Graffiti

You know a lot of Graffiti is the ugly kind you get alongside railway lines, where someone rushes to spray their bit of fame before getting caught?

Well there is a tunnel near Waterloo Station in London where Graffiti is not only allowed but positively encouraged.

It is called the Leake Street Graffiti Tunnel and is well worth a visit if you're looking for an unusual place to go and take photos in London.

Here are the pics I took

Even the central railings are decorated.

Its huge enough for two lanes of traffic but closed to drivers.

Here's someone at work on their piece of the wall.

The defunct phone box equally decorated.

The jazzy floor patterns on the roadway.

The far end of the tunnel...

A monochrome wall...

Nearly out the other side...

and the outdoor area where work is still spreading along the walls.

Its not a threatening place to walk through at all, so if you get the chance and are near Waterloo Station, put it on your list of things to do.

Last of the Lego

It was a long tomorrow (sorry about that) but here, eventually, is the last of the Lego exhibition.

A whole room given over to a tyrannosaurus Rex (as it should be) so you could walk right round it.

What, at the time was 'TODAY' but is now, ironically, 'YESTERDAY' with One Direction.

And a notice to The 1D fans as well as the Lego builders.

A life sized phone box (part of the Best of British bits).

The Beatles (YESTERDAY).

And then there was a exhibition of smaller items that were made and then photographed in situ as if they were real, in a real environment eg Lego flip flops and towel then placed by a real pool and hung on a real hook poolside, Lego cloud and tree then placed in a desert scene. It was good for the brain to try and find them and remind yourself they were Lego, not real.

Sorry. I didn't photograph all of it cos there were so many people there, but here's a flavour of a few.

Lego model of the umbrella and then in situ...

Lego dog, and then in situ...

Good fun. Hope you liked it, Lego and Art fans!

Lego - Sad and Trapped!

This is nearly the last of the Lego Exhibition and documents the thought provoking stuff that makes you feel rather sad and melancholy, even though its only made out of little hard bricks.

They were cleverly done and thought provoking.

Tomorrow it will just be the entertaining finale!

Lego and the Human Condition

We had a conker interlude but there are so many amazing pictures from the Lego exhibition earlier this year that I must show you some more!

Considering Lego is only small, brightly coloured blocks of plastic, the artist gets them to make some very poignant-feeling pieces.

And there will be more...

Conker Craft part 3

Here is the last part of the conker-y craft season till next year, when I may have all sorts of new ideas (I hope!). They are such gorgeous shiny little treasures, and such a lovely long wait for them, that it makes my heart glad (ooh, I've gone all Pollyanna!!).

Yesterday had the aliens and the dog, on which I had used the gold pen. I enjoyed the effect of gold on shiny brown so much that I carried on drawing and here are the results...

The possibilities for patterns are endless... but I stopped here.

Full of Autumn-y goodness.

They remind me of the posh chocolates you can get in shops these days, such a pity they're not edible.

And this way, Conker Alien gets a pet   = )

Conker Craft part 2

Yesterday's blog was conker furniture. Today's is conker-y people and creatures in their home.

This one is a conker dog. I made holes in it with a bradawl (or the weird pointy thing you get in a set of small screwdrivers that doesn't screw 'cos its just pointy on the end). If you have little people who want to make these and you don't want them wielding pins, then this is the safer alternative: make the holes for them with the tool, cut cocktail sticks in half and they can safely push them into the holes. You may need to even up the legs so it doesn't fall over!

Acorn Bill is the traditional owner of the conker furniture and the little acorn cups work as a natty hat or as drinking cups for him.

Here he is in his half-shoebox house. I did this craft at the weekend with a bunch of kids (aged 5 to... I'm guessing...65?) so everyone had to have half a shoebox so that there was enough to go round. You could probably treat yourself to a whole one, or just place the furniture outside for the garden fairies to use.

These two alien creatures were made with wire rather than pins and the holes made to go right through so the wire could follow: one for each leg up through the centre and out as feelers on top, another straight across for the arms.

Faces were drawn on with gold pen... more of that tomorrow!

Conker Craft part 1

Ever wondered what to do with that lovely pile of conkers you have (or a small member of your family has) collected?

Well the next few blogs will show you a variety of temporary conker-y fun to be enjoyed while the season of mellow fruitfulness is upon us.

Conker furniture with pins and wool is a childhood favourite.

4 pins pushed into the bottom of the conker make the legs. Two more pushed into the top with wool wound around them make the back of the chair.

Gorgeous leaves make the perfect carpet to display them.