June 2023 – Page 5 – Natural adventures

5302. Purdown (58)

Enn Kay (NAK), Purdown, Bristol, May 2023

Let’s hear it for the goats! The ruins of the Purdown Anti-Aircraft gun emplacement, commanding fine views over North Bristol, are contained within a fenced area into which goats are introduced each spring, presumably to keep the undergrowth in check. This humorous piece by Enn Kay (NAK), carries a strong message for dog owners, to make sure they are kept on a lead, as there have been several attacks by dogs on the goats. This is a sentiment I fully agree with as a responsible dog-owner, and I always have my cocker spaniel on the lead in this space.

The goat, in cartoon style, is looking pretty fed up with yet another dog passing by, mine was right in front of this piece while I photographed it. It is beautifully painted, and the look on its face is priceless. It goes to show that not all advisory notices have to be authoritative and stern, humour and kindness can have a similar impact. Nice work from Enn Kay.

5301. Peel Street Green (12)

Solar, Peel Street Green, Bristol, June 2023

As mentioned in a previous post, I am trying to give Solar a bit more of a profile on Natural Adventures, because I believe his work provides another strong element on the vast spectrum of graffiti writing in the city.

I’m not quite sure how I would describe Solar’s style, but I think ephemeral and free are words that spring to mind. Like Lee Roy’s work, it is tending towards anti-style, but perhaps in a more passive way. The letters in this piece, spelling SOLAR and with a PLB crew tag, are written in a mixture of upper and lower case, breaking any formal conventions. The blues are uplifting, and unusually the background is also the fill. The letters are disrupted by vertical streaks of cloudy something. The whole piece is rather atmospheric and compelling in a modest presentation.

5300. M32 roundabout J3 (481)

Serm, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2023

He doesn’t paint all that often, but when he does, Serm pretty much always does a grand job of it. I think it might have been the polite thing to do to buff the wall a little first, because you can still see the Hypo piece beneath, but it is no big deal, because overpainting is part of the way of life for graffiti writers.

Although the writing clearly spells SERM, I keep reading SESK, because there used to be a writer in Bristol called Sesk some time ago, a writer of some notoriety I might add, but that is another story. The chunky letters are really nicely filled with a complex layering of patterns, topped with some thin line bubbles. To go with the chunky letters is a very deep 3D drop shadow drifting to the right, in a range of blues. This is a nice tidy piece by Serm, and after a couple more from him, I’ll have enough for a gallery.

PD

Parkinson’s disease

incurable, progressive

a part of our lives

by Scooj

In 2020, during lock down, my wife was diagnosed with having Parkinson’s Disease. Of course, it was a huge shock, and we are gently easing ourselves into a life with the disease. Last night I went to my first event for people with PD and their partners/families/carers. It was a brilliantly funny comedy evening with Paul Mayhew-Archer, writer of the Vicar of Dibly, amongst other situation comedies. His honest and intelligent look at PD was brilliantly delivered, and for me at least, removed some of the fear about what lies ahead. I don’t think I would have self-disclosed this through the haiku had I not been to see his comedy show last night. Bravo Paul M-A and all who live with PD.

5299. Brunel Way (209)

Mr Underbite, Brunel Way, Bristol, June 2023

I would definitely like to see more from Mr Underbite on the streets. His versatile, if rather unfortunate, character definitely adds a touch of butter sweet humour to the streets of Bristol. Although this is a small piece, probably a little old and slightly out of the way, I thought I would post it, because it has a charm about it and is very much a part of the everyday street art experience in the city.

Technically, this piece is more Daveside than Brunel Way, but I use the latter as a generic area description, in much the same way that I use Cumberland Basin to describe the large area just north of the river. Nicely painted, the hapless character, with his comb-over hair, makes me smile, just as all of Mr Underbite’s pieces do. I only found this by mistake, reminding me always to walk the few extra yards and to be inquisitive… the rewards are out there.

