I have changed the title to this piece from ‘Bristol Shitty’ to Make Bristol Shit Again’ as I felt it gave the impression Bristol is a bad place to visit or live in. Far from it. Bristol is a vibrant, buzzy city full of artists who come up with tongue in cheek posters like this one in Stokes Croft. I have had a few queries from people who follow me on Twitter from abroad who think I am mocking Bristol. Far from it again. The Brits have a self-deprecating, laid back sense of humour, hence this poster and why I like it so much. I am nearly done with this work, but need to tone down the background a little more to make the red poster and the woman stand out more, hence no visible writing on any of the other posters. I also need to refine the lower part of the painting more, the legs, pavement and bricks. I just got too tired last night, so another couple of days. My aim is to try and preserve in my paintings some of the stunning street art that is around in our cities, because of course street art /graffiti is…
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I saw this red poster in ‘The People’s Republic of Stokes Croft’ in Bristol recently and it made me laugh out loud. Bristol is a GREAT city and full of great scenes like this, so I felt a painting coming on. I am painting a series of artworks involving street art and graffiti all around Bristol, but always with my trademark woman somewhere in the foreground. I shall also be painting local iconic backgrounds such as the wonderful BearPit Bear. I am excited. In fact I got so excited, I went in search of fluorescent oil paints for the posters on the wall behind the woman. These do not seem to exist in the UK, so have spent all my worldly wealth on 5 tubes of brilliant colours from America which look amazing. However I will now have to tone down the colours, as the woman risks being swamped by such bright zinging tones. I will only be painting in the detail of the Make Bristol Shit Again poster to create emphasis and will leave the other posters indistinct. I will eventually get the lettering right, so please bear with me. The shoes are based on a fantastic pair of…
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This is, for me, a larger piece at 76 x 76 cm ( 30 x 30″ ). This is because it will be going to Cape Town when the paint has dried and South Africans prefer larger artworks in their lovely, sunny, high ceilinged spacious homes. State Of The Art gallery is taking it (http://stateoftheart-gallery.com) and I look forward to seeing it hanging in their new permanent space at 50, Buitenkant. This gallery is first and foremost an online gallery, but has had gallery space in Shortmarket Street for the last couple of years. I look forward to seeing the new gallery opening in August. I intend to paint a series of works depicting local scenes with my trademark woman in the foreground somewhere. I am interested in street art and graffiti, and would like to preserve them in my paintings, as of course by their very nature, graffiti/street art regularly gets painted over. There is a wealth of talent in and around Cape Town, particularly in Woodstock and I can’t wait to get started. The Labia in this painting is South Africa’s oldest working cinema, much like the Curzon here in England in Clevedon, down the road…
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