The growth-stages of the flax plant, from seedling to flower are illustrated from right to left on four unused shop-fronts along Linenhall Street, Belfast (next to the British Heart Foundation mural).
The official title of the piece, painted by Visual Waste (web) and sponsored by the Linen Quarter BID (web) is “Seeding Success”. After flowering, the plant produces fruit/capsules which contain seeds (WP image).
These are images of a “legal” spray-paint wall, in Little Patrick Street. The wall was launched on July 4th (Belfast City Council) with FGB (web) from Seedhead Arts on hand to welcome those who braved the rain (including Codo (ig), Feoiliteach (ig), and Dash (ig)).
One writer got there a day earlier, however, to claim “FIRST” and note that “great minds think alike, apparently!!!” – perhaps meaning that the wall is generally covered with tags and writing, and might well return to that state. The comments to posts by Seedhead Arts (ig) and Belfast City Council (ig) contain some reaction from writers to the claims that the wall is the first legal wall and that is might “help deter graffiti and tagging”. An Instagram account has been set up for the wall and any other legal walls that are so designated.
Leicester House (Future Belfast), at the junction of Royal Avenue and Lower Garfield Street, and the adjacent Hampden House (Future Belfast), on Royal Avenue. Both buildings (51-63 Royal Avenue) are vacant (the Leicester since 2016) and are part of the long-awaited Tribeca redevelopment – see 2019’s To Be Continued. In the meantime, the façades of the buildings have been given a facelift by Alana McDowell (ig). Below are three in-progress shots from June 20th.
The UVF mural overlooking the entrance to Mount Vernon has been repainted after Storm Darragh back in December (2024) knocked down part of the wall it was painted on (see Taken By Storm) and the remainder of the wall was subsequently knocked down (see Prepared For Space, Ready For Wall).
There were local voices against the repainting of the mural (Sunday World) but after the wall (which is owned by the Housing Executive) was rebuilt, scaffolding went up at the end of March (BelTel) and painting began in June.
The mural will be officially launched at the Twelfth celebrations. The repainting has been criticised by the father of one UVF victim (BelTel). One (very) small mercy is that neither of the gunmen – from the North Belfast UVF – is directly confronting the viewer (including the drivers coming off the M2 at Fortwilliam.
Images of the completed mural are from June 26th; the in-progress images are as dated below.
This is a printed version Wilfrid Spender’s report of the first day of the Battle Of The Somme, replacing a previously painted instance that was in the same style as the adjacent mural.
“‘I am not an Ulsterman but yesterday the First of July, as I followed their amazing attack, I felt that I would rather be an Ulsterman than anything else in the world. My pen cannot describe adequately the hundreds of heroic acts I witnessed, the Ulster Volunteer Force, from which the Division was made, has won a name that equals any in history. Their devotion deserves the gratitude of The British Empire’ – Captain Wilfrid [not “Wilfred”] Spender, The Somme 1916″
Spender’s words are superimposed upon JC Beadle’s Attack Of The 36th Division (see Over The Top).
CS Lewis’s mother was Florence “Flora” Augusta Lewis. She studied arts, logic, and mathematics at Queen’s College (which became the Royal University during her studies, and is now Queen’s University) and taught Clive and his older brother Warnie Latin and French at home. She developed cancer when Clive was nine years old and died at age 46 on August 23rd, 1908, at the family home in Strandtown, east Belfast (Christian History Institute | Lifelong Learner | CS Lewis Institute | WP). Her grave is in Belfast City Cemetery (FindAGrave).
The Lewis family previously lived in the Dundela Villas (now the site of Dundela Flats) a few streets away from this new work by emic (web) along Belmont Avenue, which draws inspiration from Flora for its subject, and the local shops (The Secret Day Spa | Murphy & Bailey) for its palette.
The image above is from June 15th; the image immediately below, of the full, completed piece, is from June 20th. Two in-progress images are also included.
“North Down Defenders flute band [Fb], est. 2004. In memorium [sic] T. Mercer, R. Shaw, K. Shaw, G. Shaw, D. Shaw, A. Johnston, P. Magee, S. Stewart, J. Mills.”
