First Solo Mural at Badger Badger
To officially graduate from the Lewisham School of Muralism, each student has to undertake their own personal mural project. I ended up going pretty big, but mostly by accident.
Back in July my first wall fell through because it was on the corner of a conservation area. I felt a bit lost and to top it off, I got COVID, so I was stuck at home isolating when I should have been knocking on doors looking for a new wall. So, being a bit worried and possibly a little frantic I shot off some emails to local businesses that looked creatives to see if anyone could help me out.
James from Badger Badger came back saying not only did he have a wall, he had a massive one on the roof that you could see from Deptford Station. That’s almost as good as magic.
The LSOM ethos is community mural making, with legitimacy stemming from a participatory design process. I managed to gather the staff of both Badger Badger and the next door Tanuki Gaming to work on the design and even got to sit down with some of the regular gamers to see the venue for another angle.
The final design tries to embody the playfulness of both businesses, with ‘Badger Badger’ a remnant of the first internet meme and ‘Tanuki’ the Japanese racoon making appearances. Both characters sit within this geometric plane, slightly split from themselves as they straddle undefined alternate dimensions, all held together with a single swish, a note to the mark-making in traditional Japanese calligraphy.
Digital Design of the Mural
The painting process had its moments to say the least.
Ciarán and I spent two days priming the entire wall with black paint. Then after a much needed trip back to Ireland we returned to experiment with how to execute the swish, eventually settling in sweeping brushes.
Unfortunately when I came back the following week, torrential rain had dissolved our handiwork. (Pro tip: don’t paint in the rain) The minor disaster gave me time to reconsider some angles on the line work, so not for nothing! Over the next two days I tackled the characters with the help of Procreate and Doodle Grids. Sensing I’d need one full day to finish I took the final Monday off work and prayed for sun.
I got clouds, but was also gifted with the presence of my friend and former classmate Esin Bjorg, which was far better! We finished the line work, climbed up to the scary second roof a few times and cleaned up the black paint. It was also my first time trying out a neon spray paint affect - which looked fab except for an inevitable typo (since fixed).
Huge thanks to Esin and to Ciarán for coming down to paint with me. Also to James and Calum for all their help throughout the project, and all the Badger Badger and Tanuki staff for welcoming me onsite. Lots of love too to Patricio and Liv at Lewisham School of Muralism for all the time and energy they put into me and the rest of the students. I think I might even be ready to tackle another wall!
