Abstract street art

Sometimes a wall need to be patched or graffiti needs to be obliterated.
But the paint originally used for the wall or fence might not be available and so another one that doesn't quite match or a completely different shade is used.
The end result often can look like abstract art.
I just love some of the results. Some of these would be good as carpets.
Here's a selection.

Parkhurst Road, N7.

Rowstock Gardens, N7

Rowstock Gardens, N7

Old Street, EC1

Dalston, E8

Bowmans Mews, N7

Anaglypta

I have started another collection...
Today I bring you some examples of Anaglypta wallpaper.
It was quite expensive in its Victorian-Edwardian heyday and was mostly applied in hallways and/or below the dado rail.
Beautiful. 

The two black designs are from The Shaftesbury Tavern on Hornsey Rise and the off-white one, top left, is from The Red Lion, Holborn,

Summer in the winter beer garden on the South Bank

For 3 days we can forget winter, cold weather and Christmas, and instead hang out within the heated dome of the 'Corona Extra Summer' pop-up bar on the South Bank's Riverside Walkway (between Waterloo Bridge and Gabriel's Wharf) from Thursday 15th to Saturday 17th December.

Well, hell, why not? What's not to like?

Skin deep

Has anybody else noticed the excessive amount of make-up being worn by young girls these days?

Does the foundation they buy come with a free palette knife to put it on and a scraper to remove it? And why do a lot of them wear tinted (tinted?!) products that make their faces look like they've been to the Far East, but not the rest of their visible flesh? And there's a lot of bare skin around lately too, mostly on the wrong legs! And in this weather... brr!

Have you seen the gloss paint look? Slimy-look faces. Not nice.

Actually, it's just occurred to me that it's called foundation because it's supposed to be used as a base for other products... not to be the over-bearing the star of the show!

It's a look that requires a lot of time, effort and money... I bet the cosmetics industry is loving it.

Do men like it? Do they want to get close to all that gunk? Do they even notice?

Though I did overhear some schoolboys on a bus last week discussing their sisters' make-up habits and how they found it unattractive. They used words like 'stupid', 'muck', 'orange' and 'fake'.

I suspect if you ran your fingers down one of these rendered cheeks it would achieve the effect of a textured abstract painting, ploughed field or corrugations.

Here are some pics to illustrate the sort of thing I mean.

See more textures here.

George the Imperial Great Dane

Last week there on BBC TV News there was an item about a Great Dane called George who has just got into the Guinness Book of Records as the world's tallest dog, ever.

What interested me was that the presenter said that at 43 inches tall George was 2cm taller than the second tallest dog.

Imperial and metric in the same sentence. Ugh!

But any excuse for a collection of themed London pictures...

Top: Marylebone, Bloomsbury, Hoxton, Stamford Hill

Middle: Islington, Camden, Belgravia, Soho

Bottom: Barnsbury, Tottenham, Smithfield, Bloomsbury

Christmas 2009

Here's my design for this year's Christmas card, though I won't be it getting made up as a printed item this time.

Last year I did my 12 pubs of Christmas and, because I got them printed, I think people didn't realise that I'd made them myself, as in past years I had been more active with the glitter or the sewing machine.

This year each letter here is from a brand name on a ghost sign in London.

Let me know if you recognise any of them.

Joy to the World and all that!

Jane x

Textures and patterns

Whilst I am out and about taking photos of interesting bits of ironwork and street signs, I occasionally stumble upon (walk into?!) an old wall, a dilapidated fence or a building that has lovely effects on it created by peeling paint, scuffed brickwork, torn posters and the like. To view these images individually and find out where each one was taken click here.