This is a gorgeous column piece under Brunel Way, from visiting artist RA. Several wonderful pieces were deposited by the artist, all in the same area, and each of which really appeal to me. Anything to do with nature, and in particular insects, is going to grab my attention.
RA, Brunel Way, Bristol, July 2025
In this strip, RA has used a stencil of an insect and overlaid it three times on a tall rectangle of lime green, which works perfectly for the dimensions of a column. The detail within each of the insects has been hand painted, probably using a Posca pen for the finer detail. The pink and green colours draw attention to the piece on a grey background. Very effective and quite different.
Painted as part of a World Wall Stylwer paint jam, this is an outstanding piece from Peanutsdeli, an amazing artist who makes it into the pages of Natural Adventures from time to time, but who lives in the Cheltenham area, I think.
Peanutsdeli, L Dub, Bristol, July 2025
In this character piece, and you’ll have to forgive me for not knowing the theme for this one, there is so much fine detail, something Peanutsdeli specialises in. Those sharp lines and definition around the muscles of the character are exceptional. A piece full of movement and dynamism. Peanutsdeli smashes it again.
I have only ever found a handful of pieces by Sam Brentnall, but it doesn’t take many to make a really strong impression. There is something very endearing about this simple naïve style, so clean and crisp. I think it must have been quite recently finished when I found it, because there are no mud splashes, goat damage or tagging to be seen.
Sam Brentnall, Purdown, Bristol, July 2005
The beautiful illustration is of a man with a hat playing a guitar, and to use up the space of the concrete slab, Sam Brentnall has playfully bent the neck of the guitar back on itself, in a way that only cartoon illustrations can. Refreshing and fun.
I guess that it was fairly inevitable that tribute pieces to the late Ozzy Osbourne would start to emerge, although in Bristol, I have only found two, of which this impressive piece by Tera is one. I see how much the musician meant to so many people, but I’m afraid I don’t count myself amongst them. I always thought he was a bit of an arse, and I was less than captivated by the puerile ‘fly on the wall’ documentary series about the Osbournes, but each to their own.
Tera, St Werburghs, Bristol, July 2025
What is incredible about this large portrait is just how quickly Tera has adapted to upscaling his tattoo skills to large walls, literally in a mater of months. There is some great use of positioning bright colours against the greyscale portrait, which creates a certain dynamism. This piece captures the mood of Ozzy perfectly, and I rather like the epitaph ‘Rest in Darkness’.
I am assuming that Smak has slowed on his graffiti writing due to demands on his commercial work, or at least I hope it is something positive like that. He hasn’t lost his touch in the slightest, and this is a complete banger painted during a paint jam for Frazzled Magazine.
Smak, St Werburghs, Bristol, July 2025
The beautifully disguised letters spell out SMAK, and it is the architecture and design of the letters that is so admirable. Every element and shape, colour sequence and detail is meticulously thought out and skilfully painted. Smak really is one of the very best graffiti writers around and can turn out exquisite work like this with apparent ease. An outstanding example.
This decent combination piece by Sub in Peel Street Green is, as far as the Mario character goes, ‘take two’ and he has done a much better job of it this time round, demonstrating the value of practice. I published his earlier piece about a week ago and have dropped the photograph at the end of this post for comparison.
Sub, Peel Street Green, Bristol, July 2025
The letters are large and chunky, as I would expect from Sub, and have a very solid feel to them. The colour gradient is nicely worked and the whole combination neat and tidy. The Mario character is really well painted, with plenty of subtle shading to help bring about some depth in the character. This is a fun piece from Sub.
Doors 320 – Doors of Marrakesh, Morocco, January 2025 (Part I)
In January this year, my wife and I decided to enjoy a winter break in Marrakesh, as we were desperate for some sun after a poor summer in 2024. Key to our choice of destination was that we could fly from Bristol airport, which just makes things so much easier for us. We brought our daughter along with us too, as she was on a break from University.
We hadn’t done too much research before the trip and were open to a wholly new experience. I had been to Egypt many years ago when I was in my late teens, but otherwise North Africa was something of a mystery to be discovered.
