HILL STREET WALL OF FAME

If you’ve been in the Cathedral Quarter over the past month, chances are you’ve seen Glen Molloy hard at work on a new mural beside The Harp Bar, covering building work taking place at what is/was (sorry for not being up to date with Civil Service locations) NIEA offices in Hill Street.

It began for me with a social media post that there was a new mural of David Holmes in Hill Street. So, armed with my camera, I went to investigate.

I was busy doing other stuff and actually forgot to check out the main thing I was in Belfast City Centre for.

So, I came back later, saw a mural of David Holmes, and other works which were works in progress. Naturally, I got snapping.

There was a clear theme of music legends developing, so I went back every lunchtime and evening to snap the work that was in progress.

There was a brief stop in the work here as Glen Molloy was working elsewhere on a mural at Filthy McNasty. You can see a write-up of that here

Gradually, the wall was getting filled. Frustratingly, I missed photographing a key day in the painting of Van Morrison and Bap Kennedy due to biblical rain.

It wan’t the first mural of Morrison to appear in Belfast. There was one near the away entrance to The Oval in 2007, but that soon disappeared due to housing being build on that site.

The faces appearing on the mural are : David Holmes, Gary Lightbody, Nathan Connolly, Una Healy, Van Morrison, Bap Kennedy, Brian Kennedy, Fatboy Slim.

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EMIC MURAL – LOWER ORMEAU ROAD

A new mural in Belfast that I came across by chance. I was cycling into the City Centre to get some photos of another mural, and as I headed down Lower Ormeau Road, happened to spot a work in progress in Farnham Street, along the side of The Rose and Crown pub.

Over the coming days, I documented the process and the mural progressed, before photographing the finished piece.

The mural is by an artist called Emic, who has done a lot of work in Belfast City Centre, most recently, this Dancer one.

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FILTHY McMURAL

Glen Molloy has been a busy boy recently. As well as doing a mural on Hill Street (You’ll be seeing a blog about that soon), he has been spending some time on Dublin Road recently, doing a mural beside Filthy McNasty’s.

The theme is Northern Ireland Legends, and this mural features Carl Frampton, Liam Neeson, Neil Hannon and Ricky Warwick.

I happened to spot this when it was a work in progress, so I continued to snap it while it was being created, right up until the finished piece.

It’s sponsored by a drinks company. I’m not going to post their name because i’m still mad at them for organising a private concert by The 1975 in 2014 (or was it The 2014 in 1975? I’m not sure) and they didn’t fix it for me to win a ticket.

They did keep updates on their Twitter feed via a photo and a video.

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MANCHESTER STREET ART – MAY 2017

I was in Manchester last weekend to go to Old Trafford to see United take on Crystal Palace. As is usual when I visit Old Trafford, I took the opportunity to go into the city to check out Street Art.

The first port of call was the Northern Quarter, where the vast majority of Street Art in Manchester is based.

I took the opportunity to get photos of a piece of a Sloth with David Bowie’s trademark lightning bolt on it’s face.

The reason for this, was that it was painted over a mural of David Bowie which was painted last year after his death, a change which has polarised opinion in the city.

I also headed to Ancoats to get pictures of some pieces which were still a work in progress on my last visit to Manchester in February.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get any photos of Salford Quays this time, but I did still manage to capture a lot of Street Art in Manchester.

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Manchester Street Art February 2017

Manchester Street Art November 2016

Manchester Street Art May 2016

Manchester Street Art January 2016

Manchester Street Art November 2015

Manchester Street Art May 2015

Manchester Street Art November 2014

LISBURN STREET ART – MAY 2017

You may remember last month that I visited Lisburn to get some Street Art photos. Well, the wall got an update so I headed back (on my bike again, still got sore legs) to get new photos.

You can thank @bohoman on Twitter for bringing this to may attention, always worth a follow for Street Art and Curiousities in Belfast.

The image of Jules Winnfield from Pulp Fiction has been replaced with an elderly man just about to hit a gavel, saying “Kids these days”.

The image of the two women (not pictured in this blog but featured in the one last month) is still there.

If you are in Lisburn and want to check it out, it can be found on Castle Street.

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Lisburn Street Art April 2017

AND IT’S GOODNIGHT FROM ME ……

…… and it’s hello again from Glen Molloy.

You may remember Glen Molloy featuring prominently on this blog during the Winter months for his work across Belfast, on the Wall Of Fame just off Corporation Street, and portraits of recently deceased celebrities such as Carrie Fisher, George Michael and Prince.

He went quiet for a while, but now he’s back, with a social media post of a new mural he had just completed – a tribute to The Two Ronnies.

It is just their faces. You may recognise that the end of the show’s opening credits had just their faces. You may notice that this mural replicates this by having Ronnie Corbett on the left as you approach it and Ronnie Barker on your right.

