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.
A cheeky little mosaic flower from Angus below the front window of what used to be the It’s All 2 Much art gallery in Stokes Croft. Now, either this is reasonably new (I don’t think it is) or I have been wandering around with my head in the sky. This particular design was used by Angus at Upfest 2017 and there are a few of them in Bedminster, but I’ve not noticed this one in Stokes Croft before.
Angus, Stokes Croft, Bristol, December 2019
Always witty and pushing for new ideas, Angus has created this Mario Brothers flower using mosaic tiles, which give it a pixellated look a la video game. So good to see his work in North Bristol… something of a rarity for this artist.
Mr Klue doesn’t seem to be hitting the walls as often as he used to, so finding one of his pieces these days is all the more pleasurable. This one, at the Farm end of St Werburghs tunnel (a favoured spot for Mr Klue) appeared a couple of weeks ago.
Mr Klue, St Werburghs, Bristol, December 2019
As always there is a whimsical and mysterious look to the piece. The whispy abstract form often spells out KLUE, but I must say I am baffled by this one. Maybe it says nothing at all. Always great to see his work, however infrequently.
Well, he’s out and about again, this time on the M32 cycle path which runs parallel with Stapleton Road. Rezwonk has mixed it up a bit in this piece with each of his letters being made up of a different colour palette although the letter style is consistent, which you can see by comparing the two Rs for example.
Rezwonk, M32 cycle path, Bristol, December 2019
Rezwonk has, along with Decay and Nightways been one of the most consistent street artists in Bristol this year. Interestingly the three of them have painted together quite often – I wonder if there is a little competitive thing going on here, or maybe they all just feel the same way about hitting walls regularly. Whatever the reason, the results are pretty much always great.
Norm has been encouraging people like us (Doorbies? Door fanciers? Doorists? Dooristas? – what are we called?) to use this last Door week of the year to look back and post some of our favourites from 2019 – this is a bit of a win-win for lazy/busy people like me because the hardest bit of this post is deciding what to include/exclude.
Here goes – the numbers don’t necessarily relate to my ranking
Doors used to prevent graffiti or an artistic expression? (posted this year)
Doors on a wall embellished by Ryder sitting over a Mr Klue piece, Bristol, January 2017
2. Door within a door – always works for me
Perfect door within a door, Lanhydrock House, Cornwall, August 2019
3. A beautiful door pair
Great doors, great shutters, great colours, Fournier Street, London, April 2019
4. Train wagon door
Thursday Doors, Bristol Harbour Railway, January 2019
5. A quirky old door
Old red door, Wareham, Dorset, October 2019
6. A door no more
One of those doors that was a door but is no longer a door, Kingsdown, Bristol, March 2019
7. Blending in
Door, North Street, Bristol, Artist: Paul Monsters, February 2019
8. They don’t make them like this any more door
Alms house door, Bristol, March 2019
9. A favourite with visitors to Natural Adventures
Main front door to the house dating back to the 17th century, Lanhydrock House, Cornwall, August 2019
10. Door in need of a little TLC
Somewhere there is a door, the Harbourside, Bristol, November 2019
Of course there are so many other doors I would have liked to have included and this was not an easy job. Hope you liked this selection though and I look forward to a doortastic 2020.
I’ll follow Norm’s example and take a couple of weeks off, so have a fabulous Christmas all and see you next year.
You might like to take a look at the Norm 2.0 blog – the originator of Thursday Doors where there are links to yet more doors in the comments section at the end.
Having only recently started posting pieces by Slakarts on Natural Adventures, it seems that more of his work is emerging, both on the streets recently and from my rummages in my archives.
Slakarts, St Werburghs, Bristol, December 2019
This is a magnificent piece in St Werburghs tunnel, full of character and humour, and something of a departure from his usual stylised faces that can be a bit on the sombre side. This is a simply executed cartoon style piece that really stands out. It is a pity that it is so yellow/gold, because those colours seem to get exggerated by the orange lighting in the tunnel. More fun pieces please!
Face 1st is really switching it up these days. His faces are becoming much more expressive and his writing more dynamic and I have to say it is all good from where I look at it. This is a really nice piece of writing with great colour selection and beautiful fills. The white outline could be a little tighter, but otherwise an outstanding piece.
Face 1st, M32 roundabout, Bristol, December 2019
I bought a T-shirt from Face 1st last week – it is a lovely design that he advertised on Instagram. He is such a kind bloke and delivered it personally. I felt terribly rude not to have invited him and his son in, but I was working from home and in the middle of some difficult stuff. I would like to sit with him for longer and chew the fat and get to know what is inspiring his expanding repertoire. So much more to come from Face 1st, he has been quite busy lately.
This is a recent piece from Hire in Dean Lane which appears to have been dogged with some green paint in the middle. The curious thing is that it is the same colour paint as that used in the background. I can only summise that the splodge was either self-inflicted or done by a passer-by who used the discarded can – either way it is a pity.
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, December 2019
I like Hire’s work, it has such a distinctive Gothic style and is quite unlike ahy other graffiti writing in Bristol. Although I haven’t seen him for a long time, Hire is a quiet, unassuming and decent artist who has always stopped for a chat. Looking forward to more in 2020.
Natural adventures 