One of my favourite street artists has been busy painting on the east London streets. I saw him painting on the wall that was updated with many of his pieces during the Olympics last year. I originally covered his work in the article: Street Art: Don Smith.
Paul 'Don' Smith's newest work near Brick Lane: Frank Sinatra
On the Thursday of the week before last, I saw him half-way through painting a portrait of Jimi Hendrix while I popped out of the office in the middle of the afternoon to get a drink. By the time it was time to leave work at 18:00, the work was finished. I watched as he completed some of the fine detail on Hendrix using a spray can of white paint. I recognised his style immediately. I was really excited to see him painting, and we had a quick chat. I told him that I really liked seeing his work and he mentioned being in the area recently to correct his Nelson Mandela portrait (located on Brick Lane near the train bridge) that had been tagged over.
Don Smith adds highlights and detail to the Jimi Hendrix painting; the finished painting; the stencil on the ground with cans of paint.
On the Friday that just passed, I was on my way out of the office at 18:00 when I saw Paul Don Smith painting on the same wall again, over the top of paste-ups that covered the Olympic Gold Medalist pieces. He was just starting the Frank Sinatra piece that I pictured above. He had not been there long as I watched him in the first stage of painting a new portrait over a stencil. This time, he had placed his famous Banker tag image on what looked like a tube map so that others would recognise him. This did the trick as a little crowd had formed, and a couple of the people knew the Banker image and called him "Tap-man." He responded by spray-painting the banker image onto items before continuing with his street art. I asked him for one, and he recognised me from the previous week as we had chatted for a few minutes.
I had the Banker image spray-painted inside my sketch book that I keep inside my handbag. This really made my day to get a copy of the famous Banker tag to take away with me.
Unfortunately, I could not stay to watch or document the work being finished. Trains out of London were delayed, and I had had an exhausting week at work.
Paul Don Smith uses a stencil to paint a portrait; the first stage of the portrait is complete; the Banker image spray-painted onto a tube map with a rolled-up stencil and cans of spray paint; Don Smith painting the Banker image for a fan and photographs of the Banker image in my sketchbook with the street art in the background.
While exploring east London in the past few months, since I last published the original article about the street artist, I have discovered other pieces. Many of these are new.
A weeping queen near Nude Espresso (image has recently been painted over); image of Union Jack on a shutter on Brick Lane; Johnny Cash on Hanbury Street (2013); Nelson Mandela appeared recently over the top of the artist's rainbow image; birds (2013 and possibly 2012); the Banker image; 'The Who', located near Hoxton station (2013); a tribute to Lee Rigby (June 2013); Banker image
I will keep you posted for any new pieces of street art that I find.
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