Month: June 2021

3748. Upfest 2021 75×75 (3)

I have a feeling that this was the first of this year’s Upfest 75×75 pieces (75 walls painted in 75 days in lieu of a full blow street festival over a long weekend) and is by the magnificent artist Will Barras who is no stranger to Upfest.

Will Barras, St Francis Road, Bristol, May 2021, Upfest 21
Will Barras, St Francis Road, Bristol, May 2021, Upfest 21

There is a lot to love about this piece, in particular the local references to rock climbing, spray-painting and of course the moonlit Clifton suspension bridge. The night scene is painted very cleverly in muted colours to give it that dusk or nighttime feeling which works so well, and the mural seems to suck the light away from its surroundings.

Will Barras, St Francis Road, Bristol, May 2021, Upfest 21
Will Barras, St Francis Road, Bristol, May 2021, Upfest 21

The perspectives and energy of the cyclist seem to create a sense of energy and movement. There is a lot of dynamism in the piece, in spite of its dark tones. Replacing the Caro Pepe piece that existed here before was always going to be a big ask, but Will Barras has risen to the challenge and given us something unusual and rather special.

3747. M32 roundabout J3 (328)

I am thoroughly enjoying this relatively recent design format from Face 1st, and I think that this is roughly the fifth or sixth piece that I have seen in this style. One of the pleasures of taking an interest in street art is watching how each of the artists evolve their styles and subjects… what they practice and what they choose to discard. Few things on the street/graffiti art scene remain static.

Face 1st, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2021
Face 1st, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2021

This piece appeared a couple of weeks back, quietly and quickly and unusually not as part of a collaboration with PWA friends. The block letters spelling FACE are filled with the dynamic (crazy) blue hair belonging to the smiling girl, whose omnipresence is at the heart of all of Face 1st’s work. I like the darker tones of the piece, which seem to work really well. Another beauty.

3746. Upfest 2021 75×75 (2)

Adding to the challenge of keeping up with the turnover of street art in Bristol has been the recent unveiling of Upfest’s 75 new walls painted in 75 days. Not only is this a huge undertaking by Upfest, in what has been a very disrupted two years, but is a major challenge for me to keep up with. At the time of writing I have seen about eight or nine new pieces with several more on the go.

Mr Penfold, Church Road, Bristol, June 2021, Upfest 2021
Mr Penfold, Church Road, Bristol, June 2021, Upfest 2021

Any regular readers will probably recognise this massive mural as being by Bristol artist and designer Mr Penfold. In this piece he has gone large, but that rather suits his style of big bold designs and colours.

Mr Penfold, Church Road, Bristol, June 2021, Upfest 2021
Mr Penfold, Church Road, Bristol, June 2021, Upfest 2021

This particular wall is one that has hosted some amazing pieces and this is yet another one in that series. I have to say that this one went under my radar and I didn’t know that Mr Penfold had painted it until he posted it on Instagram, hence no WIP shots.

Mr Penfold, Church Road, Bristol, June 2021, Upfest 2021
Mr Penfold, Church Road, Bristol, June 2021, Upfest 2021

Although a stunning feature wall for Upfest, it is one of the trickier ones to photograph, especially in summer when the tree is in full leaf. It is always great to see new Mr Penfold pieces and this one is a real beauty.

3745. M32 Spot 115

I am struggling to keep up with the sheer volume of new pieces appearing in Bristol, which means that there are increasing delays in sharing some of the superb artwork with you. I have a time-lag on average of about two weeks between photographing and posting, by which time some of the pieces will have already been painted over. Fortunately, this collaboration from Pekoe and Bnie is still there for all to see.

Pekoe, M32 Spot, Bristol, June 2021
Pekoe, M32 Spot, Bristol, June 2021

This is a stunner from Pekoe, entitled ‘pink to make the boys wink’. The pink face, in three quarter profile, is following the trend of recent pieces with dotted hearts and circles on the cheeks and chin, and of course, no Pekoe piece is complete without voluminous hair decorated with little symbols and layered colours. A lovely portrait piece.

