6132. Upfest 2024 (29)

Sepr, Upfest 24, The Nursery, Bristol, May 2024
Sepr, Upfest 24, The Nursery, Bristol, May 2024

I have mentioned before that Upfest has a blend of local, national and international artists every year, but what is noticeable this year is that many of the Bristol-based artists have been given large feature walls to paint, which is great to see, and to be able to showcase some of our own homegrown talent.

Sepr, Upfest 24, The Nursery, Bristol, May 2024
Sepr, Upfest 24, The Nursery, Bristol, May 2024

This is an outstanding mural from Sepr, who is no stranger to the pages of Natural Adventures – you can see more of his work in this gallery. The green colour palette is masterfully worked in this cartoon-style balloon ark. There is a wonderful story unfolding here of animals sharing a balloon trip (balloons, like street art, being one of Bristol’s USPs) under a warm sun. Sepr has designed the piece to work around the doors and windows of the house, which interestingly has no window above the door, allowing more mural space. In my view, this is a masterpiece of stylised cartoon street art that brings smiles to the faces of passers-by. Awesome.

Thursday doors – 27 June 2024 – Doors from Cheltenham

Doors 269 – Doors from Cheltenham, July 2023 (Part III)

Good morning from Bristol, where the mood has been lifted by a couple of wonderful warm days, although the clouds today probably signify the end of our summer! This week I bring you the final selection of doors from a visit I made to Cheltenham last July to experience the Cheltenham Paint Festival. There is not too much to say about these doors other than they are a random selection from my wanderings, I hope you enjoy them.

Double doors, one without door furniture, Cheltenham, July 2023
Double doors, one without door furniture, Cheltenham, July 2023
Typical Cheltenham door with ironwork awning, Cheltenham, July 2023
Typical Cheltenham door with ironwork awning, Cheltenham, July 2023
A new door (looks unpainted) with ironwork awning, Cheltenham, July 2023
A new door with ironwork awning, Cheltenham, July 2023
Cherrington Chambers double doors, Cheltenham, July 2023
Cherrington Chambers double doors, Cheltenham, July 2023
Grand entrance, door and fanlight window, Cheltenham, July 2023
Grand entrance, door and fanlight window, Cheltenham, July 2023
Green door, steps and wonderful fanlight window, Cheltenham, July 2023
Green door, steps and wonderful fanlight window, Cheltenham, July 2023
Door with graffiti and 'Apache attack helicopter' stencils, Cheltenham, July 2023
Door with graffiti and ‘Apache attack helicopter’ stencils, Cheltenham, July 2023

I have a busy day ahead, so that’s it I’m afraid for another week. Next time I am thinking a return to Umbria in Italy is on the cards, see you then.

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.

by Scooj

Thursday Doors 2024 logo

Common foxglove – 30 Days Wild (26/30)

Common foxglove, Digitalis purpurea, Liskeard, Cornwall, June 2024
Common foxglove, Digitalis purpurea, Liskeard, Cornwall, June 2024

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Leafy green backdrop

frames centrepiece perfection

poison dressed in pink

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by Scooj

  • 30 Days Wild is an initiative organised by the Wildlife Trusts. It is an annual challenge event, for those who choose to participate, to do one ‘wild’ thing a day throughout the month of June. I will try to write a nature haiku every day if I can, as my contribution to this celebration of wildlife and biodiversity. I did this back in 2015 and thoroughly enjoyed the challenge.

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6131. Upfest 2024 (28)

Luke Smile, Upfest 24, West Street, Bristol, May 2024
Luke Smile, Upfest 24, West Street, Bristol, May 2024

Life in full colour! This outstanding Upfest piece, by Luke Smile in a way reflects the previous two posts (Shane O’ Malley and Paul Monsters) in its joyful use of colour and specific reference to colour in the words. Although this is not the first time I have seen Luke Smile’s work in Bristol, he is not a regular visitor, so it felt especially good to see this piece.

Luke Smile, Upfest 24, West Street, Bristol, May 2024
Luke Smile, Upfest 24, West Street, Bristol, May 2024

Luke Smile is a British artist and designer and has been concentrating on his ‘Smile sans’ font which we see here in this mural. I have lifted Luke Smile’s description of the font from his website, because I am sure his explanation is far better than anything I could write:

‘The bespoke font has a hollow-like quality where the 3D areas of the letterforms leave space for bold colour and texture whilst casting interesting shadows’

I have to say that this piece really struck me when I first saw it and it remains one of my favourites from this year’s festival.

Luke Smile, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2017
Luke Smile, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2017

6130. Upfest 2024 (27)

Shane O'Malley, Upfest 24, Bedminster Down Road, Bristol, May 2024
Shane O’Malley, Upfest 24, Bedminster Down Road, Bristol, May 2024

There are some murals painted at this year’s Upfest that you simply just have to stand back and admire, and this extraordinary piece by Shane O’Malley is one of them. The double house wall is a new one for Upfest this year, and although a little way off the beaten track and without anywhere to park, is well worth the trip.

