Month: October 2021

4010. Sparke Evans Park (15)

I haven’t had an awful lot of luck photographing this wall, it is not an easy one to do. The best time I guess for photography is in the middle of an overcast day, any other time it is too dark, or there are multiple shadows cast by a row of trees. These pictures were taken in the early evening, but as you can see the quality of light was poor.

Sikoh, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, October 2021
Sikoh, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, October 2021

Excuses over. This is a magnificent panther piece by Sikoh, painted as part of the Nightwayss birthday paint jam. Sikoh is a member of the PWA crew alongside Face 1st, Soap and Nightwayss, but doesn’t paint nearly as frequently as the rest of them, which is regrettable, because his work is out of the top drawer. There is so much to admire in this piece, but I think the thing I like the most is the incredibly detailed little skulls that make up the leopard’s spots. How does he do that? Simply brilliant.

4009. M32 roundabout J3 (352)

Mest is one of several artists who keep things simple. He adopts the same basic design of letters but plays around with the background, fill and shadow colours, always creating interest and variation of a form.

Mest, M32 roundabout, Bristol, October 2021
Mest, M32 roundabout, Bristol, October 2021

This is a lovely new piece on the M32 roundabout painted alongside Stivs, a good friend, and adopting the same colour scheme. I wonder if it is the influence of Stivs, but this piece is really tight and one of Mest’s best to date in my opinion. The horizontal transition of greens is nicely handled, and the thin green border is very sharp. An attractive piece of work.

Moving on

.

A team fragmented

promotion and secondment

and those left behind

.

by Scooj

4008. St Werburghs tunnel (263)

Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah! It has been such a long time since I have seen a street piece from Kid Crayon, although he has been doing a lot of studio and digital work over the last few months, it is refreshing to see something big and bold. In this collaboration, Kid Crayon has teamed up with Nightwayss, who conversely doesn’t seem to have stopped hitting walls this year, he is a machine.

Kid Crayon, St Werburghs, Bristol, October 2021
Kid Crayon, St Werburghs, Bristol, October 2021

To the left of this ‘Finger Trap’ piece, Kid Crayon has painted a brilliant character (is it a self-portrait?) poking his finger into the trap while tipping his red baseball cap. The character is brilliant and so uniquely Kid Crayon.

Nightwayss, St Werburghs, Bristol, October 2021
Nightwayss, St Werburghs, Bristol, October 2021

To the right and making up the other half of the collaboration, joined with the central trap, is an unusual piece by Nightwayss. I love this recent experimental style from Nightwayss that seems to be exploring the fragmentation and interruption of a portrait and other elements, such as a parrot in this case. The fine artist in Nightwayss is coming to the fore in exploring new ideas and forms. Pity about the tag, but hey, you snooze, you lose!

Lovely and most welcome collaboration.

4007. Brunel Way (125)

This piece under Brunel Way is something of a rarity. It is by Stiff, who doesn’t paint walls all that often, and this is only the second piece of his that I have posted on Natural Adventures, although I know I have a third somewhere (just found it labelled Unknown!).

Stiff, Brunel Way, Bristol, October 2021
Stiff, Brunel Way, Bristol, October 2021

I love his cartoon compositions that tell fabulous stories in his preferred format of black background and green and white artwork. The alien/quirky scientist face-off is beautifully animated and very nicely sprayed. A bit of fun and a welcome surprise. I would love to see more from Stiff.

Thursday doors – 21 October 2021

Doors 165 – Penzance, Cornwall

Continuing with my doors of Cornwall from a short family holiday in August, I bring you this series of wonderful doors in Penzance.

My father lived in Penzance after he retired until his death in April 2018, and it was probably the happiest period of his life. He was a colourful man whose career in stage management, pub management and show business went down very well with the locals. He was an adopted son of Penzance and known to many in the town. This visit was a pilgrimage to the place he loved so much. I used the opportunity to photograph a few doors too.

Penzance was once a prosperous town that found itself at the end of Isenbard Kingdom Brunel’s Great Western Railway, and is known to many from the Gilbert and Sullivan light opera, The Pirates of Penzance (or The Pirates of Men’s Pants as we used to call it at school). Now it is a bit of an eclectic place, with prosperity and poverty side by side. It is a honeypot for eccentrics, hippies, collectors of junk, drunks and addicts who seem to be attracted by its remoteness, quirkiness and mild climate. I think my dad made it into at least two of those categories.

