Category: 5. Street Art

2554. Midland Road

Obvs this is a piece by Mr Penfold and what a grand piece it is too. This large design that presents five bold patterns separated by jaggedy white lines is typical of his his more recent work. I say more recent, but I should add that this picture was taken in x 2018.

Mr Penfold, Midland Road, Bristol, March 2018
Mr Penfold, Midland Road, Bristol, March 2018

When writing this post, I used StreetView to remind myself of the street name, and was surprised to find that this piece has grown considerably in size and now occupies the facade of the building to the right as well. Watch this space for an update… one day.

The blue plaque, on what is now the ‘To The Moon’ bar and cafe, is a memorial to John Wright or ‘John the Caff’ as he was known locally. His obituary in The Guardian from July 2009 can be found here.

2553. Dean Lane skate park (262)

One of the things I love about going through my archives is that I get to re-visit a whole bunch of gems that for one reason or another I didn’t publish at the time – often because I operate with a monumental backlog. I reckon that for every piece I post on Natural Adventures there must be five or six that never see the light of day.

Slakarts, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2018
Slakarts, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2018

This overlooked and yet utterly wonderful piece is by Slakarts and was painted in Dean Lane back in January last year. His trademark stylised faces are always recognisable and he seems to favour a soft or gentle colour palette. This face has been adorned with plenty of little decorations and some nice painted drips. More in my archives to come.

2552. Cheltenham 2019 (18)

Being so close to Bristol, the Cheltenham Paint Festival is crowded with artists that I am really familiar with, who make the short journey up the M5 or on the train. This is a lovely piece called ‘I Hear You’ by Stephen Quick which according to his Twitter feed is a call to arms to all the unheard voices now being heard.

Stephen Quick, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019
Stephen Quick, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019

Stephen Quick’s pieces historically used to be complex stencils, but more recently he has taken to painting freehand in a stencil style. He uses a brilliant mash-up approach to his work combining film or TV elements and to illustrate this here are his #hashtags for this piece on social media:

Streetart, urbanart, portrait, power, woman, superhero, shera, teenagemutantninjaturtles, mural, cheltenhampaintfestival, cheltenham, painting, art, artofinstagram, spraypaint, acrylicpainting, stencilart.

A really fine piece. Bravo.

2551. Cheltenham 2019 (17)

A beautiful and understated little stencil piece by M-one that for me pretty much stole the show at the Cheltenham Paint Festival this year. I haven’t come across the artist before but I believe he lives in Southsea.

M-One, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019
M-One, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019

What is so clever about this stencil is not only the placement and the illusion that the hole is a real one, but that the rust colour he has used kind of blends in with the rusty drips on the tiles behind. I’m not sure if this was his only piece at the festival or if there is another one somewhere in my archive. I’ll find out soon enough. Brilliant piece.

2550. Cheltenham 2019 (16)

One of the first pieces to be completed at this year’s Cheltenham Paint Festival was this homage to Nadiya Hussain, the Great British Bake Off winner and now celebrity chef, by RJ77 who I believe might be quite local but I’m not sure why I think that.

RJ77, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019
RJ77, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019

RJ77 has stuck well to the theme of the festival and his book is Nadiya Hussain’s ‘Time to Eat’ cookery book. He is a very talented stencil artist and this greyscale piece looks like it has maybe eight or nine layers – gotta love those drips too. He painted a lovely piece at Upfest 2018 which I posted a little while back. I’d love to see more of his stuff, but might have to wait for more festivals to see it.

RJ77, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
RJ77, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018

2549. North Street

This is a lovely new shutter piece by The Hass on North Street. Unfortunately there is a bit missing on the left hand side which rolls down over the door, but shutters are difficult to get at the best of times so I was pleased to get this shot. The Hass paints under another name in Bristol, but those that know, know and those that don’t, don’t need to.

The Hass, North Street, Bristol, October 2019
The Hass, North Street, Bristol, October 2019

As a marine biologist I need little encouragement to marvel at this wonderful marlin swimming in waters close to a paradise island, looking a little bit like the island set in the Disney Pixar film The Incredibles. This time though the gorgeous waters are polluted with plastic bottles in amongst the fish. Nice piece combining abstract elements with realism and a great story.

2548. L Dub (8)

I only make occasional trips to L Dub, which is OK, because the turnover isn’t quite up to the same level as it is in places like Dean Lane for example. Those rare visits though are totally worth it, and the dog rather enjoys the trip too.

Smak, L Dub, Bristol, October 2019
Smak, L Dub, Bristol, October 2019

This lovely piece of writing by Smak was alongside the Sled One mermaid which I posted a little while back, and the subtle colour selections work so well placed on the cloudy sky background. I am a fan of clouds, and since I started playing around with spray paint I have been looking at clouds a whole load more to make sure I don’t make silly mistakes (for example clouds that are darker on the top than on the bottom – it just doesn’t happen). Nice to see this Smak piece, it feels like a while since his last one.

2547. M32 Cycle path (35)

How fantastic to see these two PWA artists hooking up again after what feels like way too long. Soap and Face 1st have been painting buddies for a long time, but lately have been doing their own thing. I was beginning to think that they might have fallen out and may maybe they had, so it was with some relief  that I came across this fine collaboration on the M32 cycle path.

Soap and Face 1st, M32 cycle path, Bristol, October 2019
Soap and Face 1st, M32 cycle path, Bristol, October 2019

The collaboration itself is a lovely crisp piece, which is tapping into Face 1st’s recent theme of a crying face, which I interpret as a metaphor for the desperate state of our nation. This collaboration is really tight and one of my favourites that this pair have produced. The yellow boundary contains the two elements into a ‘proper’ collaboration of shared paint and merged ideas rather than the loose collaboration of when artists paint different things together.

2546. St Werburghs tunnel (108)

Another day, another Fiva piece in St Werburghs tunnel. This piece is perhaps a little less elaborate than some we have seen recently and there is no accompanying character, but it retains all the great hallmarks of Fiva’s fabulous work.

Five, St Werburghs, Bristol, October 2019
Five, St Werburghs, Bristol, October 2019

Brick walls in street art are something of a ‘thing’ and are painted as a backdrop by many Bristol (and other) artist to great effect. Fiva’s large full caps letters stand out from the brick background and are beautifully filled with a graded colour scheme and spots. All in all a lovely addition to this artist’s growing catalogue of pieces.

2545. North Street

I’m on a roll now with another wheatpaste to share with you, this one from a session about a month ago is by Jimmer Willmott who went out on a spree with Kid Crayon. Jimmer’s surreal style is instantly recognisable and obviously influenced by great artists such as Magritte.

Jimmer Wilmott, North Street, Bristol, October 2019
Jimmer Wilmott, North Street, Bristol, October 2019

I think that this might be an original hand drawing that he has pasted up, rather than a print which is what many wheatpasters do. If it is, it makes the piece all the more valuable to me at least. Earlier on in the year at a small art event I remember talking to Jimmer Willmott and Kid Crayon expressing my thoughts that there was not enough wheatpaste work in Bristol and that it was a bit of a neglected art. I would like to think that in my small way I might have in part influenced this paste up session. I probably didn’t though.