the vibes

Blade Runner Rain

Posted on July 6, 2012 by Mark

torrential rain turner street manchester

It’s real.

If an iPhone can capture something like rain, then you know it’s really heavy. In the movie Blade Runner, it rains all the time because heavy industry has fucked the ozone layer and the Earth is well and truly in Greenhouse mode. For the past two months, Britain has been drenched and now the States are being ravaged by storms and extreme temperatures. The only person who seems to be speaking out against the Tesco’s and MacDonald’s of this world is Prince Charles. When it comes to voting, is there any other choice but voting for a Green party? Or are we too late?

It’s winter in July.

Categories: Photography, Random | Tags: Blade Runner, ecology, Environment, extreme weather, MacDonalds, Politics, pollution, Prince Charles, Tesco | 13 Comments

Sausalito Sunshine

Posted on July 4, 2012 by Mark

Me on Baker Beach

The sun burning off the fog on a Sausalito hillside

Fog poem on the beach near the Golden Gate Bridge

Dusty backroad, Sausalito

These are warm hazy memories of my trip to San Francisco, where the fog hid from us during an October heatwave in 2007. The dusty sunshine in Sausalito was idyllic, as we had breakfast with bears in an old wooden cafe and explored the Marina. I really appreciate these pictures as Manchester is lashed by rain for the third month running… and I wonder, where is the sun?

The Marina, Sausalito

Sunset on the Haight

The Palace of Fine Arts

The sun setting behind the trees near the Golden Gate Bridge

Categories: Photography, Random, Travel | Tags: Carl Sandburg, Golden Gate Bridge, Mark Wallis, San Francisco, Sausalito, sunshine, The Vibes | 12 Comments

Karma 2.0

Posted on June 28, 2012 by Mark

Karma. The image of Buddha, sleepy eyes and a secret smile, universal force of balance. Benevolent and omnipotent. Or is Karma actually an angry gargoyle, spitting poison? Looking at these guys in Manchester’s Albert Square, a monument to Queen Victoria’s beloved, I wonder. They look so efficient, like Karma’s been upgraded.

Because I’ve noticed it works so much quicker these days…

Categories: Photography, Random | Tags: Albert Square, Fountain, Gargoyle, karma, Manchester, Mark Wallis, philosophy, The Vibes | 8 Comments

Northern Flower – digital painting

Posted on June 27, 2012 by Mark

This is Northern Flower, a shop in the Northern Quarter of Manchester. I did this digital painting as part of my Tour of the Northern Quarter series back in February, when the store had no signage. Since then, a rather cool Gaudi-style mosaic has appeared, so I’ve done an update because it’s such a great sign. Below you can see my source picture, which is a bit grumpy and grey…

http://www.northernflower.com/

Categories: Art, Design, Photography | Tags: digital painting, Manchester, Mark Wallis, Northern Flower, Northern Quarter, Photoshop, The Vibes | 13 Comments

Funky Brixton

Posted on June 20, 2012 by Mark

If you follow this blog, you probably do it wearing sunglasses. I’d put them on now, if I were you…

Emerging from the Tube station, the first big surprise is that the street is real. When Eddy Grant sang ‘We gonna rock down to Electric Avenue,’ he was referring to the Brixton riots of 1981. I was only 14 years old, and although I watched Britain burning on the television, I later failed to make a connection with the song, or the widespread hatred for Continue reading →