street art by buying my work. I love the way Diana is portrayed as Mary Poppins being looked up to by the grandchildren she never met. I also liked the quirky touch of the Harrods bag ! The words sprayed on the wall are words she said to Wills and Harry when they were small boys. To make the picture my own composition, I have as always added in my trade mark woman, but this time she is going to have a passing resemblance to Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, mother of George and Charlotte. She is walking past the graffiti because she has never met Diana and is walking into the sunshine, leaving behind the rain necessitating Diana’s umbrella. I am always interested in any other feedback on my work.…
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‘Sunshine and Showers’ underpainting 01/11/17

Very much an underpainting still, so maybe a bit confusing to the viewer. I am a huge fan of the street artist known as Bambi (@therealbambistreetartist on Instagram) and she is also known as the female Banksy apparently. Her work featuring Princess Diana as Mary Poppins gave me the inspiration for this work.  Her original is much smaller than as shown here, but I wanted to have the woman walking away with the pink umbrella to be of similar height and to bear a passing resemblance to Kate, Duchess of Cambridge.  The two children stencilled on the wall are Prince George and Princess Charlotte. Further down the line, I will be adding in the words Diana said to Princes William and Harry when they were young : ‘You can be naughty as you want, just don’t get caught ‘.  These will be in big red stencilled letters as per Bambi’s original work and should pull the painting together. I am deliberately painting ‘Kate’ walking past and away from Diana because life has to go on …… If you would like to be kept up to date with what I am up to in the next few weeks please sign up…
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‘The Eyes Have It’. Completed and available. 19/10/17

This piece is 60x 60cm, 24 x 24” and is oil on deep canvas.  It will be for sale through Great White Art gallery (www.greatwhiteart.com). I saw this skull, or calaveras, as I am reliably informed by one of my Twitter followers, on a wall at The Tobacco Factory on North Street where I live.  The Tobacco Factory is a theatre/cafe/bar/and a great supporter of local artists, and street art in particular.  So when Upfest street art festival takes place on this street every year, the Tobacco Factory is a magnet for some of the best street artists from all over Europe. This particular street art is the work of Liz Clayton (@lizc_illustration) and I love the colours in it.  I have simplified it slightly for my painting as I didn’t want it to completely overwhelm the composition, and have put a darker glaze over it to knock it back a bit for the same reason.   I have painted the eyes looking askance at the girl to add a bit of humour, hence the title. They are not like that in the original. The girl is oblivious of the gorgeous street art behind her.  She is much more interested…
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‘The Eyes Have It’. First week in progress. 05/10/17

I saw this wonderful street art by Liz Clayton (Instagram lizc_illustration) at The Tobacco Factory on North Street in Bristol where I live, and I felt a painting coming along in my head. Upfest is an urban paint festival that is held every year on said North Street.  Street art artists and graffiti artists from all over the world descend on my street with their aerosol cans and create individual and magnificent art on every available blank wall or hoarding available.    I feel it is a great shame that these works get painted over so quickly or abandoned.  Street art by its nature is ephemeral.  I decided I would like to preserve some of these works in my own paintings with my trademark woman in the foreground somewhere.  I tag in the artist and ask for their blessing beforehand. With this piece, still in its early stages, I have changed the eyes to be looking slyly at the young woman just checking on her shoes, hence the title.    I am looking forward to adding in all the detail of the skull without making it overpower the muted tones of the young woman.  I may have to add a…
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‘Untitled’. Completed. 27/09/17

This is a quicker, looser work I completed yesterday.  I originally took a cropped shot of part of ‘Voices Of  The People’ (See last week’s blog for details), put it up on Instagram and generated lots of interest. The result is this work.   I have called it ‘Untitled’ because I don’t think it needs a title.  As the viewer can’t see the phone the girl was holding in the original piece, I can’t call it ‘Voices Of The People, part 2’ or whatever;  it wouldn’t make sense. I like the abstract quality to this painting and enjoyed painting in a looser style with bigger brushes for a change.  With any future street art inspired paintings, I think I will do an extra smaller, more abstract cropped piece alongside it.   Always like trying something new. If you would like to be kept up to date with what I am doing in the next few months please sign up to my Newsletter at the top of the Home page. I am also on Twitter, Instagram and have a Facebook page called Miche Artist. This work is 20 x 16″, 50 x 40 cm and is oil on canvas,  not deep…
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‘Voices Of The People’ finished and available. 21/09/17

