The artist Banksy has confirmed he created his latest work – a large green mural of a tree with apparent environmental overtones – which appeared in north London over the weekend.
Residents said they woke up on Sunday to the massive mural on the side of a block of flats in Hornsey Road near Finsbury Park.
The elusive artist – who shares his work on his Instagram page – posted a picture of the site on his official page on Monday, showing the wall before the work was completed.
The large-scale painting is a green splatter-effect shape, painted behind a cut-back tree – giving the appearance of adding a halo of leaves and foliage to the bare branches.
The green paint drips down to the floor, where a figure of a young girl painted with a stencil in green and black is looking up at the work.
She appears to be holding a pressure sprayer.
The shade of bright green paint used in the piece matches the colour of Islington Council branding, and also seems likely to be a nod to St Patrick’s Day, which was on Sunday 17 March.
Trainee clinical psychologist Amy wrote on X: “Proud new caretakers of an apparent new #Banksy piece in Finsbury Park… Woke up this morning to it on the side of flat.”
She added: “You can just about see us smiling proudly on our balcony.”
She also found a handful of black zip ties left outside by the work, and speculated: “Potentially Banksy’s zip ties left at the painting?”
Another resident, James Roe, joked on X: “Banksy came overnight and now my rent will skyrocket.”
Islington councillor Flora Williamson shared images of the art on X, and said she was a fan of Banksy’s work.
She wrote: “By far the most exciting thing to happen on today’s canvass session on Hornsey Road was seeing that Banksy had come to Tollington overnight. Lots of local interest – I’m a fan of it.”
Lidia Guerra, another Hornsey Road resident, told PA news agency: “The way it’s been done with the paint spraying down reminds me of a weeping willow, so there’s perhaps a message about the struggle of nature with the dead tree in front.
“It’s just great – when we read about it last night, we knew we had to come and see it as soon as possible.
“We feel so proud to think he chose our street.”
Banksy posts his artwork on his Instagram account, with his last confirmed work – a stop sign in Peckham, south London, with three military drones painted across it – shared just before Christmas.
However, the work was removed less than an hour after it was confirmed to be genuine on the artist’s social media, with witnesses reporting it was taken down by a man with bolt cutters.
Two men were later arrested on suspicion of theft and criminal damage.
