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.
Set on the windy hilltop of Purdown, overlooking North Bristol, we find a glorious piece by Slakarts at his simple best. His regular stylised character has been given something of a facelift (literally) with both colour fills and patterns. The oranges and reds contrast beautifully with the background blues, rounding the piece off really nicely.
Slakarts, Purdown, Bristol, March 2024
It has been an absolute age since I last met Slakarts (the last time was in St Werburghs tunnel during a lockdown) and now that he appears to be painting a little more frequently, there is a chance I might bump into him soon, which would be nice, because he is a really sound bloke. I am definitely enjoying his spring renaissance.
Doors 260 – Doors of Nottingham, November 2023 (Part II)
This week I share some more doors from Nottingham from a work trip I made back in November 2023. I think the fun thing about visiting cities is that there are always so many interesting doors to photograph, which is a good thing, especially as I find it challenging to find new doors from my home city of Bristol. All the doors posted in this three-part series from Nottingham were captured during a one and a half hour walk between the hotel I was staying in and the office.
There are so many curious doors and architectural periods in Nottingham that I was rather spoilt, snapping away to my heart’s content. I hope you enjoy this week’s selection.
Graffiti door, Nottingham, November 2023
Door with witty street art, Nottingham, November 2023
Green panelled door, Nottingham, November 2023
Gated black door with boot scrapers, Nottingham, November 2023
Nottingham School of Blackbelts door, Nottingham, November 2023
1930s The Lord Roberts pub doors, Nottingham, November 2023
Blue double doors and door within a door, Nottingham, November 2023
Double garage doors and doors within doors, Nottingham, November 2023
Pimped London cab? – EKO Mobile Barber car doors, Nottingham, November 2023
Quite an eclectic bunch this week with no theme to connect them, but I quite like that as it gives you a flavour of the diversity of architecture and styles in the city. One more post from this Nottingham visit to come next week, until then, 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.
My initial irritation with finding this piece – I had come to find something else (I think a piece by Hire) that I hadn’t yet photographed and that had only been on this wall for a few hours – was quickly replaced with the joy of seeing another fine piece from visiting artist Zaenone.
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Zaenone’s pieces can be broadly described as having chunky letters ZAEN, with character bookends, although occasionally he omits the characters. The sumptuous reds of the letters occupy much of the space of the piece and smack you in the face. The strength of the colours is offset and counterbalanced by the two wizard characters augmenting the whole thing perfectly. It is always a pleasure to find Zaenone’s work, even when painted over other artist’s recent work – it is a jungle out there.
I think that Hypo and his friends are particularly partial to this spot on the M32 roundabout, and I say that because many of his pieces have been painted here. This one was painted alongside Hemper and Turoe, two legends of the Bristol graffiti writing scene.
Hypo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2024
Hypo hasn’t gone for the symmetry that we often see with his letters, or at least, not as obviously. There are some great colours in the vibrant piece, and some classic drips and spots by way of decoration. I am not fully convinced by the 3D drop shadow, which looks a little conflicted in one or two places. Overall though this is yet another cracker from Hypo.
There is an artist in Bristol, who occasionally hits the walls of the city with his curious creations, often in chrome. I am talking about Blimma Blamma, at least I think that is what he is called (he/she doesn’t sign his/her work).
Blimma Blamma, River Avon, Bristol, March 2024
This piece includes some letters, which I can’t make out and a character,, customarily wrapped up in clothes with only his face poking through. There is something endearing about the characters and mysterious about the work, which leaves one guessing what the story is. I think I need to do a little more research on the enigmatic Blimma Blamma.
Smak, Sled One and Oust, Coach and Horses, Bristol, March 2024
The wall on the Coach and Horses is one of the best ‘outdoor galleries’ in Bristol and often hosts some really classy work that tends to remain untagged for reasonably long periods. It probably doesn’t have the same turnover as some of the more accessible or popular walls, which means we can enjoy the artwork for longer. This collaboration is by Smak, Sled One and Oust.
Smak, Coach and Horses, Bristol, March 2024
Smak needs no introduction on Natural Adventures, being something of a staple over the years. This is a finely crafted and executed piece of writing that spells out SMAK. The colour palette is is perfect, and offset by the appearance of a black and white stripe design on some parts. The writing is wonderfully intricate without being over-fussy – clean crisp and classy.
Sled One, Coach and Horses, Bristol, March 2024
We don’t get to see enough of Sled One’s genius on our walls these days, so everything we do get to see, we ought to be grateful for. In this central panel, Sled One has painted a cat toasting a mouse on a stick over a fire, surrounded by barbed wire. There is a story here, but not one I can tell you. There is a mixture of styles, which is a bit unsettling. The cat is approaching photorealistic, but the mouse is most definitely cartoon, which confuses my brain somewhat. Brilliant artwork.
Oust, Coach and Horses, Bristol, March 2024
The right hand side of the collaboration is some unusual writing from Oust. The letters are more like constructions, with hints at industry and engineering. I haven’t come across Oust’s work before, so am a little unsure if his style is always like this or that this is a one-off. I guess Oust was visiting, and took the opportunity to paint with friends/acquaintances. There are some great colours and ideas in the piece which is full of contained energy. Fabulous collaboration.
Trawling through my archives in search of a particular piece definitely has some extra benefits, which mainly consist of unearthing ‘lost’ work that was either by an unknown artist at the time or simply got left behind due to the volume of photographs coming in each week. I was so pleased therefore, to stumble on this lovely wheatpaste by Abbie Laura Smith from last summer during my last rummage.
Abbie Laura Smith, Brunel Way, Bristol, June 2023
The small paste up, looks like it is slightly out of focus, but that is due to the double line outline of the portrait. I love the way that Abbie Laura Smith has placed this colourful piece on a colourfully tagged column, almost disguising it, and as I have said before, the placement of paste ups is just as important as the artwork, and she has smashed both elements with this one. I am so pleased to have been able to share this, albeit ten months late.
Natural adventures 