February 2023 Archives

Coinsbrough Castle's (located in South Yorkshire) origins are regarded with legends of heroes who are associated with the mound that the castle is now built on. It was regarded as a victorious place where an Anglo-Saxon leader was defeated by the son of a Roman emperor. It was an important religious site and occupied for many years. After the Norman conqest in 1066, the site must have been a favourite as it increased in value and was frequented by William de Warenne, a member of the aristocracy. The stone keep was constructed by his great grand-daughter Isabel and her husband Hamelin. It is built in the cylindrical style that was popular in France at the time.

The castle keep dates from the 12th century, and it was built to show off power. The last evidence of work to the castle was repairs made to walls in the 14th century. In the 1800s, the castle became a popular romantic ruin to be visited and enjoyed. Its popularity spun from the setting of the "Ivanhoe" story by Sir Walter Scott. The castle was surrounded by public parkland and was a centrepoint for games and activities in the later 1800s.

Coinsbrough Castle is currently managed by English Heritage. There is a small museum on site with some items discovered in and around the castle's location. Items on display in this little museum include pottery that would have been used in the castle, coins, stonework, metalwork, stained glass, bones, and antlers. The pottery found was created only a couple of miles away.

The keep can be explored with four floors, and there is a basement and a roof level. The basement could not be explored, but it could be looked into from above. The floors contain the living quarters with some commentary projected onto the walls and other information sheets dotted around. 

One of the floors has a chapel.

The rooftop contains a few ovens and impressive views.

I explored this castle last December, but I did not spend too long here as we were running a little bit behind due to some bad traffic.

This is my first post covering the artwork of Abraham.O, although I've captured his street art previously. Abraham.O is a street artist from El Salvador, and his work is instantly recognisable. He paints realistic portraits in greyscale, and he often adds touches of colour to the artwork, such as an item of clothing or background. His work also can include a red or pink hummingbird. The subjects in the portraits are interesting subjects, and his work is really eye-catching. Many of them are from various countries in Latin America, and they are typically members of community or society who are often over-looked. I captured a couple of these murals during the street walk I had with London Calling Blog at the end of 2021, and the others were captured on following visits.

"Historian" is the artist's newest work in Penge, and it was painted in the spring. The work features traditional dance and subjects of religion, community, and migration (the colonization of the Americas by the Iberian people). The "Historians" is a dance known as "Moors and Christains", which is a blend of drama performed by the Spanish people at defeating the Moors. The subject is dressed in traditional dance attire.

The next artwork is painted on a garage shutter, and it is titled "The Basket Seller". It depicts an elderly woman who has to sell baskets for a living, even at her old age, in the middle of San Salvador.

I am unsure of what the title of the next mural is, but it was also painted onto a shutter of a garage and depicts a child carrying a small bleating lamb over his or her shoulders. I imagine that this is a shepherd or shepherdess, covering his or her ears from the lamb's loud bleats.

The final mural in Penge is "Weavers", and it depicts a homeless woman of El Salvador. 

I do have photographs of more of Abraham.O's artwork across east London, so I will continue to post photographs of his work. 

Street artist Olivier Roubieu is known for painting realistic portraits. The portraits usually feature females, and they are beautifully-designed. The artist is from France and tries different styles in the execution of the portraits. In Penge, a mural by the artist was painted in a pub garden off of the high street in Penge. The subject is a woman dressed in white and holding a white umbrella and a coffee cup.

More street art by Olivier Roubieu on this blog:

Leak Street Recent Street Art
Olivier Roubieu Paints Pedley Street
A Study of the Human Form - Olivier Roubieu
Street Art Round-up: 2015-2016
Bristol Upfest 2015

Street artist Artista is known for her cartoon illustration style of street art and her cutesy characters, such as toast with legs and flowers with eyes. Her main character is a triangle-shaped character with legs and eyes, and it represents the "A" for her tag. She often creates her illustration landscapes (normally floral subjects known as 'In Bloom') using features in the wall that she is painting on.

The work on St. John's Road in Penge encompasses the side of a large brick building, and it was painted in early 2021. The wall retains the natural bricks, but she has painted her new artwork on top of the bricks. The features already on the wall have been incorporated, such as a pipe and cameras become pupils in the eye of the flower.

Previous posts on this blog about Artista are listed below:

Unpublished Artista Street Art
Artista and Atomik Street Art 
Street Art: Artista, DecoLife, Binty Bint, Ino, Irony, Pixie, SeaPuppy
New Street Art by Artista, Saki and Amara por Dios

SP:Zero is a street artist and illustrator based in Bristol, and his style of illustrator reminds me of comics and computer game art. The artist does create a variety of art from children's books to murals and for computer games, and he has done work for big brands such as Lamborghini, Samsung, BBC, and more. He has also painted all over the world. His work in Penge is one in the series "After the Robot Apocalypse - Back to Nature", and it was painted in 2019. The work in the series is for the comic that feature a post-apocalyse world where nature has reclaimed the Earth. The humans in the artwork are riding on motorcycles. 

