.
It is a long road
those who ruined a nation
we may not forgive
.
by Scooj
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.
5918. St Werburghs tunnel (415)
The turnout for Ryder’s paint jam in the tunnel at the end of February was impressive, so much so, that I am way behind with posting many of the pieces, and some will inevitably get left behind in my archive. I felt it important to post this beauty from Stivs though, as it is a really great piece of calligraffiti writing.
This piece reverts to Stivs’ former letters which spell ‘KRAP’ or some variant of it. What is nice about this piece is that he has matched the colours with the Inkie piece from the same paint jam, which I posted a little while back. Set on a starry background, this is yet another classy piece from Stivs.
5917. M32 roundabout J3 (561)
It took me a little while to work out, but should have been obvious from the start that Sub and Bloem usually paint together, and this collaborative space on the roundabout was adjacent to another that they were painting as I photographed this one. It is great to see two young artists out there pushing boundaries and practicing their skills.
To the left, Sub has painted another of his distinctive pieces with very large letters, lifted with a thick drop shadow and accompanied by some wispy smoke, in the Mr Klue style. On the right, Bloem has painted a hand, as she likes to do, holding a pair of her trademark cherry devils (with smiley faces). Although the two pieces are discrete, they share a cloudy background, and there is a suggestion that the hand emanates from Sub’s ‘B’. Always good to find their work.
Roots
.
Family trees found
in a box inherited
on my father’s side
.
by Scooj
5916. Cumberland Basin
It seems that as soon as I post a piece by Mind 49, I get to photograph another one, such is the rate at which he is painting at the moment. His portrait pieces always have a sense of mystery about them, with the faces often being partially obscured. He leaves much to the imagination, which is clever stuff really, and which reminds me a little of Caro Pepe’s approach to her art.
This is a writing/portrait combination which is really striking in its orange and red colouring. I am not sure that the portrait is of anyone specific, and in his Instagram feed Mind 49 says that this was ‘experimenting’. Well it seems to have been a successful experiment from what I can see. More to come soon.
5915. Sparke Evans Park (90)
There are some pieces that stick in the mind, sometimes for a long while, and sometimes forever. This is one of those. This striking collaboration between Tao Create and Rozalita has embedded in memory, and it will be one of those iconic pieces that I will be able to recall and tell people about for as long as my mind is good.
On the left, Tao Create has painted a gorgeous portrait piece, and in doing so has shown us just how far she has come over the last two or three years. I can only think that she has been to art school, because the transformation is extraordinary. The near-photorealistic portrait is utterly captivating and the contours of the face are perfectly handled with skill using shading in browns and yellows. I cannot express how much I love this portrait, not how surprised I was to see that it was by Tao Create.
On the right is the third recent piece by Rozalita depicting Frida Kahlo, and it is another cracker, this time in various shades of yellow. There is a strength that comes from the portrait, perhaps reflecting the strength of Kahlo herself. The flower design is, I think, also by Rozalita, who has undergone a renaissance lately. Oh joy. My favourite piece of the year.
5914. River Avon (58)
This is a rather nice tribute piece to the late Lazo, who will be much missed in Bristol, by Mr Underbite (MUB) and Herman Creates. Both halves of the collaborative wall hang together really well, and definitely stand out on the pathway alongside the River.
On the left is a beautiful rendition of Mr Underbite in blue against an orange background. The joy of this piece is its simplicity. Nothing fancy, nothing pretentious, just Mr Underbite doing what Mr Underbite does, and does very well.
To the right is a debut piece from Herman Creates on Natural Adventures, and she has painted some more-than-decent block letters with rather nicely done fills. Herman Creates doesn’t do an awful lot of street pieces, but I do have one or two examples of her work in my archive which I will try to unearth, if ever I get a chance. A lovely tribute. And below some work by Lazo:
5913. Cumberland Basin
Andy Council and Acer One are having a productive 2024, which is so good to see, and this is one of several collaborations that they have painted recently. This one is a bit of a play on words, altering the well known cliché ‘one love’ to ‘one dove’ and illustrating it accordingly.
The dove (rock pigeon), rather hidden behind a bush, is beautifully painted by Andy Council, and has beautifully captured the colouring of the bird, and represented the iridescence of the collar with greens, reds, oranges and yellows. The typical style that Andy Council uses includes the ‘stitching together’ of component parts with threaded lines. Great pink feet.
The writing is by Acer One, and deliberately or otherwise reflects the raining above the piece, with the vertical lines dominating. The stylised letters are beautifully picked out with the use of a dark shadow dropped behind them, giving them a bit of a lift. This is another wonderful collaboration and continuation of this purple patch the artists seem to be enjoying.
Thursday doors – 28 March 2024 – Street art doors
Doors 258 – Street art doors of Bristol
It has been a while since I last posted street art and graffiti doors, such has been the growing stock of door images in my files from my travels around the country and abroad. I felt a little pause to combine passions was well overdue, so this week are some doors that have been posted previously on Natural Adventures, but not gathered together for a Thursday doors post. I hope you enjoy this selection, which were previously posted in December 2022, January and February 2023.
So that’s it for this week. Next time I think I might move on to some doors from Nottingham and a trip I made there last year. Until then, may I wish you a very happy Easter 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.
by Scooj
5912. Brunel Way (265)
It is such a pleasure to have a wheatpaster in Bristol, and one who pastes her pieces just often enough to make discovering each one an exciting event. This is a small one by Abbie Laura Smith on the bridge (Ashton Avenue Bridge) that crosses the River Avon, joining the south bank with Spike Island.
The black and white portrait is beautifully drawn and conceals a whole ton of writing in the hair, which I am guessing is a poem or lyrics to a song. I can make out some phrases, but not the whole thing. I have a feeling that the piece might be called “When you can’t sleep…”, as that is the label Abbie Laura Smith gave the piece on her Instagram, although that might be a reference to when she created the portrait. All good stuff and I am looking forward to finding more.
Natural adventures 