I only took this picture a couple of weeks ago and it has been buffed over at least twice since then. It is by the irrepressible Laic217 who never tires of creating these wonderful skulls and skeletons in various guises.
Laic217, Dean Lane, Bristol, August 2018
This skull is donning a gas mask, or is it a sophisticated protection mask from the fumes of spray paint? I guess perhaps the latter and the yellow patterns are the paint fumes. It works either way really. The detail in the eye sockets of the skull is awesome and the bucket hat with the smiley so full of character. Laic217 has smashed it with this one.
I have known about this mural for several years, but just never stopped to take a picture of it until very recently, and it looks as good close up as it does from a distance. It is by the hugely talented and lovely Bristol Artist Andrew Burns Colwill.
Andrew Burns Colwill, Westbury Hill, Bristol, August 2018
Painted in 2011, this mural depicts a giant looking out of a window and uses the trompe l’oeil technique to provide a false perspective that there is a window in the wall and that render has fallen, exposing brickwork underneath. It is in fact a flat wall.
Andrew Burns Colwill, Westbury Hill, Bristol, August 2018
I love the little details in the piece…the rose in the window sill and the ivy dropping down from the top of the window, and of course the cracks and the brickwork make this a truly magnificent piece, that I expect the good people of Westbury-on-Trym take for granted.
Andrew Burns Colwill, Westbury Hill, Bristol, August 2018
There is something rather forlorn about the giant’s expression and there is an untold story unfolding – the words ‘and the giant looks on, still waiting…..’ – tell us all is not well and I fear a broken heart is just around the corner. A most wonderful piece.
This week I have a rare treat for you…doors from Cortona. I spent last week on a family holiday to Umbria in Italy and this first set of doors is from a day trip we took to this Tuscan town set on a hill top in the province of Arezzo. Close your eyes and imagine the heat, sounds and the smells of this medieval town. Perfect.
Passageway off Via Nazionale, Cortona, Tuscany, ItalyDoor at the end of a passageway off Via Nazionale, Cortona, Tuscany, ItalyDoor in Cortona, Tuscany, ItalyDoor in Cortona, Tuscany, ItalyPorta Colonia, Cortona, Tuscany, ItalyInteresting door, Via Dardano, Cortona, Tuscany, Italy
Unusually I find myself rather conflicted about this extraordinary recent piece by 3Dom on the M32 wall. I am such a big admirer of his work, but for reasons I cannot identify, this one doesn’t really tick my boxes. It is technically beautifully done, and the blue patterning around the outside is masterful, but there is something about the face that doesn’t work for me. It is peculiar, but I feel a little disloyal, though I don’t suppose that you can like everything all the time.
3Dom, M32, Bristol, August 2018
It is great to see more of his work about the place though, and this piece did manage to survive longer than the Sepr piece two to the left which had been buffed by the time I got there.
It is an extraordinary thing to travel to a foreign land and enjoy all that feels exotic and different, to bathe in a culture and history so different from your own. More extraordinary still is to stumble upon the familiar in such a context, but that is exactly what I did on a recent visit to Cortona in Tuscany.
qWeRT, Cortona, Italy, August 2018
Of course, while walking through the streets of the town I needed no encouragement to take a peek down the side streets to see what surprises might lurk. I have to say that wheatpastes by qWeRT were not exactly what I had in mind, but that is precisely what I found.
qWeRT, Cortona, Italy, August 2018
Altogether I think I discovered five pasteups by this ‘Natural Adventures’ regular, each in a different stage of decay. I would guess that these had been up for a few years, and I find it all rather touching that the civic authorities haver chosen not to take them down.
qWeRT, Cortona, Italy, August 2018
What also interests me is that there are copies of the same wheatpastes, but they appear each to have been hand painted separately rather than printed. I admire qWeRT’s choice of destination for these wheatpastes and am thrilled to have inadvertantly found them.
qWeRT, Cortona, Italy, August 2018
It also looks like qWeRT has dropped the Y from the signature since pasting these up.
