Los Angeles street scene prints for bold walls

Welcome to my blog, I am a professional cartoonist, illustrator, artist and writer. My site here is intended to promote a range of works that I think will look good on the wall. Included on my site is not just my own work, but some works by other artists whose work I love and hope to bring to a wider audience. I hope you enjoy your tour of my site and welcome any feedback. Prints are fulfilled by The Print Space for prints on paper, they are one of the UK's premier fine art print companies, and there is also the option of buying some images printed onto canvas, these are fulfilled by Printumo. All prints are available worldwide.

A large advertising sign against a Los Angeles sky has a peculiar presence. It is part lettering, part sculpture and part evidence of a city getting on with things. The best Los Angeles street scene prints do not need to pretend that a roadside view is grander than it is. The charm is in the geometry, the faded paint, the strange scale and the little flashes of colour that make you look twice.

I have always liked images that find character in overlooked places. A wall does not necessarily need another anonymous beach, a generic skyline or something chosen simply because it matches the sofa. It can have an image with a bit of grit, a clear composition and enough visual life to keep giving back over time.

Why Los Angeles street scene prints work so well

Los Angeles has an extraordinary supply of visual material: broad roads, low buildings, sun-bleached surfaces, palms, utility poles, painted shop fronts and signs that seem oversized even from a distance. There is a confident bluntness to much of the architecture. Things are built to be seen from a passing car, and that gives the city’s streets a graphic quality which translates beautifully into a print.

The large advertising signs are a particular favourite. Their lettering, supports and weathered panels can be more interesting than the message they originally carried. A sign can become a piece of abstract design when framed by sky, wires and neighbouring buildings. There is humour in some of them too, particularly when a huge, emphatic message sits above an ordinary strip of road or a rather scruffy building.

These photographs are not about selling an airbrushed version of California. They are about finding the composition already sitting there in the real city. A slightly odd junction, the edge of an industrial site or a sign caught in hard afternoon light can make a much stronger picture than a famous landmark photographed for the thousandth time.

Signs, steel and the pleasure of useful things

My own work is often inspired by the Gloucestershire countryside, particularly its quieter corners and the places around the River Severn. Old industrial buildings, sheds, corrugated iron and industrial metalwork have a visual language all of their own. They were made for use, not for display, yet their patched surfaces, repeated lines and practical shapes can be remarkably beautiful.

A corrugated roof changes completely with the weather. In flat light it can look almost like a drawing. In low sun, every ridge becomes a mark. Rust, peeling paint and old timber are not decorative extras added afterwards. They are the record of time, work and weather, and they give a picture its atmosphere.

That interest travels rather well between Gloucestershire and Los Angeles. The locations could hardly be more different, but there is a shared pleasure in buildings that have earned their appearance. A modest shed beside the Severn and a faded sign above a Los Angeles street both carry the same useful visual ingredients: strong shape, texture, accidental colour and a sense of human activity just outside the frame.

Photography first, then the work changes

I photograph much of my subject matter, often because a scene catches me when I am out and about. Later, when the weather is less appealing, those photographs can become the starting point for paintings, drawings and other work in the studio. Photography is useful for holding on to a particular arrangement of shadows or a view that may disappear before long.

It is not always about copying a photograph exactly. Sometimes the original image provides the skeleton, while paint or charcoal finds a different emphasis. A drawn line can make a roof more forceful. A painted area of colour can push a distant wall forward. That shift from observed place to finished image is where a lot of the enjoyment lies.

Recent photographs have been added to the collection, alongside prints from recent paintings and charcoal drawings. There are also new works by Steve Parker, whose work brings another worthwhile voice into the mix. I only include guest artists whose images I genuinely admire, because a shop full of unrelated things soon starts to feel like a warehouse rather than a collection.

Choosing a Los Angeles street scene print for your room

The right image depends less on whether your room is modern, traditional or somewhere between the two, and more on what the wall needs. A photograph with a large sign and plenty of open sky can bring scale and breathing room to a busy space. A closer industrial detail, with metalwork and dense texture, can work brilliantly where you want something more intimate and graphic.

Paper prints have a direct, crisp quality that suits photographic detail, fine line and the quieter tones of charcoal. Framed simply, they can feel sharp and considered without becoming over-formal. Canvas prints offer a different effect. They have more physical presence and can be especially good for bolder photographs featuring large Los Angeles advertising signs, where the size of the object is part of the point.

There is no fixed rule here. A canvas can give a plain wall a strong focal point, while a paper print may be the better choice if you enjoy the detail of a surface up close. Consider the viewing distance too. Across a room, a big sign, clean silhouette or powerful block of colour will hold its own. Near a desk, hallway or reading chair, a more detailed image rewards a slower look.

The good news is that street scenes do not have to be matched literally to their surroundings. A Los Angeles image can look excellent in a Victorian terrace, a new-build flat or a country house precisely because it brings in a different rhythm. The contrast between a familiar British interior and an expansive Californian roadside view can be the thing that makes it work.

A collection that keeps moving

New images are in the pipeline, because the subjects never really run out. A walk through the countryside can produce a new shed, an unexpected line of metalwork or a view across the River Severn that asks to be photographed. Equally, a trip through a city can turn up a sign, shop front or industrial edge that stays in the mind long after the journey.

That is what I want the collection to retain: not a rigid house style, but a recognisable eye. There should be room for a quiet landscape, a scruffy rural building, a charcoal drawing and a sunlit Los Angeles sign, provided each has conviction and looks good on the wall.

If an image makes you pause because of its shape, texture or slightly peculiar detail, it will probably keep doing its job once it is on your wall. That is a better reason to choose a print than trying to make art behave like wallpaper.