.
Martin Stephenson
my favourite music man
the Folk House, tonight
.
by Scooj
4843. M32 cycle path (191)
At risk of repeating myself, I love seeing new Desi pieces, because with each one there is a subtle but definite improvement. Confidence brings with it the opportunity to push boundaries and have new ideas, and this is something that Desi has done very well.
Although this looks like a quick one, the fills look a bit rushed, the borders and neat and the 3D drop shadow nicely done. Judging by the patchy fills, I wonder whether this was a bit of a ‘dregs’ piece, using up remnants of paint in used cans. Always great to see Desi’s work.
4842. Brunel Way (183)
I would guess that I only manage to photograph about one in three of Mote’s pieces, which might give you an indication of how prolific he has been over the last few months. This piece under Brunel Way is a bit of a departure from his regular fare.
The stylised face is not a monster, but a human portrait, although it has all the characteristics of Mote’s work. Strong lines, solid fills and fine details created with black lines. The danger of painting the familiar, as opposed to wacky monsters, is that the piece will immediately be compared to a human face, there is a benchmark that we all have and recognise, and it is easier to criticise. Stylised works like this one work well, because they are self-knowing that they are representative of a face, but not an actual face. Great experimentation from Mote.
Invitation
.
Change to the routine
visitors this evening
frantic hoovering
.
by Scooj
4841. St Werburghs
Every now and then you get lucky, being in the right place at the right time. This is particularly true of finding street art on vehicles, and I was fortunate enough to see this Stinkfish piece on the side of a van parked up outside St Werburghs City Farm around a week ago.
Some readers might remember that Stinkfuish visited Bristol in October 2021 to tidy up a couple of his long-standing pieces in the City, and while he was here he left a few other little ‘surprises’ about the place. I imagine he painted this small portrait piece at around the same time, as it is still in great condition.
If you look carefully, you can just see a black line on the left where paint spilled over from the stencil used to create the black and yellow elements of the portrait. The decorative aspect I think light have been painted on with a brush, although it might be a stencil too, I am not sure. Finding pieces like this is so rewarding, and gives me the same tingle of excitement I get when I find a large shark tooth fossil on Bracklesham Bay beach, on my occasional trips to West Sussex.
4840. Brunel Way (182)
One of the great pleasures in life is coming across a PWA collaboration, and this little beauty painted under Brunel Way recently was a real treat. It is a well-balanced triptych, with Face 1st on the left, Zake in the middle and Soap on the right. It is an interesting observation that most of the time when Face 1st and Soap get together, they nearly always paint this way round – it must simply feel comfortable that way.
Face 1st’s piece in chrome is a nice simple girl’s face with the letters FACE neatly spaced around the edge, with a deep black 3D drop shadow and neatly bounded with a thin green line. Basic stuff done really well.
The middle section, or ‘filling of the sandwich’, is this unusual portrait piece by Zake. I am not too sure what is going on here, but it looks like the brain of the blue character is being expelled through his mouth, and that the brain appears to have a character all of its own. Quite bizarre, but beautifully painted with all the fine shading attributes associated with Zake’s work.
The symmetry is completed with another chrome piece, this one by Soap, to the right, reflecting the basic design of Face 1st’s on the other side. The central element is Soap’s characteristic mouth/skull ‘super tag’ with the letters SOAP encircling it. All in all, a wonderful piece from the PWA boys to brighten up our dull existence.
4839.Brunel Way (181)
I felt that this collaborative piece by Haka and Cats and That merited its own post rather than potentially being overshadowed by the adjacent Bob the Builder piece by Haka. In this collaboration, the bicycle is by Haka, and the cats, unsurprisingly, by Cats and That.
The collaboration is a charming and endearing scene with a couple of cats lounging on the bicycle. The cats are simply painted, without bells and whistles, but this subtle approach is really effective, and anyway who doesn’t love cat street art? Cats and That has burst onto the Bristol scene in recent months and is already making a mark all over town. The column cats next to this wall are an example of this.
Finally, I would just like to say that writing this blog is a genuine pleasure. Sometimes it can be a bit of a slog, especially when the trials of work and home life catch up with me. At times it might seem a little esoteric, but I stick by the guiding principle that I started writing street art posts to help others understand, appreciate and love the street/graffiti art scene in Bristol.
This comment from a visitor, Artemis BJJ, to Natural Adventures was left on my ‘About’ section, and it absolutely made my day and reinforced my resolve to continue doing what I do, because even if it makes one person happy, I have done my job.
“What an awesome blog! Randomly bumped across it while googling “j3 roundabout bristol”. A considerably more engaging and aesthetically interesting result than I was expecting. Keep up the great work! 😁🖖”
4838. Dean Lane skate park (542)
This is not the first time I have seen this pairing on a collaborative wall, and I am sure it won’t be the last. I met them both while painting underneath Brunel Way. I already knew Nugmoose, but it was the first time I met the lady who paints frogs. I asked her what her ‘street art name’ was, but she said she was still working on it, so until I know more, I will call her Frog (see what I did there?).
To the left, Frog has painted a few frogs about the place, and they make a fine addition to the diversity of pieces in Bristol. I believe that she is quite early on in here street art presence and am really looking forward to watching her technique and compositions develop. This is a beauty, and the flowers and hat bring a narrative to the piece, which is a whole lot more than just a frog.
To the right is another weird and mysterious piece from Nugmoose. It must be fun writing alien letters and confusing anyone trying to read them. The alien is proper alien, with no recognisable anthropomorphic features to identify with. These two demonstrate just what a fabulously varied offering we get in Bristol, and how blessed we are to see it all for free.
4837. M32 Spot (151)
There was a time when I could barely step outside my house without bumping into Klashwhensober, but I have not seen him now for a few months. I guess our body clocks are out of sync. Sometimes not meeting artists regularly is a sign that they are going through a fallow period, but that is certainly not the case with Klashwhensober, who appears to be as prolific as ever.
This reasonably recent piece, on one of my favourite walls, is a scorcher. There is a lot to like about this one. The piece is an explosion of colour, with the SOBER letters in green and blue and the background in orange and yellow. The fabulous thing that Klashwhensober is adding to his pieces these days is a feature aspect emanating out of the letters, and in this example is is a green cloudy element spreading out from the centre. A classy Klash piece.
Pissing down
.
It is pissing down
so much for a lunchtime walk
dog will have to wait
‘
by Scooj
Natural adventures 