I continue to be bewitched by Mr Crawls’ work. I have always been attracted to character artists who present variations on a theme – Mr Crawls, Mr Underbite, Asre, Morag, Hire’s rabbits, to mention but a few. There is something comforting about the familiar and enjoyable about the pimping that familiarity, if that makes any sense at all.
Mr Crawls, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, October 2023
This penguin piece is only a couple of hundred yards away from his first penguin piece on a column of the M32 Spot, but is just as much fun. There is something endearing about this penguin, maybe it is that he is a penguin, or maybe it is the woolly hat, either way this character is a winner. I am enjoying the Mr Crawls menagerie very much.
Mena, Bnie and Wispa, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, October 2023
More from the RBF Halloween paint jam, from a week or two back, this time featuring Mena, Bnie and Wispa, in what was a fabulous turnout from the ladies and which seemed to bring the best out of each and every one of them.
Mena, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, October 2023
To the left is a beautiful script piece by Mena, who I haven’t seen much of in recent months, so this was a genuine treat. This piece is simple yet stylish and beautifully executed and I think she is at her best when she paints these thin script letters. I fear that I have a great many unpublished pieces by Mena, and must spend a little time going through my archives and unearth them.
Bnie, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, October 2023
There is little more that I can say about Bnie that I haven’t said many times before. I consider this to be an outstanding piece of graffiti writing. Brilliant letter shapes, superb rich fill and all beautifully finished. I rather like the addition of the orange spherical things, as a nod to Halloween, but I think the lettering is so strong that even if they hadn’t been included, this would have stood out.
Wispa, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, October 2023
The energy that Wispa brings to her work is exceptional, not only in its presentation, but also in her incredible and seemingly inexhaustible journeying around the country to paint. The letters, spelling WISPA, are dazzling, being so full of energetic fill patterns and colours. It all looks very complicated, but I expect in her head it is all rather straightforward and obvious. The ghost character which looks like Caspar the Friendly Ghost, is the perfect foil to the busy writing. What an absolutely excellent trio of Halloween pieces.
Once again I find myself under a little time pressure, so I will be brief for today’s door collection. This is a further set of doors from Todi, the first of several towns and cities we visited back in July this year. There is no theme to this selection, I am presenting them in chronological order, which perhaps gives you a sense of just how many great doors there are in this town.
Recessed door, Todi, Umbria, Italy, July 2023Old door within a door, Todi, Umbria, Italy, July 2023Doorways and doors in the Piazza del Popolo, Todi, Umbria, Italy, July 2023Three fine entrances and doors on the Duomo di Todi, Todi, Umbria, Italy, July 2023Central door of the Duomo di Todi, Todi, Umbria, Italy, July 2023Internal door of the Duomo di Todi, Todi, Umbria, Italy, July 2023
That’s it for this week. Short and sweet I’m afraid. Next week will be the last set of doors from Todi and after that I move on to another Umbrian gem. Have a great weekend.
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.
Werm and Daz Cat, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2023
Oooh. This is a lovely collaboration by Werm and Daz Cat in one of my favourite spots, the curved wall at Dean Lane. The writing/character combination utilises the slightly awkward space on the wall really well. It feels like a while since a good piece appeared here. Back in the day this wall was a bit of a premium wall, but recently it has been occupied by rather too many throw ups and frankly a lot of rubbish, so it was refreshing to come across this piece.
Werm, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2023
To the left on the lower bit of wall, Werm continues with his transition towards a different presentation of his letters which have been nicely thought out, offering a little bit of bilateral symmetry. With Werm, I feel like he experiments and then settles on a particular form before transitioning to the next until he feels he needs to change. A stop-start method that seems to work for him. Some other artists won’t change at all, while others make subtle or wholesale changes with each new piece they paint. This is the joy of the vast spectrum of artists in Bristol.
Daz Cat, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2023
For me the star of the show is the Daz Cat cat and friends toasting marshmallows. I love these storytelling pieces by Daz Cat, he seems to capture something really special that you need to look at, interpret and enjoy. Quite what creatures the companions are I am not sure, but one looks most contented, the other a little concerned. The main character has an air of compassion and love. A brilliant piece, and it is always good to see Daz Cat painting these expansive scenes.
Mr Draws has been working really hard to push the boundaries of his work and producing more of these art pieces alongside his familiar writing. This Pumpkin piece was painted recently to celebrate Halloween, and captures the atmosphere of the festival perfectly. Mr Draws does like to celebrate festival dates, such as Halloween and Christmas.
