January 2023 Archives

I have been enjoying Winter Lights at Canary Wharf for the past several years now, and it has become a staple of the London calendar for the middle of January. I was not able to visit it in the middle of the month, so I had to visit it on the final week on the Friday, and it was far more busier than I have ever seen it. I visited with a friend this year so arrived a bit later than I normally would have, and all of the installations were packed, which made it difficult to capture photographs. 

Keep reading below to learn about the sculptures from Canary Wharf Winter Lights 2023.

Floating Earth by Luke Jerram: This large-scale globe of the planet earth demonstrates the importance of the planet and climate change.

Fluorescent Firs: These lit-up trees have been placed during the previous years, and they transform the area occupied and gradually change colour.

Crystal Greenhouse by Shared Space and Light: This miniature greenhouse has light projections onto the sides of it, transforming it with different themes such as rain, ice, and crystals.

Emergence by This is Loop: This large-scale sculpture provides entrances for visitors to enjoy an interior space with mirrored prisms. 

Glories by Richard William Wheater: Gas-filled glass hoops are known as "glories", and they attempt to recreate nature by scattering light across the water.

Anima by Master in Ephemeral Architecture and Temporary Spaces (MEATS): This immersive sculpture had a long wait of more than thirty minutes to step inside, and once inside, it was packed with people. This artwork symbolises data about people, which places everyone into a global system of stored information and merges with everyone else.

Toroid by This is Loop: This architectural form is made with a circle with mirrored frame to reflect light. Visitors can walk inside and underneath it.

Lightbenches by LBO Lichtbank: The lightbenches have been in place in previous years, and they are favourites, allowing people to sit and enjoy the benches as the colours change.

Out of the Dark by Tom Lambert: This light installation encourages visitors to reflect on themselves and to connect with others around us.

You Exist Here, Now by The Fandangoe Kid: This sculpture features a mirror with a frame around it with the words "You exist here now". The artwork encourages people to reflect upon busy lives and take a break and pause.

Invisible by Daniel Popescu: This tunnel is filled with thousands of angled mirrors with blue and green lights illuminating them. Visitors can be immersed in this world.

Fragmented Appearanced by Gertjan Adema: This mirrored spinning sculpture casts reflections of light around the room.

Intonaluci 'The Light Snails' by Calidos: These sculptures have handles on them that can be spun so that visitors can watch the artwork spiral and create patterns based on the speed. 

Elantic 'The Boulder' by Tom&Lien Dekyvere: Discarded circuit boards have been used to create this boulder-shaped installation. The sculpture wishes to highlight that people wish to create a digital version of reality.

The Stars Come Out at Night by Stellar Projects: This installation gently rotates, mimicking the beautiful of the night sky filled with stars. The ground beneath the sculpture is lit up to display patterns of stars and 'we are all made of star stuff'. It is designed to look like a nightlight and provide some comfort to the viewer.

Continuum by Illumaphonium: These geometric mirrored pillars emit sounds as visitors approach and walk amongst them. The theme of the artwork is togetherness.

PING by Gijs Van Bon: Westferry Circus has come to life with over 200 becaons on a track. These beacons light up in a chain reactions, changing its shape and interacting with the environment through light and sound. The colours change from blue to red, green, and every colour in between, set to the soundscape for this interactive installation that encourages the visitors to stop and look.

Permafrost Sleeping Giants by Fisheye: Permafrost is a frozen layer beneath the surface of the earth which defrosts due to climate change. This layer includes important information about the earth. The sculpture is developed to raise awareness of climate crisis. These three mammoth sculptures in blue, green, and red help to highlight the issues.

Some of the light sculptures are permanent, and I've previously photographed them and mentioned them in the other posts. One example is "We Could Meet" by Martin Richman. This sculpture changes in light and frequency throughout the day to respond to changing environment.