The comic illustration style has a lot of finer details. The sign on the wall, located in the archway under the rail on Bycroft Road, has been made into a sign in the artwork.

More street art by SPZero on this blog:

Street Art: Squirl, Captain Kris, Spzero, Lost Souls, Parlee and St. Mitchell
Early 2016 East London Street Art Roundup

Over the past few years, various street art by "Old Father Thames" has been popping up around Brick Lane and east London, and I've captured a few photographs of the artwork. The artwork is usually comprised of some finds discovered while the artist has been mudlarking on the river. These are attached to a board. The finds can be bones, pieces of clay pipes, pottery and porcelain, nails, bones, shells, and worked metal. 

Sometimes, the pieces of found items create an object, such as a flower.

Street artist Ayo Blake has been busy painting some of east London's walls. The artist is from London, and he specialises in creating portaits. I have photographed several of his portraits over the past few months. In addition, he had painted a series called "Find your cho", which included a character. The artist is also inspired by African people and culture.

The artist paints realistic portraits. Some of the backgrounds use bright colours.

The artist seems to be fairly new to the street art scene as I've not seen his work before 2021, so I am interested to see how his work evolves over the coming years.

My Dog Sighs is a street artist based on the south coast, but he has created paste-ups and murals all over the U.K. He is known for painting eyes and figures. I captured some photographs of his most recent paste-ups around east London.

Previous work from My Dog Sighs on this blog is located on the below links:

My Dog Sighs Paints Re:Claim Southampton
Street Art by My Dog Sighs in Cardiff
Street Art in London from My Dog Sighs
My Dog Sighs on Rivington Street
My Dog Sighs 
My Dog Sighs
Mural in a hidden alley in Blackall Street
Collaborated with street artist Midge
Manchester Street Art
My Dog Sighs @ Bristol Upfest 2015
Artist My Dog Sighs' Hug Mural in Bedminster, Bristol

Good day, readers. I saw an advertisement for Wine25 last autumn. I decided to try the Wine52 subscription box but with all white wines; I dislike red wine. Each Wine25 subscription box features a separate wine region in the world. I received the September 2022 box, and I kept the subscription for October and also December to try out the wines. Each box comes with three wines and a couple of snacks.

September 2022: Bergerac region in France
Overall, I was not happy with this box as I received a duplicate bottle of wine; it should have been three diffrent wines to try. The first was the 2021 Peau Dorée Sémillon wine, which was described as having fruity flavours, such as apple. While the wine tasted okay, it was not a particularly good wine. The second and last wine I received was the 2020 Flâner Sauvignon Blanc. This one was a little bit better and relatively easy to drink. It is a citrus and fruity flavour.

The box also came with two snacks. Tandoor Chilli Howdah Snacks is made with chickpea and spices. Harvest Snaps in Thai Sweet Chili are lentil-based snacks.

October 2022: Sicily region in Italy.
This month, I received a complimentary extra bottle of wine, which was a sparkling La Crema. Allora - Sicilian Zibibbo is made from one of the rarest grape varieties in the world dating back 5,000 years (Zibibbo). It is described as having apple taste. I disliked this wine as I felt it tasted stodgey and was hard to drink/enjoy.

I received a bag of Olly's Pretzels in salted flavour and a small packet of sour cream and chives peas.

December 2022: Emilia-Romagna region in Italy.
I received three bottles of wine. Terre dell'Asceta Pingo Grigio is described as an apple and citrus taste. Medici Ermete Trebbiano is a nutty and dry wine. Attivo organic sparkling wine is described as a dry sparkling wine. I also received a bag of paprika crisps (Weel & Truly Crunchies) and berry and white chocolate Whitworth's Shots. 

I cancelled my wine subscription because I have a lot of wines to get through as I do not drink wine that often.

Street artist Aspire is known for creating murals across London that feature birds and pixelated imagery. The artist painted a mural on a large wall on Hawley Mews in Camden, and it features two birds and a fish. The fish is stuck in plastic litter, and a "reduced" barcode is displayed. This artwork depicts the problems with throw-away society and littering the planet.

The artist's work can normally be discovered in Penge where there is quite a lot to see.

Today's post covers street artist by Trust Icon in Penge. Trust Icon is a street artist who has painted often in London, and these are a few of the works that I discovered in Penge a couple of years ago by the artist. The artist's work is inspired by characters and subjects of popular culture (video games, cartoons, films) often in witty or thought-provoking circumstances. Below are the artworks by Trust Icon that I discovered in Penge.

First up is the title character from "Forrest Gump", who is sitting with a face mask, chocolate box, and social distancing sign. The film would take on a completely different meaning had the title character not been able to speak to anyone.

The beloved "Peanuts" comic strip character Snoopy features in another mural on a wall located in a residential area. Snoopy is carrying a heart and acting as a grafitti artist.

