March 2024 – Page 4 – Natural adventures

5898. Elton Street (28)

Used Pencil, Elton Street, Bristol, February 2024 — UsedPencil, Elton Street, Bristol, February 2024

The ‘gallery’ in Elton Street, on the side of the Lost Horizons Arts Centre, is always worth a look. There are five or six framed boards raised above the street (ladders required for the artists), curated by the Arts Centre, and which are rarely, if ever, tagged or overpainted. This board, on the end of the building has been painted by Used Pencil, a Bristol artist whose work I have only once seen before at Upfest 2022.

This piece is painted with a combination of spray paint and brushes, which helps to give it that texture and detail, and you can find a video of its creation on Used Pencil’s Instagram feed. It is a piece that is easy on the eye and has a kind of mystical feel to it. Although the style is recognisable from his Upfest piece, the subject matter is quite different.

Usedpencil, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022

5897. M32 roundabout J3 (599)

Slakarts, M32 roundabout, Bristol February 2024

I think it’s safe to say he’s back. Slakarts has been knocking out a few pieces lately, perhaps making up for lost time over the last couple of years, during which he has been reasonably quiet. With this quick one, he is maintaining his ‘mega-tag’ presence, reminding us that he is out and about.

Slakarts hasn’t buffed the wall for this piece, and ordinarily that might lead to it being a little bit lost, but his colour selection and precise spray can work are strong enough to help it stand out over the mess. More to come from the resurgent Slakarts soon.

Thursday doors – 21 March 2024, Cheddar Gorge

Doors 257 – Doors of Cheddar Gorge (Part II)

View of the gorge, Cheddar, Somerset, October 2023

This week I am posting the second selection of doors from a trip I made to Cheddar Gorge last October at a launch event for the declaration of the Mendip National Nature Reserve. While I was there, I made a little bit of time to take a few photographs of the shops and houses in this famous narrow gorge.

A short site visit to part of the new Nature Reserve took us to the village of Priddy a mile or two up the gorge. The heavens opened and the last two pictures capture the moment pretty well. I hope you enjoy the doors:

Cottage black door, Cheddar Gorge, Somerset, October 2023

Ticket office doors, Cheddar Gorge, Somerset, October 2023

Entrance to Jacobs Ladder - a long set of steps to the top of the gorge, Cheddar Gorge, Somerset, October 2023 — Entrance to Jacobs Ladder – a long set of steps to the top of the gorge, Cheddar Gorge, Somerset, October 2023

Gift shop doors and awning, Cheddar Gorge, Somerset, October 2023

The original Cheddar Cheese Company, Cheddar Gorge, Somerset, October 2023

Is that a wolf guarding the door to Lily Cottage? Cheddar Gorge, Somerset, October 2023

Village green during a cloudburst, Priddy, Somerset, October 2023

A very wet building and fine entrance, Priddy, Somerset, October 2023

So that’s yer lot from Cheddar Gorge, I haven’t quite decided what to do for next week, but I have tons of doors in my archive to choose from, so I guess it will be a bit of a surprise for all of us. Have a great 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, and in his Sunday round up.

by Scooj

5896. Greenbank (111)

Over the last few months Werm has calmed his pieces a little, from the highly complex and technically brilliant pieces into something slightly easier on the eye, and this piece, for me, represents a mature approach from an artist who doesn’t need to impress any more, but rather, can concentrate on creating a thing of beauty.

The colour palette for this piece seems to work really well, and Werm has blended the fill colours expertly. The orange border and accompaniments augment the writing perfectly, the test of which is to imagine the piece without that splash of colour, rendering it greatly diminished. I like and welcome this new direction from Werm, and greatly admire this piece.

5895. St Werburghs tunnel (413)

Inkie, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2024

With this piece in St Werburghs tunnel, Inkie demonstrates his versatility, and shows that he can paint way outside his ‘house’ style that is so familiar to folk in Bristol. This piece was painted during the incredibly well attended February paint jam organised by Ryder.

Inkie has painted something of a tribute to Galaxian, a computer game from 1979 that could be found in pretty much every pub or arcade in the early 1980s usually alongside Asteroids. The INKIE letters have been painted in the Galaxian brand style, and he has included rows of spaceships in formation. This is a wonderfully painted piece of ’80s nostalgia, which would have resonated with most of the other artists who participated in the paint jam.