I have been visiting Canary Wharf for their annual light trail for the past few years, but last year's was cancelled. In 2021, the event was rebranded and in place over three months. Previous visits to the Winter Lights at Canary Wharf can be seen below:

Canary Wharf Winter Lights 2022 - cancelled
Canary Wharf "Connected by Light" 2021
Canary Wharf Winter Lights 2020
Canary Wharf Winter Lights 2019
Winter Lights @ Canary Wharf 2018
Canary Wharf Winter Lights (2017)
Winter Lights @ Canary Wharf (2016)

Outside Crystal Palace on Anerley Vale road is a street art mural "Space Race" by Klonism. Klonism is a grafitti artist and illustrator based in Leeds in the U.K. Klonism's style is grafitti-based with bright and bold colours, and he started working in grafitti art at a young age. The "Space Race" mural features various animal characters painted onto a space background. 

The artwork can be seen on Anerley Vale opposite Crystal Palace station.

Over the past few years, London has seen a wide range of neon street art appearing across walls. Much of the artwork features cartoon and gaming characters. The artwork is painted by Fat Cap Sprays. Fat Cap Sprays is an artist based in London, and he records the spraying process. The artwork is created with different layers of spray paint to give a "glow" or "neon" appearance. He hopes that these cartoon and video game characters will allow the viewer to see a positive time in their lives. The first of these I discovered in 2020, and I've been photographing them since, although many do get painted over quickly.

I'm not sure which character the above represented, but it is always disappointing to discover one that has been painted over.

Eyesaw is a UK-based street artist who has painted a lot of his work across east and south London. The artist started to paint in the mid-2000s with grafitt-style tags, but it wasn't until last year that I really discovered his work and his unique style involving modern popular culture icons and brands. He is known for creating the "glitch the system" style of artwork in which the subject's form appears to be glitched or as if the multiple layers are made for 3D. The artist has been painting primarily cartoon characters using this glitch style, and I've only managed to photograph a few of them. 

The first of the pieces in this artist's new glitch style was "system error", and it depicts Mickey Mouse. The work was painted behind Grey Eagle Street toward the end of summer last year.

This was shortly followed by Porky Pig "Serve the System" a few weeks later.

One of the more recent murals that I saw before it was painted over was of Sonic.

In November last year, I saw this angry Thumper (from "Bambi") on a wall off Hanbury Street.

"Lady and the Tramp" was one of my favourite Disney films, and this duo appeared in February in time for Valentine's Day this year.

The following appeared at about the same time.

The below appeared in March.

Captain Caveman appeared in May.

For Halloween last year, Eyesaw collaborated with Airbourne Mark. "Count Duckula" was one of my favourite television cartoons when I was much younger.

Pepe La Pew is located in Penge at the Pawleyne Arms pub.

Bug Bunny is located near Penge East station.

I loved finding this new street artist, and I love the style of glitched cartoons that take me back to my childhood. I hope to continue seeing this artist's work across London.

Going back to August of 2021 now when the world was in the midst of a pandemic, I did a couple of staycations as travel abroad was out of the question. One of the places that I visited was Leicester, and I visited the Leicester Museum and Art Gallery as part of the trip. The museum includes fossils and dinosaurs, Picasso ceramics, and some local exhibitions relating to industry in Leicester.

The fossils and dinosaur room was one of the most popular and at the front of the museum.

I also checked out the Picasso ceramics.

There was also an area of different types of climate and the animals that live there.

Before I visited the museum, I had a look around the town, including the market and found some street art.

I did not visit all of the museum, but if I ever get back to Leicester, I will do so.

This past summer, street artist Cranio returned to London's streets to leave new artwork. Cranio is known for his blue tribal people, who get up to all sorts of chaos and usually have a political, social, or environmental theme. I was able to track down his artwork across east London. The artist was in town hosting an exhibition at BSMT Space Gallery in Dalston. This exhibition was in place until the 14th of August. While in London, he created many murals. One of them was covered previously on this blog, and it was posted here: Cranio and Phlegm Collaboration in Dalston - War.