I rather like this collection, I hope you do too…

Blue door with superb neoclassical portico, Penzance, Cornwall, August 2021
Blue door with superb neoclassical portico, Penzance, Cornwall, August 2021

 

Captain Cutters House door, Penzance, Cornwall, August 2021
Captain Cutters House door, Penzance, Cornwall, August 2021

 

Steps to a high door, Penzance, Cornwall, August 2021
Steps to a high door, Penzance, Cornwall, August 2021

 

A stunning door to the former home of the mother and aunt of the Brontë sisters, Penzance, Cornwall, August 2021
A stunning door to the former home of the mother and aunt of the Brontë sisters, Penzance, Cornwall, August 2021

 

Plaque by the door to the former home of the mother and aunt of the Brontë sisters, Penzance, Cornwall, August 2021
Plaque by the door to the former home of the mother and aunt of the Brontë sisters, Penzance, Cornwall, August 2021

 

Double door and contrasting colours, Penzance, Cornwall, August 2021
Double door and contrasting colours, Penzance, Cornwall, August 2021

 

Double door and steps, Penzance, Cornwall, August 2021
Double door and steps, Penzance, Cornwall, August 2021

 

Another stunning door slightly set back, Penzance, Cornwall, August 2021
Another stunning door slightly set back, Penzance, Cornwall, August 2021

 

More doors from Cornwall to come, but I think that next week I will try to switch it up a little bit with something else. That’s it for this week, may I wish you all a fun and relaxing weekend ahead.

If you have made it this far, you probably like doors, and you really ought to take a look at the No Facilities blog by Dan Anton who has taken over the hosting of Thursday Doors  from Norm 2.0 blog. Links to more doorscursions can be found in the comments section of Dan Anton’s Thursday Doors post.

by Scooj

4006. St Werburghs tunnel (262)

Although rather small and modest in scope, this little collaboration is very significant in the history of street art in Bristol. Veee, an artist from Weston-super-Mare and Stinkfish joined forces to bomb a couple of walls at the tail end of a trip that Stinkfish had made to the city. A crowd-funded project had brought the artist back to Bristol to tidy up a couple of iconic pieces he painted here some years ago.

Veee and Stinkfish, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2021
Veee and Stinkfish, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2021

I had actually met the artists very briefly as they sprayed a wall in Dean Lane – unfortunately, when I returned a day later their work had been over-painted, so I only have this WIP shot. It was great to meet Stinkfish, in particular, because of his global reputation – he is a street art rock star, no doubt about it.

Stinkfish, St Werburghs, Bristol, October 2021
Stinkfish, St Werburghs, Bristol, October 2021

The St Werburghs piece by Stinkfish is similar to the Dean Lane one, and it is like a mega tag. I wonder how many people know who it is by. It is interesting that Stinkfish would want to spray these little anonymous pieces about the place, but then again, I guess that is all part of the fun of spray-painting. There is another one of these that I will share soon, and of course I have to go and photograph the two renovations too.

Veee seems to be making quite a big noise at the moment, and I know that there will be plenty more pieces from him in Natural Adventures before long.

Vee and Stinkfish, St Werburghs, Bristol, October 2021
Vee and Stinkfish, St Werburghs, Bristol, October 2021

4005. Sparke Evans Park (14)

Although this piece would appear to have been painted at the same time as the paint jam organised for Nightwayss’ birthday, it had actually been painted a day or two before. The other artists liked it so much that they kept it and painted around it, which is high praise. The artist Tack Jucker told me this story himself, and I think that he was a bit chuffed.

Tack Jucker, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, October 2021
Tack Jucker, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, October 2021

There is something going on with Monkeys in Bristol at the moment, and I wonder if it is the influence of Nightwayss, the monkey master. This looks a little bit like a baboon with a rather threatening gesture and bared teeth. It looks like Soap, or one of the others have embellished the piece with some gems, but it has been done sensitively rather than mindless tags. Although this might be the first piece from Tack Jucker on Natural Adventures, I can guarantee it will not be the last.

4004. Greenbank (17)

Barely a week goes by when I don’t have something to post by Laic217. This piece on the long wall at Greenbank is an absolute gem and is painted in a rather cheerful assemblage of colours, although the subject is inevitably skeleton related.

Laic217, Greenbank, Bristol, September 2021
Laic217, Greenbank, Bristol, September 2021

There are lots of things we expect to see from Laic217, including the bucket hat, fabulously painted folds in the clothing, and the reappearance, after a long pause, of the brickwork glasses. I love the contrast between the grey scale characters and the colourful background. Yet another fine work from this highly talented artist.

4003. Walliscote Road (1), Weston-super-Mare

I will never quite understand why some artists never have as high a profile on Natural Adventures as they deserve, this is even more puzzling when those artists are as talented and creative as I bee W. I have several of his pieces in my archive simply waiting to be posted, but they are trapped. I wasn’t going to let that happen with this wonderful stencil piece in Weston-super-Mare

I bee W, Walliscote Road, Weston-super-Mare, September 2021
I bee W, Walliscote Road, Weston-super-Mare, September 2021

The stencil is unusual, because it features a nude figure which is very unusual in UK street art. Maybe we were prudish or something, but nude art is rarely seen. The complex, multi-layered stencil is typical of the excellent work we see from I bee W, and has a sense of optimism and freedom about it. I will be unearthing more work from this fabulous stencil artist.