Well it has taken a while to process all this, but at the weekend we here at London Calling Blog were privileged enough to get to celebrate two years of running the blog (officially this weekend) with many of the friends we have made over the last year, artists and photographers alike, with a Paint Jam in in the most incredible of locations, an abandoned building in Soho, Westminster. So we took to our ‘Brokedown Palace’ for the weekend with the six floor building certainly offering a wealth of canvases for all the artists in attendance to find somewhere or indeed anywhere to add a little creativity and life. So it is with extreme delight we were honored by the overwhelming number of artists who were willing to come paint for our two year anniversary, with 34 artists painting over the weekend and with a few having traveled from around the country to join the fun. Seriously we can’t thank you enough, we had the most amazing time with you all.

We have to say it’s been an amazing year for us on the London Street Art scene, starting with last years Anniversary Paint Jam this time last year followed by all the Street Art we got to see through 2016, the many Paint Jams and festivals we got to attend or the works we organized in our own corner of town, it was full of fantastic art and much fun. So it was only right that such a good year on the scene was finalized with another Paint Jam, the perfect way to conclude last year and start this one. The weekend saw some 37 artists most kindly show up for us and paint, and in the process treated us and our fellow attendees to an impressive array of styles and techniques displayed throughout the building which was treated to a fresh coat of paint with works ranging from from portraiture and characters to Graffiti and Abstract imagery, with artists painting by spray can as well as by brush, producing free hand and stencil works and even an anamorphic 3D piece by Olivier Roubieu, there really was a bit of everything on display.

It was fantastic to see the way the artists chose their spots and brought this vast space to life, somewhere with such charm and offering so many possibilities. The first big plus was it didn’t matter if it rained as we were indoors, with the only real issue being that of lighting, in which only the ground floor and stairwell had lighting past it getting dark at 4pm. That said that didn’t stop the artists completing their works one way or another in good time over the weekend to excellent effect across the board. We are fairly certain all those involved would agree that a fun time was had by all who came along. It was a great weekend with much positive energy, conversation and humour all punctuated of course primarily by the magnificent array of artworks large and small which were created in this beautiful space.

As is often the case we couldn’t do what we do without the help we receive from the artists and friends we have made along the way and for this weekend just gone we would like to say thanks to firstly all the artists who took part in the weekend, all at their own expense we might add, something we can’t begin to say thank you for enough, especially all of you have traveled from out of London to be part of the fun. All of what we do here is for the love of Street Art and we are flattered and feel honoured that so many artists would turn out and paint for us again, something we very much won’t forget. it wasn’t us that made this weekend so much fun, but everyone that came along and supported by painting, observing and enjoying the incredible playground with which was ours for this wonderful weekend.

We would also like to say a massive thank you to everyone else who turned out and spent the weekend with us enjoying the art and atmosphere, great to see so many of you through the weekend and share the moment (again), it was a pleasure for us very much.

Finally, thanks to Street Art Atlas, for all the excellent photographs we have included below (all photos are ours except where credited to Street Art Atlas), as well as for yet again being the person standing around taking photos when everyone else has gone home. Without further ado we hope you enjoy the images from the weekend, there are many, but we feel the weekend deserves it with the high number of high quality pieces produced. Thank You all.

Aspire & Jane Mutiny at work.

Decolife at work.

Jane Mutiny at work. Photo taken by Street Art Atlas. 

Olivier Roubieu at work on his first piece of the weekend.

Eska at work.

The Real Dill taking to the stairwell to add his mark.

Toas at work.

Skeleton Cardboard at work on one of many many skeletons he left the place with.

Si Mitchell at work. Photo taken by Street Art Atlas. 

Sr. X at work.

Skeleton Cardboard at work.

Dahkoh at work.

A touching shout out to the weekend courtesy of Oliver Roubieu.

Tony Boy adding a little something to the stairwell on his pass through on Saturday evening.

Morgandy at work on Saturday evening.

Annatomix going all out and finishing Saturday evening in the dark.

