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Captured in a glass
an unholy eviction
carefully released
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by Scooj
• 30 Days Wild is an initiative organised by the Wildlife Trusts. It is an annual challenge event, for those who choose to participate, to do one ‘wild’ thing a day throughout the month of June. I will try to write a nature haiku every day if I can, as my contribution to this celebration of wildlife and biodiversity. I did this back in 2015 and thoroughly enjoyed the challenge.
I find myself sounding like a stuck record all too often when it comes to posting about Mr Draws’ work, in part because he has been an ever-present on Natural Adventures and continues to paint his unique style of writing and his diverse street art pieces, and I have found myself repeating myself a little, which in no way detracts from his wonderful work.
There is a freedom and joy in Mr Draws’ graffiti writing in which he concentrates on his fills, usually with hard edges between colours rather than blended transitions. He has used his customary deep drop shadow, and the whole thing is bordered with a clean white line. A fine archetypal Mr Draws piece that is a key part of the continuing culture of the whole Bristol street art and graffiti writing scene.
The day after the wedding party before… Actually I was a designated driver last night and am feeling good, apart from suffering with a sore throat from competing with some rather loud music. I feel my age on these occasions. I am pressed for time this morning, so a couple of quick posts for you.
DFC1848 paid one of his occasional visits to Bristol in May, and left a few of his hallmark character pieces behind, including this cutie under the M32. As ever it is always great to see his characters, which he has been developing over the last few years. I fully expect to see him painting at the Cheltenham Paint Festival next month.
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A roseate starburst
beside a sun drenched pathway
modest, unnoticed
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by Scooj
In Bristol we are spoilt and have become accustomed to seeing extraordinary wildstyle graffiti writing from Hemper on a regular basis. This wonderful organic piece is simply the latest in an outstanding series from the talented artist.
The letters spell out HEMS and have remarkable depth to them created through both incredible design and technique using light and shade. The whole thing almost looks like a metal plate or buckle slapped onto the wall. Subtle colours, shiny light and a cool drippy border all contribute to the overall 3D effect. What a beauty.
It is rather pleasing to be posting another stencil piece, there have been a rash of them lately, and especially one from John D’oh, who has been a little quiet over the last six months or so. This is one of a couple of pieces by the artist currently in Leonard Lane.
This philosophy, I am not sure if it is a quote (Update: it is a quote from the brilliant Chrisopher Walken) or a wisdom from John D’oh himself, is perhaps a message of our times and our collective obsession with consumption, upgrade and appearance. It reads:
“If you knew how quickly people forget the dead, you would stop living to impress people”.
I think that this is aimed at people with outer-directed values, a segment of our society that has ballooned since Thatcher came to power. The statement is accompanied by a skeleton character holding a spray can. Great work from John D’oh.
A quick couple of posts today, because I am writing this in advance of my niece’s wedding party today, and have a rather squeezed timetable. There is something rather special happening with Benjimagnetic’s work at the moment, and I can’t quite put my finger on exactly what it is, but he seems to have stepped up a level recently, with some great designs and a cleaner look to his pieces.
This one in the tunnel is an absolute belter and the colour selection is sublime and may, in part, be what is contributing to his new level. Ordinary Benjimagnetic writes BEN, but I am struggling a little to read this piece. I am very much enjoying this strong surge of pieces from Benjimagnetic.
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House side passageway
fringed with dampened greenery
where little frogs hide
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by Scooj
* 30 Days Wild is an initiative organised by the Wildlife Trusts. It is an annual challenge event, for those who choose to participate, to do one ‘wild’ thing a day throughout the month of June. I will try to write a nature haiku every day if I can, as my contribution to this celebration of wildlife and biodiversity. I did this back in 2015 and thoroughly enjoyed the challenge.
Although I have been featuring Solar on Natural Adventures since 2021, it wasn’t until May this year that I actually got to meet him while he was painting this piece. As with pretty much all the artists I meet he is a really nice person and managed to instantly dispel some of my imagined preconceptions of members of the PLB crew, which were largely based around not having met any of them.
I would categorise Solar’s writing style as soft anti-style, meaning that while he bucks the trend of conventional graffiti writing, there is some order and consistency to his letters, nothing too chaotic or anarchic. The letters are nicely done but the star of the show is the ‘implied’ drop shadow in blue and black, which is a very clever mechanism I haven’t seen deployed before. You’d think that the colour scheme wouldn’t work, and at first that was my impression, but actually it seems to work remarkably well.
My sister and brother-in-law had a wonderful West Highland white terrier, or Westie as they are commonly known, called Jessie, who died a little over a year ago at a ripe old age. She was very sweet, and although I didn’t much like dogs when they first got her, I did warm to her over the years. When I saw this beautiful little stencil at the entrance of Leonard Lane by Man-X, my mind immediately turned to Jessie.
I believe that Man-X AKA Alix Lemetayer is a French stencil artist, but I can find little more information about him. This is a lovely stencil, so full of personality, and captures the animal perfectly. I believe that he may have placed another stencil in the Lane during his visit to Bristol, which I think I missed when I found this Westie, so I rather need to go back. Dogs and stencils, what’s not to love?
Natural adventures 