So a couple of weekends back we had the good fortune of spending a long weekend in Croydon with some 36 artists reworking the vast majority of the ‘Arts Quarter’ around St. George’s Walk to put on the ‘Any Colour You Like’ Paint Jam organised by ourselves and put together with support from friend of the blog and someone who always helps us out in so many ways M_Frenchi.

Very much a stark contrast to the last time we were in Croydon putting on a Paint Jam this previous August with the beautiful heatwave that accompanied the weekend and the brutal cold and howling winds that presented themselves on this occasion – seriously the Arts Quarter acts as an evil wind tunnel! So its for this reason that all the more credit should be given to the time and effort put in by the artists to create such an excellent array of works under extreme conditions. Certainly an interesting canvas by any stretch, with the rather brutal and domineering 1960’s architecture providing a striking contrast for the many colourful artworks adorning its lower walls. It’s really hard to do so without sounding biased, but for us and we are fairly certain all those in attendance would agree, a fun time was had by all.

As is always the case we couldn’t do what we do here without the help we receive from the artists and friends we have made along the way and this latest endeavor was no exception. With that in mind  we would like to say thanks firstly and fore-most to all the artists who took part in the Paint Jam- something we can’t say thank you for enough. You all did an awesome job and we couldn’t be happier with the turn out and talent on display.

Of course a massive thank you to M_Frenchi for all the help before and over the weekend, with the mammoth effort in the prepping of the walls, helping the artists out – especially on the Thursday when we couldn’t be there, hunting about town for spray paint for artists in need of emergency supplies and all the other fun and games involved ensuring this weekend went so well and the artists all got to work their magic. A pleasure indeed, cheers!

Additionally thank you to everyone else who visited and spent the long weekend with us, it was great to see so many familiar faces throughout to share the fun. So thank you to Spike_ML, ArtNowAndThen & London by Zappa for coming down as well Joseph Dunn Cooper for coming along to film the weekend. Last and by no means least thank you of course to Street Art Atlas for yet again being the person still there taking photos with us when everyone else has gone home – top class dedication.

We probably should say more about the day, but we will let the images below speak for themselves – we couldn’t begin to do justice to the near Arctic conditions that accompanied the shenanigans anyway, all of you there won’t forget in a hurry though! So without further ado here is the Street Art & Graffiti from a fantastic weekend. Eternal gratitude to all who suffered to give Croydon’s Arts Quarter a first class make0ver for the ‘Any Colour You Like’ Paint Jam and those who came to share the fun, we have to say we didn’t expect so many people to show up in such conditions – Respect to all of you, this is why we love London’s scene so much.

Squirl & SPZero76 at work on the first full Lost Souls production of 2017. Photo taken by M_Frenchi.

Si Mitchell at work. Photo taken by M_Frenchi.

Captain Kris at work. Photo taken by M_Frenchi. 

New Art Rioter at work 

Kicking Saturday morning off in the snow and all round Arctic conditions, Ali Hamish, Tom Blackford, Elno, Aspire, Airborne Mark & Olivier Roubieu at work!

Ali Hamish at work. 

ThisOne at work.

Elno at work.

Aspire at work.

Giusi Tomasello at work.

Works-in-progress by Ali Hamish, Tom Blackford, Elno, Aspire, Airborne Mark & Olivier Roubieu.

Airborne Marks origami reference model folded by Airborne Mark following instructions by German Fernandez.

Nerone at work.

These seven arches coming together by Saturday afternoon.

Good example of the risks to traffic Street Art photography causes.

Minto at work.

Nolij at work.

Roo at work.

Morgandy at work.

Olivier Roubieu at work.

Tom Blackford at work.

The Real Dill at work rounding off Saturday night.

The Real Dill’s reference sketch.

Airborne Mark at work Sunday morning.

Works by Neonita & Synce83 alongside Candie Bandita & She at work.

Woskerski at work.

Toas at work.

Morgazmik at work.

SkyHigh at work.

Dreph at work.

Carleen De Sozer at work.

Autone at work.

Hunto at work.

James Chuter at work on Monday.

Hunto at work.

The Finished Pieces:

Works by Girls On Top Crew Members Candie Bandita & She. To quote Candie Bandita it was “Far too cold for background shenanigans”, but not a problem with such cool letters.

Work by Candie Bandita.

Work by She.

Striking work from Decolife.

Detail of work by Decolife.

An excellent pair of works from Carleen De Sozer & Dreph that apart from both being so damn good, also sit so well together on the corner of Park Street & St. George’s Walk.

Works by Carleen De Sozer & Dreph.

Works by Carleen De Sozer & Dreph.

Outstanding work from Dreph with this striking portrait of his wife.

Work by Dreph.

Detail of work by Dreph.

Night-view of works by Carleen De Sozer & Dreph – with the photo idea taken from Dreph.

Night-view of work by Dreph.

Night-view of work by Carleen De Sozer.

Fantastic work by Carleen De Sozer, such a funky and soulful piece from an artist who seems to be going from strength to strength.

Work by Carleen De Sozer.

Detail of work by Carleen De Sozer.

Work by Carleen De Sozer.

Works by Minto & Autone along Park Street.

Transfixing work by Autone, with an excellent colour scheme to compliment his design and the surrounding architecture.

Work by Autone.

Funky letter work from Minto.

Detail of work by Minto.

Works by Minto & Autone along Park Street.

Striking work from Nerone, we admire his beautiful colour schemes and fades the more and more we see them.

Detail of work by Nerone.

