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.
I was really struck by this piece in the tunnel recently and at first I thought it might have been by Rozalita, but on closer inspection it clearly wasn’t, and the name BLEOM was also a bit of a clue. The piece is by Bloem, who is also Hiccup, and because I have posted her pieces under the latter name, I shall be consistent and continue to do so.
Hiccup, St Werburghs, Bristol, August 2023
The portrait piece, featuring a jester, is really neat and tidy and carries an element of treat in the form of a barbed wire circle around the head. All elements of thee piece come together well, in particular the ruff, and the jester’s expression. The letters are also very sharp and well painted. This is a classy piece from an artist relatively new to the Bristol scene, and I look forward to seeing and writing about more of her work (coming sooner than you might think).
Doors 231 – Lincoln City doors (Part IV) – Lincoln Cathedral
On my work visit to Lincoln a few weeks back, I was running a workshop on the Monday, so I planned my arrival to give myself time to explore on the Sunday afternoon. I had no idea what to expect, having never visited before, and I can’t even remember ever having conversations with anyone bout the city. This was a blank canvas, perfect for a spot of psychogeography.
This week, the doors come from Lincoln Cathedral, at the top of the hill in the old city. I think that it is safe to say that I was utterly awestruck and moved by the architecture and aura of the cathedral, and I believe it to be one of the finest buildings I have seen in England. Unfortunately I didn’t manage to enter the cathedral, because it was a Sunday evening and people were heading in for a service, it wasn’t really appropriate to be a tourist at that moment, I might have to return sometime. Here are some doors from the outside of this magnificent building, which I hope you enjoy as much as I did:
Lincoln Cathedral from the south-east, Lincoln City, July 2023South entrance and doors, Lincoln Cathedral, Lincoln City, July 2023South entrance and doors, Lincoln Cathedral, Lincoln City, July 2023Small side door, Lincoln Cathedral, Lincoln City, July 2023Three small doors, Lincoln Cathedral, Lincoln City, July 2023Doors to the south transept, Lincoln Cathedral, Lincoln City, July 2023West elevation of Lincoln Cathedral with five doors, Lincoln City, July 2023Three doors on the west entrance to Lincoln Cathedral, Lincoln City, July 2023Beautiful view of the North elevation of Lincoln Cathedral, Lincoln City, July 2023Early English Gothic doorway and door within a door on the west entrance to Lincoln Cathedral, Lincoln City, July 2023
I have more doors to share with you from the old part of Lincoln city next time. I hope you have a good weekend, and I look forward to reading about your doors today.
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.
Peggy is a tattoo artist and street artist who paints wonderful floral murals about the place. She is an active crew member of RBF (Resting Bitch Face crew), and joined in with their recent Barbie paint jam up at Greenbank. What I particularly like about this piece is that Peggy, who I imagine is fairly principled, has not created a piece that is overtly ‘Barbieised’.
Peggy, Greenbank, Bristol, August 2023
This floral design might have conceded a little bit more pink than Peggy might ordinarily use, but she has kept to her overall style, which I admire. This is one of her larger pieces and is a great example of her beautiful flower designs. Fabulously presented, the piece also has some little feature stars that create focal points that draw the eye, but also provide a bit of sparkle. A wonderful non-Barbie, Barbie piece.
It is very special to see a Jody piece that has been painted on the street without spray cans, but rather with brushes… it doesn’t happen often, but what a magnificent result. This gorgeous portrait piece has been painted as part of the 650-year celebrations of Bristol and an event curated by Upfest in partnership with Bristol BID.
Jody, Queen’s Road, Bristol, August 2023
Jody has gone full on renaissance style with this portrait, and in doing so was following the brief. In his own way, he has created something very special, although slightly incongruous being next door to the dreadful Weatherspoons pub. The lady’s hair and hair decoration are eclipsed only by the outstanding detail of her face.
Jody, Queen’s Road, Bristol, August 2023
This piece is an antidote to all the horrors of our very own crisis in Britain and demonstrates that there are good and beautiful things in our lives. An ancient beauty for our modern times.
