Monday, April 30, 2012

Graffiti Saturday!

This weekend, Liam had a job painting a shipping container for a company in South Melbourne.

The weather in Melbourne has been fairly miserable and unpredictable lately (of course, we're in Melbourne!) so when the forecast for Saturday showed clear skies for the morning, we took the opportunity to head down and get the job done. 



Getting started!

The container is located on an old tram platform, so many would-be taggers are often scouring the area for a canvas.  Liam's job was to cover up all the scrawl and create a design to try and prevent graffers from painting on the container. 

While he got started, I wandered down the platform and found plenty of empty spray cans...


...which had obviously been used to create these pieces under the bridge!

While Liam worked, I got artistic in the form of my iPhone and its camera! Papping from behind the cover of little shrubs and grass and whatnot.  I am clearly not the creative one in this relationship!


It was a gorgeous day, and although I didn't have much else to do except play photographer, it was lovely to sit outside enjoying the fresh air, soaking in the sunshine, and exploring the little area!


A work in progress.


Painting with an audience!

Trams would frequently whizz past, and curious faces would peer out at us.  One tram driver even slowed down the tram on each trip by to survey the progress, and by the end we had a few of them waving enthusiastically at us every time they drove past!


Lunch time!

We must have been a peculiar sight to tram travelers - seated on the edge of the platform scoffing dumplings while surrounded by scattered cans of paint, as well as books, radios and other paraphanelia I had brought along to keep me entertained!

After lunch I went for a bit of a wander down the other end of the platform, and came across this professional graffiti at the South Melbourne tram station :


It's funny how graffiti culture has become so popular these days.  You can hardly go anywhere without seeing it all over the walls of businesses, or down alley ways.  Melbourne is famous for its graffiti-lined streets, and apparently it is also one of our popular tourist attractions!

I decided to wander across to the other side of the tram platform and have a look at Liam's handi-work.


Almost complete, just a bit of stenciling to add the finishing touches!

Liam was basically given free reign with the design, and was just told to incorporate the company's logo into it somewhat.  He didn't have a whole heap of time, so he came up with something simple and presented it to them and they seemed happy with it.  The big panda (which looks more like a little mousey-bear on the container, due to the colours he used!) is something he came up with a while back when we first started dating to do with something I'd said.  And the rest is a mixture of his old graffer's tag to create part of my Chinese name so... I now have a shipping container with my name scrawled across in giant letters!


The view for travelers waiting for their tram!

On the other side of the tram tracks is actually a child care centre.  While I was exploring, I managed to find little bits and pieces which had been dropped through the fence from the kids' play area.


My loot!

There was also a little squishy cow toy which had dropped down onto the tracks, but Liam would not allow me to jump down and get it! :( Boo. I suppose for good reason.

No matter - I managed to make a good breakfast for my new little friend with what I had -


Grapes, fried egg, and Liam and I argued whether that other thing was a pancake or a sausage roll! He still maintains it is a sausage roll, but I see no meat in it. PANCAKES!

Aside from arguing with me over pancakes and sausage rolls, Liam also had work to do.  Here he is adding the final stencil to the design...


Finally, it is complete!


At that moment, the sun breaks through the clouds and shines down on the finished work...


What do you think? :)

17 comments:

  1. haha, love your 'loot'! haha

    And erm, I think it is a pancake/crepe... Is that a dusting of pretend icing sugar, I see? or just photo trickery???

    I am a big fan of Graffiti art... Love your work, Liam. There is stacks around where I work (prahran)... and we just commissioned an artist last week to do some work on our wall. We're hoping it stops the crappy 'taggers' writing nonsense on there. It'll probably cease for a week and then some idiot will tag something completely lame over the art.

    The panda/mousey-bear is cuteeeeee.

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    1. Oh, I zoomed in on the pancake/crepe/sausage roll and that's so not icing sugar!! haha. It's like worn bits from being in the mouths of 10,000 babes. Still looks like a crepe to me though even without the icing sugar.

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    2. It TOTALLY is a crepe/pancake, isn't it?! I still stand by that fact. Eww communal crepe!

      Oh, that's awesome! I'd love for Liam to be able to get more work painting but so far he's only had a few jobs through word of mouth. I think it's a pretty effective way of preventing illegal graffiti because even most taggers will have enough respect to not paint over another artist's work.

      Haha! Isn't it? It was meant to start off as a sad panda, and then went off on all tangents! :)

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  2. Oh I love it ! I love the colours! The dumplings look delicious !!!

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    1. I thought he did a really good job of blending the shades with the colour of the shipping container so it matches really well! :)

      And the dumplings were so good. Especially the prawn ones. When no one was looking, I did a sneaky and tipped the soup from them into my mouth! Grub.

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  3. such and interesting post! he worked very hard! great job by both of you!!

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    1. Thank you! It was a fun day, and I loved watching him work! Thought it might be good to document and share :)

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  4. Love it :-) I'll keep an eye out for it in future :-)

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    1. The tram stops a bit further down from the container, so if you blink you'll miss it! But it is very near the South Melbourne Market station :)

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  5. That is a talented boy you have there! I love professional graffiti.

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    1. Thank you!

      He could have done better given more time to work on it, and it's been a while since he's painted so he was a little rusty. The shipping container has an odd surface as well, so that was a little harder to paint, but I think overall he did a good job! :)

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  6. My mind is fixated on those dumplings - perhaps I should get something else to eat for lunch!!
    That is amazeballs and you are so patient for waiting. I would have gone into the city. My bad.

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    1. Haha! They were very good dumplings!

      And it did cross my mind a couple of times to wander off to South Melbourne market, but I wanted to see the progress and also he kept asking me my opinion, so I stayed put! :)

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  7. um awesome?!!!! Love it, great work! & loving the dumplings on the ground. best :)
    Heidi xo

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    1. Thanks! I was pretty proud of it.

      And ohh, the dumplings were soo good! I'm going to try and eat cross-legged on the floor more often. It was kind of fun! :)

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  8. WOW Love the panda. OMG how good do the dumplings look :)

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    1. Thank you! And yes, they were yummy. I have a craving just looking at the photos now!

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