Olivier Roubieu at work across several surfaces on Sunday with his second piece of the weekend.

Olivier Roubieu at work.

Tom Blackford at work.

0707 at work.

Jask at work.

Giusi Tomasello at work under the watchful gaze of some Skeleton Cardboard. Photo taken by Street Art Atlas.

Crey one at work.

Decolife at work on his second wall of the weekend.

Nerone at work.

Nurse Agnes at work.

Dotmasters at work.

Doing the rounds and shutting the place up Sunday night.

Morgandy assessing his nearly finished work for the weekend.

Better late than never, Autone couldn’t make it until the end of Day 2 as he did last year in fact, but we are again grateful he came by even if just briefly to celebrate with us.

Kid Crayon at work.

SPZero at work.

Having finished his main wall for the weekend SPZero76 added this delightful skeleton charatcter to the stairwell, tastefully licking The Real Dill’s work.

Final character of the weekend with this depiction superb of ‘Hate’ put up by SPZero76.

Beautiful drawings capturing the event by Line And Wash.

Awesome photo taken by Street Art Atlas offering a glimmer of the space and charm this wonderful venue provided with this selection of works by New Art Rioter, Jask, Dotmasters, Autone and Nurse Agnes on the first floor.

First thing you see when walk into the building this night view of a great piece from New Art Rioter.

Trapped Dollarman character from Oliver Roubieu. 

“The Can is Mightier Than…” by SPZero76 guarding the entrance passage to the building.

Work by New Art Rioter.

Work by New Art Rioter.

Work by New Art Rioter.

Works by New Art Rioter & Jask.

Great work by Jask. Interesting to see him take a more loose approach to his structured creations.

Works by Dotmasters and Nurse Agnes.

‘Sh…Eye…T’ by Dotmasters.

Work by Autone.

Intriguing work by Nurse Agnes which superbly suits its envirnment.

Work by Nurse Agnes.

Works by Autone & Nurse Agnes.

Work by Autone.

Detail of work by Autone – Thank You!

Detail of work by Autone.

“RIP The Minesweeper” by Morgandy, Eska, Itaewon and with the calligraphy by Illy. A piece in memoriam of The Minesweeper arts orientated collective which burnt down two days prior to the Paint Jam, fortunately with no one injured, but losing all their artworks, studio  and equipment. For more info and how to donate click here.

In grimey corners lurk beautiful artworks.

Absorbing work by Morgandy.

Detail of work by Morgandy.

Excellent work by Eska.

Detail of work by Eska.

Work by Itaewon making nice use of the corner walls and presenting something in a very new style for this artist.

Work by Skeleton Cardboard who was just about everywhere – & even the only place he shouldn’t be

Work by Skeleton Cardboard

Work by Skeleton Cardboard

Works by Giusi Tomasello and Annatomix.

Beautiful work by Annatomix, love the outdoors scene painted indoors

Work by Annatomix.

Work by Annatomix.

Detail of work by Annatomix.

Works by Giusi Tomasello & Annatomix.

Spooky works by Giusi Tomasello & Skeleton Cardboard.

Great work by Giusi Tomasello.

Detail of work by Giusi Tomasello.

Works by Skeleton Cardboard, Jask & Giusi Tomasello.

Striking work by 0707.

Detail of work by 0707.

Thank you to Olivier Roubieu for the message and all who signed the shout out wall!

Works by Skeleton Cardboard & Jask.

Works by The Real Dill & SPZero76 on the stairwell.

Beautiful pair of works by Aspire & Jane Mutiny.

Fantastic night shot of work by Aspire taken by Street Art Atlas 

Work by Aspire.

Work by Aspire.

Works Jame Mutiny, Decolife, Tom Blackford, The Real Dill, SPZero76 & Sr. X.

Beautiful and well placed work by Jane Mutiny with her stunning depiction of a Cheetah.

Work by Jane Mutiny.

Decolife’s first work of the weekend placed up on Saturday, certainly an artist who left his mark on the building.

Detail of work by Decolife.

Works by Tom Blackford, The Real Dill & Si Mitchell.

