A MYSTERY street artist is bringing a smile to villagers with their middle-of-the-night pavement pictures.<\/p>\n
Self-nicknamed \u2018Chalksea\u2019 \u2013 in a nod to the renowned Banksy \u2013 the sketches are finished in chalk and have been popping up on the footpaths of Milford for a few weeks.<\/p>\n
A bright blue fish is outside the fish and chip shop<\/p>\n
No one has so far spotted the elusive artist who has left their work outside the Red Lion pub, Sammy\u2019s Caf\u00e9, The Wash House and the Old Smithy shop, among others.<\/p>\n
Sammy’s Cafe in Milford has had eggs and bacon daubed outside<\/p>\n
On Monday night this week the artist struck again by scrawling a bright blue fish outside the fish and chip shop, a glass of red wine outside Melleford and the head of a scarecrow by Milford Club.<\/p>\n
One of the latest daubings is outside Milford Club<\/p>\n
The scarecrow had the message \u2018Follow the Scarecrow Trail\u2019 in a nod to the forthcoming event which will see people pose scarecrows outside their homes and businesses for people to find. There will be prizes given out on 1st November for winning competitors, and registration is now open for the first of its kind in the village.<\/p>\n
A glass of red wine has been chalked outside Melleford restaurant<\/p>\n
The street art started appearing in the village around three weeks ago, and Mark Cummings, owner of the Village News newsagents, says he hopes the identity of Chalksea remains unknown: \u201cI think the mystery adds to it all.\u201d<\/p>\n
He started documenting the drawings after coming across them on his early morning strolls with his dogs. He said: \u201cAs a newsagent I am obviously up early and one morning I came across three of these drawings and I thought, \u2018they are cute\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cI posted them on Facebook and then as more and more appeared I carried on doing that. The next thing I knew it had exploded. People just love them. I think it\u2019s a real feel-good thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mark said the art was also highlighting small independent businesses, adding: \u201cThere is nowhere like Milford when it comes to businesses like that. We are full of them and they are thriving. We are fortunate that Chalksea is bringing attention to them.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is showing just how fantastic the village is.\u201d<\/p>\n
This week Mark discovered three new Chalksea drawings and says he is looking forward to finding more. He said: \u201cLong may it continue. It is making people happy and putting smiles on people\u2019s faces.\u201d<\/p>\n
A cute kitten and a heart outside the Cat & Kitten Rescue charity shop<\/p>\n
Villagers are delighted to have their own Banksy, with many saying how it has made them happy to see their artwork.<\/p>\n
An ice cream welcomes customers to Polly’s Pantry<\/p>\n
One commented on social media: \u201cKeep them coming, love it Chalksea!\u201d Another said: \u201cChalksea is amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n
A pretty sun draws smiles from kids outside the village nursery<\/p>\n
One holidaymaker said they hoped the artwork would still be there when they visited, saying: \u201cChalksea you are so talented. Some cheerful news instead of all the doom and gloom. Keep chalking.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A MYSTERY street artist is bringing a smile to villagers with their middle-of-the-night pavement pictures. Self-nicknamed \u2018Chalksea\u2019 \u2013…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":79971,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6225,6485,6486,1120,96,192,40700,194,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-79970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-human-interest","tag-milford","tag-syndicate","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79970","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79970"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79970\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}