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Setting the dog off
autumnal barking cycle
woof! Get off my land
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by Scooj
Autumn visitor
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.
5572. John Street, Exeter
On our way home from Cornwall to Bristol, we stopped off in Exeter for a couple of hours while my friend had to deal with a flea crisis in his daughter’s student flat. I took the opportunity to wander about the city and using my street art sixth sense managed to find quite a few pieces, completely accidentally – no maps, no street art websites, nothing other than intuition and exploration.
Walking up Fore Street, which becomes Exeter High Street, I spotted a narrow lane on the right (a must for psychogeographers) which I turned in to, and was rewarded with a spectacular wall curated by ‘Enhance in Exeter’, and this magnificent piece by My Dog Sighs. To say that it was unexpected is an understatement, but I was rather pleased with myself for sniffing it out. The piece must be relatively recent, painted within the last couple of years or so, because it features his pigeon characters, which are newish in his portfolio. The expressions on the pigeon’s faces are wonderful, and the subtle touch of the breast plumage colours is a special touch.
These are the best pictures I could get. The street is very narrow, and there was some reflected light pollution, but was nonetheless chuffed to bits. More to come from this two-hour meander.
5571. M32 Cycle path (229)
A visit to Bristol by Wispa is always very welcome, and pretty much always unexpected as she seems to travel about the country quite a lot, and you can never be sure when she will be in the area – unpredictable I think you’d call it.
This is an absolute belter of a piece of writing from Wispa, painted as part of an RBF paint jam alongside the M32 motorway. There are two things that stand out in this piece for me, the first is the unbelievable sharpness of the lines, and outstanding finishing and the other is the bold colour selection, transitioning through a range of bold and strong colours. Bravo!
5570. Brunel Way (240)
I said that I would bring you more pieces by Jevoissoul, and I am true to my word. Jevoissoul is a new artist trying his hand at painting walls and making a good fist of it from what I have seen so far, and he is in a bit of a hurry, having painted several small pieces in the Brunel Way/Dean Lane area. His name is interesting, and I guess is a corruption of Je vois soul – I see soul.
In this character portrait piece our hero is wearing a cap with the postcode BS3 on it and smoking a roll-up. The word SLOW accompanies the piece, and is seen on many of his other pieces too. Everything about Jevoissoul’s work and character suggests a pretty chilled and laid back person, or at least that is how I read it. I expect we’ll be seeing a lot more from the artist in the coming months, I have a feeling he is only just getting started.
5569. M32 Spot (173)
Mr Crawls returns with a new variation on his theme, which I really hoped he would, this time charming us with a woolly-hatted penguin. There is something very satisfying about the simplicity in Mr Crawls’ work, proving that artwork doesn’t need to be busy and complex to be effective. His character variation work reminds me of the work of Mr Underbite – Simple-clean-effective.
Mr Crawls has just about managed to squeeze his penguin character within the constraints of the rather narrow column. His other birds have been a bit wider and squarer in format, so he has done well to elongate the penguin to fit in here. The expression on the penguin’s face is priceless, slightly dopey and with a sad smile. The hat is simply brilliant.
5568. St Werburghs tunnel (389)
I have recently become aware of a few pieces appearing about the place by Nips. The eye-catching pieces are probably assisted in part by the choice of letters, which stand out, when compared to some of the illegible sub-standard stuff that clogs up our walls (although in fairness, everyone has to start somewhere).
Although this is the first piece by Nips to be features on Natural Adventures, it will not be the last, because there is something cheeky and different in the writing. The most notable element of this piece is the intricate patterning in the letter fills, together with a great colour palette. Also distinctive is the creative use of the dot on top of the ‘i’ (which I understand is called a tittle – no jokes about tittles and nips please). Great work from Nips.
5567. Dean Lane skate park (650)
I met Hire last weekend while he was painting a piece on the ramp wall opposite this one. He is such a nice man, and puts a lot of thought and effort into his work. which we discussed at length. It is so good to get an insight into an artist’s work and to find out more about their motivation, history and circumstances, as all of these elements play a part in the creative arts.
Hire likes the fact that his art is continually evolving, and a quick glance at this gallery of his work shows how his writing has changed over time whilst maintaining his overall style. This piece, spelling out HIRE, is symmetrical in overall design, and perfectly finished, with the black and orange borders creating a clear separation between the letters and the turquoise background. The double lines shadowing the letters provide a sense of movement or shimmer. A lovely piece from Hire.
Dystopia
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Wild nationalism
inevitable conflict
the future is now
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by Scooj
5566. M32 Cycle path (228)
Although an infrequent visitor, The Mole is in Bristol often enough to usually make it into the pages of Natural Adventures, and into the galley pipeline. The Mole has used some sumptuous colours for this piece and presented them on a black background, which I think works, although I have been trying to imagine if any other colours might have been better and have drawn a blank.
The writing/mole character combination is a winner, but the star of the show is surely the fills. The three horizontal colour tones progress really nicely, and thin lines and designs bleed from one horizontal band into the one above. Very nicely thought out and beautifully finished, this is a great piece from The Mole.
5565. M32 roundabout J3 (517)
I got that tingle of excitement when I came across this piece by pekoe, just as I always do when I find her work. Pekoe is one of those handful of artists that I associate with being the beating heart of the current Bristol scene, giving the city a strong sub-culture identity.
The piece was painted as part of an RBF paint jam, one of two over a short space of time. I would say that this is not one of Pekoe’s best pieces, there is something a little peculiar with the proportions, but it marks a subtle change, especially with fewer busy elements in the character’s hair and in the background than usual. I think that the portrait lives up to the Resting Bitch Face moniker rather well. So good to see a Pekoe portrait, it feels like it has been a little while.
Natural adventures 