It has been a little while since I last saw some writing from Nightwayss, so it was a nice surprise to find this ‘NIGHT’ on the M32 cycle path. There is an interesting colour palette and a highly complex design, but I have to say it doesn’t quite work for me and I can’t put my finger on it.
Nightwayss, M32 cycle path, Bristol, December 2019
Maybe the lack of clear definition around the letters is a little unconventional, and the colours tend to merge a bit. Also the texture of the wall isn’t very helpful with this busy design. I fear I might protest too much, and anyway, photobombing dog seems to rather like it.
Aah, pigs swimming, but not any ordinary pigs, it looks like these might be related in some way to the uniformed kind. I absolutely love this rather surreal mural from Peter Sheridan at the Cheltenham Paint Festival 2019. It is an outrageous piece beautifuly painted.
Peter Sheridan, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019
Peter Sheridan painted one of my favourite pieces of Upfest 2018 and he has carried on his brilliant work in Cheltenham. It took a while to find this piece but it was well worth the endeavour. It is not only the bizarre and humorous story of the piece, but the execution is quite exquisite.
Peter Sheridan, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019
Any piece with water is always going to be a challenge, but it is one that the artist has risen to and mastered. There are two other pieces that instantly come to mind when I see this and they are; the Odeith crocodile at Upfest 2018 and the figure in water by Cosmo Sarson at Upfest 2016:
Odeith, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018Cosmo Sarson, Greville Road, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
The Bristol Hippodrome is part of the cultural ‘beating heart’ of the city and has been so since December 1912 when it was first opened. The history of the theatre is well worth reading about, but because this is a post about doors (and I am notoriously lazy) I would direct you to this magnificent specialist theatre history site – Arthur Lloyd.co.uk.
I have seen many great performances here including several operas by the Welsh National Opera, plays and of course pantomimes when the children were younger.
Another link I have with the old place is my mother performed here with the Sadler’s Wells National Opera in the 1950s as a principal dancer with the company. She has fond memories of the theatre and the city.
On to the doors. The feature photograph, also repeated below for those who look at these posts on smart phones, shows the main entrance to the Hippodrome. What you don’t see here is that every night after the theatre closes, several homeless people sleep in front of the doors where it is safe and dry – theatre staff tend to gently move them on in the morning as I walk past on my way to work. This is the 5th wealthiest nation in the world, something is very wrong!
Front entrance to the Bristol Hippodrome, Doors, December 2019Side doors (in need of a little TLC), Bristol Hippodrome, December 2019Access entrance doors, Bristol Hippodrome, Decmber 2019Fire exit doors, Bristol Hippodrome, December 2019Fire exit doors and quick exit after a performance, Bristol Hippodrome, December 2019The all important Stage Door for cast, musicians, tecnicians and groupies, Bristol Hippodrome, December 2019Ever wondered how they get the scenery in? Barn Doors, Bristol Hippodrome, December 2019
So there it is, my first door post of the new decade. May I wish you all a very happy 2020.
If you like doors, you ought to take a look at the Norm 2.0 blog – the originator of Thursday Doors where there are links to yet more doors in the comments section at the end.
A memory of many, many hours looking out of the window of my Grandparent’s house which was opposite Falmouth Harbour in Cornwall – there was always something going on in the Carrick Roads (the natural harbour area or ria (flooded river valley)).
I love the work of I Bee W, but feel a bit guilty that I haven’t posted much of his work – there is no reason for this, I just have a few pieces in my archive that never made it out. This poignant piece from the Cheltenham Paint Festival 2019 was always going to get posted as the subject matter chimes with me.
I bee W, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019
There is a high-gloss quality about this piece, which is remarkable really as it has been sprayed onto chipboard. The image is a sad tale of the disappearance of wildlife through biodoversity loss and climate change, the two most significant issues facing the planet. A little red-eyed tree frog – a representative of life on earth – is saying ‘Bye then!’ as if its existence is a trivial afterthought. Although quite funny, I find this piece and all it represents very depressing. I never thought I would witness first-hand the tipping point, where slowing or reversing biodiversity loss becomes impossible, but all I see around me is an acceleration towards that eventuality. Big changes are needed urgently if we want a beautiful future.
One of the rather comforting things about the Cheltenham Paint Festival was the number of familiar Bristol-based artists who had been invited to paint, including the wonderful Mr Draws who is no stranger to Natural Adventures.
Mr Draws, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019
This imaginative piece combines a toothpaste tube with mountains… who’d have thought? When I first started photographing pieces by Mr Draws, a great many of them featured mountains, so it was nice to see this retrospective piece in Cheltenham. I have previously published a gallery of his work which you can see here.
I spent a couple of hours looking for fossils at Bracklesham Bay last weekend and it was really tough going. I was lucky though and found these two sawfish rostral teeth from the eocene period – (quite a long time ago).
Sawfish rostral teeth fossils, Bracklesham Bay, January 2020
I have only once before come across the work of Buber Nebz and that was a fabulous dog piece that he painted at Upfest 2016. That dog and this fine painting of a woman listening to music could hardly be more different and demonstrates that the artist is most versatile and constantly evolving his style. On his website biography he stated that his recent works contain pixels, something he is playing with at the moment and that can be seen in the hair of this woman.
Buber Nebz, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019
I think that this piece has an oblique reference to the book theme of the festival, by mentioning words in the context of music with the slogan ‘where words fail, music speaks’. I’m not sure if this is Buber Nebz’ quote or he is quoting someone else, but it seems to work well here. This is a nice clean piece with a great colour palette – a great contribution to the festival.
Consistently creative, hugely talented and generally just brilliant, Chinagirl Tile keeps on turning out the most incredible ceramic installation pieces time and time again. This clever combination piece for the Cheltenham Paint Festival 2019 features a ceramic tile girl spray painting a child-like horse with blue spots. I was lucky enough to catch up with Chinagirl Tile when she was putting this piece together – it was all a little tense as she was running low on the bonding material for glueing the tiles to the wall. While we chatted I managed to sneak a picture of her plan for the piece, and I have to say it all turned out pretty much as she had imagined it.
Chinagirl Tile, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019
I think that Chinagirl Tile is unique amongst street artists in that I don’t know of any others who make such elaborate and artistic original tiles of this type. There are many installation artists, but none who do anything like this.
Chinagirl Tile, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019
The girl is made up of about fifteen or more separate tiles, each perfectly crafted, glazed and fired and pieced together seamlessly. It is a painstaking process but one that yeilds such fabulous results. And… you’ve got to love that monkey on her shoulder.
Chinagirl Tile, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019
At festivals, Chinagirl Tile consistently remains one of my favourite artists and any town anywhere in the world would be uplifted by one of her beautiful tile installations. The best part is that they tend to remain intact for several years, for people to enjoy.
Natural adventures 