Finding Light in Portraiture

Autumn 2022, I finally found my light! Painting with spray cans has been a bit of a journey, and I often felt a bit sloppy or childlike, frustrated that I couldn’t achieve something that I felt was complete or resolved. Even at WOM Jams, I’m so nervous about not producing something that I couldn’t relax and learn off the artists around me.

Stockwell collab w. Karc,
Photo by Reves

Luckily, I had a magical day out with Domi Karc in Stockwell. We’ve both been interested in each other’s work for a while, and finally found time to try a collab piece. Since it was just supposed to be a fun day out, I decided to use my ends and attempt to tackle a proper portrait. And with a dose of luck, it all seemed to click into place. Once I knew I could handle portraits, my outlook on street art changed!

Off the back of the Stockwell collab, I was delighted to be invited to produce a piece for the Penge Rooftop Gallery, curated and supported by London Calling Blog. I thought, go big or go home and painted a 3 day piece on a pretty precarious ramp. Working at this scale let me play with illusion lighting for the first time, with shimmering candles and matches, shining bulbs and a sprinkling of bokeh lights.

Shimmer ‘n’ Melt, Nov 22, Penge Rooftop Gallery

Since the Penge piece, I’ve focused on painting portraits with active light-sources with one work in Kingston supported by the Royal Borough of Street Art and another at the 2022 Winter WOM Jam (which I’m still a bit shocked to say, lasted about three weeks on Leake Street).

Looking towards 2023, I’ve begun collecting photo references from friends to produce a series of canvas and wall portraits in this style. Let it shine x

Shine Out, Leake Street
Winter Wom Jam, Dec 22

Soilse Uiseach, Kingston, Dec 22