.
Timed to perfection
surprising even myself
flight delayed an hour
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by Scooj
6967. Dean Lane skate park (838)
I am so pleased to see that Bean is back in town and doing his stuff, which he does so well. The last piece I posted was a portrait piece that couldn’t be more of a departure from his ‘house’ style, and it was great to see. Here he returns to more familiar territory, with this wonderfully colourful character piece.
The character, like so many he creates, has no pupils in his eyes, which gives him a bit of a haunted look. Old Bluebeard here is wearing a kind of gilet over a green t-shirt, with a gold chain and cap accessories. The whole thing is beautifully painted, and tight as a nut. There is great separation from the piece (by Turoe) beneath it, with red, black and white bordering, bringing his character to the forefront. I don’t think that Bean particularly believes/enjoys wall preparation or buffing – perhaps it takes too long, or maybe detracts from the subversive nature of street art. Another great piece from an artist whose work I really like.
6966. Brunel Way (317)
Mr Draws has been a long-standing green campaigner, and every once in a while he reminds us of that, often with the help of Whales, the symbol of the global need for conservation, alongside the polar bear and panda. Indeed, whales have been something of a success story, with populations of most species recovering since the ban on hunting for whales. The success could only be achieved through a global agreement, which had a couple of unhelpful exceptions, and cooperation, which is a lesson we need to take forward for other global issues.
This piece has a wonderful sense of peace about it, and a tone of regret and remorse. The whale is set in a nicely presented sea of blue and chrome, frames in a pink box. Keep up the good work, Mr Draws… keep reminding us.
Thursday Doors – 12 June 2025 – Doors of Leicester
Doors 311 – Leicester, Leicestershire (part I) – May 2024
One of the main reasons that I am enjoying my work so much at the moment is that I get to travel around the country helping teams and partnerships declare new National Nature Reserves. These NNRs are the lesser-know sibling of National Parks and National Landscapes (formerly Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs)). There are about 220 NNRs in England, and they are the country’s best places for nature.
There is a Government target to create 25 new significant NNRs over a five-year period, and we are in the second year of rolling this out. In May 2024, a new National Nature Reserve was declared called Bradgate Park, which is a ten-minute drive outside Leicester. I was lucky enough to be there at the launch event and stayed the night before in Leicester – naturally it was an opportunity to photograph some doors. This is the first selection of doors from that visit:
While Leicester Cathedral isn’t much to write home about, the guildhall next door is a pretty special building. More to come from this trip to Leicester next time.
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.
6965. Cumberland Basin
Many artists in Bristol seem to have temporarily slowed or perhaps disappeared altogether, such as Fiver, Mudra, Kosc, Laic217, to name just a few, but hot on their heels are new artists who are emerging or establishing themselves as part of the mainstream, including Bloem, Sub, Bean, Lis and the featured artist of this post Astrea.
Astrea, or Astra as she signs herself these days is experimenting with both writing and characters, and has in the past played with abstract designs too. It feels like she is settling on some preferred colour combinations, in particular red and black. For an artist who is still developing her street technique, this is an accomplished piece of writing with lots of common design ideas incorporated. Interestingly, she hasn’t painted a border line, instead opting for a white outline interrupted with dots. I think borders are really tricky until you get your can control perfected. Nice to see Astrea pushing her boundaries.
6964. Dean Lane skate park (837)
OOF! This is a superb character portrait piece by Nice one, so full of movement and vibrancy. The ‘sketchy’ style that Nice One adopts for his character pieces has an impressionist quality, with what appear to be brush strokes rather than spray paint work, especially around the face and hair. This is a clever technique, and I suspect rather difficult to do.
The character is wearing enormous glasses, with a hint of reflection in them, which is incredibly effective. There is no need for a signature, when the whole piece sits over a huge ‘Nice One font’ ‘N’. A superb piece from an artist whose work is beautifully executed and always interesting.
6963. Stokes Croft
Eska is an itinerant artist who lives a houseboat lifestyle and drifts from place to place. His stays in Bristol are always very welcome and accompanied by a number of stunning graffiti writing pieces, that bring something a little different to our streets.
This gorgeous piece is one of three high-end pieces on the hoarding around what used to be the Blue Mountain nightclub. The other pieces are by Kid Krishna and Hemper and all three are beauties. There is a lot going on in this piece, which has anamorphic writing that lifts out of the wall in a superb 3D illusion. In addition to the letters, I presume spelling ESKA, there are his tiny trademark figures, with long shadows, scattered around the ‘flat’ surfaces of the piece. There are also watery surfaces with reflections too, perhaps an oblique reference to Bristol Harbour. Eska’s work is of the highest order and I look forward to his next visit to the city.
6962. Moon Street (108)
Although there has been an uptick in the number of Wheatpastes appearing on Natural Adventures of late, I would still assert that Bristol isn’t really a past-up city, unlike Shoreditch and Manchester northern district, for example. However, I am enjoying finding new wheatpastes, paertly because of their rarity. Wheatpastes offer something very different from spray-painted pieces, and are notable not only for their artistic content, but also their placement.
This piece by Art Tits (Lillian Shanahan), lurks in the darkest recesses of Moon Street, a spot that was once the vibrant heart of the Stokes Croft area, but has become a bit of a backwater since regeneration and gentrification began in earnest a few years ago. I know little to nothing about the artist, and the paste-up itself is a curious amalgamation of a body builder and a doll, something that I think Art Tits works on in various artistic endeavours. I like this piece, which may have been in Moon Street for some time.
6961. M32 roundabout J3 (686)
Although this piece is a little bleached out by the strong sun, I am so pleased to have captured it at all. So many times when Kid Crayon has painted a new piece, I get down to photograph it, and it has gone. I don’t know if this is purely coincidental, or whether there is something more sinister going on. Suffice it to say that I have missed at least two pieces by him this year.
It is fantastic to see Kid Crayon getting out more often this year, after quite a long period of low productivity – due in part to his real work being very busy. In this piece, the letters CRAYON can be seen with a little reversed out KID at the start. Each letter has an individual paint treatment, with the base colours alternating through the word. The ‘O’ is represented by a character with a blue face, donning a rather fetching Eat crew baseball cap. A floating crayon in front of the character’s mouth rounds the piece off nicely. There are so many KC trademarks in this fun and uplifting piece.
6960. St Werburghs tunnel (503)
Zake has been smashing it consistently for months and years. His cartoon-style characters peer out from walls all over the city and have become a familiar sight for anyone who chooses to open their eyes.
This is an eye-catching piece in the tunnel, painted alongside numerous other artists, during a paint jam about two or three weeks ago. In this rather sinister piece, the character is wielding a dripping syringe, looking as if there is some ill intent at work. As ever, lots of light and shade creating depth in the character, and a little bit of a story too.
Natural adventures 