Sepr, Upfest 24, The Nursery, Bristol, May 2024Sepr and 3Dom, Turbo Island, Bristol, May 2024Sepr, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, March 2024Sepr and Boaster, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2024Sepr, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2024Sepr, Coach and Horses, Bristol, February 2023Sepr, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, October 2022Sepr, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2022Sepr, Upfest 22, Bristol, June 2022Sepr and Sled One, Dean Lane, Bristtol, April 2022Sepr and Acer One, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, March 2022Sepr, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, March 2022Sepr, M32 Spot, Bristol, January 2022Sepr, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, November 2021Logoe and Sepr, M32 roundabout, Bristol, October 2021Sepr, St Werburghs, Bristol, July 2021Sepr an Acer One, Chatterton Square, Bristol, April 2021Sepr, St Paul’s, Bristol, March 2021Sepr, St Paul’s, Bristol, March 2021Sepr, St Paul’s, Bristol, March 2021Sepr, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2021Billy and Sepr, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2021Sepr, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2021Sepr, Lucky Lane, Bristol, March 2021Sepr, Brunel Way, Bristol, February 2021Sepr, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, January 2021Sepr, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, January 2021Sepr and Acer One, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, January 2021Sepr, M32 Spot, Bristol, December 2020Epok and Sepr, M32 Spot, Bristol, December 2020Sepr, Brigstocke Road, Bristol, December 2020Sepr, Brigstocke Road, Bristol, December 2020Sepr, Brigstocke Road, Bristol, December 2020Sepr, Brigstocke Road, Bristol, December 2020Sepr, Dighton Street, Bristol, November 2020Sepr, Dighton Street, Bristol, November 2020Sepr and Inkie, Princes Place, Bristol, October 2020Sepr, Princes Place, Bristol, October 2020Sepr, Paint Festival 2020, Cheltenham, September 2020Sepr, Cowmead Walk, Bristol, July 2020Sepr, Cowmead Walk, Bristol, July 2020Sepr and Feek, New Gatton Street, Bristol, June 20203Dom and Sepr, Star and Garter, Bristol, June 20203Dom and Sepr, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 20203Dom and Sepr, Jamaica Street, Bristol, April 2020Sepr, Jamaica Street, Bristol, April 2020Sepr, Gloucester Road, Bristol, February 2020Sepr, Dalton Square, Bristol, February 2020Sepr, St Mark’s Avenue, Bristol, SeptemberSepr, St George, Bristol, July 2019Sepr, North Street, Bristol, May 2019Sepr, Wilder Street, Bristol, April 2019Sepr, Brunel Way bridge, Bristol, March 2019Sepr, Armada Place, Bristol, January 2019Sepr, Armada Place, Bristol, August 20183Dom, Feek and Sepr, Fern Street, Bristol, June 2018Sepr, Golden Lion, Bristol, February 2018Sepr and 3Dom, Princes’ Place, Bristol, February 2018Sepr, New Gatton Street, Brisotl, November 2017Sepr, Dighton Street, Bristol, December 2017Sepr, Dighton Street, Bristol, December 2017Sepr, M32 roundabout, Bristol, November 2017Sepr, Brunel Way, Bristol, November 2017Sepr, Stokes Croft, Bristol, August 2015Sepr, Wilder Street, Bristol, November 2017Sepr, M32 Spot, Bristol, September 2017Sepr, Cowmead Walk, Bristol, December 2016FLX, 3Dom, Epok, Soker, Sepr, Horley Road, Bristol, October 2016Sepr, Richmond Road, Bristol, February 2017Sepr, Devon Road, Bristol, May 2016Sepr, Brunswick Square, Bristol, March 2016Sepr, Nelson Street, Bristol, October 2015Sepr, Old Bread Street, Bristol, June 2016Sepr, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2016Sepr, The Bearpit, Bristol, March 2016Sepr, Nine Trees Hill, Bristol, November 2015Sepr, Devon Road, Bristol, May 2016Sepr, Dalton Square, Bristol, April 2016Sepr, Dalton Square, Bristol, April 2016Sepr, Midland Street, Bristol, October 2015Sepr, Grosvenor Road, Bristol, November 2015Sepr, Cheltenham Road, Bristol, January 2016Jon5, Silent Hobo, Sepr, Deamze and Dotcom, Stokes Croft, Bristol, September 2015Sepr, North Street, Bristol, July 2015Sepr, Dighton Street, Bristol August 2015Sepr, Dighton Street, Bristol August 2015Sepr, Albert Park Place, Bristol, August 2015Sepr, Albert Park Place, Bristol, March 2015
It is always a pity when a nice piece gets dogged, especially when it has only been up for a day or two. This particular collaboration between NEVERGIVEUP and Soge was a perfect piece for the curved wall in Dean Lane skate park. It also marked a return of the monster by NGU, something I’ve not seen for a few months.
NEVERGIVEUP and Soge, Dean Lane, Bristol, August 2018
I had seen the Soge writing on Instagram, and it all really looked rather nice, but I guess some inferior talent had to go and goof it up. I’m all for the turnover of work, especially on ‘legal’ walls, but it is boring to see half-baked throw-ups going up over decent work. Still, we all know the (no) rules and just get on with it.
Natural adventures 