Doors 127 – Bristol doors with interesting surrounds
Sometimes it is not so much the door that is interesting but the brickwork, the awnings, the steps, or the whole design around an entrance that makes it stand out. This week’s selection of doors all have rather plain doors, but what surrounds them is worth a good look. Here we go:
A rather fancy entrance, Bristol, September 2020There is something about the 15 above the door, Bristol, September 2020Door covered in ‘slaps’ (stickers), Bristol, September 2020Door and doorway, Orchard Street, Bristol, September 2020Door and doorway, Orchard Street, Bristol, September 2020Door and doorway, Orchard Street, Bristol, September 2020
That’s yer lot for another rather turbulent and unsettling week… US Election and England lockdown.
Be safe and kind wherever you are and have a great week.
If you have made it this far, you probably like doors and you really 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.
– Written before the final result of the Biden/Trump election, fingers tightly crossed. A Trump win will give Boris succour and further self-belief, on the other hand a Biden win will come as a huge wake up call for Boris and his populist cronies.
With this modest piece hidden away in Cumberland Basin I bring you another artist new to Natural Adventures… drum roll… 3F fino. The wall is in a little tunnel that can easily be missed while admiring the main long wall of this spot, and 3F fino has used the space really well.
3F Fino, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, October 2020
There is a North African Feel to this piece but I might be making some unconscious bias assumptions based on the headgear and could be quite wrong. What I particularly like about this wall is the background. The white wash has been applied in a way that has left the brick mortar lines, the result being what looks like a ceramic tile wall. An interesting debut to this blog.
A recent epic collaborative piece on an ‘Upfest’ wall appeared without warning or fanfare a couple of weeks ago that brought together some fine atists, namely: Smak, Sled One, Ments and Curtis Hylton. What an utterly pleasant surprise and something of an improvement on the piece that adorned this wall before it.
Smak, Clift House Road, Bristol, October 2020
On the left is a crazy but exquisite scene depicting venus flytraps feasting on various flying insects. In the middle is what looks a bit like an old microphone, although I’m not too sure if that is what it is. The story here… your guess is as good as mine.
Curtis Hylton, Ments and Sled One, Clift House Road, Bristol, October 2020
Sled One has pulled together an equally bizarre piece that sems to be of a king cobra dressed as a policeman complete with truncheon and whistlewith an iced ring doughnut round its neck. The policeman woud appear to be in pursuit of a graffiti spraying mouse or two. Could this be a reference to some heavy handed policing which let to the prosecution of a street artist in St Werburghs tunnel recently?
Curtis Hylton, Ments and Sled One, Clift House Road, Bristol, October 2020
To the right is a beautiful Hornbill by Curtis Hylton whose work usually involves a blend of stunning creatures composed of flowers, and he has worked miracles with this style here. Curtis Hylton has also embraced the colour scheme used by Sled One so that the two pieces merge into a true collaboration.
Ments, Clift House Road, Bristol, October 2020
Dotted around the whole piece are a dozen or so ‘liquid’ spheres painted by Ments. It has been clear from recent pieces by Ments that he is working hard to create these solid/liquid forms and judging from his contribution to this collaboration this direction he is moving in is going really well. The whole collaboration is a celebration of bright creative ideas and utterly worth seeking out, although parking nearby is a bit of a challenge.
Smak, Curtis Hylton, Ments and Sled One, Clift House Road, Bristol, October 2020
Classy. It is something of an overused word on Natural Adventures, but in this case it is simply the best word I can think of to describe this amazing piece of graffiti writing by Claro_que_sssnoh. To make things a little easier I am going to call the artist Claro, that should save me about five minutes in typing time.
Claro_que_sssnoh, M32 cycle path, Bristol, October 2020
The letters spell out SNOH, but it is the superb way Claro has layered colours onto the chrome structure, with really interesting letter shapes that stands out in this piece. It is clean, creative, complex and he has even thrown in a little character for good measure. It is great to see a quality piece like a this on this wall.
Discovering new artists about the place is definitely part of the fun of seeking out street art, and meeting Mudra and subsequently finding several of his pieces in quick succession has been very rewarding. Although he has not been in Bristol long, he is certainly making his mark.
Mudra, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, October 2020
This piece is on the long Cumberland Basin wall and incorporates his soft pastel colours into the letters MUDRA. The writing is really clever with the letters being concealed through the piece – can you find them? In the centre is one of Mudra’s pink faced characters wearing a cap. This is a fine piece of work which stitches in all sorts of ideas and techniques. Lots more to come…
I didn’t find as many Halloween pieces this year as I usually find, but that might be as a result of the terrible wet weather we have had over the last week or so. I did however manage to capture this piece under Brunel Way by Pl8o and although not overtly Halloween, I think this collaborative wall was to celebrate the festival.
Pl8o, Brunel Way, Bristol, October 2020
This piece is painted out entirely in greyscale which is rather nicely done. The owl in a darker grey stands out and adds interest to the piece overall. The bags in front of the piece actually belong to Varo who was painting the word ‘Conspiracy’ just to the right of this piece. Pl8o continues to go from strength to strength.
From the time I saw my first wall by Nightwayss in Dean Lane a few years ago I have been captivated by his monkeys and their antics. Coming across this one was a bit of a nice extra surprise because it is next to a big wall that I had specifically come to photograph, but hadn’t known about this one.
Nightwayss, Clift House Road, Bristol, October 2020
There is a tenderness in this Piece which I find really rather touching. The large monkey has managed to catch his fingers in a mousetrap and is confused about it illustrated by the hamster wheel in his head. Another monkey is leaning in wondering what is going on. The second monkey has a implied caution, concern and curiosity about what is happening and seems to be well observed from how real monkeys might behave in such a situation.
Nightwayss, Clift House Road, Bristol, October 2020
The simple style of this illustration matches the wonderful ink drawings that Nightwayss has been producing for ‘Inktober’ and posting on his Instagram account. If you can, I strongly recommend you take a look at it. I love this piece.
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