STREET ART, GRAFFiTi, iLLUSTRATiON, YARN BOMBiNG & DOODLiNG!

I've often been asked similar questions by people so here are a few of the more common ones & my rambling thoughts & opinions about them in hopefully somewhat understandable answers!​ 

 

1. What do you think makes good graffiti?

  For me good graffiti is anything that firstly makes you stop & look at it, then either think, smile or laugh! Something that improves it’s surroundings & highlights the skills of the artist.

2. How did your journey with graffiti begin?

                        ‘Youth can not move
                                                   it’s to busy growing old’
  Was the first piece of graffiti I remember seeing. I was about 10 years old at the time & it was sprayed on a wall near my house. Something about it just fascinated me & stayed with me but it wasn’t until I was in my 20’s that I picked up my first spray can. I immediately fell in love with speed it which you can paint & it seemed to naturally work with my art, I had faced a lot of criticism over my style being to cartoon based for many years & it never before really ‘fit in’ with what other artists around me were doing, so I started looking further into the world of street art & the origins graffiti. It just felt like finally I’d found the perfect outlet for my art!

3. Why do you do graffiti?

  To let people see my artwork, to make them smile & to brighten the world up a bit!  Also to reach an audience that wouldn’t think of visiting a gallery & don’t realise they even like art! I never put anything permanent anywhere I don’t have permission - I’m a street artist not a vandal

 

4. What is your favorite medium to work in?

 

  I work in many different mediums spraypaint, acrylic, watercolour, pen & ink, paste ups, stickers and most reciently wool.   I don't really have a favorite one, it depends on what or where i'm doing a piece for, but I quite obsessed with yarn bombing at the moment!

5. What do you think about graffiti being put into galleries?

  In my opinion I think the more it’s displayed in galleries, the more accepted & appreciated it becomes, the more opportunities to create legal pieces become available. There is nothing quite like seeing a multi- story block painted with skill & imagination, something that couldn’t be done without permission. But just because I display & sell my work in galleries I still remember how this all started for me & that’s why I love ‘free art Fridays’ But I do think the final destination of the piece I’m working on, whether it’s for gallery or street, does have an influence on what the outcome will be.

6. What are you trying to achieve with your art?

  To make others & myself happy! I find it fun & relaxing to draw & am always doodling. There is never any deep political or social message behind my work. Although I do love science so sometimes add a few references to that but people don’t generally realise - sort of subliminal education!

7. Do you work on demand?

  Yes I will but I don’t like too many restraints on what I’m doing. I think if someone commissions a piece then they should trust you as an artist.

 

8. What's the best piece of advice you've ever been given?

 

              'Work for full price or work for free but never work for cheap!'

 

9. What's the worst piece of advice you've ever been given?

 

                           'Never use paint straight from the tube'

  Based on my painting style & my love of bright bold colours this was definitely the worst advise I'd ever been given. It's just as well I ignored it dispite my art teachers constant reminders to mix more natural colours & his hatered that I refused!