I went to BSMT Space Gallery to check out the artwork.

One of Cranio's blue tribal men was painted on the wall. 

Located on Hanbury Street, this smoking blue man looking right at home under a "shisha lounge" sign.

On Pedley Street off Brick Lane is a grafitti-style tag.

Also on Brick Lane is a blue man wearing a football shirt and smoking.

Another blue tribal man is using a mobile further down the road on Brick Lane.

The final mural in this part of London is located on Bacon Street and features one of the blue men walking his dog while looking at his mobile. His face appears to be disappearing into his mobile.

Previous artwork by Cranio on this blog can be seen by following the below links:

Cranio and Phlegm Collaboration in Dalston - War
Collaboration Street Art: Cranio & Fanakapan
Cranio - Collaborations with Himbad, Zadok, & Kazz
Cranio's Newest Mural on Pedley Street: Blue Natives 
Cranio Repaints His Wall on Brick Lane
Cranio's Mural on Great Eastern Street
Recent Street Art in Early 2014
Street Art: Cranio, Senna, HIN, and Mo
Street Art: Cranio
Cranio Returns to London in 2020 and Paints Brick Lane

Last month, I visited Slim Chickens, which is a fast food restaurant founded in 2003 and based in Arkansas in the United States. There are a few branches in the United Kingdom, including the branch that I visited at Brunswick Centre near Russell Square. The restaurant serve chicken tenders, wings, wraps, salads, and a selection of sides. I had the chicken tenders with an extra side of the crispy fried onions.

My verdict: The food was good, and I really liked the crispy fried onions. The chicken tenders were juicy and equally delicious.

Street artist WRDSMITH is known for creating lyrical paste-ups that feature a painted stencil of a vintage typewriter along with a paste-up of text on a page that can be lyrical, silly, or an observation. The artist lives in California but was born in Ohio, and he is also a writer for television. I first noticed his work in early 2016, and he's visited a few times and leaves behind various stencils on walls. 

Previous posts about Wrdsmith on this blog can be seen here:

Street Art: WORDSMITH & C3
Recent Wrdsmith (Wordsmith) Street Art

I have previously covered the work of South African street artist Falko One (also known as Falko1) previously, and the last time that I photographed his work in London was in 2017. He had painted his series of elephants "The Herd", around London. I captured the work in east London, but he also painted in a few places in Penge, south London. The artist's subject is elephants. Falko One has been painting for over 25 years and has a graphic design background. 

The elephants in this post are still located in Penge as I photographed them last year, and they were originally painted in 2017. The first elephants are located on a low wall on a residential street in Stodart Road. The elephants are facing each other and create a "heart" shape.

The second elephant that I managed to capture is easy to miss. It is also on a residential street and located on the side of a house. The elephant appears to be emerging from the side of the house.

Other posts on this blog that contain Falko One's elephants street art work can be seen here:

Falko One 'The Herd' of Elephants
Jay Kaes and Falko One Murals on Old Street

In June of 2018, street artist Sr. X painted a wall in Penge on Maple Road. Sr. X is noted for his vintage-style artwork that evokes humour and political or social themes. The work on the wall depicts a young boy appearing to look over the fence while Mickey Mouse is emerging from his head and Itchy the mouse from "The Simpsons" show's "The Itchy and Scratcy Show" is holding an ignited dynamite stick behind his back.

The artwork behind the fence is completed with the full face of the boy, but it's really only meant to be seen from the other side of the fence so that the boy appears to be looking over the fence.

