This is just sublime. Although the form of Slim Pickings’ (TES) work is relatively simple and repeated, the way he sets about the colours, fills and attention to detail is masterful. In this piece I absolutely love the complementary colours of the fill and the bubbly shapes. As always the outline and shadow are clean and crisp.
Slim Pickings, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2020
The letters TES are set on a floaty cloud of green and red and the letters are adorned with some little light blue drippy bits and whight highlights. The whole thing is set off perfectly with a grey buffed wall, completely worth the effort if you ask me. Really nice piece.
Another New Year collaboration, they are coming thick and fast, this time from Decay and Lens. Decay is of course well known to me and to readers of Natural Adventures, but this is a debut piece for Lens, which is perhaps not at all surprising given that he comes from Melbourne, Australia and is just visiting.
Decay, M32 cycle path, Bristol, January 2020
I do like it when artists from different places hook up and paint together, it makes for a terrific sense of community. This Decay half of this combo is everything we would come to expect from the artist and ticks so many boxes… the shapes of the letters, the extravagant fills and the little ‘motion’ highlights in black on the outside of the lettering to give a sense of movement and energy to the whole piece. Perfect.
Lens, M32 cycle path, Bristol, January 2020
Using a similar colour palette to Decay’s, Lens has an altogether different letter shape, much more angular with sharp edges and corners. Lens’ fills and decorations are absolutely magnificent, and this is an accomplished piece of graffiti writing. It is so good to see some work from an Australian artist, and it is great to see that Lens has included a little shout out to Rezwonk, who often teams up with Decay, a nice touch.
I think that this is the second collaboration between Logoe and Haka in as many months, and both have apeared on this board under the M32 in the DIY skate spot. It is not often that I like my photographs, always something wrong with them, but I actually like this one, somehow the colours of the piece stand out well against the dark top and bottom, but have not been bleached out by the light to either side.
Logoe and Haka, M32 Spot, Bristol, January 2020
Logoe has written his name in his script style set on a rather nice red tone abstract background. He has added to the work the sentence ‘What a year it’s been’ and he is not wrong there. On the right Haka has included a character into his chrome writing which I believe to be Hanna Barbera’s creation Quick Draw McGraw – a cartoon I don’t think I ever saw, but rather wish I had… I might have to consult with YouTube. All in all a most satisfying collaboration from these two established Bristol artists.
I was out hunting for graffiti/streetart this lunchtime with the dog, and our ears pricked up when we heard dogs barking. The noise was coming from the other side of this wall and the kennels of the Bristol Animal Rescue Centre. Pennies dropped and the wonderful dogs on this wall made complete sense.
Boundary wall of the Bristol Animal Rescue Centre, Bristol, January 2020
Here’s a rather nice three-way collaboration from just before Christmas by The Cat Came Back, the ever so familiar Mr Klue and DNT who has rather ‘owned’ this wall over the last few years.
The Cat Came Back, Moon Street, Bristol, January 2020
I know absolutely nothing about The Cat Came Back, but there are two things I really like. The first is the name of the artist, it’s just kind of bonkers and memorable too, the second is the simple but well constructed piece from an artist who is obviously well practiced in producing this cat character. I don’t know if the artist is Bristol-based but if they are, then I look forward to seeing more alley cats.
Mr Klue, Moon Street, Bristol, January 2020
The central portion of the collaboration is by Mr Klue, who seems to be on a bit of a painting spree at the moment. I have commented before on the pulses of activity from Mr Klue. You can go a month or two and see nothing new and then out of the blue several pieces appear in quick succession. I can’t read the letters in this abstract piece, but I don’t think it says KLUE. (Update, The artist tells me it does).
DNT, Moon Street, Bristol, January 2020
On the right is another feline-type creature compete with a third eye, and a design style that is so very DNT. His character pieces tend to be mad up of shapes with solid fills and outlined with black, almost like a stained glass effect. Great to see another DNT piece here. (Note to self – a good wall for ‘One wall many faces’).
This is Daz Cat’s first piece of 2020 and what a humdinger it is too. On his Instagram feed he talks about the new letter style, which I think works pretty well although I’m not sure it matches the style of the ‘lynx’ – it is almost as if this were a collaboration of two artists.
The lynx is rather special both in design and in colour selection and naturally carries the signature polygon on its forehead – a tell tale sign that this is a Daz Cat piece. All in all a great start to the decade from an artist I’ve yet to meet… it is only a matter of time.
It has been a little while since I last saw some writing from Nightwayss, so it was a nice surprise to find this ‘NIGHT’ on the M32 cycle path. There is an interesting colour palette and a highly complex design, but I have to say it doesn’t quite work for me and I can’t put my finger on it.
Nightwayss, M32 cycle path, Bristol, December 2019
Maybe the lack of clear definition around the letters is a little unconventional, and the colours tend to merge a bit. Also the texture of the wall isn’t very helpful with this busy design. I fear I might protest too much, and anyway, photobombing dog seems to rather like it.
Aah, pigs swimming, but not any ordinary pigs, it looks like these might be related in some way to the uniformed kind. I absolutely love this rather surreal mural from Peter Sheridan at the Cheltenham Paint Festival 2019. It is an outrageous piece beautifuly painted.
Peter Sheridan, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019
Peter Sheridan painted one of my favourite pieces of Upfest 2018 and he has carried on his brilliant work in Cheltenham. It took a while to find this piece but it was well worth the endeavour. It is not only the bizarre and humorous story of the piece, but the execution is quite exquisite.
Peter Sheridan, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019
Any piece with water is always going to be a challenge, but it is one that the artist has risen to and mastered. There are two other pieces that instantly come to mind when I see this and they are; the Odeith crocodile at Upfest 2018 and the figure in water by Cosmo Sarson at Upfest 2016:
Odeith, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018Cosmo Sarson, Greville Road, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
The Bristol Hippodrome is part of the cultural ‘beating heart’ of the city and has been so since December 1912 when it was first opened. The history of the theatre is well worth reading about, but because this is a post about doors (and I am notoriously lazy) I would direct you to this magnificent specialist theatre history site – Arthur Lloyd.co.uk.
I have seen many great performances here including several operas by the Welsh National Opera, plays and of course pantomimes when the children were younger.
Another link I have with the old place is my mother performed here with the Sadler’s Wells National Opera in the 1950s as a principal dancer with the company. She has fond memories of the theatre and the city.
On to the doors. The feature photograph, also repeated below for those who look at these posts on smart phones, shows the main entrance to the Hippodrome. What you don’t see here is that every night after the theatre closes, several homeless people sleep in front of the doors where it is safe and dry – theatre staff tend to gently move them on in the morning as I walk past on my way to work. This is the 5th wealthiest nation in the world, something is very wrong!
Front entrance to the Bristol Hippodrome, Doors, December 2019Side doors (in need of a little TLC), Bristol Hippodrome, December 2019Access entrance doors, Bristol Hippodrome, Decmber 2019Fire exit doors, Bristol Hippodrome, December 2019Fire exit doors and quick exit after a performance, Bristol Hippodrome, December 2019The all important Stage Door for cast, musicians, tecnicians and groupies, Bristol Hippodrome, December 2019Ever wondered how they get the scenery in? Barn Doors, Bristol Hippodrome, December 2019
So there it is, my first door post of the new decade. May I wish you all a very happy 2020.
If you like doors, you ought 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.
A memory of many, many hours looking out of the window of my Grandparent’s house which was opposite Falmouth Harbour in Cornwall – there was always something going on in the Carrick Roads (the natural harbour area or ria (flooded river valley)).
Natural adventures 