I’m a graffiti gran!
Why I’ve swapped sewing for spraying
Scrolling aimlessly through Facebook, a local ad caught my eye.
Amateur artists wanted, it read. Curious, I clicked on it. It was March last year and a project was being launched to spruce up a derelict bridge near where I live. Sounds exciting, I thought. I’d always been creative. A quilter by profession, I liked to try new things.
Except we wouldn’t be painting the bridge in the traditional sense.
We’d be grabbing a spray can and covering it in graffiti!
It was something I’d never considered before – but the idea was right up my street.
‘I’m going to have a go at this graffiti art event,’ I told my husband Tony, 70, shoving the computer in front of him.
I expected him to disapprove, but he just smiled at me.
‘It does look exciting, love, but have you seen the title?’ he asked. I looked back at it. Youth Project, it read. I was gutted! At 65 years old and with two grandchildren – I didn’t think that I quite qualified! ‘What a shame,’ I sighed. So I posted a comment. I’d have loved to have a go at this, I wrote.
Straightaway someone pinged me back.
Moira, it’s for all ages, come along,
organisers replied. My excitement quickly returned. I’d always been wowed by graffiti. Not the awful squiggles and so-called ‘tags’, but when the
graffiti is clearly a clever piece of artwork.
Bright colours in carefully designed shapes and patterns.
So, the next month, I arrived at the bridge on the Guided Busway, one village over.
It was run down, but a splash of colour was just the thing to bring it back to life.
As a handful of local volunteers gathered around, I was clearly the oldest by a long shot.
Most of them were kids!
But my nerves evaporated when they welcomed me with open arms.
Seeing the youngsters spraying away, I grabbed a can of bright-pink paint and got stuck in. It was so freeing. Various shapes and letters in all colours of the rainbow.
Beautiful bright patterns emerged – and I was hooked!
The project lasted all day and the bridge looked really incredible.
Covered in various designs, some were abstract, but all were eye-catching.
‘I can’t wait to create my next piece,’ I told Tony when I got home afterwards.
The only problem was – where to do it?
‘What about the wall at the back of the house?’ he said.
I thought it was a wonderful idea – so I went out and bought £100 of spray paint.
Every colour going – red, blue, green, purple, yellow, pink, orange... I had a million pictures running through my mind.
And when I came home, I saw Tony had painted the wall black.
‘A clean slate to work with,’ he grinned.
Perfect!
My own large, blank canvas. So I jumped straight in. Spraying all over the wall. When it was done, I wiped the sweat from my brow and took a step back to look at my work. ‘That’s not bad at all for a grandma!’ I laughed as I admired my work.
A floral scene, flowers of every colour, shape and size.
It definitely brightened up the dreary alleyway.
But it was nowhere near as good as proper street artists.
I thought back to the group at the bridge project – their art was just so mesmerising.
So it came as no surprise when, shortly after, our town was shortlisted for a TV show called Village of the Year.
The Channel 4 show visited different villages all across the country.
Four judges would then pick a winner, and that village would get a £10,000 prize.
And, even better, they actually wanted me to appear on the show!
In July last year, the camera crew rolled into town.
Me and project leader Kilo were interviewed by host of the show, Penelope Keith, next to the bridge project. It was surreal. We got to show off our artwork, talk about the project.
This February, Tony and I watched as our episode of the series was aired.
I was so proud and our lovely Histon looked fabulous.
We weren’t crowned Village of the Year in the end – that honour went to Broughshane in Northern Ireland. But it’s been crazy since. I’ve now been dubbed the Graffiti Granny by the local community.
My grandkids were shocked at first – it’s not something you expect your gran to do.
But I think they now reckon it’s pretty cool.
Some people still see graffiti as vandalism. But they’re wrong. When done right, it’s street art – and looks amazing.
I’m still learning the craft, but love the freedom you get as a graffiti artist. It’s not just for the young! So, grab yourself a spray can and join in the fun – staying within the law, of course!
My grandkids were shocked at first!