New work in progress. 22/12/17

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A new work in progress and along the lines of ‘Tongue In Cheek’ completed recently and on my website. This is a much smaller piece and is painted on Ampersand board as opposed to deep canvas. It will give a smoother finish when it is finished. The large mouth is the second part of a street art painting I saw being painted by the wonderful street artist @krishnamalla last year at Upfest (urban paint festival that takes place on the street where I live in Bristol every year. It is more to scale than the ‘Tongue In Cheek’ work, and as yet I don’t have a working title. Any ideas please from fellow Twitterarti or Instagrammers?! Please look at past blogs here on my website to see more of my thinking on preserving street art in my own paintings. I always seek the street artists’ permission to use their work in my own compositions. If you would like to be kept up to date with what I am up to in the next few weeks please sign up for my Newsletter at the top of the Home Page. I am also on Twitter and Instagram and have a Facebook page…

‘Tongue In Cheek’. Completed 05/12/27

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One of my followers on Twitter came up with this title. A bit rude perhaps, but it made me smile, and at this time of year, we so need a bit of humour. I hope it won’t cause offence Please see my previous blog to give you details of why and how I painted this piece. @krishnamalla is a fine street artist and I have his permission to use his work here. The mouth is actually part of a street art painting involving two mouths and I am painting a smaller work using the other mouth. At the moment I am using 2ft square canvasses, but am aware not everyone wants a canvas on their walls this big – many of us live in smaller houses these days – so this second painting is on a much smaller canvas. More on this next week. If you would like to be kept up to date with what I am up to in the near future, please sign up for my Newsletter at the top of the Home page. I send these out quarterly. I am also on Twitter, Instagram and have a Facebook page called Miche Artist as well…

New work in progress. 29.11.17

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A new work in progress featuring the art of street artist @krishnamalla Krishna Malla. I saw this artist at work during Upfest last summer down at Ashton Gate Football Stadium. Upfest (Urban Paint Festival) is held each year on North Street, Bristol, the street where it just so happens I live. Street artists from all over the globe descend on North Street and it has now spread farther around the area including this year for the first time the football home stadium of Bristol City. I have adapted Krishna Malla’s piece to suit my composition and have his permission to use the work. Street art disappears over time and I want to preserve some of this wonderful work for the future in my own paintings. I have added a touch of humour placing my trademark woman bending over to adjust her shoe strap just as the mouth is about to bite her bum. Juvenile perhaps, but it does draw the eye in. I am looking forward to getting down to the detail next week once the paint has dried. In the meantime I shall be starting a smaller similar work. Watch this space. If you would like to be…

‘You can be as naughty as you want, just don’t get caught’. 17.11.2017

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I came across the extraordinary work of street artist @therealbambistreetartist or Bambi and have become a big fan, particularly anything to do with Amy Winehouse who is one of my heroines. I discovered the Princess Diana graffiti and thought it might work in one of my paintings. I am interested in preserving street art as it is so often painted over, and this way someone can have a piece of street art by buying my work. I love the way Diana is portrayed as Mary Poppins being looked up to by the grandchildren she never met. I also liked the quirky touch of the Harrods bag ! The words sprayed on the wall are words she said to Wills and Harry when they were small boys. To make the picture my own composition, I have as always added in my trade mark woman, but this time she is going to have a passing resemblance to Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, mother of George and Charlotte. She is walking past the graffiti because she has never met Diana and is walking into the sunshine, leaving behind the rain necessitating Diana’s umbrella. I am always interested in any other feedback on my work.…

‘Sunshine and Showers’ underpainting 01/11/17

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Very much an underpainting still, so maybe a bit confusing to the viewer. I am a huge fan of the street artist known as Bambi (@therealbambistreetartist on Instagram) and she is also known as the female Banksy apparently. Her work featuring Princess Diana as Mary Poppins gave me the inspiration for this work. Her original is much smaller than as shown here, but I wanted to have the woman walking away with the pink umbrella to be of similar height and to bear a passing resemblance to Kate, Duchess of Cambridge. The two children stencilled on the wall are Prince George and Princess Charlotte. Further down the line, I will be adding in the words Diana said to Princes William and Harry when they were young : ‘You can be naughty as you want, just don’t get caught ‘. These will be in big red stencilled letters as per Bambi’s original work and should pull the painting together. I am deliberately painting ‘Kate’ walking past and away from Diana because life has to go on …… If you would like to be kept up to date with what I am up to in the next few weeks please sign up…