5894. Dean Lane skate park (699)

Kid Crayon, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2024

The day I originally photographed this wonderful piece by Kid Crayon was very wet indeed, and although most days have been wet this winter/spring, that day was particularly wet. I mention this because, unfortunately, my original set of photographs were blurred with a spot of rain on the lens. Of course, by the time I returned to get more pictures, the piece had been tagged, so this post has a blurred untagged image and a crisp tagged one. It can be difficult to win at this game sometimes.

Kid Crayon has been out a couple of times recently, and it is great to see, I certainly miss his work during the long gaps of street inactivity. In recent years, his work mainly consists of a letters/character combination and with this piece he doesn’t disappoint. The letters are painted in modest colour tones, and the ‘seams’ ‘bolted’ together with ‘rivets’, a writing technique used by other artists in Bristol.

The character face is the star of the piece in my eyes an harks back to Kid Crayon’s early wheatpaste faces that got me curious about street art in Bristol in the first place, back in 2015. The trademark crayon is present, floating in front of the character’s face – who needs a signature and letters spelling out your name when you only have to include a floating crayon?

At the time of painting this wonderful piece, Kid Crayon left a little extra, as he often does, by painting the bin at the far corner of the skate park. Stylish stuff.

Skimmia

A midnight fragrance

when the nighttime air is still

and daytime nectar

by Scooj

5893. Dean Lane skate park (698)

Fade and Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2024

Probably the most notable ‘high-end’ collaboration partnership of the last twelve months has been that between Fade and Dibz. Shortly after Fade’s return to the UK, he teamed up with Dibz and they haven’t looked back since, turning out outstanding collaborative pieces on an almost weekly basis. For sure, the increased output from Dibz has been incredible, as he had slowed down a bit during the Covid years.

On the left Fade has written FADE in fairly soft lilacs with turquoise borders but surrounded them with vibrant bright oranges and yellows, providing contrast and interest. To the right is a character, Son Goku, from the TV series Dragon Ball – I never saw it, perhaps because I was too old, and didn’t have kids (1989-1996). I don’t know who painted the character… it may have been a joint effort.

To the right Dibz has adopted a similar colour scheme, although applied in a different way. Such perfect writing, wonderfully tight as you’d expect. These two continue to smash it with every piece they paint, and it doesn’t look like they will be slowing down any time soon.

5892. Cumberland Basin

Mote and Mr Crawls, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, March 2024

It looks like the dynamic duo, Mr Crawls and Mote, are going to keep us entertained for some time to come, as their collaborations keep popping up all around the city, and as they paint more often together, they appear to be bouncing ideas off one another to bring about some convergent evolution of styles.

Mote, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, March 2024

In these two utility box pieces, the artists have retreated a little back to their original identities, and the discrete nature of the boxes lend themselves to this separation. Mote has painted one of his friendly monster faces on a chrome background (the pair’s background of choice it seems) in his favoured pastel shades. Boldness juxtaposed with modesty – a good look.

Mr Crawls, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, March 2024

On the adjacent utility box, Mr Crawls has seized the opportunity to paint one of his birds, I think this one is an eagle wearing a bucket/pork pie hat. Both pieces have omitted pupils in the eyes, leaving the characters with a bit of a ghostly or ambiguous expression, a deliberate move to leave the viewer a little unsettled perhaps? Great stuff from this pair.

5891. St Werburghs tunnel (412)

Rowdy, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2024

Although he doesn’t paint all that often these days, Rowdy is responsible for some of the most iconic street art in Bristol. His crude pieces, often featuring his trademark crocodile, have been a mainstay of the Bristol scene for decades. He painted this small piece during Ryder’s RAW paint jam a couple of weeks back.

In this piece, Rowdy has painted a masked cat character hovering above a vibrant nigh time urban scene. There is an energy to the piece and a hint of subversion which I like. Of course a vertical green crocodile is in attendance. Of course, as is common in many works in the city at the moment, it is accompanied with the words ‘Free Palestine’. It is always a pleasure to see anything by Rowdy.

	Laura Newhampshire on 7449. Greenbank (180)
	restlessjo on 7449. Greenbank (180)
	Cethru Cellophane on 7449. Greenbank (180)
	Suzette Benjamin on Thursday doors – 5 Febru…
	Suzette Benjamin on 7449. Greenbank (180)

	Laura Newhampshire on 7449. Greenbank (180)
	restlessjo on 7449. Greenbank (180)
	Cethru Cellophane on 7449. Greenbank (180)
	Suzette Benjamin on Thursday doors – 5 Febru…
	Suzette Benjamin on 7449. Greenbank (180)

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