Shane O'Malley, Upfest 24, Bedminster Down Road, Bristol, May 2024
Shane O’Malley, Upfest 24, Bedminster Down Road, Bristol, May 2024

Shane O’Malley is an artist from Galway in Ireland who works on designs based around circles, geometry and colour in both the studio and on walls – you can see more of his murals on his website. This piece conveys joy and excitement and is complemented by the blue skies on the day I photographed it. A wonderful Upfest piece.

6129. Upfest 2024 (26)

Paul Monsters, Upfest 24, North Street, Bristol, May 2024
Paul Monsters, Upfest 24, North Street, Bristol, May 2024

I have a feeling that this was one of the first walls to be completed for this year’s Upfest, and there is likely a very good reason for this. Paul Monsters, whose colourful geometric murals are well known in Bristol, also works with Upfest, so I imagine he needed to complete his piece early so that he could help with his festival responsibilities.

Paul Monsters, Upfest 24, North Street, Bristol, May 2024
Paul Monsters, Upfest 24, North Street, Bristol, May 2024

The wonderful mural is painted on the side of the Bristol Beer Factory, and Paul Monsters has carefully incorporated the pint glass logo into his design. The use of various tones of colours to create depth in these geometric pieces is a trademark of Paul Monsters’ work and although at first glance his work might look simple and straightforward, it is in fact complex and sophisticated. This post reminds me that it is high time I produced a gallery of his outstanding work.

Lesser stitchwort – 30 Days Wild (25/30)

Lesser stitchwort, Stellaria graminea, Ley, Cornwall, June 2024
Lesser stitchwort, Stellaria graminea, Ley, Cornwall, June 2024

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Weaving through grasses

stellar determination

flowers to be seen

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by Scooj

  • 30 Days Wild is an initiative organised by the Wildlife Trusts. It is an annual challenge event, for those who choose to participate, to do one ‘wild’ thing a day throughout the month of June. I will try to write a nature haiku every day if I can, as my contribution to this celebration of wildlife and biodiversity. I did this back in 2015 and thoroughly enjoyed the challenge.

6128. Cumberland Basin

Marckinetic, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, May 2024
Marckinetic, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, May 2024

Marckinetic has been out a fair bit this year, painting alongside his mate Kid Krishna, and he hasn’t yet appeared to run out of inspiration for his FFS designs – this one being a cracking example. There is a real sense of clarity and purpose in this piece.

Marckinetic, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, May 2024
Marckinetic, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, May 2024

You have to have some insider knowledge or a great imagination to know that the letters spell FFS. There is a lovely symmetry and flow in this piece created by the curves of the letters, and the deep black shadow gives the whole thing a monolithic appearance. The fills are very nicely worked and I love the cracks in the blue fills. The piece has been nicely finished and is clean and crisp – an excellent and unusual piece of graffiti writing from Marckinetic.

6127. Peel Street Green (32)

Acesartworld, Peel Street Green, Bristol, May 2024
Acesartworld, Peel Street Green, Bristol, May 2024

Acesartworld, who appears to have recently changed his moniker to Ace has recently taken a significant change in direction in his work towards painting Transformer-influenced masks. Having painted several of these in Bristol this year, I don’t think he needs to sign them any more as they are quite unique.

Acesartworld, Peel Street Green, Bristol, May 2024
Acesartworld, Peel Street Green, Bristol, May 2024

I think that this piece speaks of a tidy and regimented mind, paying attention to the symmetry and detail set on a buffed wall, creating clarity – there is no ambiguity or subtlety here – what you see is what you get. These mask pieces have created quite a nice ‘collectable’ series, and I fully expect to see more as the summer unfolds.

6126. Greville Smyth Park (3)

Stewy, Grevile Smyth Park, Bristol, May 2024
Stewy, Grevile Smyth Park, Bristol, May 2024

Stewy Stencils (to give him his full handle) is one of a handful of talented stencil artists in the Bristol area, and many of his iconic pieces can be found dotted around the city. His style is almost always black and white single layer stencil portraits of well known or influential people, or sometimes animals. In this piece, which is rather annoyingly behind a gate, Stewy depicts Tricky, a British record producer and rapper.

Stewy, Grevile Smyth Park, Bristol, May 2024
Stewy, Grevile Smyth Park, Bristol, May 2024

One of the features of many stencils by Stewy is that they can be a bit rough at the edges, and there is sometimes a bit of blurring, but in my view, that adds to the authenticity of these street pieces. I have a few Stewy pieces in my archive and need to do better to post them – something for a quiet moment perhaps (huh!).