fbekholden.com

In Katoomba this weekend they've just launched 'The Street Art Walk'. It's a legal and fully council approved street art project coordinated by Street Art Murals Australia, who are a not for profit organisation. Before this, this was a dingy back alleyway, with bare bricks, rubbish bins, and all the usual crap you see in a back alley. The idea was to recreate it with street art, with over 20 artists (both Aussie and overseas) being involved. The launch this weekend was timed to coordinate with the 'Winter Magic' festival which attracts 40,000 people!

I contacted the organisers to see if there was a wall available to do a piece inspired by vintage signwriting/typography. They responded by asking if I could do a 10m long sign, which is basically the entrance to the site! Yeh I was up for that challenge.

So this was the fence when I began. Dented corrugated iron, full of holes and covered by a horrible hippy mural. It faces south so can be difficult to get decent pics of it.



Priming the fence with undercoat. Love the faded Cottees ghost sign. You can also see I cleaned up all of the moss and crap at the base of the fence too.





Setting up the layout. I did each word as individual words on overhead sheets, traced them to some paper, and then cut them out. The string line helps line them up, it had to be measured from the top of the fence as the ground wasn't straight. About this time the wind picked up. That's the next word lying in a tangled heap, weighted down by the tape From here I then traced them in permanent marker.



Some of the art and artists Friday morning.




Here's the first coat done for the lettering.


Things got a little crowded, the Winter Magic parade literally walked past my site. Didnt see much as I had my back to it


And here's where I got to Saturday afternoon, got the background black down. Will need another coat of white for the lettering, another coat for the black, and then carefully cut in the black around the lettering.



And some more pics of the other artworks and the crowd checking it all out.

Painting that corrogated iron would be a NIGHTMARE! Some of those murals look great, and they would certainly brighten up that alley. I come from Springwood NSW and I used to frequent Katoomba quite a lot. When I was there lately I bought a lot of stuff and had some good food and a lot of fun. Ill try to check out Beverly Place next time Im there.
Tony.

Cool stuf hewey

Thanks guys. The corrugated iron has been a challenge, but not quite as much as the weather. On Saturday when I was driving there the alarm in the car came on to say it was 4 degrees and there may be ice on the road

Part of the sign was to include the social media/internet links for the project. The original plan was to handpaint it all by brush, but I figured it would be cool to mix it up a little and throw in some stenciled text. This was all cut with a scalpel like blade. I purposely wanted this a little loose to contrast with the main signwriting and have a bit of a street art vibe, hence the uneven layout, overspray etc.



I've also started working on cutting in around the lettering. Definitely interesting trying to get it neat across the panel joins, around tech screw heads etc. Slow process, but I actually really enjoy it.



And a few more pics of the artworks

That's one way to brighten up the place. Sure makes a difference.

Please tell me they didnt paint over that old Cotties painted sign.
Awesome stuff man, it amazes me how they do it on such a large scale.


Dave.

Dakam wrote:Please tell me they didnt paint over that old Cotties painted sign.
Awesome stuff man, it amazes me how they do it on such a large scale.

No, Cottees sign hasn't and won't be touched. Had some interesting chats to people about it while I was painting. Some people wanted to see it gone, some wanted it preserved as is, and some wanted it redone so it looked brand new. I managed to convince a few people that it was testament to the skills of the old signwriters, and should stay as is

A few more pics of some of the walls I hadnt managed to get decent pics of.





These rappers have been stenciled, so a different cutout and spraypaint for each graduation of colour. They look like photos till you get up close.


And some finished pics of my sign

That came out looking good. Especially with the contrast of all the colour you can see behind it Hewey!

I think this is outstanding for the town all round I HATE graffiti this will stop those ass holes from defacing building And will Brighten up the town. We have a little town near here which has murals on a lot of town walls and it is a pleasure to see them, during my travels( Grey Nomad ) I have seen a few town that has done this sort of thing it is a real pleasure to see not that graffiti crap
Now I will get off my soap box
BILLY

Devilrod wrote:That came out looking good. Especially with the contrast of all the colour you can see behind it Hewey!

Thanks mate. That was exactly the idea behind the simple colour palette and layout. Sometimes less is more

I hear where you're coming from Billy. I'm into a few things that have very similar threads. Mountain biking and guys making illegal trails in the bush. Legal street art and guys just tagging stuff. Modified cars and guys street racing. For all of them I firmly believe any 'solution' needs to include legal options for people to have their fun, as well as the big stick for people being naughty. If you're ever out Lithgow/Bathurst way in your travels check out Portland, they have some great vintage inspired signs scattered about the town http://www.portland-nsw.com/PortlandYesteryear.html. Basically a sign writer retired there, every year he invites a bunch of sign writers up for the weekend and they paint a bunch of signs around the town.

I have a Sister that lives in Orange so the is every chance I will
BILLY