Month: October 2019

2489. Little Paradise (4)

Well I’ve heard that Nevergiveup is leaving town, I’m not sure where he is going or whether he’ll be back, but you can walk anywhere in Bristol and it won’t take long to find a little reminder that he was here. His rabbits have become a bit of a thing over the last eighteen months or so and I still have a great many to find.

Nevergiveup, Little Paradise, Bristol, September
Nevergiveup, Little Paradise, Bristol, September

This purple fellow is in little paradise (possibly one of the least apt names for a place), propping up a long wall that has some interesting stuff at the other end of it. I have many more rabbits in my archive, but I like to intersperse them with other pieces – I have to be fair to all artists in the city. So although the artist may be leaving, his legacy will be appearing on the pages of Natural Adventures for some time to come. Farewell Nevergiveup Familia.

Sunday breakfast

 

Burnt toast with Marmite

decaffeinated coffee

and relative calm.

 

by Scooj

Fifteen

.

Where did the time go?

A beautiful young woman

celebrates today.

.

by Scooj

2488. Upper York Street (16)

An artist who just never seems to stop, and the number of posts on Natural Adventures featuring his work would evidence that, is Face 1st. In recent weeks he seems to have reverted to his charming portraits and hair spelling out FACE after experimenting with full body characters, always female, during the summer. I like it that he is stretching his ‘portfolio’ and that he remembers where he has come from too.

Face 1st, Upper York Street, Bristol, September 2019
Face 1st, Upper York Street, Bristol, September 2019

This one on Upper York Street, adjacent to Hazard’s wonderful frog, is full of soft subtle tones that contrast with the brighht pink background. I’ve rarely come across a piece by this artist that I haven’t liked.

2487. Merrywood Road (1)

Yay! more wheatpaste antics from Kid Crayon, following a quick binge with Jimmer Willmott pasting up sketches around Bedminster. I really appreciate wheatpaste art and in my book its status is as high as spray can art. One of the big advantages for wheatpasters is that they can place their art in all sorts of places where spraying simply isn’t an option because in a matter of minutes the dirty deed is done and there is little chance of being caught. Because of this most wheatpaste art can be placed in illegal spots – having said that, the long-term impacts are far less damaging than spray paint… a bit of tired old paper here and there, that’s all.

Kid Crayon, Merrywood Road, Bristol, September 2019
Kid Crayon, Merrywood Road, Bristol, September 2019

A funny character wearing a silly party hat and a crayon floating in front of his mouth. What could be more fun than that? The crayon thing is part of Kid Crayon’s USP, and used to be the key identifier or signature on his early work, it is not seen so often these days. So pleased that he has had this little retrospective binge.

Kid Crayon, March Street, Bristol, December 2015
Kid Crayon, March Street, Bristol, December 2015

Upgrade dilemma

 

Buy a new PC

with built-in obsolescence

or struggle onwards?

 

by Scooj

2486. Brunel Way Bridge (22)

Some more high-quality writing, this time from Turoe One down at the riverside path under Brunel Way. I think I have written before that I know little about Turoe One, in so much as he has not been on my radar too much in the past until quite recently. This is a strange state of affairs as he is absolutely one of the long established Bristol graffiti writers and commands three pages in Felix Braun’s seminal work ‘Children of the Can’. Maybe he hasn’t been too active since I started getting interested over ther last five years or so, but he certainly seems to be quite busy now.

Turoe One, Brunel Way, Bristol, September 2019
Turoe One, Brunel Way, Bristol, September 2019

Spelling TURO (he seems to spell it several different ways), this piece is crisp and clean and the red and green contrast brilliantly. I have always been quite fond of the apple green and red combination and think I might try it out next time I spray my board in the garden. I’m very much enjoying the work of this Bristol master.

2485. Dean Lane skate park (252)

Tight is probably the best word to use when describing the work of Dibz. Always meticulously thought out, clean lines, perfect 3D shading, crisp fills and more often than not, fabulous colour choices. Dibz really pays attention to his pieces and each one is carefully constructed to produce a complete and stylish work.

Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2019
Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2019

This one in Dean Lane is simply another example of just how accomplished the artist is, and what he lacks in quantity, he more than makes up for in quality. There is beauty in this, and I challenge even the most ardent critics of graffiti writing not to concede that this is a high quality piece. Nice one.

Singular

 

Pot-bound olive tree

a gift from my late father

bears only one fruit.

 

by Scooj

2484. Cheltenham 2019 (8)

We all love a little sunshine, or at least when it is the right kind of sunshine. In this set of photographs we have the wrong kind of sunshine, the kind that casts shadows in tunnels, the kind that people like me don’t like very much, especially when you don’t get regular opportunities to visit particular places.

Inkie, Paint festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019
Inkie, Paint festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019

This is one of two pieces that Inkie painted for the Cheltenham Paint Festival, the other larger one being a little bit further out of town and rather more celebrated. Inkie has painted a truly Inkie piece here with his characteristic writing supported by one of his iconic profile portraits and lots of swirling hair. The letters spelling out ChelSpa, a confated version of Cheltenham Spa (for which he would have needed a much longer wall).

Inkie, Paint festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019
Inkie, Paint festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019

It always great to see Inkie pieces especially when on travels outside his native Bristol/London bases, and Cheltenham certainly has some to be proud of, if you include his contributions to the 2018 Paint Festival.