More Street Art - "Street Fonts" by Claudia Walde

Do you know what I've been loving for quite some time now?  Text as artwork.  There's been lots of it in the interior design world - a huge interest in decoration containing fonts, alphabets and writing. I've even considered printing out and and framing my very first post ...I can't help but smile when I see it and I have the perfect spot!

So if interiors arn't your thing and you havn't a clue what I'm going on about, here's some examples of what's been happening in interior decor for the last couple of years:

Bus rolls:

Image via Desire to Inspire

The iconic "Keep Calm and Carry On":

Image via Manalo For The Home

Appropiate words in appropriate places:

Image via Manalo For The Home

 Favourite song lyrics:

Image via theloveshop on Etsy

Image via theloveshop on Etsy

Letters and initials:

Image via Design Sponge

And of course, alphabet posters.  Even Ikea has one:

Image via Ikea

Wow! Lots of inspiration there, right?

Well, you probably have already guessed that I'm quite attracted to graffiti art and for those of you familiar with graffiti and street art, you will know it can take many forms, though the origins of graffiti have always been centred around letters and writing. Just see my last post. (And if you're not familiar, you are now living evidence of the phrase "You learn something every day"  Hooray, you!)  

I have been thinking recently about making some artworks for my home combining all these things and so, to invite some major inspiration, have been waiting with absolute bated breath for this to arrive on my doorstep:

And it's finally here!   It's "Street Fonts" by Claudia Walde and boy, oh, boy, it was just as good as I thought it was going to be.

One hundred and fifty-four very creative artists - all with roots in graffiti culture - were given the same brief, according to the foreward;

"... to design all twenty six letters of the Latin alphabet.  How they approached this task and selected the media with which to express their ideas was entirely up to them."

And they are pretty amazing!!

Here's a sneak peek at some of the images.  Some of the styles are very traditional old school graffiti-esque:

by Atom One from Dortmund, Germany

by Bonza from Strasbourg, France

by Jorz from Melbourne, Australia

While some are more design, font and typography oriented.  I think this would make a pretty cool framed print:

by Aske from Moscow, Russia

 

 

These next two take the cake for cuteness:

by iLK from Paris, France

by Popil from Shanghai, China

 And I simply cannot stop looking at these ones for their cool black and white graphic complexity:

by Casper from Osaka, Japan

by L'Atlas from Paris, France

by Xpome from Sofia, Bulgaria

Then there are the ones that are fabulously ace works of art in their own right.  Paism used 246 nails and yarn to create this alphabet:

by Paism from Gryfice, Poland

And Ripo, originally from New York City but now living in Spain, used white enamel paint on mirrors to create his alphabet.  He then put up the mirrors on the streets of Barcelona and took pictures of the reflections.

by Ripo from New York City, USA

He explains the concept thus: "Graffiti usually fills in the "negative" or forgotton spaces of cities - ignored parts of signs, doors, walls...I played off this concept by painting in the negative spaces of the letters and letting the city fill in the rest."

Detail from alphabet by Ripo

WOW, right?  Very clever and really unexpected, don't you think?

So which is your favourite?  Does this make you see graffiti and street art in a different light?  Do you have letters or writing or alphabet prints adorning the walls your home?  I'd love to hear about it if you do.

Now I'm off to browse through my new book really carefully and soak up all that lettery goodness!

Art

I have just stumbled on this beautiful little vid through the blog of one of my lovely, lovely followers, Tara, and I had to share it with you all.  I think you should head on over to Tara's blog On A Branch to read what she has to say about creating art as an adult when you havn't for some time.  I could definately relate and I'm sure many of you will be able to as well.

When I was little, I used to spend hours on end drawing and colouring and painting.  There was nothing quite like the smell and excitement of new art materials, be they paints, pens, crayons or colouring pencils.  I remember that if I ever got a new set I would have to try out every colour on a "test paper" before I could even contemplate creating a piece of art from them.  I'm pretty lucky to have a creative mother who knew the benefit of good quality art materials and provided such, though they were still pretty basic.  At least I was completely spared of felt pens which run out after five strokes, pencils which break as you sharpen them and paints that come out with colours that are thin, muddied and insipid.  I remember my Dad bringing home big reams of continuous computer paper (the kind that had blue stripes on one side, a perforation between each sheet and holes all the way down each edge for the grippers on the printer) from his work and these reams used to take pride of place on the corner of my desk so that I could tear a piece off and create as the mood took me.  I remember loving the smell of the art room when I was in primary school but hating the thick brushes that they provided which were always gummed up with old paint and only ever created thick blobby marks on the paper.  I also remember being completely envious of my best friend's super dooper brand new Crayola Caddy!!  Do they still make those?

Did you used to draw and paint as a child? What did you love about it?  What didn't you love?  Do you still create?

Snaily

Today at school drop off time, all the little girls in my daughter's class were fascinated by a small snaily fellow wandering along the seating.

After I came home and was writing out my groceries list, this appeared from the end of my pen...

I miss drawing.

I need to make time to do it more often.