5298. Dean Lane skate park (609)

It might be the colour palette, I don’t know, but there is something about this piece that instantly grabs you and says ‘hey, I’m special’. Hire’s work will be a familiar to regular readers of Natural Adventures, and he is one of my favourite graffiti artists in Bristol, and I think that what he has done here is exceptional.

Three things stand out for me in this piece. The first is the colour selections for the letters and the background and the way they complement each other so well – very pleasing to the eye. The second is the almost imperceptible difference in colour shade used for the H and R, compared with the I and E of his name, so subtle and so clever. Finally, I think that the little squiggles surrounding the letters are brilliant and remind me of a visualisation of Brownian motion. Each of these elements lift the piece from being great to exceptional.

5297. St John’s Lane (2)

Shade One, St John's Lane, Bristol, June 2023 — Shade One, St John’s Lane, Bristol, June 2023

This is the second piece I am posting from an outstanding collaborative ‘wall’ on a new hoarding in St John’s Lane. This breathtaking portrait piece is by Shade One and is significant in so much as it demonstrates so clearly how over the last couple of years he has developed his style from high-end cartoon portraits to a photorealistic style.

The sunglasses woman is painted in greyscale, which works really well when set against the colourful cosmic, cloudy background. When working in greyscale, particular attention has to be paid to light and shade, and Shade One has done this well, particularly in the folds of the fabric of the woman’s top. This is one of several outstanding pieces painted during a high-class paint jam a short while ago.

5296. Cumberland Basin

Kid Krishna, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, June 2023

Just when I think I have seen it all from Kid Krishna, he comes up with this delicious piece in Cumberland Basin. Normally his letters, albeit cryptic, spell out CRIE, but I am not sure whether that is the case here – it might be a KRIE variant. Although the writing is a bit busy, it is calmer and cleaner than some of his more recent pieces.

Thee star of this piece, in my view, is the Mickey Mouse character standing to the left. It isn’t enough for Kid Krishna to paint a conventional flat Mickey Mouse, no, he has painted a deliberately blurred three-dimensional character wearing a cap and with half a skull across Mickey’s face. There is something weird going on with the shorts, with what looks like holes and a fiery furnace behind. Brilliant stuff from the artist who simply doesn’t stop.

5295. Purdown (57)

Full Time Ghoul, Purdown, Bristol, May 2023

It is happening a little too frequently on Natural Adventures, but Full Time Ghoul (FTG) is another artist who is definitely underrepresented on these pages, and I might have to do a sweep of my archives and post a whole group of pieces in one go.

Full Time Ghoul pretty much always paints his mega-tag, either in single or multiple forms. Here we have three ghouls joined together in a pattern resembling an everlasting knot. Recently, FTG has been using these pink and red colours for his work, and I imagine he might have bought a bulk order of paint and is gradually working his way through it.

There was another smaller and older piece from FTG up at Purdown, so I thought I’d include it with this post to demonstrate that his distinctive pieces are easy to recognise. Watch this space for more from Full Time Ghoul.

5294. Brunel Way (208)

For a little while now, Lee Roy has been smashing it out of the park with his unique style of writing that is a kind of crossover between traditional graffiti writing with a touch of anti-style thrown in. I was fortunate enough to meet the artist for the first time on the other side of the wall to this piece (and might I add, what a lovely man he is), and he told me that he used to have a much more conventional and precise style, but that he enjoys the freedom he has with his current, rather organic style.

The distinctive letters wouldn’t be out of place for a Halloween piece, with lots of drips and some red blood drips too. Each letter is nicely decorated in this two-tone colour scheme, and highlighted with three thin lines to the right of each letter to give the letters a little bit of Depth. One in a string of great pieces from Lee Roy.

	scooj on 7400. St Werburghs tunnel…
	scooj on Winter afternoon
	scooj on 7400. St Werburghs tunnel…
	scooj on Sands
	scooj on 7398. Peel Street Green (…

	M. on 7400. St Werburghs tunnel…
	skat on Winter afternoon
	Cethru Cellophane on 7400. St Werburghs tunnel…
	paulh121 on Sands
	M. on 7398. Peel Street Green (…

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