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A slip in the park
no harm, only dented pride
hope no one saw me
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by Scooj
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A slip in the park
no harm, only dented pride
hope no one saw me
.
by Scooj
This is the third stunning mural I have recently posted by Gage Graphics on the rear wall of house on St Luke’s Road overlooking Victoria Park. I had seen images of this piece before on the Internet, but it wasn’t until I went looking for the new Banksy piece in Totterdown that I stumbled across it.

It is a great thing when neighbours collaborate and decide to commission pieces like this, and this iconic row of houses has about six or seven noteworthy murals that do so much to brighten up the area. In this piece, Gage Graphics has included a couple of iconic Bristol characters from Aardman Studios, Gromit (peering out of the tree trunk) and Shaun the Sheep in the centre of the moral. Other Bristol references are the SS Great Britain designed and built by I. K. Brunel and in the sky a Balloon gently drrifts by. On the right of the mural a surfer is catching an enormous wave. This is a fun and creative piece and a fine addition to the others in the road.

This is another wall which I was foolish enough not to photograph in its entirety. It is actually a three-way collaboration between Awkward, Acer One and Benjimagnetic. Sometimes I wonder if I get carried away taking pictures without actually thinking about what I am doing.

On the left-hand side of the wall is a beautiful letter piece from Acer One with the letters TCF bookended by two rather frightening character faces by Awkward. I have seen an Awkward/Benjimagnetic collaboration before, but it is great to see all three artists together.

On the right is the Benjimagnetic contribution and is yet another fine piece from him. I have an awful lot of catching up to do with his pieces and I will try and dig them out of my files when (if ever) there is a lull in street activity.
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A pleasant surprise
when the rain that was forecast
gives way to sunshine
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by Scooj
Yet another in the series of Turoe pieces expressing the awful 2020 that now is thankfully behind us. I goofed when photographing this and forgot to take a picture of both words together. It says Shite Times, and confirms the experience that most of us had last year. (I shan’t get into the utter balls-up that Brexit always was going to be and alas is becoming – that’ll be a shite decade at least).

Another font style and some lovely creative touches like the clouds of colour along the bottom make this a classy piece. The letters are nice and clean in chrome with black highlights and the chrome works very nicely with the purple outline and background.

Turoe is definitely making up for lost time after a year during which ill health prevented him getting out from some time. I think we will look at these ‘Shite’ pieces as ones that define 2020 both for the artist and for the nation.
I have only met Hemper on one occasion and that was last summer. My first impressions were that he is an unassuming and modest fellow who has put in the effort and has a gift for graffiti writing and does it extraordinarily well.

Hemper is a freestyle writer, which means that he doesn’t paint from a sketch in a black book but rather from his imagination. Combine that natural creativity with the fine motor skills that he has developed over the years, and you get outstanding pieces like this one. A little beauty.
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Ashamed of myself
camping on the trending tab
malicious gossip
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by Scooj
This container in Dean Lane seems to have been around forever. I’m really not sure what it contains or why it is there, but it is a surface to paint and that is what matters. The quality of graffiti and street art on this container can be very variable so it is nice when a really good piece like this one from Rusk comes along.

Rusk is an artist/writer whose work I never tire of and who doesn’t paint as much as I’d like him to, although he tends to paint in places that are sometimes out of the way and I don’t get to see those ones. This is a straightforward RUSKI in horizontal graded blues with some nice bubbles in black white and blue. The quality of the lines and fills is of a high standard, which on the uneven face of the container can’t be easy. This is what great graffiti writing looks like.
There is a little pathway close to the entrance of St Werburghs tunnel that leads up to a small nature reserve bounded by railway lines. The reserve is on the top of a hill and has some lovely views of Bristol and some interesting perspectives of the main lines coming into Bristol Temple Meads station. Of course, where you have railways and hills, you also have bridges, and where you have railway bridges there is a chance you might get some graffiti. That is the case here.

This is a rather unhappy, even angry, looking cat from Daz Cat. I think I prefer his happier cats. This one is mostly chrome and stands out amongst the other graffiti writing and throw ups around it. Worth the detour, and a nice peaceful oasis in North Bristol.
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Each day like the last
nothing to distinguish them
what light? What tunnel?
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by Scooj