It really isn’t that long ago that Bloem was painting rather basic fingers, cellphones and devilled cherries in some of the less popular spots all around Bristol, but her accelerated progress means that her work is more than comfortable alongside some of the best writers in the city.
Bloem, Peel Street Green, Bristol, July 2025
This is a wonderful and complex combination piece, with some amazing writing and a cartoon-style hand (long nails of course). The weave pattern used to fill her letters is beautifully worked, and very neat and tidy. Every element of the piece has been nicely thought out and has come together really well. This is one of those pieces that actually looks better in a photograph, than it does in situ, perhaps because of its complexity. What a talent.
Doors 319 – Doors of Godalming, Surrey, March 2025 (Part V)
Are we really in August already? Life canters on with little respite, which makes writing a blog all the more important, taking time to think, reflect and write before returning to the maelstrom.
This is the last in a series of doors from Godalming, a small town in Surrey, which I visited on a work trip back in March this year. Although I had heard and was aware of the town most of my life, it wasn’t until my work took me there that I visited the place. I am super-lucky that one aspect of my job takes me all around the country to stay in towns and cities, many of which I get to visit for the first time. I chronicle my ‘tours’ through photographing doors and street art (if there is any), which feels like a nice way to remember a place. Enough chit-chat – on to this week’s doors. I hope you enjoy them.
An unusual door with a suspended canopy, Bridge Street, Godalming, Surrey, March 2025‘Please shut the gate’ door, Bridge Street, Godalming, Surrey, March 2025Faux Regency door to a closed down retail outlet with a lot of notices, High Street, Godalming, Surrey, March 2025Black door with a large oval window, High Street, Godalming, Surrey, March 2025Black coat of arms embedded in a wall in Pound Lane, Godalming, Surrey, March 2025Two doors in a timber frame building, Bridge Street, Godalming, Surrey, March 2025Five sets of doors on a timber frame building, Bridge Street, Godalming, Surrey, March 2025Large timber frame building with tiered floors and shop doors, High Street Godalming, Surrey, March 2025Small red door with a flood wall built in front of it, Westbrook Road, Godalming, Surrey, March 2025
The red door, was the last one I photographed in Godalming and was from a small cottage situated directly adjacent to the brook (West Brook?), which was obviously exposed to frequent flooding, hence the brick flood wall blocking the entrance. I think that there was another entrance on the side of the building that was a more practical access to the cottage.
I very much enjoyed my night stopover in Godalming, and would recommend a visit if you happen ever to be in the area.
Something a little different 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 weekly Thursday Doors post.
Noise has been painting in Bristol for a little over two years now, and I haven’t yet had the pleasure of meeting him. I guess our clocks just aren’t synchronised – I tend to go for my exploratory dog walks at lunchtime or after work usually on weekdays, so I imagine Noise’s paint time pattern doesn’t match… or maybe we just haven’t been at the same place at the same time. It can happen that way.
Noise, M32 Spot, Bristol, July 2025
This is a big fat piece with big fat letters, which is what Noise does best. His letters are like a visual version of onomatopoeia, in so much as their size and imposition looks like noise to me. Does any of that make sense? The letters are filled with yellow, and some murky muddy colour, I suppose I would describe the piece as mustard noise. Great stuff.
This is a tribute piece, one of many to the late Paroe, on the long wall at Sparke Evans Park. Pekoe’s stylised portrait pieces are no stranger to Natural Adventures and I have observed over the years that emotions underpin her pieces and that is for sure the case here.
Pekoe, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, July 2025
The woman has a sorrowful expression, somewhat amplified by the tear of sadness. Tears used to be a common feature of Pekoe’s pieces, but of late they have been less common, perhaps reflecting her own happier disposition.
Pekoe, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, July 2025
This piece is archetypal Pekoe, and that is a wonderful thing. A beautiful portrait with strong features, especially eyes and lips, and some great shading. The wonderful hair is a trademark element of Pekoe’s work which is nicely coloured with green and yellow bands. Another fine portrait piece from Pekoe.
Werm and Scrapyardspec, River Avon, Bristol, July 2025
In my mind, some collaborations were just meant to be, and this magnificent joint venture from Werm and Scrapyardspec is simply awesome. Two utterly different styles, a writer and a character artist, have combined with skilful design and colour sharing to create a piece that just works brilliantly.
Werm and Scrapyardspec, River Avon, Bristol, July 2025
There is nothing pretentious about this combination piece, just two artists comfortable with what they do where the resulting whole is greater than the sum of the parts. The letters by Werm are nicely executed with straightforward fills and a bold white border. Scrapyardspec’s goofy character replaces the ‘E’ of ‘WERM’ and is integrated into the word with the clever use of an orange border bringing everything into the single piece. Excellent work, full of the joy of street art friendship.
Sub had a busy month in July and appears to be pushing the boundaries with his work. This piece tucked away on the M32 roundabout seems to be a practice for a combination piece he followed up with in Peel Street Green (to follow soon).
Sub, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2025
Sub’s chunky letters and deep drop shadows in icy blues, together with a couple of decorative cracks, are accompanied by a Mario character which I would describe, perhaps a little harshly, as a good first effort. It doesn’t help that the eyes are a bit untidy. What you might notice, when I post the next version of the character in a few days the vast improvement. The learning journey with Sub continues.
I haven’t seen anything from Mudra for an age, so it was so good to find this piece as part of the extraordinary paint jam in this sleepy cul-de-sac in Knowle West. Unfortunately, the parked cars presented a bit of a photography challenge, but I think I just about got away with it.
Mudra (and dog), Knowle West, Bristol, July 2025
Mudra has spelled out his name in his distinctive style of treating each letter as a discrete ‘mini-piece’ that when combined all come together very nicely. Lots of colour, and the character face on the letter D has something very special and quite chilling about it. I hope this signals a return to the streets for Mudra.
This is something the same, but also a little different from Scrapyardspec under Brunel Way. He has used a buffed pillar (a crazy scheme devised by Bristol City Council to eradicate graffiti, which only serves to create nice clean new ‘canvasses’) to act as a solid backdrop to one of his wobbly characters.
Scrapyardspec, Brunel Way, Bristol, July 2025
Instead of filling the piece with colour, like all of his other pieces, he has gone for a simple white fill which works so well against the grey. The piece is clean and almost looks like a giant sticker, rather than a painted piece. Scrapyardspec has injected some great creativity into his standard character.
Recently, almost the entire wall at Sparke Evans Park, and it is a long wall, was filled with tribute pieces to Paroe (or Paro). I know little about Paroe (Oliver Andrews), but it would seem from the huge turnout and the large number of tribute pieces all over Bristol, that he was well-known and much loved. This is one of those tribute pieces, by Vesar.
Vesar, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, July 2025
I have only recently been posting pieces by Vesar, despite having many of his pieces in my archive, and I am certainly noticing them much more when I go out on my walks. This is a beautifully presented piece with skilfully worked red fills and a stunning green splash behind. A worthy tribute piece.
A short while back, Kid Crayon organised a paint jam for Frazzled magazine and assembled a fine line-up of artists, including Ejits. There is something very charming about her stylised cartoon characters, which tend to have a cheeky side to their personality.
Ejits, St Werburghs, Bristol, July 2025
This is a wonderful eye-catching cat, beautifully illustrated and perfectly finished. There is two-tone texture in the cat’s face and a strong dark pink border to keep everything neat and tidy. I am an admirer of her work, and would love to see (find) more of it on our streets.
Natural adventures 