Bnie, M32 Spot, Bristol, June 2021
Bnie, M32 Spot, Bristol, June 2021

To the right of the portrait is some lovely writing from Bnie, who has been very active in recent months. The ‘bubblegum’ colours of the letters are blended beautifully, but once again it is her 3D shadow that steals the day. I must find her and watch her paint to see how she creates this wonderful effect.

A very nice collaboration on one of my favourite walls from this RBF duo.

Father’s Day

.

My fathers are gone

today I celebrate them

fondest memories

.

by Scooj

Tent

.

Ten years old or more

practice pitch in the garden

the girl goes camping

.

by Scooj

3744. M32 roundabout J3 (327)

This is just wonderful, a large organic piece from Petro and the second to appear on Natural Adventures. Petro is an artist that I have taken an instant liking to. His unusual, subdued colour selections and desire to fill as much space as possible with his writing really appeals to me.

Petro, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2021
Petro, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2021

In this piece, it is the 3D purple shading that catches the eye as it sucks everything from the right to the left. As well as spelling out PETRO, he also includes the letters TFWH, although I don’t know what these relate to – a crew possibly. Big, bold, psychedelic and modestly outrageous – I love it.

3743. Brunel Way (111)

Judging by the number of photographs I have of these delightful small pieces by Maybe, I will be posting them pretty regularly over the coming weeks and months, which can only be a good thing. I expect it won’t be too long before I have enough to do a gallery. I love this kind of quirky and different street art, as it represents another element on the vast spectrum of styles and techniques used to brighten up our streets.

Maybe, Brunel Way, Bristol, May 2021
Maybe, Brunel Way, Bristol, May 2021

Maybe tends to paint only under Brunel Way, and I haven’t seen any of his work anywhere else in Bristol. This is a calm and meditative piece that really demonstrates how far Maybe has come in such a short space of time. The signature profile face is in the form of a balloon, but in this piece the introduction of planets in a star-studded sky is a theme that the artist returns to in several more works. Lovely to see, and something a little different.

Parsley in my ears

.

Waiting for the boy

to watch the match together

the joy of playback

.

shut out all noises or clues

I’ll put parsley in my ears

.

by Scooj

This is a rather cryptic Tanka which I am composing while waiting for my son to get home from his late shift so that we can watch the England v Scotland match together on playback. I have to guard against hearing the neighbours shouting or turning on the radio or even using my phone in case I see or hear anything that might give away the score.

Putting parsley in my ears is an oblique reference to an Asterix cartoon book ‘Asterix the Gladiator’ in which the Roman soldiers put parsley in their ears so that they wouldn’t hear Cacofonix the bard singing, such was the dreadful noise he made.

3742. Cattle Market Road (8)

The extraordinary pieces on Cattle Market Road from last summer were beginning to get a bit tagged up and have recently been fair game for new work. This is one of the new collaborations to appear there, by Acer One and Conrico.

Acer One, Cattle Market Road, Bristol, May 2021
Acer One, Cattle Market Road, Bristol, May 2021

It seems to me that Acer One is pretty much up for collaborating with anyone in Bristol who can chuck paint at a wall. Here he gives us a ‘LAZY DAZE’ block of writing in his geometric font on a beachy backdrop painted by Conrico. Acer One’s letters always play tricks with my eyes, sometimes when I look at the lettering it is completely flat pattern and I can’t make out the shapes, other times, if I stand further back, the 3D effect kicks in. Very clever stuff.

Conrico and Acer One, Cattle Market Road, Bristol, May 2021
Conrico and Acer One, Cattle Market Road, Bristol, May 2021

Conrico is a busy artist who paints loads of walls, but often in places unfamiliar to me, so he is somewhat underrepresented in Natural Adventures. In this collaboration Conrico has created an island paradise setting with some fun elements such as the exaggerated wave and little yacht, and the crab waving a placard which reads ‘Oli T, Conrico Steez, Acer One’. Which brings me to the point of the piece, which is a tribute to Oli T’s original Lazy Daze piece painted in Kingsdown in the early 1980s, one of the earliest spray can murals in the city (information taken from Acer One’s Instagram thread).