Marrakesh is a busy, dusty, and ancient city, with an incredible culture and heritage, and although our stay was short, we took in so many sights and activities. Of course, we were presented with thousands of doors, and in all my travels in the UK and abroad, I don’t think I have seen so many doors worthy of sharing on Thursday Doors. I expect this is going to be a long series of posts from Marrakesh.
In this first post, I will start with our hotel called Les Borjs de la Kasbah, a riad (a traditional, multi-story house or palace built around a central courtyard or garden), which was located at the south of the Medina, the old walled part of the city.
Floor plan of Les Borjs de la Kasbah, Marrakesh, Morocco, January 2025
This hotel had been lovingly restored over a period of four years by local craftsmen from a complex of six small town houses (dars) and one riad. The restoration included traditional doors and balcony windows, as well as tiles, fountains and other details. I hope you enjoy this collection of doors and get a small sense of the traditional style of the riad.
Small courtyard off the main courtyard, Les Borjs de la Kasbah, Marrakesh, Morocco, January 2025Restored bedroom door,Les Borjs de la Kasbah, Marrakesh, Morocco, January 2025Storage room door, Les Borjs de la Kasbah, Marrakesh, Morocco, January 2025A room that opens into the central courtyard, Les Borjs del la Kasbah, Marrakesh, Morocco, January 2025Another room that opens onto the courtyard – not a door in sight, Les Borjs de la Kasbah, Marrakesh, Morocco, January 2025A third sitting room opening into the courtyard (ignore the TV, we did), Les Borjs del la Kasbah, Marrakesh, Morocco, January 2025The main courtyard with plenty of doorways, just no doors, Les Borjs de la Kasbah, Marrakesh, Morocco, January 2025Second floor stairway to the roof garden, Les Borjs de la Kasbah, Marrakesh, Morocco, January 2025Roof garden view with the Atlas Mountains in the distance, Les Borjs de la Kasbah, Marrakesh, Morocco, January 2025The swimming pool area, Les Borjs de la Kasbah, Marrakesh, Morocco, January 2025Stunningly recreated balcony windows overlooking the pool, Marrakesh, Morocco, January 2025
This has been a deliberately gentle introduction to Marrakesh before getting into some hard core doors over the coming weeks. The hotel was the perfect base for some lengthy walks, mostly northwards, to some of the tourist hotspots, but the long walks meant that there were an awful lot of back streets and doors to get through on the way.
I thought I’d leave you with an earworm, that naturally I have in my head, because of the district we stayed in. Rock the Kasbah!
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 weekly Thursday Doors post.
I get the feeling that Nice One likes to use the streets as a bit of a test bed for some of his ideas, something that I have noticed quite a few artists like to do. In this case, Nice One has sketched out some ideas on columns and utility boxes at Curbside, underneath Brunel Way. This skull sketch is probably the pick of the bunch.
Nice One, Brunel Way, Bristol, July 2025
Much of Nice One’s work looks to me like he has had a training in art, and he creates some wonderful scenes with the minimum of fuss, like this boat surrounded by gulls. The yellow streaks hint at a dusk or nighttime as if lights on the boat are reflected on the water.
Nice One, Brunel Way, Bristol, July 2025
The third piece in this small collection is less easy to interpret. Maybe it is a beach landscape with some rocks and a hut and a calm sea that seamlessly meets the sky. Even though it is unclear, there is something serene about the sketch. Nice One is an enigmatic artist who enriches the street art scene in Bristol with his unusual take.
In recent years, Jimmer Wilmott has turned his focus away from his zany surreal pieces and towards his equally zany alphabetti spaghetti work, which are really cleverly painted, but (speaking as someone who is phobic of tinned spaghetti in tomato sauce) slightly yucky.
Jimmer Wilmott, Knowle West, Bristol, July 2025
I imagine that this piece is a private commission, because it is in somebody’s backyard, and I had to stand on tiptoes with my phone fully stretched above my head to take the photographs. I’m not sure that I’d want this in my garden, but each to his own. The letters picked out in this piece spell FAMILY, and in a way, that is rather touching. Jimmer rarely produces subtle pieces, and this is a country mile away from subtle.
Natural adventures 