So day two of Camden Inspire happened last Saturday, a two day festival of art and music in that North London borough. I was one of ten artists invited to paint out on the street on the second day. There’s a whole piece written about the day, quite a few words and lots of photos of other people’s work up on the Organ website – Two days of street art, music and more, did Camden inspire? – I’m just going to leave some photos of my piece painted on the day here on this page. Well two pieces actually, I finished ny actual piece way too early in the day, had to go buy a canvas and paint a second piece.

We all had a board fixed to a wall, a blank canvas and an afternoon to paint it. I guess I was kind of okay with the main piece I came up with, the canvas needs more attention, a good day was had, I covered all that in the Organ review. I do believe the finished pieces from all the artists will now be exhibited at Camden Open Air Gallery, date of the show to be confirmed, watch this space.

Six and a bit hours, spray can in hand most of the time, hard work! Can’t tell you that much about the bands that played, they were round the corner, I was up against the wall painting for most of the time, or getting asked questions or being photographed. That’s the thing about painting live at these festival situations, barriers come down, people feel comfortable enough to talk, to ask questions, to offer opinion, I like it, I like the interaction, I like the demands of it all, it is almost like a performance (almost, not quite), sometimes art really needs to reach out more than it does, I like doing things like this. I’m not saying art should dumb down, I imagine I love a white walled gallery more than most but art does have to reach out and engage a lot more than it does.  Next week we’re off to Finchley and an installation piece on an Art Trail…  

So yes, here’s how my piece and my day evolved. Do click on an image to enlarge or to run the slide show…