banksy

quite

opinions are still divided ....but i'm loving the latest from banksy...

i know just how he feels...

sly fox

mr foxy on Portobello Road

so happy that the new fence in my garden hasn't deterred the fox cubs....a bold little fellow came right up to my living room window the other night - but sadly i didn't have time to snap a photo.  i haven't managed to get a shot of any of my garden visitors any lately (apart from the colourful one above - spotted at Portobello Market under the Westway).  i managed to get my hands on a copy of An Illustrated Guide to Cocktails by Orr Shtuhl and Elizabeth Graeber - with this gorgeous sly fox on the front cover.

you sophisticated fox!

a great little boo - not only does it give you some beautifully illustrated classic cocktail recipes but also the stories behind their names (& i don't know if it was deliberate but the book actually SMELLS lemony!) - it will certainly come in handy on my new brekkie/alkie bar.

before i die...

i absolutely love this amazing and inspiring piece of street art by Candy Chang - who transformed an abandoned building in her New Orleans neighborhood and invited people to complete the phrase 'before I die I want to....' using chalk and getting creative and confessional.   

"Before I Die transforms neglected spaces into constructive ones where we can learn the hopes and aspirations of the people around us.". brilliant.

 

 

mattress-nest

 sunlight becomes you...Buchanan Gardens NW10...and a bit of bin-art

popped out on the bike earlier and it was a bumper mattress-spotting day - i think i found a nest on Buchanan Gardens....

 i think i've found a nest...

 

 cast out? or just an airing? Tiverton Road, NW10

abandoned on Wrottesley Road, NW10

STIK

 here

just popped down to Subway Gallery beneath Edgware Road to see street artist Stik do some live painting and to view his work on show there (read more about him via street art london)- he was very friendly and i promise to go back again next saturday and might even treat myself to one of his mini canvas pieces. 

 go down here (the subway under Edgware Road)

 into here....

 for a little bit of live painting like this 

(admittedly tho he said he was mostly whiting out and repainting 

the eyes when the press showed up for more pics!)

 a little bit of this in the gallery....

and bit of that...with the roar of traffic above your head.

mattresses and foxes

just back from a bike ride over to Queens Park where i find yet another fab foxy (see also here and here) beside the Police Station on Harvist Road.  on the way home it's a red-letter day for mattresses too as i spotted a double and single en route.

 opp the Furness Road Primary School - Palermo Road, NW10

a double spotting on Nightingale Road, NW10

plastic bag monster!

 

 

spotted via wooster collective is this amazing plastic bag monster in Ljubljana, Slovenia.  as Wooster reports:
"Together with Ekologi Brez Meja (ocistimo.si), Lukatarina and Eco Vitae we collected 40,000 used plastic bags and 7,500 used plastic cups from 12 kindergartens, 21 primary schools, 4 high schools and 3 faculties from the city of Ljubljana (Slovenia) and from more than 500 people from Ljubljana.
Plastic Bag Monster from Kongresni trg spreads its plastic tentacles through the streets of Ljubljana. It symbolizes the spreading of the consumerism and waste segregation. The monster itself has adjusted to the environment and therefore survived. It is supplanting us from the food chain. It just might succeed and it’s all up to us. It is reproducing with inconceivable speed and knows no mercy. It feeds on individuals’ sloth and irresponsibility."... The Miha Artnak
 

winter mattressland

Fitzrovia Square

 Merry Ratty Christmas

well, the snow is back again and London looks clean, white and gorgeous...even mattressland.  it started yesterday and i spent most of the day in the centre of town sludging about on icey pavements, and managed to go flying and land on my bum - but at least it was in slow motion so not too painful.  i spotted a little ratty down the bottom of a building in Fitzrovia Street, a possible Banksy, tho personally i think it could just be an "homage".  then i took a bus up past Marble Arch and saw the colourful new jellybean family by the briliant Mauro Perucchetti - a wonderful spectacle, almost exactly on the site of the infamous Tyburn Tree gallows - favoured execution spot which also created quite a spectacle in its day (11th-18th century).

 

the jellybean family at Marble Arch

 having woken up this morning to even more snow i decided to don my trusty yellow snow boots and trek outside to gather supplies (in case i run out of food and the shops shut) and ended up completey blinded by the falling snow - but mattressland does look especially beautiful - now that all the rubbish and crappy pavements are covered in powder whiteness.

 

 

 

 

sadly the folks were supposed to be driving to London for the weekend, so that we could all exchange presents as we aren't spending the holidays together, but they are also snow-bound in Hampshire.  instead i decided to send them photos of their pressies so they can stick them under the tree - at least we'll have something extra to look forward when we exchange gifts in the New Year...snow-willing!

 

 

choose your weapon

there's still time to register your chance to own a limited edition print by of Choose Your Weapon by Banksy. sign up via Pictures on Walls and just wait to be picked the lucky buyer!  Prints are £450 each but Banksy is donating all royalties to the VOINA artist cooperative in Russia, two of whom are currently residing in a St Petersburg jail. VOINA are the people who drew a giant penis on a road bridge opposite the KGB headquarters and protested against police corruption by overturning eleven patrol cars in one night.

Made in Brighton

  

the fabulous Royal Pavillion

 

Brighton Pier

 

just back from a lovely sunny day at the seaside.  i received a free ticket to the Made craft fair in Brighton from artist gillian bates so popped down on the train for the afternoon.  the craft fair was great - i got to meet in person a few lovely ladies who's work i have bought, admired and wanted and i also managed to get hold of a few early christmas presents.

 gillian bates

esther coombs

kate jenkins

i then strolled down to the pebble beach, along the shore and then up the lanes to do a bit of shopping, spotted a few bits of street art (including my beloved Trellick Tower) and some rather disturbing teddy abuse....

  

a woman needs a man like a prawn needs a bicycle...but how else is he sposed to get to work?

 

  

  

  

teddy abuse...pure and simple...he doesn't look happy (he doesn't look sober!)

  

casette lord...he gets about a bit

 

never far from home...Trellick Tower!

then headed back down to the pier to watch the spectacular autumn display of roosting starlings...and a beautiful almost full moon ....awesome.

 

 then it was back on the train to London town....oh i do miss the seaside....*sigh*