Taking coals to Newcastle. Bristol-based Decay originally hails from Cheltenham, so painting at the Cheltenham Paint Festival must feel rather like a homecoming each time he does it. This magnificent piece from the 2018 festival can be dated from its design, which has been superseded by his written word ‘Decay’ for the last year or so.
Decay, Paint Festival 2018, Cheltenham, September 2019
As I said in the last post featuring Inkie, Cheltenham’s large walls retain pieces from previous years, so visitors can benefit not only from the current festival, but from all of them. The only snag is that organiser Dice67 has to keep finding more walls every year. Painting the entire town.
What an absolute beauty and unmistakably the work of Inkie (he really doesn’t need to sign his works, nobody does it like him). I managed to snap this one up when I visited Cheltenham Paint Festival for the very first time in September this year. The joy of the Cheltenham festival is that most of the walls are preserved from previous years, and this magnificent piece was painted for the 2018 festival.
Inkie, Paint Festival 2018, Cheltenham, September 2019
Situated right in the centre of the shopping district, this piece gets a phenominal footfall – I wonder how many of the shoppers realise how lucky they are to have such a great artwork in their town centre, and it isn’t the only one, the place is blessed with dozens of them. A seriously classy piece from the Bristol maestro.
A gallery of wonderful stencil pieces by JPS (who originally hails from Weston-super-Mare)
All photographs taken by Scooj
JPS, Carlton Street, Weston-super-Mare, September 2021JPS, Victoria Square, Weston-super-Mare, September 2021JPS, Victoria Square, Weston-super-Mare, September 2021JPS, Frogmore Street, Bristol, August 2020JPS, Carlton Street, Weston-super-Mare, August 2019JPS, Richmond Street, Weston-super-Mare, August 2019JPS, Richmond Street, Weston-super-Mare, August 2019JPS, High Street, Weston-super-Mare, August 2019JPS, Back alley, Weston-super-Mare, August 2019JPS, Alma Street, Weston-super-Mare, August 2019JPS, Meadow Street, Weston-super-Mare, August 2019JPS, Rear Oxford Street, Weston-super-Mare, August 2019JPS, Rear Oxford Street, Weston-super-Mare, August 2019JPS, Frogmore Street, Bristol, August 2019JPS, Frogmore Street, Bristol, August 2019JPS, the Tropicana, Weston-super-Mare, August 2016JPS, Tropicana, Weston-super-Mare, August 2016JPS, Tropicana, Weston-super-Mare, August 2016JPS, Tropicana, Weston-super-Mare, August 2016JPS, University Road, Bristol, August 2014JPS, Gloucester Road, Bristol, August 2015JPS, York Street, Weston-super-Mare, August 2016JPS, West Pallant, Chichester, August 2016JPS, West Pallant, Chichester, August 2016JPS, Richmond Street, Weston-super-Mare, August 2016JPS, Richmond Street, Weston-super-Mare, August 2016JPS, Shockwave, North Street, Bristol, September 2015JPS, Shockwave, North Street, Bristol, September 2015JPS, Girl on swing, Park Row, Bristol, November 2015JPS, Frogmore Street, Bristol, July 2015JPS, Culver Street, Bristol, September 2015JPS, Culver Street, Bristol, September 2015JPS, North Pallant, ChichesterJPS, North Pallant, Chichester
Right in the middle of St Werburghs tunnel, you can tell from the very orange lighting, is this rather nice piece from Mr Sleven. I’m not sure if it is disguised writing or simply a design. I’d like to think it says Sleven, but I don’t quite see it. Hot off the Press – Mr Sleven posted an Instagram design of this piece this morning… it is a skull.
Mr Sleven, St Werburghs, Bristol, December 2019
I don’t see too much of his work around the place these days. In fact I think the last one I saw was ages ago in Moon Street. It was a great piece that remained for a considerable time. I doubt this one will be afforded the same courtesy. I think the long run of wet weather makes the tunnel a much more attractive venue for graffiti artists at the moment and turnover is high.
A cheeky little mosaic flower from Angus below the front window of what used to be the It’s All 2 Much art gallery in Stokes Croft. Now, either this is reasonably new (I don’t think it is) or I have been wandering around with my head in the sky. This particular design was used by Angus at Upfest 2017 and there are a few of them in Bedminster, but I’ve not noticed this one in Stokes Croft before.
Angus, Stokes Croft, Bristol, December 2019
Always witty and pushing for new ideas, Angus has created this Mario Brothers flower using mosaic tiles, which give it a pixellated look a la video game. So good to see his work in North Bristol… something of a rarity for this artist.
Mr Klue doesn’t seem to be hitting the walls as often as he used to, so finding one of his pieces these days is all the more pleasurable. This one, at the Farm end of St Werburghs tunnel (a favoured spot for Mr Klue) appeared a couple of weeks ago.
Mr Klue, St Werburghs, Bristol, December 2019
As always there is a whimsical and mysterious look to the piece. The whispy abstract form often spells out KLUE, but I must say I am baffled by this one. Maybe it says nothing at all. Always great to see his work, however infrequently.
Well, he’s out and about again, this time on the M32 cycle path which runs parallel with Stapleton Road. Rezwonk has mixed it up a bit in this piece with each of his letters being made up of a different colour palette although the letter style is consistent, which you can see by comparing the two Rs for example.
Rezwonk, M32 cycle path, Bristol, December 2019
Rezwonk has, along with Decay and Nightways been one of the most consistent street artists in Bristol this year. Interestingly the three of them have painted together quite often – I wonder if there is a little competitive thing going on here, or maybe they all just feel the same way about hitting walls regularly. Whatever the reason, the results are pretty much always great.
Norm has been encouraging people like us (Doorbies? Door fanciers? Doorists? Dooristas? – what are we called?) to use this last Door week of the year to look back and post some of our favourites from 2019 – this is a bit of a win-win for lazy/busy people like me because the hardest bit of this post is deciding what to include/exclude.
Here goes – the numbers don’t necessarily relate to my ranking
Doors used to prevent graffiti or an artistic expression? (posted this year)
Doors on a wall embellished by Ryder sitting over a Mr Klue piece, Bristol, January 2017
2. Door within a door – always works for me
Perfect door within a door, Lanhydrock House, Cornwall, August 2019
3. A beautiful door pair
Great doors, great shutters, great colours, Fournier Street, London, April 2019
4. Train wagon door
Thursday Doors, Bristol Harbour Railway, January 2019
5. A quirky old door
Old red door, Wareham, Dorset, October 2019
6. A door no more
One of those doors that was a door but is no longer a door, Kingsdown, Bristol, March 2019
7. Blending in
Door, North Street, Bristol, Artist: Paul Monsters, February 2019
8. They don’t make them like this any more door
Alms house door, Bristol, March 2019
9. A favourite with visitors to Natural Adventures
Main front door to the house dating back to the 17th century, Lanhydrock House, Cornwall, August 2019
10. Door in need of a little TLC
Somewhere there is a door, the Harbourside, Bristol, November 2019
Of course there are so many other doors I would have liked to have included and this was not an easy job. Hope you liked this selection though and I look forward to a doortastic 2020.
I’ll follow Norm’s example and take a couple of weeks off, so have a fabulous Christmas all and see you next year.
You might like to take a look at the Norm 2.0 blog – the originator of Thursday Doors where there are links to yet more doors in the comments section at the end.
Natural adventures 