‘Beauty And The Beast’ completed. 09/08/17

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Miche

My ongoing project at the moment is to produce works depicting street art and graffiti in and around Bristol, preserving them for history as street art is by its nature, ephemeral and will get painted over in due course. Bristol is a centre for street art and graffiti and we have just had Upfest on the street where I live, North Street. Artists from all over the globe descend on my street for one weekend each year to produce the most amazing and stunning works. Google Upfest, which stands for urban paint festival. I now have, again, a wealth of images to use as backgrounds for my Bristol City Roving woman or similar. You can see my work along these lines at Great White Art gallery in Bristol (http://greatwhiteart.com). I am working along similar lines for the Cape Town gallery, State Of The Art (http://stateoftheart-gallery.com). They are now in brand new wonderful premises at 50, Buitenkant having moved from Shortmarket Street. Having said all of the above, I have slightly deviated from street art into portraying an iconic image for Bristol lovers in this piece. The Bearpit Bear stands on a busy roundabout in the centre of…

‘Beauty And The Beast’ work in progress. 02/08/17

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Miche

The start of a new piece which always excites me. This one is for Cape Town and features a wonderful street art seen in Woodstock. It is 80 x 80 cm. I just loved the way the air conditioning unit has been incorporated into the elephant listening to its radio. I would like to think it is a heavy rap theme. Originally I was going to place my trademark woman to the right of the canvas, but have since decided she should be walking past the elephant who I would like to think is giving her a leery smile. My juvenile sense of humour showing here, but I think it works. Street art and graffiti is a theme which is going to appear more in my work in the months to come. It is ephemeral art which by its very nature means it is going to be painted over. I want to preserve some of this amazing art in my paintings and if I can introduce a little touch of humour and lightness into the work, so much the better. I am doing the same in Bristol and you can see more of my work there at http://greatwhiteart.com. I…

‘Bristol Blonde At The Bearpit’ new work in progress. 26/07/17

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Miche

I have to admit this painting could never work in reality. The iconic Bearpit Bear in Bristol stands on a massive roundabout in one of the busiest parts of the centre of Bristol. There is no way anyone could stand so close to this Bear. I have wanted to paint it for a long time, but have again set myself a difficult task. I felt the Bear on its own was not what I was after, and having completed my three Bristol City Rover paintings involving a brunette, decided it was time for a blonde. Please see the originals at http://greatwhiteart.com, Great White Art gallery on Perry Row in Bristol The Bear is deliberately turned away from this young woman to spare its blushes as she bends over to pick up an orange. I decided on an orange purely to add a dash of colour to the piece. An onion wouldn’t have worked as well….. I shall probably paint three works again depicting local Bristol scenes involving my blonde. I like using street art and graffiti as a background, as I want to preserve them for the future. Street art by its very nature is ephemeral. If you would like…

‘Make Bristol Shit Again’. Nearly done. 20/7/17

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Miche

I have changed the title to this piece from ‘Bristol Shitty’ to Make Bristol Shit Again’ as I felt it gave the impression Bristol is a bad place to visit or live in. Far from it. Bristol is a vibrant, buzzy city full of artists who come up with tongue in cheek posters like this one in Stokes Croft. I have had a few queries from people who follow me on Twitter from abroad who think I am mocking Bristol. Far from it again. The Brits have a self-deprecating, laid back sense of humour, hence this poster and why I like it so much. I am nearly done with this work, but need to tone down the background a little more to make the red poster and the woman stand out more, hence no visible writing on any of the other posters. I also need to refine the lower part of the painting more, the legs, pavement and bricks. I just got too tired last night, so another couple of days. My aim is to try and preserve in my paintings some of the stunning street art that is around in our cities, because of course street art /graffiti is…

‘Bristol Shitty’. Work in progress. 12/07/17

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Miche

I saw this red poster in ‘The People’s Republic of Stokes Croft’ in Bristol recently and it made me laugh out loud. Bristol is a GREAT city and full of great scenes like this, so I felt a painting coming on. I am painting a series of artworks involving street art and graffiti all around Bristol, but always with my trademark woman somewhere in the foreground. I shall also be painting local iconic backgrounds such as the wonderful BearPit Bear. I am excited. In fact I got so excited, I went in search of fluorescent oil paints for the posters on the wall behind the woman. These do not seem to exist in the UK, so have spent all my worldly wealth on 5 tubes of brilliant colours from America which look amazing. However I will now have to tone down the colours, as the woman risks being swamped by such bright zinging tones. I will only be painting in the detail of the Make Bristol Shit Again poster to create emphasis and will leave the other posters indistinct. I will eventually get the lettering right, so please bear with me. The shoes are based on a fantastic pair of…

