Street Art of Chicago

This actually happened......

The Shiny Silver Bean of Chicago! At least thats what the tourists call it, also known as 'Cloud Gate' by the artist Anish Kapoor. We found this little gem in Millennium Park....its so much fun to take pictures with, in the reflection of, next to, lying upside down of etc etc. My fav bit is the fantastic reflection of the skyrise building of downtown and the distortion of the cityscape!

Just a minute away from the shiny bean in what I call 'Millennium park of arty fun' is this installation. Two 50ft high glass boxes known as the 'crown fountain'. Eerily the towers project the faces of Chicago citizens, very slowly moving so you have to pay attention. Every once in a while the expression of the face alters and a spurt of water comes from the mouth to the delight of the baking hot tourists. The ambiance and sense of fun these 2 towers created espeically for several hundred toddlers splashing about between them was refreshing for a central city park. This was flipping cool refreshing outdoor fun. Chicago you arty farty entertainer.

In amongst our journeying around the city and suburbs of Chicago we came across lots of street art including this fakey Banksy monkey ( well i think its fake, hard to tell tho...its unsigned). I'm such a massive fan of Graffiti (when its thoughtfully done) and street art I'm sharing some images with you!

Inspirational Philadelphia!

I've been spending some time in Philly of late, its my 2nd most explored city in the USA to date so I thought I'd share a couple images from the last couple of weeks. I find myself singing 'west Philadelphia born and raised , on the playground yeah I spend most of my days" and wistfully humming theme tunes as my soundtrack.

Renown for mosaics, murals and outdoor art Philly's vibe is softer and more personable than New York. The mosaics are constructed from mirrors, china wear and hand painted tiles and as intriguing as they are hazardous (highly recommended not to lean against!)

URBAN KNITTING!

O to the M to the G. I have experienced my 1st taste of Urban Knitting, also know as Guerrilla Knitting. How amazing is this!! A sweater on a tree. Urban Knitting is a group activity organized to clothe and adorn objects in our urban landscape. Knitters come from far and wide, pick their urban target and lovingly create patchwork squares which are fitted to said object. I had heard of this phenomenon and seen some amusing pics on the interweb but never actually seen the end product. This lucky tree has a patchwork designed sweater with lovely twisted braid detail and a little central patch that says "love you philly". Its so touching. My only concerns are how hot the tree must be (the weather is beautiful and scorching here) and how jealous all the other trees must feel. Tree fashion, you saw it here first!