Today I went on an alternative London tour looking at some of the world’s best street art (the artwork on the walls of London is the work of people who flock here from all over the world to paint the city). Â The tour also included a workshop that enabled us to practice with some spray paint.
This day out has left me with a whole new perspective on the underground world of graffiti art. Even the smallest tag is a form of expression. Individual, often undecipherable messages that express scorn for our ever so over-controlling society.
Amazing, inspiring and provocative.
And in those overlapping layers of multi coloured paint I saw the creative beauty of individuality and a genius that can only be expressed by breaking free from rules and conformism. Which is the only condition for truly individual art.
A very enjoyable day, a peek into a parallel world to the one I am accustomed to and that I didn’t quite know much about (and I still don’t).
I’ll leave you with some tips that help me find awe in every day life:
8 Ways to look at a place with renewed interest
- Forget about your destination or about getting anywhere, slow your pace and enjoy the space around you
- Raise your gaze: look up, look down, look around. Look at buildings and things around as if you were about to take your best photo; try to picture what you see constrained within an imaginary frame
- Put your smartphone away; observe and try to imagine the lives of people around you, then remember that what you see is what you think you see, so think again.
- Try to imagine what it would feel like or how you would react if this was the very first time you were seeing this place
- Take a different route from your usual one, go down a different street, replace all or some of the journey with walking instead of using public transport
- Go to the same place at a different time of the day/night or different day of the week (e.g weekend vs. weekday) than your usual one.
- Study the location very carefully and try to memorise it as if you had to describe it in writing
- Whatever you do look for change. Change is good.
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- Chewing-art (chewing gum stuck on pavement)
Ros in Wonderland 
Interesting range of graffiti. Some of it is very good. Just back from visiting J’s sister and husband – awful weather but had good outing to Speke Hall near Liverpool, a National Trust timber framed Tudor building and grounds with masses of oak furniture and beautiful carvings - a place none of us had been to before. It’s a bit noisy these days as the airport runway is next to it! Love A
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