‘The Eyes Have It’. Completed and available. 19/10/17

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This piece is 60x 60cm, 24 x 24” and is oil on deep canvas. It will be for sale through Great White Art gallery (www.greatwhiteart.com). I saw this skull, or calaveras, as I am reliably informed by one of my Twitter followers, on a wall at The Tobacco Factory on North Street where I live. The Tobacco Factory is a theatre/cafe/bar/and a great supporter of local artists, and street art in particular. So when Upfest street art festival takes place on this street every year, the Tobacco Factory is a magnet for some of the best street artists from all over Europe. This particular street art is the work of Liz Clayton (@lizc_illustration) and I love the colours in it. I have simplified it slightly for my painting as I didn’t want it to completely overwhelm the composition, and have put a darker glaze over it to knock it back a bit for the same reason. I have painted the eyes looking askance at the girl to add a bit of humour, hence the title. They are not like that in the original. The girl is oblivious of the gorgeous street art behind her. She is much more interested…

‘The Eyes Have It’. First week in progress. 05/10/17

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I saw this wonderful street art by Liz Clayton (Instagram lizc_illustration) at The Tobacco Factory on North Street in Bristol where I live, and I felt a painting coming along in my head. Upfest is an urban paint festival that is held every year on said North Street. Street art artists and graffiti artists from all over the world descend on my street with their aerosol cans and create individual and magnificent art on every available blank wall or hoarding available. I feel it is a great shame that these works get painted over so quickly or abandoned. Street art by its nature is ephemeral. I decided I would like to preserve some of these works in my own paintings with my trademark woman in the foreground somewhere. I tag in the artist and ask for their blessing beforehand. With this piece, still in its early stages, I have changed the eyes to be looking slyly at the young woman just checking on her shoes, hence the title. I am looking forward to adding in all the detail of the skull without making it overpower the muted tones of the young woman. I may have to add a…

‘Untitled’. Completed. 27/09/17

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This is a quicker, looser work I completed yesterday. I originally took a cropped shot of part of ‘Voices Of The People’ (See last week’s blog for details), put it up on Instagram and generated lots of interest. The result is this work. I have called it ‘Untitled’ because I don’t think it needs a title. As the viewer can’t see the phone the girl was holding in the original piece, I can’t call it ‘Voices Of The People, part 2’ or whatever; it wouldn’t make sense. I like the abstract quality to this painting and enjoyed painting in a looser style with bigger brushes for a change. With any future street art inspired paintings, I think I will do an extra smaller, more abstract cropped piece alongside it. Always like trying something new. If you would like to be kept up to date with what I am doing in the next few months please sign up to my Newsletter at the top of the Home page. I am also on Twitter, Instagram and have a Facebook page called Miche Artist. This work is 20 x 16″, 50 x 40 cm and is oil on canvas, not deep…

‘Voices Of The People’ finished and available. 21/09/17

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This piece is now finished and is 24 x 24″, 60 x 60cm, oil on deep cotton canvas. Like a lot of people, I think we are all obsessed with social media, and our smartphones in particular. I would like to say it is only the young who are so obsessed, but it is definitely crossing over into my generation, the older market. Sometimes this is a good thing, as we can, as artists, get our work seen across the world at a touch of a button without having to pay for an expensive marketing campaign. Sometimes not so good, when we spend more time looking at our phones than at each other. Hence this painting. Upfest (Urban Paint Festival) takes place on the street where I live in Bristol each year and this particular artist’s work struck a chord with me. He’s on Instagram as stefano_chies and his ad logo is ‘Sign’, as in my work. I have placed my trademark woman in front of the hoarding, completely oblivious of this wonderful art, as she is of course, totally engrossed on her phone. I am interested in preserving street art and graffiti in my paintings as they…

New work in progress. 05/09/17

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Something a bit different. I am very interested in street art and graffiti and here in Bristol I am surrounded by a wealth of talent in that field. I live on North Street in Bedminster and every year my street plays host to Upfest. Upfest is an urban art festival and artists from all over the world descend on North Street and cover buildings, walls and hoardings with superb streetart and graffiti. I love watching their progression and always feel a little sad that these wonderful works get painted over in time. That is the ephemeral nature of streetart. So what I am aiming to do is to preserve some of these works in my paintings for history. I am starting with Bristol, but I have in mind other cities such as Cape Town where I used to live, London with the vibrant art of Camden Town and Brick Lane. I could paint in any city in the world and am open to offers of artist residencies… This particular hoarding was a temporary structure featuring the work of the artist ‘Sign’. I shall be putting his signature onto the phone under the red mouth as it features in…

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