Superb work by Nolij with a fantastic trio of characters set so well chilling in the walkway.

Work by Nolij.

Detail of work by Nolij.

Work by Morgazmik & Synce83 representing the local boys with these great pieces along with Phatfoks (not in shot).

Work by Morgazmik.

Thanks Morgazmik, ever the gentleman and pleasure to work with.

Work by Phatfoks.

Great work by Thisone.

Detail of work by Thisone.

Captivating work by Toasone.

Detail of work by Toas.

Excellent work from SkyHigh, so much going on in this striking work.

Detail of work by SkyHigh.

Detail of work by SkyHigh.

Works by SkyHigh, The Real Dill, New Art Rioter & Dahkoh.

Works by The Real Dill, New Art Rioter & Dahkoh.

Excellent work from The Real Dill, the level of detail in his works never ceases to amaze.

Great work from New Art Rioter with a complete change of direction in style since we last saw her paint just recently and certainly to impressive effect, one we look forward to seeing develop this new style.

Work by New Art Rioter.

Work by Dahkoh.

The second piece painted by Hunto over the weekend and certainly presenting a delightful addition and contrast to the sterile architecture.

Work by Hunto.

Work by Hunto.

Excellent array of works by Hunto. Ali Hamish, Tom Blackford, Elno, Aspire, Airborne Mark, Olivier Roubieu, Giusi Tomasello & Methyl

Works by Ali Hamish, Tom Blackford, Elno, Aspire, Airborne Mark, Olivier Roubieu, Giusi Tomasello & Methyl

The first of two fantastic walls from Hunto over he weekend in his distinct and delightful style. 

Work by Hunto.

Superb work by Ali Hamish with this fantastic design so well executed.

Detail of work by Ali Hamish.

Great work from Tom Blackford wirh rhis awesome character which makes for a great compliment to Ali Hamish’s adjacent space-themed work.

Detail of work by Tom Blackford.

Beautiful work by Elno with an ever soulful creation full of such captivating emotion.

Detail of work by Elno, love the newspaper underline to add texture to parts of the skin.

Centre stage on the front of the arches with this collaboration by Aspire & Airborne Mark, with two individually fantastic works that make for a superb complete work with the two birds set tweeting to eachother through the scene running across the arches. Fantastic use of the space also. 

Work by Aspire.

Detail of work by Aspire.

Detail of work by Aspire.

Work by Airborne Mark.

Detail of work by Airborne Mark.

You can view this video by Airborne Mark on the making of his Avian Collanoration with Aspire below.

Beautiful work from Olivier Roubieu, so well suited to it canvas.

Detail of work by Olivier Roubieu.

Extreme close-up of the rich textured effect in the work by Olivier Roubieu.

Lovely work from Giusi Tomasello with a work celebrating the beginning og the Venetian Carnival that weekend.

Detail of work by Giusi Tomasello.

Excellent work from Methyl, absolutely love the reflection in the glasses.

Detail of work by Methyl.

Works by Methyl & Sr. X.

Ever fantastic and tongue cheek work from Sr. X so well entitled “It’s New, It’s Here!”

Work by Sr. X.

Detail of work by Sr. X.

A photo opportunity we couldn’t resist stealing from the talented Tanya Nash last time we were here, again, sorry and cheers Tanya.

Excellent array of works by Ali Hamish, Tom Blackford, Elno, Aspire, Airborne Mark, Olivier Roubieu, Giusi Tomasello & Methyl. Pure class.

Works by Ali Hamish, Tom Blackford, Elno, Aspire, Airborne Mark, Olivier Roubieu, Giusi Tomasello, Methyl & Sr. X.

Works by Ali Hamish, Tom Blackford, Elno, Aspire, Airborne Mark, Olivier Roubieu, Giusi Tomasello, Methyl & Sr. X.

Works by Ali Hamish, Tom Blackford, Elno, Aspire, Airborne Mark, Olivier Roubieu, Giusi Tomasello, Methyl & Sr. X – what a view along Katherine Street.

Works by Ali Hamish, Tom Blackford, Elno, Aspire, Airborne Mark & Olivier Roubieu.

Works by The Lost Souls – Squirl, SPZero76, Si Mitchell & Captain Kris, Morgazmik, Roo & James Chuter along Park Lane.

Works by The Lost Souls: Squirl/SPZero76/Si Mitchell/Captain Kris & Morgazmik.

An absolutely excellent Star Wars themed work with the first full Lost Souls production of 2017 with work from Squirl, SPZero76, Si Mitchell & Captain Kris. 

Work by The Lost Souls.

Work by Squirl & SPZero76.

Work by Si Mitchell & Captain Kris.

Work by Squirl.

Work by SPZero76.

Work by Si Mitchell.

Work by Captain Kris.

Detail of work by Squirl.

Detail of work by Spzero76.

Detail of work by Si Mtchell.

Detail of work by Captain Kris.

Work by The Lost Souls.

Mixed-media work from Morgazmik entitled ‘StreetArt For Your Sweetheart’ comprising a spray-paint background and a 16-colour handcut stencil based paste-up. A fantastic work for Valentines Day indeed.

Work by Morgzmik.

Detail of work by Morgazmik.

Works by Roo & James Chuter.

Excellent work by Roo, with this wonderful array of characters – the cat on our left is our favourite.

Detail of work by Roo.

Detail of work by Roo.

Work by James Chuter.

Detail of work by James Chuter.

Work by Decolife, with this pair of Lions guarding this alleyway along Park Lane.

Work by Decolife.