.
Inhospitable
making the most of what goes
cut out to survive
.
by Scooj
Niche
7195. River Avon (93)
I always feel much happier writing about street art once I have met with the artist. For me, it feels like I have been through some process of validation and gives me confidence to speak more authoritatively about street art and the pieces in question. This lovely piece by Scrapyardspec is a case in point.
I met Scrapyardspec about a month ago, and we chatted for quite a while. He shared with me what I’d already noticed, that he was developing his characters a little bit, now that he was confident of his archetype and his painting skills were improving. Here, the character has rudimentary limbs, and a rather fetching pink hairdo. Great to see him improving and pushing his boundaries.
7194. Dean Lane skate park (869)
Chill left Bristol a little over a year ago, having been a prolific member of the PWA crew, so it was wonderful to see this small piece in Dean Lane skate park, which I think was painted for, or at, the Dean Lane Hardcore (DLH) event (an annual skate and music extravaganza).
This piece features two of his cheeky characters side by side with tongues hanging out. That Chill is able to duplicate these faces with such ease demonstrates his skill as an artist and steady can control. I miss these characters.
Thursday doors – 2 October 2025 – back to Marrakesh doors
Doors 326 – Doors of Marrakesh, Morocco, January 2025 (Part VI)
Things have returned to something resembling normal this week after our wonderful week away in Madeira. I have found a little time to resume with some doors of Marrakesh. These doors were photographed during a solo doorscursion in what was the only wet morning of our trip to the red city.
At first, when I look at these I think that it is all a bit repetitive, and then I see that each of these doors is unique. Nothing mass-produced here. It is as if the industrial revolution never happened. I hope you enjoy this week’s selection.
More doors (sounds Tolkeinesque) from Marrakesh next time. I wish you a happy 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 weekly Thursday Doors post.
7193. St Werburghs tunnel (526)
Thinking back, it is quite unusual to see any work from the PLB (Placebo) crew in St Werburghs tunnel, but here, breaking the trend, is a two-piece collaboration from Butch and Solar. I suspect that there is a third artist involved in this piece in the form of the cat character in the middle, but it is unsigned, so I can’t be sure.
To the left is a really lovely piece of writing by Butch. I love his choice of letters, they really work for me, and the way he lays them out in a higgledy-piggledy fashion appeals. The letter fills in red are good and bounded by a strong orange line, all neatly placed on a white cloud background.
To the right, Solar has painted his customary slightly wibbly letters in striking red, with black decorations and an uplifting yellow drop shadow. The whole thing is vibrant and eye-catching and, from my perspective, shows great development and improvement/confidence from both artists. Who did paint the cat?
7192. Lucky Lane (7)
What a stunning piece by Mind 49 painted at the Lucky Lane paint jam a couple of weekends ago. The theme for the mini-festival, organised by the Bristol Mural Collective, was luck, although I’m not sure how Mind 49’s piece plays into this, if at all.
The obscured portrait, a feature of Mind 49’s work, shows the eyes of a person peering through what appears to be a floral balaclava or headdress. It is an incredibly powerful piece, which is not only painted beautifully, but also conveys a raft of possible emotions – grief? contempt? sadness? resignation? stoicism? – there is certainly something downbeat about it, and yet it is surrounded with beautiful flowers. Lots to think about in this amazing portrait piece.
Goosey
.
Where shall I wander?
to the banks of the Avon
a taste of freedom
.
by Scooj
- on seeing a domestic goose feeding free on the banks of the River Avon – an escapee? certainly not something you see all that often.
Dun Sum
A superb gallery of wonder-beasts by Lawrence Weston artist Dun Sum.
Instagram: @dun_sum
All photographs by Scooj
Limestone pavement
.
Coming together
‘O’ level geography
limestone clints and grykes
.
by Scooj
7191. M32 roundabout J3 (717)
At around the time Face 1st left Bristol about a year or so ago, he had been doing quite a lot of experimentation around his writing and different font ideas. On his visits back to Bristol, he has switched between his writing and his character combination pieces. This one is writing only.
The letters spell out FACE 1ST in a rather unusual typeface that looks like a first step towards calligraffiti, but has too many soft edges and freedom to be considered as that. I am a huge fan of Face 1st’s work and would like to see him painting more of his character pieces, and concentrating less on his writing, but I think that he might feel differently. A nice collaboration with PWA fellow Soap.
Natural adventures 