Portsmouth artist Midge opens solo exhibition Out There Somewhere Still at The Corner Collective

Out There Somewhere Still is a line taken from his song Witches’ Rave, which was released on his posthumous collection, Sketches For My Sweetheart The Drunk. Buckley was one of the most acclaimed singer-songwriters of his generation, but died in a drowning accident in the Mississippi River in 1997.

"I've loved Jeff Buckley since I was about 16 years old,” says Midge, also known as Lou Short. “I was listening to it because I wanted something moody to paint to!

“It's such a great track and it’s about someone keeping their distance from someone they really like in case there's someone better out there. But the lyric, ‘there's someone out there somewhere still’, it made me feel like that's where I was with things. Although I haven't quite got to where I want to be with things yet, I'm still out there doing artwork. I'm trying my best and keeping my eyes open to opportunities and seeing what the next best thing could be.

“I've actually got a few small pieces in the show which inspired by some lyrics from that album, and from (Buckley’s debut album) Grace as well.”

The exhibition, at The Corner Collective on Albert Road, Southsea, is Lou’s first solo outing since a 2016 show in the Play Dead studio on Highland Road.

Her distinctive style has become a common sight around the city, but as Midge puts it, her journey as an artist “all started with a can.”

"I joined this group that was called the Portsmouth Creative Movement and they were having a Christmas meet-up,” she recalls. “I didn't really know any other artists in the area at the time – I had only really heard of My Dog Sighs.

“I went along to this evening and you had to bring along a piece of artwork to put in the bag and then it was like a lucky dip. If you bought a piece, you'd get a piece back. Ooberla was there, Los Dave, Kate Smith, Rusty Sheriff, loads of people. I put my hand in the bag and pulled out a box which was one of My Dog Sighs' cans. Everyone was asking if they could do a swap? Absolutely not!” she laughs.

“I got talking to Paul (My Dog Sighs) more after that, and then he asked me if I wanted to help him up at Westbank (a London gallery which has exhibited My Dog Sighs’ work), to stamp on some cans and help hang the place… I did that and just started getting more involved and he asked if I wanted to do a couple of walls.

"’Midge’ was just starting off at that point – I was doing loads of Free Art Fridays,” as the name suggests, leaving pieces of artwork on the street on a Friday for a lucky soul to find and take home, “making a few sales, and then I started doing the walls and it went from there.”

“Paul was a massive influence, and my first ever wall I did next to Ooberla, so it was nice to do it again next to her for Look Up.”

For Look Up, Portsmouth’s first ever street art festival, which took place in September this year, Midge painted one of three huge panels on the side of the Co-op in Milton, sandwiched between Brighton artist Mishfit and her friend, Ooberla. Midge’s piece became Love Cats almost by default.

"The number of people who came past and said: ‘Oh, I love cats!’ so I stuck with that after a while, because I love cats as well! I've got a print of that one coming out at the show as well.

"Initially Ooberla were going to be painting the side of the Co-op in Devonshire Avenue, which would have been twice as long, and twice as hard to do as well because that would have been on brick, so actually the two of us being put with Mishfit on the Co-op on Eastney Road was great. We had one of those big panels each to paint, which was lovely. And we all got on fantastically, it worked out perfectly.”

But she admits: ”I've not actually been a fan of doing really large pieces until Look Up. That was brilliant, I had so much fun doing that, it made me want to do more larger pieces. I love working on the small, melancholy pieces – they're like little pieces of my heart, without wanting to sound too cliché! Those bits of lyrics and meanderings...

“The bigger pieces, they're literally larger expressions of me that I want to get out of my system. By doing Look Up, it was such a challenge to do something so big, I wanted to prove to myself that I could. I'm determined to do more walls now and more larger pieces.

“I've got one really large piece for the show, and I'm doing a feature wall in there too, as well as lots of little bits that people will be able to take home as well – I want it to be accessible for people.”

Earlier in the year, she also took part in a project at Hilsea Lido where she was one of a dozen artists to paint an 80m wall.

”That was the first wall I'd done in quite a long time. I almost didn't do it – I was in a bit of a challenging part of the year and I wasn't feeling great – my anxiety was getting the better of me. But then I started sketching on the iPad, just a couple of ideas, and thought: ‘Let's give it a go. Let's just put the headphones on and get on with it.’

The resulting piece, My Safe Space Is You has gone on to become one of The Corner Collective’s best-selling prints.

“That turned out to be the catalyst for the rest of the year, really! It went so well, I wasn't expecting that. And the response to it has been amazing. In hindsight, I'm very glad that I did take part.”

Out There Somewhere Still is open at The Corner Collective on Albert Road, on November 4, 5, 9-11, 11am-4pm.