Ha ha! Face 1st always cheers me up, and doubly so with this lovely piece at the farm end of the tunnel in St Werburghs. The spot is one that is often favoured by Mr Klue (who has gone a little quiet again), but Face 1st has more than done it justice.
The running girl is blowing a huge bubble with some yellow bubblegum in which another girl’s face appears as if a reflection. The greyscale piece is packed with energy, movement and fun – a pleasure to find.
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Wimbledon tennis
quintessentially British
strawberries and cream
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by Scooj
Door 227 – Doors of York City (2)
This is the second of three galleries of pictures taken during a lightening visit to York at the end of June that included a short doorscursion. I am pressed for time, so will let the doors do the talking. I will be enjoying the Italian sun next week, but will try to do a Thursday doors post if I get time.
Meanwhile, enjoy:
So that draws things to a close for another week. Have a fabulous weekend.
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
The wall at Peel Street Green is, in my opinion, rather underutilised by artists, and the turnover quite slow, which is strange, because the broad pattern in Bristol is one of massively increasing turnover, due in part to the growth in the number of artists painting over the last few years. It was refreshing to see an RBF takeover recently at this spot that included this rather lovely piece of graffiti writing from Bbygwya.
The letters, in a rolling script, spell out FLUKZ, I think. Set on a pink background, the dark blue letters are brought to life with some interesting cosmic patterns and a thick 3D white drop shadow. Thee is a confident sense with her writing, and although this is only her second appearance on Natural Adventures, you can be certain it won’t be her last.
The Bristol Mural Collective, formerly the Bristol Womxn Mural Collective, is a loose aggregation of artists in Bristol, organised by women and with a focus on creating a safe space for women and others to paint on the streets of Bristol. Through their paint jams, they provide an access point for artists to transfer their studio skills to a street scenario, and also for wannabe street artists to gain confidence with expressing themselves and getting a toe hold in the slightly intimidating scene.
The most recent paint jam was held on the 25/26 June 2023 and took up half the long wall at Cumberland Basin, involving some 9 or 10 artists, one of whom was the lovely Esme Lower.
Esme Lower’s highly stylised figures are in a yoga pose and have exaggerated hands and feet, and tiny little heads, a theme/concept that Esme told me she enjoys painting. When I watched her roughly half way through painting this superb mural, I wasn’t quite sure how it would all come together, but she absolutely smashed it in my view. The design is one that I could easily see gracing the front of a greetings card or as a wall poster. There is definitely a Matisse influence in there somewhere.
The paint jam was enjoyable if not a little windy, but with superb views of the Clifton Suspension Bridge and the River Avon, it must be one of the best spots for artists in the city.
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Rest in peace my friend
our paths crossed for a short while
and I am grateful
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by Scooj
Formerly painting under the name Mind Control, Mind 49 (his current moniker) appears to have matured and mellowed a little. His raw talent used to focus on passionate causes, such as animal rights, however recently, he has brought some other themes and elements into his portfolio which is seeing him grow as an artist.
This portrait piece on the long wall at Cumberland Basin features a singer, with baseball cap and brilliantly painted glasses. As if to prove that he is not a one-trick pony, Mind 49 has sprayed a little bubble throw up to the left of the piece with the number ’49’. Since painting this great piece, Mind 49 has returned to Bristol with another superb work – to come.
Taboo is an artist who makes me laugh out load, not just because his anti-style letters are a great antidote to perfect wildstyle writing, and his often psychedelic characters full of weirdness and charm, but also because from time to time he paints some epic blockbusters, and this one on the M32 cycle path is quite breath-taking.
Clearly visible from the M32 motorway above, this piece offers drivers into Bristol a true Taboo welcome. Even on this massive scale, Taboo sticks to his style, with an irregular letter font, mid-line markings through the letters, and a druggy smiley character representing the first ‘O’. Huge and obvious, this is a great piece of work from Taboo.
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Obliging presence
a taste of summers recalled
when rare was common
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by Scooj
I caught up with Mr Draws when he was painting this piece, and he told me it was going to be something a little bit different and he was right. Mr Draws has always had a strong environmental conviction running through his work, and he says that he wants to do more of this kind of messaging work in the future.
Drawing attention to contemporary issues is something that street art does very well, and Mr Draws doesn’t pull any punches in this piece which states “No art on a dead planet”. The whole thing is simply done with big bold letters on a striking background. The colour fades in the big letters have been worked very nicely, and although not painted in his usual style, there is something so very Mr Draws about the piece.
Natural adventures 