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.
This is another Bristol mural collective piece painted at Bristol’s smallest street art festival at the end of July. The artist Yoliws, is no stranger to the pages of Natural Adventures, and all of her pieces have an uplifting and fun quality to them.
Yoliws, Muriel Alleyway, Bristol, August 2024
This light-hearted mural features some green flowers with characters frolicking among them. Everybody appears to be having fun, and there is a playful innocence about the whole scene. The piece is enjoyable and wholesome, perfect for the spot, alongside so many other wonderful murals.
I am currently enjoying a few days in Copenhagen with my mother, to celebrate, belatedly, my 60th birthday. This means that the next few posts are a little hurried, and not very in depth, distractions being what they are.
Fade and Pekoe, Dean Lane, Bristol, August 2024
This is a gorgeous and beautifully integrated collaboration from Fade and Pekoe. There is a synergy in this that works incredibly well with both artists adding to the others’ work, where the total is greater than the sum of the parts. The letters are magnificently painted by Fade, and the ‘A’ replaced with a trademark portrait from Pekoe. There is so much to love about this striking piece, especially the rich colour palette.
By the time you read this, I should be some 35,000 feet or so in the air somewhere between Bristol and Copenhagen, so I wrote this post yesterday. I am spending a long weekend in Copenhagen with my mother who gifted me the trip as my 60th birthday present.
Acer One has been smashing it recently with a range of different ideas, including these cryptic boule writing designs that are designed to challenge the viewer to work out what is going on… visual puzzles I guess you could call them.
Acer One, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, August 2024
The gold letters along the top spell ‘Change is inevitable’ and the black letters running along the bottom of the piece spell out ‘Growth is optional’. So this piece is both a puzzle and philosophical. Great technical work from Acer One.
Abbie Laura Smith, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, August 2024
This is an absolutely wonderful new paste up from Abbie Laura Smith, the first of a new batch she recently pasted up all over the Cumberland Basin area. It is such a treat having a wheatpaster in the city, and every time she releases and new collection, I am filled with excitement, and the hunt is on. Of course I always seem to miss one or two, but each one found is like a trophy.
Abbie Laura Smith, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, August 2024
Abbie Laura Smith’s trademark work usually centres around an ink portrait of a woman, frequently with words or lyrics concealed within the work. The words ‘I wish I could buy back the woman you stole, out of control, out of control, you walk, walk, walk, walk, walk my winners’ are lyrics from a song ‘Y Control’ by Yeah Yeah Yeahs. I particularly like the incorporation of a dark blue colour around the eyes, which breaks up the two-tone look of the piece. The placement of the wheatpaste is on a utility box that Abbie Laura Smith has used before, with a remnant from her previous piece still visible. Wonderful stuff.
Abbie Laura Smith, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, December 2023
Stiff, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2024Stiff, St Werburghs, Bristol, June 2023Stiff, St Werburghs, Bristol, April 2023Stiff, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2020Stiff, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, June 2022Stiff, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2022Stiff, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2022Stiff, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2022Stiff, Brunel Way, Bristol, October 2021Stiff, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2021Stiff, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2020Stiff, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2020
Krops is one of those artists who has only made a couple of appearances in Natural Adventures. His work goes largely under the radar, but recently he appears to have upped his game considerably and is producing some interesting graffiti writing.
Krops, M32 Spot, Bristol, August 2024
This piece is painted on one of my favourite walls in Bristol, and has an alien theme going on. The grey two-tone letters are accompanied by a flying saucer and an alien head, forming the ‘O’ in KROPS. The writing verges on the cusp of anti-style, but is regular and conventional enough just about to be standard graffiti. A fun and interesting piece from Krops.
It can be a little confusing when one artist writes the name of another artist, but in this case Kosc writing Mudra was unlikely to cause misidentification due to their very different styles. I think that Mudra had been expected to join Kosc and Stivs painting this wall, but he didn’t make it, so Kosc gave him a rather large shout-out.
Kosc, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2024
Kosc’s writing style is so cleverly done, with a midline through the letters, and shading either side of it, creating an amazing 3D effect, a device used by many graffiti writers, but mastered only by a few. The grey tones create an almost metallic sheen to the letters and the starbursts around the outside add to the shiny effect. A very nice piece of writing from Kosc.
Although Mr Crawls appears to enjoy painting with Mote, it certainly doesn’t stop him from going out and painting on his own. This column piece, under the M32 motorway, takes us back to some of the artist’s earlier themes, incorporation; old and new styles into the work.
Mr Crawls, M32 Spot, Bristol, July 2024
The cartoon character is a gull or a raptor of some kind wearing a bucket hat. The piece incorporates newer design themes developed by Mr Crawls, such as the skeleton neck and hollow square eyes. You might have spotted a rare appearance by my dog, who accompanies me on most of my photographic trips. Nice work from Mr Crawls.
Once you get your eye in with a particular artist, you start to see their work scattered all over the place, as well as digging their stuff out of the archives. Nice One has been painting some great stuff around Bristol in recent months, and I am trying to catch up a little with their work.
Nice One, Brunel Way, Bristol, July 2024
This column piece under Brunel Way is a fabulous portrait, modestly placed out of the way by the DIY skate park. The pastel shades are difficult to photograph especially in the dappled light, but I think these pictures give some idea of just how good and different this sketch-like piece is. I am very much looking forward to Nice One becoming a regular contributor to Natural Adventures.
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