Character – Page 20 – Natural adventures

6589. Dean Lane skate park (788)

Awkward, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2024

I met Awkward for the first time at the Ikea Wall of Fame Metalheadz paint jam organised by Goldie. As is usually the case, Awkward was nothing like the image I had of him in my mind, based on his artwork. It was so good to have a chat with him and understand a little about his motivations around art and music, where his music is his main thing.

This cheeky piece (why is it that most of his character pieces seem to be on the cheeky side?) features a pink faced character with enormous eyes and a speech bubble with the words ‘Universal magnetic’. This may be a reference to his friend Benjimagnetic. To the left of the face, Awkward has left his customary signature split into two halves, AWK…WARD.

6577. Dean Lane skate park (786)

Jevoissoul, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2024

Super-quick posts this morning, as Christmas shopping beckons and a very busy day ahead. I am quite looking forward to going to some actual ‘physical’ shops, as I am getting a little sick of on-line shopping. Today’s post is a piece by Jevoissoul, who is living up to his promise of having a busy year painting the streets of Bristol.

Jevoissoul’s characters have a very distinctive look, crossing over between a sketch and cartoon style. This cheeky chappy, with his baseball cap coming adrift (a nice touch) is nicely painted and finished, and marks the continuous improvement shown by the artist. The placement was at the edge of a production piece, but respectfully managed to avoid overwriting any part of it.

6575. Cumberland Basin

Noise and Zake, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, July 2024

One of the reasons that I am able to dwell a little on going back through my archives is that the winter weather is finally getting the better of ‘fair-weather’ artists, and turnover has slowed considerably since the back end of November. Although it is never good to see a slow-down, the upside is that it does give me a bit of a breather and the chance to share some ‘forgotten’ pieces, including this fine collaboration from Noise and Zake.

I have said it before, that Zake loves to team up with anyone who is willing to paint with him, and in this piece he has combined really well with Noise, incorporating his cartoon character as the ‘O’ of NOISE. The deep stripy drop shadow lifts the collaboration and unintentionally mirrors the teeth of Zake’s character. This is a really satisfying collaboration to see, from two of Bristol’s best artists.

6553. Gloucester Road

Sepr, Gloucester Road, Bristol, November 2024

As the crow flies, this is probably one of thee nearest pieces of street art to where I live, and I probably pass it a few times a week. I hadn’t noticed until recently that it had changed. Sepr painted a piece here back in February 2020, and you can just see a little bit of that black and white piece on the left of this banner on the Filthy XIII bar.

This new piece (although I don’t know how new) Features a man and a couple of birds chilling with some rather gaudy cocktails. Sepr has filled the thin horizontal strip perfectly, and his unique cartoon style is full of humour and warmth. Fabulous work.

Sepr, Gloucester Road, Bristol, February 2020

6550. Brunel Way (302)

Bean, Brunel Way, Bristol, November 2024

At the moment, Bean is spending a lot of time away from Bristol, and only comes back for short periods, such is the student way of life. When he returns he manages to find a few moments to decorate the odd wall or two. This is fine piece in one of his favourite spots under Brunel Way.

The piece is actually based on a photograph which Bean has included in his Instagram post about this portrait of ‘The Great Tear Gas Hoax: How a Kenyan protestor fooled the world’, which was a story about a guy who pretended he was inhaling the gas out of a tear gas canister. Bean has faithfully reproduced the moment in this beautifully painted piece, which is a slight departure from his more fantastical cartoon creations. Looking forward to Bean’s next visit, which might be around Christmas.

6546. Frome Side (42)

Kool Hand and Scrapyardspec, Frome Side, Bristol, November 2024

This is not a pairing that I would necessarily have predicted, but on reflection, is is a good match, and I can see why these two, Kool Hand and Scrapyardspec, have collaborated. Both have opted for an orange colour theme, either by accident (Kool Hand’s orangutan is usually this colour, and Scrapyardspec often uses orange) or by design.

Kool Hand does what Kool Hand does with his familiar character, that he must be able to rattle off in his sleep. It is a pity that his white fill is a bit thin and there is some previous artwork bleeding through, some paints are thin, and there isn’t a lot you can do about it. To the right, Scrapyardspec has painted another of his zany wobbly characters, that we are seeing all over Bristol at the moment. Both artists have decorated the piece with spots, but in their own styles, rather than creating some kind of uniformity across both pieces (which I think might have sealed the collaboration a little better). Great to see these two pairing up.

6544. Dean Lane skate park (780)

Hire and Zake, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2024

I really like Zake’s enthusiasm for teaming up with any and pretty much every graffiti/street artist in the city. It is probably easier to list those he hasn’t painted with. Here he has teamed up with Hire to create this interesting combination collaboration.

The writing on the left is by Hire and takes the form of his spiky angular letter style The letters, spelling HIRE and painted in a grey colour with rouge tints, has a hint of symmetry about it. I fear that the dark blue background rather dominates the piece and makes it a little hard to pick out the lettering, which would probably look better set on a different base colour.

Zake has painted another of his familiar round-face characters, so full of depth created by clever use of light and shade. The red underglow is so effective. The face is surrounded by plumes of smoke and white dots. The two pieces, although stylistically completely different, complement each other well.

6532. Dean Lane skate park (779)

This post is written in haste. By the time I publish it, I will be in the Derbyshire countryside looking at a beaver release scheme. The reintroduction of beavers in the right places is a huge asset for local communities. The dams create wetlands, slowing the effects of flooding downstream, and during droughts the water retention where beavers live create oases where all around has dried up and withered, and for the nature lovers, who doesn’t love having beavers back in the English countryside?

This outstanding piece, by Stivs, is another of his epic character pieces. I don’t know who the character is, and a Google search has thrown up nothing. The character is painted in beautiful colours and has come together perfectly, with some sideways on perspective too. Alongside the robot (is it a robot?) are the words ‘Kill all humans’ which isn’t very friendly. The piece has survived pretty well, on a wall with a high turnover, and was still there when I last checked a couple of days ago. Great work from Stivs.

6527. Dean Lane skate park (778)

Nice One, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2024

This is a fabulous Halloween combination piece from Nice One, and one of a series of outstanding artworks from this most modest of artists. I think that the font he uses contrasts so well with all around it, creating a fresh look in amongst all the styles and fonts we get used to.

The portrait of the Joker is brilliantly reproduced and suitably menacing, perfect for Halloween. I love the way that Nice One has only hinted at his letters, with most of them obscured or falling outside the frame. There is simply so much to enjoy from Nice One’s work at the moment… long may it last.

6526. River Avon (67)

Kid Krishna, River Avon, Bristol, November 2024

Completely unplanned I appear to have posted two chrome pieces in a row, from two artists that are known for the colourful work, Nips yesterday and Kid Krishna today. I’m not sure I have seen an entirely chrome and black piece from Kid Krishna before, but I like what I see, and it appears to have worked really well.

The letters, as always spell out CRIE, and having spoken to Kid Krishna recently, we will soon know why he uses these letters. In the middle of this combination piece is a crazy cartoon character bursting out and looking rather sketch-like. A fun two-tone piece.

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