A really short one today, written last night, while trying to sort out the impacts from our cancelled flight home to Bristol, and packing etc. Mote has done a wonderful thing with this large, rather cuddly monster, complete with four legs and an underslung jaw with a couple of goofy teeth.
The fills are dreamy and the design quirky and unique. There is something very loveable about this monster, and the execution is top drawer.
A brief one this morning, there is just too much beauty and history around me. I sit in an ancient medieval library, part of a monastery that has been converted into a holiday let in Umbria. It is difficult not to become entirely enveloped in the culture of the place. Also I need breakfast, I am hungry. This piece is something rather different, and a first on Natural Adventures from Dai_luk_tattoo.
I can’t tell you much about the artist, but this is a beautifully designed work of a woman arched backwards in a graceful pose and with plentiful hair. I am not sure what the orange shapes by her feet are, but they look like teeth. Surely not. Based on this I would dearly love to see more street art from this tattooist.
I caught up with Mr Draws when he was painting this piece, and he told me it was going to be something a little bit different and he was right. Mr Draws has always had a strong environmental conviction running through his work, and he says that he wants to do more of this kind of messaging work in the future.
Drawing attention to contemporary issues is something that street art does very well, and Mr Draws doesn’t pull any punches in this piece which states “No art on a dead planet”. The whole thing is simply done with big bold letters on a striking background. The colour fades in the big letters have been worked very nicely, and although not painted in his usual style, there is something so very Mr Draws about the piece.
By the time this post is published I will be midway through leading a workshop for a partnership in Lincolnshire. I arrived in Lincoln yesterday evening, and have never been here before. I was pleasantly surprised by the old town, and the cathedral is one of the most impressive I have seen in England. It is a pity I will be here only for a day, and returning home immediately after the workshop. I digress… Maybe wasn’t very impressed with this piece, when he posted it on Instagram, and was minded to go over it, but he hasn’t so far, so maybe he has some affection for it after all.
The subtle colours and gentle interlocking shapes make this more of an abstract piece than anything else, and as such does a good job, I think. The green shape has something of the pachyderm about it, and once seen can’t be unseen. I rather like this modest and gentle piece. My kind of thing.
This was my third attempt at photographing this fine collaboration from Lee Roy and Waste, under Brunel Way, because of the rather irritating light and shadow that is cast on sunny days from the left. I got there in the end. I was lucky enough to be there when the artists were painting the piece and I got to meet Lee Roy for the first time, and what a genuinely lovely person he is – we chatted plenty.
The collaborative wall is clever in that each side is a reversed-out colour version of the other, and how different they look, using the same powerful pink and black colour scheme. Lee Roy talked to me about his rather free style and said that he used to write really tight letters, in a more traditional graffiti manner, but that he found it increasingly unenjoyable, striving for perfection and instead has adopted a more liberated style, tending towards anti-style. He certainly seems to be happy with his current work, and has been churning out pieces at a terrific rate so far this year.
I don’t know much about Waste, other than that he is a friend of Lee Roy’s from out of town. I forget where… Cardiff? Swindon? I should have made a note. I like this piece a lot, and note that Waste has made things easy for himself, using the ‘tram-lines’ in the wall to keep his letters regular. All in all a very nice collaborative wall, which fortunately remained undogged long enough for me to get some decent photographs.
There is no doubt about it, Mote is in a very rich vein of form, not only with productivity, but also with his series of bird monsters, which appear to have inspired him greatly, and which I must say are rather appealing. I also like the way that Mote has grown the range of formats, from thin columns to squares to landscape orientation.
Mote has drawn on nature itself, recognising the delineation between a bird’s face and the rest of its plumage, more apparent in some species than in others, for example parrots and vultures. There is some interesting fill work in the two halves of green, reversing the drip colours, and some of the drips falling out of the monster’s face and on to the floor. I have loads more to post from Mote, just from June, let alone pieces that are loitering in my archive.
I had a nice chat with Mr Draws over the weekend in this exact spot while he was buffing over this piece in preparation for a new one. At least he was going over his own work – how often does that happen?
The bright colours in the letters and background have a hint of confection about them, almost good enough to eat. The whole thing calls out jelly to me, but I think that that might just be me. I know that Mr Draws wasn’t too happy with the neon pink colour, as it seemed to strip away the paint beneath. My advice is to steer clear from the neon colours, they are tricky and in the sunlight they decompose really quickly.
I would definitely like to see more from Mr Underbite on the streets. His versatile, if rather unfortunate, character definitely adds a touch of butter sweet humour to the streets of Bristol. Although this is a small piece, probably a little old and slightly out of the way, I thought I would post it, because it has a charm about it and is very much a part of the everyday street art experience in the city.
Technically, this piece is more Daveside than Brunel Way, but I use the latter as a generic area description, in much the same way that I use Cumberland Basin to describe the large area just north of the river. Nicely painted, the hapless character, with his comb-over hair, makes me smile, just as all of Mr Underbite’s pieces do. I only found this by mistake, reminding me always to walk the few extra yards and to be inquisitive… the rewards are out there.
Last year, Maybe sprayed a piece that was all about hay fever, and the fact that this recent piece under Brunel Way is not dissimilar, leads me to believe that Maybe might be a pollen sufferer at this time of year. The main difference between the pieces is that this one is a little more direct and graphic in its content.
Those of a fragile disposition should look away, as the character in the piece has her finger deeply inserted into her nostril, while green bogey faces (I am guessing) look on from the sidelines. The piece is nicely painted, creative and a little bit edgy in a schoolboy humour kind of way. Maybe certainly keeps us on our toes with his ideas and unique style.
Good morning all. A fine start to a brand new week, the sun is shining and in the blink of an eye it will be Friday and the beginning of another weekend. This amazing cartoon portrait piece by Zake was added on to an existing collaborative wall, and looks like it could almost be a part of the paint jam, but it was added a day or two later.
Perhaps a little bit creepy, Zake’s face is less than happy, with large tears rolling down the cheeks and a rather snotty nose. The open mouth looks like an archetypal cartoon whale mouth, if you know what I mean. The face is sitting over a daisy and a bed of clouds. There may be some symbolism here, but I can’t quite fathom it out. I also don’t think the balance of the piece is quite right, and although I can’t put my finger on it, it leaves me a little uncomfortable.
Natural adventures 