Month: April 2023

5134. The Paintworks (4)

Haka, The Paintworks, Bristol, March 2023
Haka, The Paintworks, Bristol, March 2023

Catching a glimpse of this piece across a building site took me straight back to my childhood and my favourite children’s picture books authored and illustrated by Richard Scarry. Particular favourite books were ‘Busy Busy World’ and ‘What do People do all Day’, the latter even made an appearance in a TV commercial with me and my sister, but that is a whole other story.

Haka, The Paintworks, Bristol, March 2023
Haka, The Paintworks, Bristol, March 2023

I have no idea when Haka painted this wonderful piece of Lowly Worm driving in his apple car, and I have probably only just noticed it because of the building site possibly exposing the wall. Haka certainly has a knack of escalating levels of nostalgia with his picture book character series of pieces, but this one absolutely is my favourite so far. I now feel like I need to find a copy of one of Richard Scarry’s books, just for old times’ sake. Perfection.

Solo

.

Dance of the mayfly

choreographic display

nobody’s watching

.

by Scooj

  • On seeing an urban male mayfly that hatched a little too early. I’m not sure that I have ever seen one in Bristol before.

5133. Brunel Way (200)

Kid Krishna, Brunel Way, Bristol, March 2023
Kid Krishna, Brunel Way, Bristol, March 2023

With this piece, that incidentally didn’t last very long, Kid Krishna demonstrated his incredible versatility. If I hadn’t met him when he was painting this piece, I’m not sure that I would have known it was one of his, although the fact that it was painted next to a Markinetic piece might have been a bit of a clue, together with the FFS, NKA and TPN.

Kid Krishna, Brunel Way, Bristol, March 2023
Kid Krishna, Brunel Way, Bristol, March 2023

I think that I can see the letters CRIE in this rather more traditional wildstyle graffiti writing, which is so full of different textures and tones – a classy piece of work. We chatted for quite a long time, and I like it that Kid Krishna seems to be happy to stop and chew the fat – the subject of our conversation was one I seem to be having a lot lately, and the clamp down by BCC on graffiti/street art, and the recent announcement from the Government (and opposition) bout antisocial behaviour.

Of course in my mind, there is a big difference between tagging someone’s front door, which is vandalism, and painting creative artworks in places that have a culture of such. Maybe a topic of conversation for another post.

5132. St Werburghs tunnel (364)

Logoe, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2023
Logoe, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2023


Logoe has been back in town and that can only mean one thing… lots of new pieces painted over a couple of days, liberally sprinkled in a variety of spots around the city. This is the first of his new batch I am posting, so expect a few more over the coming weeks.

Logoe, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2023
Logoe, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2023

Written in rather attractive colours, the beautiful script letters flow effortlessly across the wall at the end of the tunnel. There is a rather nice series of peaks at the top of the letters, and an ellipsis at the start of the word Logoe. No recent Logoe piece is complete without a spread of oval spots running along the length of the piece. Great to have him visit again.

 

 

5131. Dean Lane skate park (585)

Nugmoose, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2023
Nugmoose, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2023

I would think that it is fair to say that Nugmoose is one of the most original artists in Bristol, and his ‘organic alien’ style is unlike anything else we see in the city. He usually paints alongside Mommy Nature these days, but unfortunately, when I got to photograph this, her adjacent jelly piece had already been painted over. You’ve got to be quick in this game.

Nugmoose, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2023
Nugmoose, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2023

Quite what goes on in Nugmoose’s mind is unfathomable, but his pieces always generate a certain amount of curiosity. He has a way of combining alien writing with organic forms, and he has treated us to a couple of humanoid aliens, a squid-type creature and a couple of alien items of fast food, or so it looks. Weird and compelling.

5130. M32 Cycle path (208)

Smak, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, March 2023
Smak, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, March 2023

Happy Easter folks. It looks like today has the makings of a perfect blue-sky day, but it is a little cloudy just now. At least it isn’t raining. This is a little Easter treat, although it was painted a while back, from Smak, whose work these days is not as frequent as it once was.

Smak, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, March 2023
Smak, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, March 2023

The SMAK letters in a kind of brown/brass colour are set on a background of pink and blue, and have a kind of ‘brushed metal’, look to them. A modest piece from one of the best graffiti writers in town.

5129. Dean Lane skate park (594)

What Katy Made Next, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2023
What Katy Made Next, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2023

I have an interesting and rather close relationship with squid. The reason this blog exists, and why it is called Natural Adventures, is that It was a way of digitising a journal I kept when I worked in the Falkland Islands in 1987, much of the time being spent on a Japanese squid fishing boat called the Koei Maru 30. You can read the journal here (up to where I have reached so far).

What Katy Made Next, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2023
What Katy Made Next, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2023

This is a wonderful squid piece painted by What Katy Made Next at the Bristol Mural Collective paint Jam at the start of March. It is a fine piece that captures the colours and vibrancy of the cephalopod set on an Earth-like background. The very first piece I painted in my garden was also a squid with the letters SCOOJ concealed (rather cleverly, I thought). It is high time I did some more spraying of my own.

Scooj, Squid, Bristol, May 2019
Scooj, Squid, Bristol, May 2019

 

5128. Cattle Market Road (15)

Mote, Cattle Market Road, Bristol, March 2023
Mote, Cattle Market Road, Bristol, March 2023

An endearing bird monster thing painted by Mote on the hoarding behind Temple Meads Station. Mote is tireless and his imagination limitless, which is a good thing for those of us who like to find his work dotted around the City.

Mote, Cattle Market Road, Bristol, March 2023
Mote, Cattle Market Road, Bristol, March 2023

This rather forlorn creature is nicely composed, and the soft tones work well together. I am guessing that this might have been here a while because it proceeds his wobbly monsters, which started appearing in February this year. Another one for the collection.

5127. Dean Lane skate park (583)

Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2023
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2023

This door at the far end of the skate park gets quite a lot of attention from artists and taggers, and is a candidate for the ‘One Wall‘ series of posts that I do. This time it hosts a lovely rabbit piece from Hire. These are not to be confused with other rabbits that were a common feature in Bristol, until the artist, Eldey (followmyrabbits) was jailed for rape and attempted rape in 2021. Hire’s rabbits were the original Bristol rabbits and have an element of edge to them.

Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2023
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2023

A yellow rabbit on a green door is the stuff of children’s picture books, I had a particular favourite called ‘Go Dog Go’, which features coloured dogs and trees and so on… I digress. This is another fine rabbit from Hire in a long sequence going back to when I first started photographing graffiti and street art in Bristol.

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5126. M32 Cycle path (207)

Raid, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, March 2023
Raid, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, March 2023

I love it when a new artist appears on my radar and I start to see their work all over the place. I think that Raid is a relative newcomer to Bristol, but he is already making an impact with his distinct and attractive writing.

Raid, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, March 2023
Raid, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, March 2023

The letters spell RAID, with the ‘A’ being rather distinct. The letter shapes seem to be retained from piece to piece, so it is the drop shadow and fills that change, and he has done a superb job with this one. The drop shadow is cleverly done with a black surround and grey middle, adding character and interest. The solid blue fill is decorated with colourful pixel patterns, creating a rather joyful overall feel. More to come from Raid soon.