There are artists whose progress is slow and steady and there are others who have accelerated through the levels, hitting many highs along the way, and one of those is DFC1848. Over the last few years, DFC1848 has progressed from toying with ideas to turning out sharp, clean original character pieces that sit comfortably alongside anyone, and this piece is a great example of that.
DFC1848, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, August 2023
The growling wolf was painted during Werm’s birthday celebration paint jam, and was a stand-out piece, dutifully adopting the theme colours of pink and blue. The design itself is really cool, and technically it is a bit of a beast, with loads of cutting in to achieve all those crisp sharp points. A lovely piece from an artist who clearly enjoys his work.
I don’t often hunt down specific pieces that I have seen on social media, preferring to come across them on my walks, as that somehow feels more authentic and retains the element of surprise. However, occasionally I see something, know where it is and actively seek it out and use the opportunity to photograph anything else that takes my fancy. This piece by Zake was one of those I had to go and look for, before it got too tagged up.
Zake, River Avon, Bristol, August 2023
Zake has played with faces within faces, or emerging from faces before, but not quite as mesmerisingly as this. Is the bigger face consuming the smaller one, or is the smaller ne wearing the larger one? Either way, this piece has all the hallmarks of a Zake work, with definition of the features achieved through light and dark shading, creating the most wonderful 3D effect. This piece was well worth the slightly longer walk than I usually do in the area.
Although there has been no formal Upfest festival this year, the team at Upfest have been very busy organising Westonwallz in Weston-super-mare and a small ‘takeover’ of closed retail outlets on the Bristol Triangle in partnership with Bristol BID (Business Improvement District) to celebrate 650 years since King Edward III granted important rights and privileges to Bristol by royal charter in 1373.
Several empty shopfronts were painted between 20 and 23 July as part of the paint jam, and this one was painted by Rose Popay, an artist originally from Baath. The overall theme for the paintings was to paint in a Renaissance style to reflect the 650 years, not a spray can in sight!
Rose Popay, Queen’s Road, Bristol, August 2023
Rose Popay has painted three panels in her contribution to the event, the first providing a little bit of information on a scroll, and the other two presenting iconic images of Bristol, a balloon and the Clifton suspension bridge. Liberally decorated with flowers and big blue skies with clouds, the piece is a breath of fresh air in this bustling part of the city.
Face 1st going solo, perhaps none of his PWA friends were free to paint or maybe he simply fancied painting on his own for a change. It looks like Face 1st needed to scratch an itch and managed to do just that with these two pieces on the roundabout.
Face 1st, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2023
The red/orange and green colours of the first piece work exceptionally well and have a rather natural feel about them. The piece takes us back to the standard form for a Face 1st piece, that is a laughing girl (with gloop) and the letters FACE making up her big hair. I suspect Face 1st could probably paint these in his sleep.
Face 1st, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2023
The second piece is not dissimilar in its overall form, but the smiling girl is more of a toothy girl and her hair has sprinkles and candles, which makes me wonder whether this is a quick birthday celebration piece for somebody close to the artist. Both pieces are full of fun and mischief, as we would expect from the prolific PWA man.
Popular culture has had a bit of a renaissance recently with the release of the Barbie move, which I must confess left me a little cold. For all the hype, clever role-reversals, and funny one-liners, I can’t help feeling that Mattel will be laughing all the way to the bank and that their self-deprecating and rather too knowing involvement has paid off. I guess there is a failure on my part to connect with Barbie as a concept, as her world and mine never collided until now.
On the upside though, Barbie has been an inspiration in the street art world, and this piece by Unity, is one of many from an RBF- Barbie paint jam on the long hoarding at Greenbank (more from this paint jam to follow).
Unity, Greenbank, Bristol, August 2023
Unity is an artist in the RBF crew who lives in Wales and occasionally comes to Bristol to paint with her friends. I managed to have a short chat with her at the Cheltenham Paint Festival recently, and she is a lovely lady. Her working of her name in the Barbie font and colours is brilliant and very tidy indeed. She totally captures the spirit of Barbie in her own way and carries it off very well. Plenty more to come from this fun paint jam.
Natural adventures 