Nice Up Winni Beach




Nice Up the Walls, Jamaica, its the passion and brainchild of Louis Masai Michel. This is only first stage of the project, which is to eventually build an art school for the yuts in Jamaica. Looking back, this project seemed to be rushed from the beginning.  I'm not sure we even believed our self that we can pull it off so soon as we did, it looked more like years ahead. I guess when we stumbled on the Crowdfunder site it sparked a little hope. Even though we didn't reach the funding goal, it helped us launch it and give us a way to showcase our ideas more professionally. The feedback from everyone convinced us to continue in this direction. Somehow, with the tightest budget you can imagine, with rent to catch up on still, we got enough for flights, accommodations, food, transport and...more paint?!

 
We had our first minor defeat at Gatwick airport before boarding, we got taken down underneath the plane to check the content of our bags. As you can guess it was the most important part of the whole project, and they confiscated our cans. You live and learn, so sort out any paperwork and get it documented, don't fall for someone called a "manager", double confirming over phone that it is acceptable to bring a bunch of flammable cans on board. I felt Masai was royally pissed off where we stood, but i couldn't help but laugh. I wasn't about to stay behind watching that flight go, wasting all our efforts, so we figured out quickly we should still get on the flight. We just had to use what ever medium and tools we find out there, only fair I think to use what resources Jamaicans already use.

NUW paint spots

 
Enough said, before we left we managed to get in touch with Jack Scorpio's daughter Tashima, which showed great interest and similar visions as to what this project could do. She passed us on to Jack, which helped with accommodation when we stayed in Kingston. He also took us to Rebel Salute Festival, with an amazing line up with artist such as, Tony Rebel, Queen Ifrica, Luciano, Capleton, Taurrus Riley, Stephen Marley and Romain Virgo. Also Damian Marley showed up at the end, along with three other shows we ended up seeing during our stay. It was a full on Rasta festival in St.Elizabeth going on until the sunrise, beautiful people, colors, vibrations, and a non-alchol event which gave a whole different and more positive vibe.  


A likkle something about this humble and respected man;
Black Scorpio is appraised worldwide as one of Jamaica's number one veteran music producers(since 1970s), having been the founder of numerous hit singers and djs in the Jamaican music business and have accomplished numerous awards for his efforts in the music business throughout the years. Over the years, he has found and has worked in close association with many artists who today are now deemed as top performers in the industry, including Beenie Man, Bounty Killer, Kiprich,Richie Stephens, Capleton, Mega Banton, Lady G, Shabba Ranks, Frankie Paul, Shaggy,Gentleman, Sean Paul, Barrington Levy, Yellow Man, Dennis Brown to name just a few. Black Scorpio is a legacy!




   
PORT ANTONIO,
Winnifred Beach Piece


First spot we hit up with some splashes of house paint and brushes was Winnifred Beach, the last public beach left in the area. Before we left, we contacted Carla at Drapers San Guesthouse, 10-15min from Port Antonio,  which gave us a tiny discount towards painting on the beach to help their cause. Check out their appeal of Free Winnifred Beach






Starting with the smaller work was a good decision, as it made us get adjusted to work in the heat and with different materials. Compared to spray pieces it didn’t make much difference on how long it took, only that everyone came over wanting to talk to made me take longer time. Especially the kids wouldn’t leave me alone, and they were quite eager to help painting too. I needed an extra day because of my lack of concentration to finish the beads and shoulders, so it took a total of 6-8hrs. 


 
Thanks Winni people for letting us Nice Up the beach Walls, hope it gives some good vibrations to keep your beach FREE for everyone. ONE LOVE JAMAICA
Check out Masai on the opposite wall  

More on NUW Jamaica soon come! 
Next is Gayle Workshop and Louis' herd of gazelle Paste Ups..