Mr Draws, Brunel Way, Bristol, October 2023
This newish technique or presentation style by Mr Draws creates an atmospheric background as a ‘canvas’ for his subject, in this case the pumpkin. It is effective and fits Mr Draws’ rather unconventional style perfectly. I am led to believe that we can expect many more pieces like this by Mr Draws in the future.
You might wonder why I have included this piece for a Halloween post. Well, regular readers will know that Laic217 specialises in painting skeletons and portraits of people with melting or distorted faces, and that to produce another one in that vein for Halloween would be a bit of a busman’s holiday. Instead, he has created a personal horror of a normal portrait of a young woman wearing a black puffer jacket. Woooooo, scary.
Laic217, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2023
I was lucky enough to meet with Laic217 when visiting Dean Lane last weekend with Paul H, moments after he had finished painting this brilliant piece, and while he was doing an additional quick one, much more in line with what we’d expect. I had to ask him if the portrait was his – it was unsigned and not so obviously a Laic217 piece, although the shiny fabric was a bit of a tell-tale sign. Laic217 confirmed it was one of his, and explained the joke. Brilliant and funny, although I’m not sure that we can expect too many more of these ‘tame’ pieces from Laic217 – a bit of a one off I suspect.
Evey, Pekoe and Unity, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, October 2023
Happy Halloween 2023. This year has been a bit of a bumper year for Halloween pieces, and what is especially good is that many were painted a week or two ago, which means that they have made it into Natural Adventures in time for the special day itself. This wonderful triptych from Evey, Pekoe and Unity, is part of a much larger Resting Bitch Face (RBF) collaboration in Sparke Evans Park.
Evey, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, October 2023
The special house colours for this Halloween paint jam were suitably orange with touches of bright green, which was adopted for the whole wall. To the left, Evey continues her purple patch with this magnificent piece of writing cleverly popping out from the wall with great shaded edges to the letters. The horizontal fills are very nicely done, with an addition of a few creepy spiders for good measure. Another cracker from Evey.
Pekoe, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, October 2023
In the middle is a stunning portrait piece from Pekoe, who always seems to pull the rabbit out of the hat for her Halloween pieces. The portrait reminds me of images of Queen Cleopatra – perhaps it is the hair and the half moon head garment. I suspect that the portrait is of someone specific related to Halloween, but I would have to ask Pekoe to find out. The piece is beautifully finished and right out of the top drawer and one of Pekoe’s best in my opinion.
Unity, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, October 2023
To the right, and rounding off this first Halloween post, is a superb anamorphic piece of graffiti writing by Unity in which the letters appear to stand out from the wall in a soft cuboid arrangement. The piece plays wonderful tricks on the eyes, and it is almost impossible to interpret it as a flat wall. All three of the pieces are adorned with spider webs, to provide that extra spooky sensation. Three outstanding pieces from three great artists.
A final quick delve into the archives, before I wish you a happy/scary Halloween. Every couple of weeks or so, I like to take a quick look back in my archives to see if there are any gems that I may have, for whatever reason, failed to post. Going back to last October, I found this delightful piece, as always, from Billy in Leonard Lane.
Billy, Leonard Lane, Bristol, October 2022
Billy’s artwork in a naïve style is always a shot in the arm, and a reminder that there is a lot of good in the world. This message in this colourful mural is clear – PEACE. Painted at a time when the war in Ukraine was dominating the headlines, it is now the appalling conflict in Gaza that is front of mind, and the peace message resonates even more strongly. Protest is pretty much all we can do, and murals like this one help to get our voices heard. Great work from Billy.
Because he tends to paint most of his work in L Dub, Donz is a little bit underrepresented on Natural Adventures, which is a pity really, because he has a distinctive style and slightly different take on things. He is far from unconventional in his work, but he does things his own way, if that makes any sense at all.
Donz, L Dub, Bristol, August 2023
The letters spell DONZ, although the ‘O’ is much reduced and resembles an eye, giving the writing a bit of character, a little bit like Decay’s Chuck (check out this Decay gallery to see what I mean).The colours in the letters are bright and rather striking, and whilst not naturally complementary, seem to be incredibly effective in this piece. I will try to photograph and post more Donz pieces if I can.
Natural adventures 