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A sudden flurry
crows cawing and gulls mewing
then return to calm
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Medley
Author: scooj
I am Stephen. I live in Bristol, UK. I decided to shorten my profile...to this: Wildlife, haiku, travel, streetart, psychogeography and my family. Not necessarily in that order.
6808. St Werburghs tunnel (483)
Aha! There is a certain consistency and reliability with Nips’ pieces that I am really attracted to. Her letters tend to be similar in shape from piece to piece, but it is in her fills where she really excels and shows off what she can do.
Set on a fairly elementary yellow backdrop, the letters NIPS are filled with a stunning patterned mix of pinks and blues, with some great designs and reversed out spots. The eye is drawn to the female symbol in the dot of the ‘i’, which is assertive and proud. Nips has included a couple of nice shout-outs to Basik and Roma too. I hope we see plenty more of Nips in 2025.
6807. M32 Junction 3 (666)
A major feature of the resurgence of Hemper recently has been the way he has experimented and embraced a whole raft of different styles. He has always painted original pieces, full of imagination, but I am not sure that I have seen such variation in letter shapes and overall appearance before.
This large and unusual piece spells out HEMS, obviously, but is also surrounded by a subtly coloured background of mini ‘Hems’ in a kind of bubble graffiti style of writing. This must have taken quite a while to paint, but the overall effect was worth it. Lots more to come from an artist who is on a journey of rediscovery.
6806. M32 Spot (200)
One of the great pleasures over the last eight or so months has been watching the development of Lis (formerly Le Imposter Design), from an occasional line-drawing artist to a full-on and busy spray can street artist. Her transition has been swift, but he has held onto some of her original techniques and augments some of her pieces with pens for the finer detail.
This is an unusual study piece on a column in the M32 Spot. There was a tagger a few years ago who used to paint coffee pots like this all over the city, but this is the first one I have seen since then. The piece has a naive art style about it, and is fun to look at, and I wonder if it had a dual function of being a bit of a practice for borders, lines and shading. So much more to come from an artist who is in overdrive.
Liver birds
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Silent sentinels
overlook murky Mersey
civic resonance
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by Scooj
6805. Cumberland Basin
Ooh! How brilliant to see Mind 49 returning to the streets after a relatively quiet start to the year. Commensurate with his last piece at the Greenbank spot in January, Mind 49 has combined a photorealistic portrait with a cartoon illustration, carrying some threat and menace.
The portrait is superb, painted in his unique style that creates what I would term a blurred photorealism, rather than some of the perfect sharp pieces that you see from time to time. The cartoon parts begin around the main character’s neck and show him holding a pistol. In the background, a hooded character looks on. I love the way that Mind 49 brings these two very different styles together and makes them sit side by side effortlessly. Looking forward to more as the days get longer and weather warms up.
6804. M32 Spot (199)
I am not entirely sure where Jest Soubriquet is based, but he comes to Bristol to paint often enough to make me think it is probably along the M4 corridor somewhere. This piece is painted on one of my favourite walls in Bristol under the M32 and features a wolf.
While I would say there are one or two things not quite right with the Wolf, I think it is a great representation and the colours and shading augment the animal really well. I am interested in the overall composition, which places the wolf in front of a brown and pink background, which might represent something, but I am not sure what. The words’Beware the dogs of war’ accompany the piece and perhaps put into some kind of context. Always great to find pieces by Jest Soubriquet.
6803. Greenway Bush Lane (7)
Desi has been as busy so far this year as at any time I can remember, which is great news. This piece was painted in Greenway Bush Lane, which is fast becoming a graffiti hotspot, alongside Pekoe and Pura Decadencia.
The orange colours are nicely blended through the VEIL letters, although the paint is a little thin (often the case with oranges and yellows in particular), and there are some nicely reversed out spots for decoration. Desi has added some subtle star bursts, which almost make the piece look slightly out of focus, an interesting effect. Long may this productive streak last!
6802. Dean Lane skate park (813)
It is not often you see a piece like this in Bristol, or indeed in much of the UK, as street artists tend to reflect the national prudishness and our discomfort with overt nudity in any form. These giant boobies, have been painted by Created by Billie, an artist, Billie Jo, who I believe is based in Wolverhampton, but as with all visiting artists is truly welcome in Bristol.
The hashtags that Created by Billie used on her Instagram post associated with this piece, might give you some indication of where it is coming from: #art #streetart #femaleempowerment #female #adhd #paintingmakesmehappy. I cannot think of better reasons for painting this piece.
Sensibly she painted it on the path alongside the swimming pool, which has a long hedge bordering it, and kept the piece from view, resulting in it lasting longer than it might have done if it had been more exposed. Personally, I like the piece, but am aware that there are some who might find it offensive, which is a pity. I look forward to more visits in the future.
6801. M32 roundabout J3 (665)
This piece by Hypo, who is on a roll right now, symbolises for me a party. If you wanted to paint the word without spelling the word, this is what it could look like. The fierce is full of energy, colour and joy.
The letters spell out Hypo and are full of classical graffiti writing references, such as arrows, drips, starbursts and spots. There is lots here to enjoy, and the overall sense of wellbeing that the piece transmits is palpable. This is another in a series of wonderful pieces from the artist, who has had a great couple of years.
Natural adventures 