Other artwork by Sr. X (Senor X) on this blog can be seen in the below posts:

Sr. X Paints "Gimme That Soma!" on Redchurch Street
Sr. X Street Art at Paternoster Square
Sr. X Summer 2020 Murals in Camden
"The Back of Your Mind", New Street Art by Sr. X
Camden Street Art Self-Guided Trail
Sr. X (Señor X) "The Rapture" Street Art on the Village Underground
Sr. X (Señor X) "The Itching" Street Art off Brick Lane
New Sr X Octopus on Hackney Road
Sr.X Paints Village Underground Wall
Sr.X "Buy Shit!" Sign on Village Underground
Sr X Collaborates with Zabou

Located in the picturesque Kent countryside are the ruins of Bayham Abbey, which was constructed from golden sandstone from the early 1200s with developments at different stages in following centuries. Today, the ruins of the abbey have been set into grounds sculpted in the later 1700s by Humphry Repton, planner of Kenwood House's (London) grounds. The new Bayham Abbey mansion, ruins, and park were donated in 1961 for all to enjoy under management of Engish Heritage.

The abbey was owned by Premonstratensian canons who followed St. Augustine of Hippo. Cardinal Wlosey suppressed it in 1525 to gain money for his new colleges. 

At the back side of the site is a gatehouse, which is a more modern development. It is bordering a field with views over the old ruins.

At the back of the ruins is the mansion, Bayham Abbey but known as Dower House. It dates from the mid-1700s when the property was owned by the Pratt family. The ruins were sculptued into the park in the "romantic ruins" idealisation, and an orangery was placed on the side of the ruins.

Although the site of the abbey is ruins today, visitors can make out how grand it was and the carvings in the doorways, windows, and rooflines. 

At the back of the ruins where the altar is, a large and very old tree has sprouted over the top of the brick walls, its roots inter-twined into the brickwork.

The abbey is also an infant cemetary. The grave below marks the spot of two infant sons of the Camden family who owned the mansion on the grounds.

The different areas of the abbey are marked off with various signage around.

The stairs lead to the remains of the rectory, which was on the first floor with the storage on the floor below.

This concludes my visit to Bayham Abbey. I later discovered that there are talks at the abbey between 1pm and 3pm on Saturdays, and there is a second-hand bookstore in the mansion that is open later in the day on some weekends.

Street artists Morgasmik and Peachzz collaborated on a mural in Penge in the summer of 2021. I was lucky to see the artwork not long after it had been completed with a street art walk organised by London Calling Blog. The mural fills the bottom of a long wall not too far from Penge East station and is a nice collaboration of two different styles of artwork.

The artwork was created for SprayExhibition20 street art project. Morgasmik is a street artist that is from the south London area, and Peachzz is from Sheffield. The subject is a mermaid in an under-sea scape with geometric colourful patterns. Part of the work also glows in the dark. Peachzz was responsible for the mermaid while Morgasmik created the colourful geographical elements.

A nice touch was the electric box on the left side of the wall, which had been painted to look like an under-sea treasure chest.

For more street art by Peachzz, see:
Bankside Frost Fair Walk and Street Art

Back in 2017, Mexican-Columbian street artist Stinkfish visited London and painted a few murals. The artist's style of painting is stencil-based with bright colours and geometric shapes for the backgrounds. The subjects of the paintings are people that the artist had photographed without their knowledge. This girl was painted on a door behind shops on the main street in Penge, and I took the photograph in the autumn of 2021.

Previous work by Stinkfish that I have covered in this blog can be seen below:

Stinkfish New Mural on Hanbury Street
Stinkfish Paints Hanbury Street Ahead of "Portraits in Transit"
Street Art: Stinkfish, Acaro, Mazatl

Woskerski's sreet art brings the surreal style with witty portraits (or other objects) that use bright colours and are memorable. The street artist has been painting across east London for the past few years now, and his work always brings a smile. Although it has been awhile since I have covered the artist on this blog, I have been taking photographs of his work, which you can see below.