This piece is now finished and is 24 x 24″, 60 x 60cm, oil on deep cotton canvas. Like a lot of people, I think we are all obsessed with social media, and our smartphones in particular.  I would like to say it is only the young who are so obsessed, but it is definitely crossing over into my generation, the older market.   Sometimes this is a good thing, as we can, as artists, get our work seen across the world at a touch of a button without having to pay for an expensive marketing campaign.  Sometimes not so good, when we spend more time looking at our phones than at each other. Hence this painting.  Upfest (Urban Paint Festival) takes place on the street where I live in Bristol each year and this particular artist’s work struck a chord with me.  He’s on Instagram as stefano_chies and his ad logo is ‘Sign’, as in my work.   I have placed my trademark woman in front of the hoarding, completely oblivious of this wonderful art, as she is of course, totally engrossed on her phone. I am interested in preserving street art and graffiti in my paintings as they…
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New work in progress. 05/09/17

Something a bit different.   I am very interested in street art and graffiti and here in Bristol I am surrounded by a wealth of talent in that field.  I live on North Street in Bedminster and every year my street plays host to Upfest.  Upfest is an urban art festival and artists from all over the world descend on North Street and cover buildings, walls and hoardings with superb streetart and graffiti.  I love watching their progression and always feel a little sad that these wonderful works get painted over in time.  That is the ephemeral nature of streetart. So what I am aiming to do is to preserve some of these works in my paintings for history.   I am starting with Bristol, but I have in mind other cities such as Cape Town where I used to live, London with the vibrant art of Camden Town and Brick Lane.  I could paint in any city in the world and am open to offers of artist residencies… This particular hoarding was a temporary structure featuring the work of the artist ‘Sign’. I shall be putting his signature onto the phone under the red mouth as it features in…
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‘Elefunk’ work in progress 23/08/17

This title came to mind from the Black Eye Pease cd, Elephunk,  but I had to be careful of copyright! Once finished, this piece will be available through Cape Town gallery State Of The Art at their new premises at 50, Buitenkant. (Http://stateoftheart-gallery.com) I saw this wonderful street art in Woodstock and is listed as being by Falko One and called ‘I can’t live without my radio’.  I know nothing about his work yet, but see on Instagram he is listed as #falkoone, so I salute you Falko.  He seems to like painting elephants so look up his wonderful  work. I am incorporating Streetart and graffiti into my paintings to preserve them for the future.  I think it is such a shame they get painted over, but that is the nature of street art I suppose. I would like to paint work in other cities, London, Amsterdam, the possibilities are endless. When I paint street art paintings for Bristol gallery Great White Art (http://greatwhiteart.com) I more often than not have my lady in red sliding past the colourful background.  As a result, I have come up with the generic title ‘Bristol City Rover’ for these works.  What could I call…
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‘Beauty And The Beast’ completed. 09/08/17

My ongoing project at the moment is to produce works depicting street art and graffiti in and around Bristol, preserving them for history as street art is by its nature, ephemeral and will get painted over in due course. Bristol is a centre for street art and graffiti and we have just had Upfest on the street where I live, North Street.   Artists from all over the globe descend on my street for one weekend each year to produce the most amazing and stunning works.  Google Upfest, which stands for urban paint festival.   I now have, again, a wealth of images to use as backgrounds for my Bristol City Roving woman or similar.  You can see my work along these lines at Great White Art gallery in Bristol (http://greatwhiteart.com).    I am working along similar lines for the Cape Town gallery, State Of The Art (http://stateoftheart-gallery.com).  They are now in brand new wonderful premises at 50, Buitenkant having moved from Shortmarket Street. Having said all of the above, I have slightly deviated from street art into portraying an iconic image for Bristol lovers in this piece.  The Bearpit Bear stands on a busy roundabout in the centre of…
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‘Beauty And The Beast’ work in progress. 02/08/17

The start of a new piece which always excites me.  This one is for Cape Town and features a wonderful street art seen in Woodstock.  It is 80 x 80 cm. I just loved the way the air conditioning unit has been incorporated into the elephant listening to its radio.  I would like to think it is a heavy rap theme. Originally I was going to place my trademark woman to the right of the canvas, but have since decided she should be walking past the elephant  who I would like to think is giving her a leery smile.  My juvenile sense of humour showing here, but I think it works. Street art and graffiti is a theme which is going to appear more in my work in the months to come.  It is ephemeral art which by its very nature means it is going to be painted over.  I want to preserve some of this amazing art in my paintings and if I can introduce a little touch of humour and lightness into the work, so much the better. I am doing the same in Bristol and you can see more of my work there at http://greatwhiteart.com.   I…
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