Porto – the gift that keeps on giving, at least when it comes to Thursday doors. A very quick one this week as I have ‘ground rush’ finishing off jobs before taking a few days off from work, fishing in Cornwall. This time I have a fairly random set of doors from Porto, no theme to speak of. I hope you enjoy them.
Row of green doors (look carefully), Foz do Douro, Porto, May 2022Modern grey door, Porto, May 2022Door in the museum of the Monument Church of St Francis, Porto, May 2022Door with key handle, Porto, May 2022Dogwash door, Foz do Douro, Porto, May 2022Lighthoouse door, Foz do Douro, Porto, May 2022Door and tiles, Foz do Douro, Porto, May 2022
That’s it for another week – only a couple more weeks of Porto doors… I promise.
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.
Full Time Ghoul, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2022
Full Time Ghoul (FTG) is an artist who paints variants of the same interlocking ghoul head and who is poorly represented on Natural Adventures. I have many unpublished photographs of his work in my archives, and really need to dig them out and share them. This is a recent small piece on the reverse wall of one of the ramps in Dean Lane skate park.
Full Time Ghoul, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2022
Here we have three ghouls whose upper heads are reminiscent of a kind of Celtic cross design, with interwoven parts in a plait. The ghouls have red eyes and a black nasal cavity. The designs are simple but impactful, and FTG has made his mark all over the city.
I like Mest’s writing a lot. His letters are clear bold and the word have no links to anything, so there is no inherited preconception… what I mean by that, for example, is that if his name was HAND, or LION, you would expect to see a hand or a lion in the work. Actually, come to think of it, I can’t think of any writers who are called what they paint, other than the letters – except perhaps Face 1st, who always includes a face. Enough tittle-tattle.
Mest, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, September 2022
This is a fabulous piece of graffiti writing, and possibly Mest’s best to date. The letters, looking like pieces of ironwork with cracks through them and the colour transitions at the edges are beautifully done, and the wisps of smoke complete the overall work. One of my favourites.
Face 1st and Chill, Greenbank, Bristol, September 2022
Pirate Wall Art (PWA) has been quite a dynamic crew over the last couple of years, with the inclusion of Nightwayss and Chill, and then the departure of Nightwayss (not from the crew, but from Bristol). Chill has embraced the group of friends with gusto, and regularly paints collaborations, often in the company of Face 1st, who I get the impression is always up for a paint.
Chill, Greenbank, Bristol, September 2022
The collaboration is beautifully presented on a grey buffed background with green foliage, flowers, clouds and a little bird by Chill. His cartoon character is wonderful, but it is the hand gently holding the flower that works so well… some real tenderness.
Face 1st, Greenbank, Bristol, September 2022
Face 1st has reverted to his girl with FACE for hair, written in a chunky block script. The shading on the letters F and E gives them a 3D effect, while the A and C are flatter, sitting back. It shows you what you can do with shading to make elements of a piece stand out. Of course, the girl is smiling, and the piece is a happy one. This is a fine collaboration from the PWA pair.
Chatterton Square is a stone’s throw away from Bristol Temple Meads station and boasts two stretches of wall that tend to be relatively untouched by tagging, and it is a great place for artists to go to town with ‘special’ pieces. This is a rather nice collaboration between two LRS artists, Werm and 3F Fino.
Werm and 3F Fino, Chatterton Square, Bristol
The writing is by Werm and spells WE-RM. It is technically very well done, with a great colour transition in the fills and a deep drop-shadow that has a central vanishing point. The rather intimidating character, perhaps loosely based on the ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’, is by 3F Fino. Although the proportions of the character are a little inconsistent, it is well painted and certainly conveys an element of fear.
What I really like about Mote’s approach to street art is that he is a very tidy artist. He likes to have a buffed wall to paint on, so that there are no distractions, and he keeps everything clean and tidy. Nice solid fills and crisp sharp lines. I am guessing he is a bit of a perfectionist.
Mote, Purdown, Bristol, September 2022
This charming monster piece up at Purdown is a wonderful doodle character, with some nice colour fills and details. The eyes and eyelids work well, and the shadow cast onto the wall lifts the piece out. Altogether this is a rather good piece, one of many.
I have only once before come across Madderdoit, and that was a column stencil piece under Brunel Way in Bristol, so it was good to see a couple more pieces by the artist in the skate park for the Cheltenham Paint Festival, of which this is one.
Madderdoit, Cheltenham Paint Festival, Cheltenham, July 2022
The kid sitting among a bunch of spray cans reminds me a little of an early Dice67 piece, and is nicely done. The brightly sprayed heart is also a nice touch, without which the whole thing would be duller. I like the spread of spray cans, but would have created two or three stencils for these and perhaps coloured the tops – but there I go again nit-picking. This is a nice fresh stencil from Madderdoit.