The next artwork features the big bad wolf from the "Little Red Riding Hood" nursery rhyme. Apparently, a sign pointing at "grandma" was located on the brick wall outside. The piece remains partially-hidden behind discarded items.

The final piece is also obscured and features a snake charmer charming a pixel-based 1980's inspired snake.

For more work by Trust Icon, see:

Street Art Round-Up Sprint and Summer 2015
Street Art - Others and Trust Icon

This is a throwback to February of 2016. I visited Brick Lane to have a look around the area for new street art, an I visited on a Sunday and checked out Brick Lane's Sunday Upmarket held off Dray's Walk and Hanbury Street. One of the venors had some delicious and well-designed cake and cake pops for sale. The vendor is Sandro's Cakery. 

Street artist JimmyC painted a mural under a railway bridge in Penge, and the title of the work is "Unfolding". The artwork features bright colours and is a different style from JimmyC's usual styles of building up his artwork using dots of colour. This piece suggests movement with flying birds, and its placement on this dark underpass adds a bit of needed colour to this area of Penge.

More artwork by JimmyC that I have posted about in this blog are:

JimmyC Mural for Lewis Hamilton at Silverstone
JimmyC Paints "Vaccine Nation" Street Art in Shoreditch
London Cityscape at Blackfriars by JimmyC
JimmyC Swan Street Art by Borough Market
JimmyC Updates South Bank Shakespeare Mural
JimmyC Paints Wall of Hearts to Honour Victims of Borough Market Attack
JimmyC Paints "Royal Wedding" Mural for St. Christopher's Place
Mick's Hands
'Open the Mind'
JimmyC Redchurch Street Heart
JimmyC Paints Shakespeare on South Bank
Street Artist JimmyC Paints Caledonian Road
RIP David Bowie & An Afternoon in Brixton
New Mural in Ever-Changing Shoreditch by JimmyC
New 'Spring Offering' Mural by Bailon and Sliks (JimmyC, Zadok Sonar Uno)
New JimmyC Mural on Joe's Kid (Cafe), Fashion Street
JimmyC Street Art - New Inn Yard, Brick Lane, Hackney Road
New Street Art by JimmyC
Street Art: JimmyC

Street artist Lost Hills is known for paste-ups, and he is Liverpool-based. Much of his work, especially his earlier work, depicts the character Jake from the "Adventure Time" cartoon. Other work depicts popular characters. I'd previously covered his work before. 

More post featuring Lost Hills on this blog:

Losthills Jake Paste-Ups Appear in East London
Manchester Street Art

Last November, I had a walk around Penge in south London to see street art, and Louis Masai's mural under a bridge was placed in January of 2019 as part of the jam "Anything's Better Than a Blank Wall". Louis Masai's artwork depicts environmental concerns, and one of his styles is patchwork or a quilted pattern. Bees are also a popular subject of the artist. 

The artwork features a quilted banana being stitched by a bee. Above the banana is "Almost extinct for a 2nd time...that's bananas!" The artwork is titled "Cavendish Banana", and the goal is to bring attention to people that the banana is facing extinction due to the type of farming used where the variety of banana is only grown at a time (monofarming). Previously, the banana was extinct; the Jon Michel banana succumed to disease and was wiped out.

Other posts on this blog that feature Louis Masai are included below:

Louis Masai Paints for Upfest 2018
Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park Environmental Street Art 
Louis Masai and Birdo Collaboration @ Bethnal Green
Louis Masai and Fanakapan Collaborate on 'Freedom?' Street Art
HumanNature Endangered13 Street Art Paint Jam, Day 2
HumanNature Endangered13 Street Art Paint Jam
Masai's #LondonLovesCorals SynchronicityEarth Mural

I'm going through some of my old street art photographs, and today's post features work by ChinaGirl Tile. ChinaGirl Tile is an artist based out of Germany who has pasted up tile or ceramic artwork in several different locations across the United Kingdom. Her artwork usually expresses a political or social message. Here are some pieces found in Camden.

The first mural shows a small child reaching for a pile of dollars. 

I'm not sure if the above image is by the artist, but it fatures a doorway and a mouse and is located down an alleyway at Miller Street.

Also on Miller Street is a collection of handguns that spell out "LIFE" ironically when guns take away life.

Previous posts on this blog that feature China Girl Tile's work are below:

Camden Street Art Self-Guided Tour
Bristol Upfest 2018
ChinaGirl Tile at Upfest 2018
ChinaGirl Tile Pastes up Street Art Mosaics in London
Street Art: St8ment, Grafter, Stra, ChinaGirl and others

I've been coming across some old street art photographs that I took during the time I worked on Brick Lane a few years ago. This street art was located on Great Eastern Street on the walls, and it was in place in early 2018 and no longer exists. It was created for the charity All Dogs Matter, which helps to re-home dogs. The mural features three dogs that were created by different street artists.

Tony or Zony

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