Additional work by Woskerski that is featured on this blog:

Woskerski Street Art in East London
Woskerski Paints Toynbee Street for London Mural Festival
Most Recent Street Art by Woskerski
Street Art: Woskerski
Recent Spring 2018 Woskerski Street Art

My first ever visit to Caerphilly Castle in south Wales was at the beginning of 2017 on a day trip to explore the castle and the Royal Mint nearby to see how coins were made ahead of the new pound coin circulation later in the year. A little over five years later, I was able to see some changes and to explore some parts of the castle that were closed off during my last visit. Additional parts of the castle were closed off on this visit for different reasons; the castle is having some repair work done to it. Everyting was open for us to visit, but the scaffolding never looks attractive. On my first visit, the Great Hall was closed due to a theatre production.

Before I enter the castle, the view above was taken from a pub called Court House, which is part of the Greene King chain. Lunches were on offer with a sandwich and drink, which was very tempting to me, but the bloke did not want to stay as he was in a rush and wanted to watch racing at home. I had a half-pint of soft drink and admired the views for a few minutes while he decided to go back to the car and wait for me. It was lovely sunny weather too, so maybe I'll be able to stop back here again in a few years. I took out the lifetime English Heritage membership, which covers Cadw Heritage sites in Wales too, back in 2020. 

Caerphilly Castle is an example of a Norman castle from the mid-1200s, and it is one of the largest Welsh castles. It is surrounded by a moat or lake and has thick defensive walls. You cannot get much of a better castle example than Caerphilly Castle.

A part of the castle juts out a bit into the lake with views. You can see the leaning castle tower here before you get into the castle's inner court.

Scaffolding never looks nice, but Cadw have put some advertisement on it. It's essential that these ancient buildings are kept maintained for future generations to enjoy as the stonework deteriorates in the open weather.

In the inner bailey and quite near the leaning tower is a new scene. In my last visit, I remember a red dragon on the grounds. There is now a dragon family with a story told when visitors press the button. Visitors can hear about this dragon family.

Also, the leaning tower has some artwork beneath it - a sculpture of a man pushing against the tower. It won't be falling anytime soon. There's actually steel poles inside it holding it together.

The Great Hall, pictured below, was closed off last time.

I was able to walk along the walls and onto the other floors.

The works being done on the castle don't look nice below, but it's essential. The picnic tables are new as well. There's no cafe here, but visitors can bring in refreshments.

The views are impressive from the top tower.

Underneath the archery walkway, a statue of a knight crouches.

Upon exiting, I took a look back at the castle.

And here's my view of the castle where I stopped to have the drink.

Read about my first visit to Caerphilly Castle here.

Pierre Vivant is known for sculptures, and at least two take pride of place in the middle of roundabouts. There's a sculpture designed as a confusing traffic light system with a lot of lights facing slightly-different directions. There's also this collection of road signs organised into geometric shapes, which is located in the middle of a roundabout in Cardiff. The title "Magic Roundabout" was coined by Cardiff residents and not the artist.

The sculptures are arranged across the middle of the roundabout and are easily-recognisable "street furniture".

I discovered them during my stay in Cardiff, as I was staying quite near, and I snapped a couple photographs on the move.

The colour that Pantone has chosen to represent 2023 is Viva Magenta 18-1750, a purple-red shade. According to Pantone's website, the shade is a new signal of strength, brave, and celebrative. It is a powerful colour and can have multiple applications. Viva Magenta is a natural colour with a bright shade, and it can be paired with muted greens and creams as secondary colours.

Pantone® helps set colour trends, so expect to see the colour used in fashion, interior design, home furnishings, graphic design, and artwork over the next year. The past few years of Pantone® 'colours of the year' are listed below.

2022: Very Peri
2021: Ultimate Gray and Illuminating
2020: Classic Blue
2019: Living Coral
2018: Ultra-Violet
2017: Greenery
2016: Serenity & Rose Quartz
2015: Marsala
2014: Radiant Orchid
2013: Emerald
2012: Tangerine Tango
2011: Honeysuckle

1) Pantone®. https://www.pantone.com/uk/en/color-of-the-year/2023 [1 January, 2023].