Great work by Tom Blackford.

Work by The Real Dill.

Great characters by Lost Souls members Si Mitchell & SPZero76.

Work by Si Mitchell.

Detail of work by Si Mitchell.

‘The Couple That Sprays Together’ by SPZero76. A great addition to the weekend.

Detail of work by SPZero76.

Works by The Real Dill, Si Mitchell & SPZero76.

Works by Aspire, Decolife, Tom Blackford, The Real Dill, Si Mitchell & SPZero76.

Work by Nolij.

Night view of ‘Substance’ by Sr. X.

‘Substance’ by Sr. X.

Detail of work by Sr. X.

Awesome capture taken by Street Art Atlas again offering a glimmer of the space and charm this wonderful venue provided with this selection of works by Aspire, Decolife, Tom Blackford, The Real Dill, Si Mitchell, SPZero76, Nolij and Sr.X on the second floor. This room also contained works from Jane Mutiny, Kid Crayon & Dahkoh not in shot.

Work by Kid Crayon.

Work by Dahkoh.

Work by Decolife who along with Skeleton Cardboard made the most of their playground.

Work by Decolife.

Skeleton Cardboard and pre-existing work from Pixie.

Work by Decolife.

Origami red star by Airborne Mark on the stairwell.

Little Dollarman character sat on the stairs by Olivier Roubieu.

Work by Toas way off down the wing on the third floor.

Work by Toas branching out on to multiple surfaces.

Detail of work by Toas.

Work by Skeleton Cardboard.

One of our favourite works from Skeleton Cardboard from the weekend.

Striking work by Olivier Roubieu with his first of two impressive contributions to the weekend.

Work by Olivier Roubieu.

Detail of work by Olivier Roubieu.

Superb pair of works from Olivier Roubieu who really set to make the most of this space with these portraits.

Anamorphic 3D work from Olivier Roubieu painted across several surfaces and requiring viewing from a certain spot to take in the full image. Absolutely incredible, certainly a show stopping use of the space at the Paint Jam.

Detail of work by Olivier Roubieu.

Work by Skeleton Cardboard.

‘London Calling Dog’ by Airborne Mark, a lovely and well executed shout out to the blog and the weekends celebrations. Thank You Airborne Mark.

‘London Calling Dog’ by Airborne Mark with the reference origami model that he designed himself.

Origami reference model by Airborne Mark.

‘London Calling Dog’ by Airborne Mark.

Detail of work by Airborne Mark.

You can view this video by Airborne Mark on the making of his “London Calling Dog” below.

“No Wi-Fi” by Skeleton Cardboard hailing the way to the fourth floor.

Work by Skeleton Cardboard.

“This Way Up” by Skeleton Cardboard.

Work by Skeleton Cardboard.

Decolife’s second feature painting of the weekend painted on Sunday.

Lovely work by Nerone, such tranquil colours.

Work by Nerone.

Work by Crey One.

Detail of work by Crey One.

Work by Skeleton Cardboard – in front and at the back.

Work by Skeleton Cardboard.

Work by Skeleton Cardboard.

Work by Kleiner Shames.

Work by Skeleton Cardboard. Love the incomplete skeletons.

Great little collaboration from Skeleron Cardboard & Decolife.

Up to the fifth and final floor with work by Skeleton Cardboard.

Reactivated Pigeon by Decolife.

Night view of this fantastic work by Irony.

One of the highlights of the weekend with this wonderful piece so fantastically situated by Irony.

Work by Irony.

Detail of work by Irony.

Work by Irony.

Work by Decolife.

And that’s a wrap. You can view our post on last years First Anniversary Paint Jam ‘London Calling Blog Is One’ in Shoreditch (covered here).

Also be sure to check out Street Art Atlas for the best Street Art photography about London at www.facebook.com/streetartatlas

Finally we are again also extremely privileged to have been featured on Inspiring City, a blog we have long admired and a big influence on us starting our own blog, you can see their fantastic review of the weekend at www.inspiringcity.com