‘Rendezvous At The Labia’. Completed. 05/07/17

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Miche

This is, for me, a larger piece at 76 x 76 cm ( 30 x 30″ ). This is because it will be going to Cape Town when the paint has dried and South Africans prefer larger artworks in their lovely, sunny, high ceilinged spacious homes. State Of The Art gallery is taking it (http://stateoftheart-gallery.com) and I look forward to seeing it hanging in their new permanent space at 50, Buitenkant. This gallery is first and foremost an online gallery, but has had gallery space in Shortmarket Street for the last couple of years. I look forward to seeing the new gallery opening in August. I intend to paint a series of works depicting local scenes with my trademark woman in the foreground somewhere. I am interested in street art and graffiti, and would like to preserve them in my paintings, as of course by their very nature, graffiti/street art regularly gets painted over. There is a wealth of talent in and around Cape Town, particularly in Woodstock and I can’t wait to get started. The Labia in this painting is South Africa’s oldest working cinema, much like the Curzon here in England in Clevedon, down the road…

‘The Hare, North Street, Bristol’. Work in progress. 28/06/17

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Miche

Another painting to drive me mad with patterns to paint, much as in ‘Bristol North Street Blues..Reds & Oranges’. I don’t think of these little problems when I set up a composition. Once I have seen what I want to paint, I tend to jump in and photograph it without heed of the consequences… My problem is that I am far too impatient to be a truly realistic figurative painter; I used to want to be, but now accept that it’s just not me. So with the panelled glass of the window of the pub, I am going to attempt a more impressionistic interpretation and let the eye of the viewer make up the rest. At the moment I feel the glass is too bright for the rest of the painting, so will paint a glaze over it next week when the paint is drier. The Hare is a lovely little pub on North Street where I live. It is a darker green than painted here, so I have used some artistic licence to liven it up a bit. I find I often use the Colour Wheel for deciding colours without realising it (Google for more info). Green…

‘Rendezvous At The Labia’. Work in progress. 21/06/17

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Miche

This is a larger work than usual for me, 80 x 80 cm (32 x 32″) and is one of a series I hope to be sending off to Cape Town gallery, State of The Art (http://stateoftheart-gallery.com) which is an online gallery with a permanent presence about to open at 50, Buitenkant in August, moving from Shortmarket Street. I have in mind to paint pictures using iconic Cape Town backgrounds, much as I am intending to do with Bristol at Great White Art gallery, (http://greatwhiteart.com). These backgrounds could be recognisable like the above, or involve street art and graffiti. The paintings will always have my trademark woman somewhere in the composition. The above work is so called, because this girl is sitting just outside the Labia cinema in Cape Town, South Africa’s oldest working cinema so I am told. People smile at the title, but said cinema was opened by Princess Labia in the 1940’s. I have been adding in much more colour than is in the original composition as I felt the painting was getting a bit sombre and I am in the mood for brighter colours, so will probably add in more next time when I get…

New work in progress…The Hare on North Street. 14/06/17

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Miche

I am working on a series of paintings at the moment with my trademark woman in front of an interesting and recognisable Bristol backdrop. I have taken a lot of photos of North Street, the street where I live, as it provides a centre each year for Upfest, a street art festival held in July. Graffiti and street artists from all over the Uk and Europe descend on North Street and cover virtually every available space with some pretty spectacular art. I have also been roaming around the ‘people’s Republic of Stokes Croft’ which is a myriad of wonderful paintings, murals and street art as it is a hub for artists, much like North Street. I am very excited. Further afield, I have been wandering around the streets of Camden and Kentish Town in London for the same reason and in the future hope to paint several paintings featuring some amazing backdrops for my woman sliding past, and no doubt including Amy Winehouse somewhere, as she and Camden are synonymous. I plan to do the same with Cape Town and my ‘Don’t Be A Dick’ was the first painting I did which gave me the idea for all of the…

‘Rendezvous at The Labia’. Work in progress. 07/06/17

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Miche

Strange title possibly ?! The Labia is South Africa’s oldest working cinema and is such an iconic place. It was founded by Princess Labia around 1945 I think, and is one of my best go to places to visit when I am in Cape Town. It is a small theatre but has four screens and has a small bar with snacks available, both of which you can take in with you to see the film. The usherette is a fabulous local who has been at the Labia for as long as I can remember and you can get home made popcorn which always smells delicious and costs a fraction of the stuff you buy here in England. It’s a real favourite with the locals and shows all up to date films plus more arts based ones. I love it. I came out from the film and saw this young woman on her phone. The lighting, the pose, the colour of that wall – my favourite shade of blue – all conspired to make me feel a painting coming on. I will be adding in more zestful colours as I go along and need to accentuate the lights and darks more…

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