During last summer, when Mr Draws painted this beast, it was impossible to get any photographs of it at all because it was behind a whole bunch of large leafy shrubs. Summer has yielded to winter and the leaves on the tree have fallen and the Council gardeners have cleared the shrubs. The outcome is that this magnificent whale is now visible to the world.
Mr Draws, North Street, Bristol, January 2020
This whale is not the first Mr Draws has painted, indeed he sprayed one around the same time at the Cheltenham Paint Festival. It is however a bit of a departure from his graffiti writing or his mountains. I like the piece very much, it has a certain solemnity and mystery about it. Glad to have captured it at last.
The turnover at Dean Lane is beginning to pick up and this wonderful piece of graffiti writing by Remer from earlier in the month has now gone. I haven’t seen anything by Remer in Bristol before and am guessing that he is a visitor to the city and in some way part of or related to the No Frills crew.
Remer, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2020
This writing is highly stylised and beautifully presented, combining both curved and straight lines to great effect. The fill is interesting, with a variety of shapes and blocks in complementary colours in two main shades. This is an accomplished piece nicely done, bith crisp and clean. Remer is always welcome to come back to Bristol.
Finding a piece that is not only from a new (to me) artist but is also rather different is always one of the great pleasures of being a graffiti hunter. On the famous curved wall at Dean Lane, this delightful portrait appeared a couple of weeks back. It is by artist Lucy Danielle who is a midlands-born Bristol-based illustrator and graffiti murallist. Although she has painted quite a few walls, I don’t think I have knowingly ever seen one before.
Lucy Danielle, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2020
I understand that this is a portrait of her sister which is a really nice thing to do. Set on a black background, the face really stands out, and the additional decorations help the to fill the space without distracting from the subject too much. Imagine how different the whole thing would look without the purple circle and yellow squiggles. I need to find some of her other work.
Back to the battery, and this time a piece by Daz Cat painted back in August last year. This is a rather touching and gentle piece with the cat holding a little bird on its hand. I rather hope that this is a kind gesture rather than a hungry cat one.
Daz Cat, Purdown HAA Battery, Bristol, January 2020
The shadow on the piece fortunately doesn’t iterfere too much. Daz Cat’s work has really grown on me over the last couple of years, and I love the way he constructs the cat’s faces, this one in semi-profile, so the eyes are quite different. I love the signature mark above the nose that appears on all Daz Cats’ cats. More from this spot to come.
It took me a while to get a clean shot of this wonderful piece by Subtle because on my first two visits there were cars parked immediately in front of it. I ask you… cars parking in the tunnel! what is the world coming to?
Subtle, St Werburghs, Bristol, January 2020
Anyhow on my third visit I managed to get some nice shots, although as always, the artificial light played havoc with my camera settings and I had to do a little bit of post-production work to try and convey the true magnificence of of the piece.
Subtle, St Werburghs, Bristol, January 2020
I understand Subtle has had a lay-off from painting walls following an accident, but he is well now which is great news, and he appears to be painting like there was no tomorrow. Two things I particularly like about this one is the skull and the drips, both beautifully crafted and enhancing the piece enormously. More to come.
I don’t think I feature enough of Ryder’s work on Natural Adventures – there is no obvious reason for it, I guess the same could be said for any number of Bristol artists. I would think that for every piece that I post here there are probably two or three that never make it.
Ryder, St Werburghs, Bristol, January 2020
This particular offering is a simple chrome graffiti piece with trademark faces worked into the lettering. The chrome colour in the tunnel picks up all sorts of light bouncing around and it is difficult to believe the artist hasn’t used more than one colour. Altogether a nice one from one of Bristol’s best.
I chose a glorious day for my first visit to Purdown HAA Battery where I managed to combine a sensational dog walk with Mrs Scooj and a quick tour of the street/graffiti art on the battery walls. Purdown HAA Battery itself was a Heavy Anti-Aircraft position that overlooks Bristol and that protected the city from bombing raids during WW2. You can find out a some more here. The dog is doing a bit of ‘bombing’ himself.
Slakarts, Purdown HAA Battery, Bristol, January 2020
I knew that there was some art to be found here, but have simply never taken the time to go and take a look. What a silly boy I am. There is quite a lot to look at up there, some old stuff and some more recent like this magnificent face by Slakarts (it’s him again!). This is a lovely clean piece with a great selection of colours and plenty of wrinkles in the face to animate it. Worth the excursion.
I am beginning to form the opinion that EAT crew are becoming something of a collaborative force in Bristol. EAT are of course SPZero76 and Kid Crayon and the pairing, whose styles are light years apart, seem to be able to create great work together like these two characters playing conkers (remember that?).
SPZero76, M32 roundabout, Bristol, January 2020
SPZero76 is an extraordinary character artist and has an amazing ability to create an insane amount of detail in his pieces, and his style is quite sharp and pointy, if that makes any sense at all.
Kid Crayon, M32 roundabout, Bristol, January 2020
On the other hand, Kid Crayon has a much softer style with plenty of curves and roundness about it. Stitch the two together and you have a complementary mix that somehow works very well indeed, better than you might expect.
SPZero76 and Kid Crayon, M32 roundabout, Bristol, January 2020
Kid Crayon, in particular has been very busy this year already, and that is music to my eyes, because he pretty much tops my list of Bristol artists and I have been enjoying watching him grow as an artist over the last six years or so.
SPZero76 and Kid Crayon, M32 roundabout, Bristol, January 2020
In addition to the fabulous collaboration, these two have signed the piece by commandeering a waste bin and leaving two little self-portraits. Creative, imaginative and fun. Looking forward to seeing more eat collabs in 2020.
Kid Crayon and SPZero, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2017
Well this is an absolutely cracking piece of writing from visiting Australian artist Lens. Spelling out LENS, I consider this to be pretty much perfect. The whole thing is so easy on the eye and it is hard to believe it has been created with spray paints.
Lens, M32 roundaboout, Bristol, January 2020
The design of the letters is outstanding and the circle around the ‘e’ is very clever indeed in that it draws the eye to that part of the piece. There are lines that break up the letters which also delineate different colour regimes. The fills are awesome and the spots both inside and outside the letters add interest and fun. This is what great graffiti writing looks like – you can come back anytime Lens and will always be welcome in Bristol.
I really don’t think I need to say too much about this one from Smak. It is brilliant. Strong clean lines, a sensational letter style, outstanding colours that slap you in the face and the graded fills are first class. I’ve said enough.
Smak, Brunel Way bridge, Bristol, January 2020
2020 has started off with a bang in the Bristol street art scene. Even though the weather hasn’t improved much, there have been a few dry days and artists have been out in force. So much for being able to catch up with lost treasures in my archive. I am going to struggle to keep up this year. I can feel it in my bones. Still, I’ll have plenty of material to blog about into my retirement.
Natural adventures 