The mural is in the car park at Smithfield, opposite North Street, if you want to go and visit.

Curiously, it is not far from the Mace on Royal Avenue, where I found out that Ronnie Barker had died in 2005, as I popped in to get some things and it was the lead story on the top of the hour news on the instore radio station.

As there was another mural above it, the photos aren’t the best, so apologies for that.

While I was checking that out, I walked past the David Bowie mural by Visual Waste that was painted within weeks of his death in January 2016.

Sadly, it’s fallen into a state of disrepair, so it might not be there for much longer.

Hope you enjoy the photos, i’m off to Smithfield Market. I’m hoping to pick up some fork handles.

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LISBURN STREET ART

Described as “The city for everything” by Christine Bleakley, Lisburn even has some Street Art for you if you’re that way inclined.

I’m going to confess something, this is a blog post that took six months to write.

Back in October last year, I was using up Annual Leave, and decided to spend a Monday morning cycling to Lisburn. I didn’t take my camera with me as I didn’t think there’d be anything worth photographing. How wrong I was.

As I headed into the City Centre, I spotted some murals on scaffolding beside R-Space Gallery on Castle Street.

I decided to wait until the next Bank Holiday to head back on my bike with a camera and get some snaps.

Days off over Christmas came, but Storm Barbara stopped me. St Patrick’s Day came, and more rain stopped me. So, Easter Monday, dry in the morning, I got out on my bike and got snapping as soon as I reached Lisburn.

The mural I saw back in October was still there. You may recognise it as being similar in style to one which appeared at City Gate Quays in Belfast after Culture Night 2015.

Beside that, was a mural of Jules Winnfield from Pulp Fiction. I think.

R-Space was closed today, but there are also some murals at the entrance of the facilities. I wasn’t able to get photos of it today as the gates were closed. If you are in Lisburn, do take a chance to check it out.

This wasn’t my first experience of Street Art in Lisburn. Back in 2013, I got a picture of this quote on a wall.

My geographic knowledge of Lisburn isn’t the best, but i’m 99.9% certain this was in Castle Street, the same street as today’s murals.

Unfortunately, it is no longer there.

Despite that, there is still some Street Art worth checking out if you are in the Lisburn area.

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PURE HERE …… SO IT IS

Some new artwork to report in Belfast this week.

I saw reports on something developing on Social Media on Monday, so I headed out with my camera to investigate, and then again on Tuesday and Wednesday before getting photos of the finished piece on Thursday.

It’s at a pub called The Dirty Onion in Hill Street in the Cathedral Quarter. I went there once before heading to a work Christmas dinner. It was satisfactory. Think i’ll just stick to Football, Music and Street Art and give Pub Reviews a miss, though if any Bar Managers are reading, I will do reviews in exchange for free food.

As you’ve guessed from the pictures, it’s not the easiest mural to photograph due to it’s location. I don’t fancy climbing up to try and get some close-up shots.

The image is of Belfast celebrities and landmarks such as Colin Murray, Julian Simmons, Samson and Goliath, and The Big Fish.

It’s sponsored by a beer company and painted by Visual Waste, who probably thinks i’m stalking him, as i’m usually at the scene when he paints something.

As with anything done by Visual Waste, there is an accompanying video of how it was done. You can find it here.

Enjoy.

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EAST BELFAST WALL OF LEGENDS

Anyone passing through East Belfast recently will have noticed some painting going on around the back of East Side Visitor Centre on the Newtownards Road. As more was painted, it started to become clear what it was, a collage of legendary people and landmarks of East Belfast such as George Best, Van Morrison and Holywood Arches.

A full list can be found beside the mural, as well as online here.

For information, the piece was painted by an artist called Dee Craig.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t do a complete progress piece due to it being too dark after work to get decent pictures, so the progress pieces I was doing was once a week, so I visited on successive weekends to get photos until it was completed.

Unfortunately, if you want to get close to it, you’ll have to wait, as there’s railings around it. When the area becomes open to the public, i’ll return to get some better photos.

In other Street Art news, I was out on my lunch on Thursday and spotted Donald Trump. It is to advertise a Burrito company in the City Centre, with the tagline “Make burritos bad ass again”. These are the sort of policies that got him into the White House.

The piece is done by Visual Waste.

As a bonus, there is a video of how the piece progressed from start to finish.

You’d better be quick if you want to see it, as it is on a board which is hiding building work, at the back of Belfast City Hall and next door to Ten Square Hotel.

East Belfast Wall Of Legends Photo Album

THE DANCER

Some new Street Art spotted in Belfast recently, a Dancer on Fountain Street on a door sandwiched between Lunn’s and New Look. Enjoy.

The reason why there is a chair in some photos and not in others (if you click on the Photo Album) is because the photos are a week apart. I waited to see if anything would be added to it before putting pictures online, to make sure I was covering the finished piece

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