This year, as in most recent years, Pekoe really celebrated her birthday in style with the RBF crew and associates. Wispa came along for the ride and painted this fabulous writing/character combination piece.
Unfortunately I don’t know who the rather cute character with attitude is, but she is painted as beautifully as you’d expect from Wispa, who always finished her work so well, with crispness and sharpness. All aspects of this piece come together really well. Bravo Wispa!
One of the most pleasurable things about going on my rounds to photograph street/graffiti art in Bristol is that I am frequently surprised by pieces that I didn’t know about and that stand out from the crowd. Frankly, pretty much anything that Cheo paints stands out, and due to a significant drop-off in his street activity in recent years, their rarity makes them even more exciting.
Painted on 1 December, this piece almost feels like the opening window of an advent calendar (which has just given me a brilliant idea to pitch with Upfest). The rather likeable mischievous character is peering through a wall, and an arrow points off to the right. This might have been some kind of promotional commission, but I prefer to think of it as a joyful artwork. Only three more sleeps until Christmas.
My train journey to London continues and the service is heaving. Christmas shopping and football matches have swelled the normal Sunday passenger numbers, but somehow I have managed to keep my unreserved seat beyond Chippenham, so I think I am safe. The above might not make much sense if it is not read in sequence from the previous two posts (5703 and 5704).
This is the second piece by Sait Bare that I have posted on Natural Adventures, although I think it was painted before the first. I am still acquainting myself with his work, and as he doesn’t appear to paint very regularly, I am still forming my thoughts about his style and execution. This is a fine piece of writing/character combination work, and the border lines and details are very nice and sharp. The letter fills too are really nicely done with some great fades and ‘gaseous’ patterning. The character is quite straightforward with a quirky appearance. All good, and I look forward to seeing more from Sait Bare in the New Year.
I think I might have to revisit my archives, because I have only recently become aware of the great work of Zaenone, but am told that he has painted in Bristol before. Perhaps I photographed but didn’t post his work because I didn’t know who he was – a little job for me over the Christmas break, maybe.
This is a lovely crisp and clean piece of writing, superbly presented on a yellow, grey and black background. I think that sometimes backgrounds are underrated, but they can make or break a piece, so thought is needed, and it is obvious that Zaenone has thought about this one. The letter fills and transitions are beautifully done and not overcomplicated or busy. I haven’t seen enough pieces by Zaenone to know whether he always incorporates ‘bookend’ characters, but in the two pieces I have seen, he has, and they are a unique and fun contribution, which really makes his work stand out. Looking forward to more from him in Bristol.
Awkward is an artist who pops up from time to time, pretty much always in the Dean Lane area. Most, if not all, of his work appears to contain a rather stressed looking character, the face only, often with a speech bubble with the word Awkward in it.
This piece comes with a further two messages, the first is ‘Free Palestine’ and the second might be an observation of the weather when he was painting, ‘Then came the rain’. Awkward seems to be well acquainted with a few of the established writers in Bristol, but just doesn’t seem to paint as often, which is a bit of a shame.
About a week ago I posted a piece by Biers which was not too dissimilar to this one. Similar colours and of course overall design of WD40, and incorporating a to cartoon character with ginger hair and glasses. The character from last week’s post was Dexter from Dexter’s Laboratory, but I am stumped by this character.
I was lucky enough to bump into Biers while he was painting this alongside Bags, but he hadn’t started the character, so I couldn’t ask him directly who it was. It is good to see that Biers is out and about again with his very ‘Bristol’ style of graffiti writing. I have mentioned this before, and I don’t know if this is a perception or a real thing, but I think that different cities and districts have ‘house’ styles, and Biers typifies the Bristol ‘house’ style.
This is a rather interesting collaboration in Dean Lane, in which Fade and Dibz have done their thing, but have been joined by Awkward, whose big-eyed character faces are in stark contrast to Dibz and Fade’s sharp graffiti writing.
Dibz has written DIBZ and has a downwards and left facing drop shadow. Fade has written FADE and his writing has a drop shadow that goes up and to the right, which creates some imbalance in the piece (to my mind). Add to that the crazy character by Awkward and you have a collaboration made up of three great individual pieces, but the golden thread or flow is a little absent. Having made that observation, I still very much like the three core elements on this wall.
How could I not have seen this coming? Perhaps one of the most obvious collaborations in Bristol has happened, and it has taken place right under our noses. Mr Crawls and Mote have painted their distinctive birds side-by-side in this wonderful and ‘made-in-heaven’ collaboration.
Mr Crawls’ bird head is one of several versions of his bird, this one having horns and a hooked beak. His style is rather cartoony and the expression of the bird enhanced by the use of heavy eyelids. Mote’s style is a little bit more doodle-based and his bird is tending to the monstrous. The hatch markings in the eyes and downturned beak create a slightly grumpy appearance. It is amazing that although the basic elements are similar in the two birds, my/our response to each of them is quite different. I’m definitely looking to more collaborations from these two.
Theartofsok is not an artist I am particularly familiar with, so when I first saw this unsigned piece I c was a little puzzled and had to do a bit of homework. I could be certain it wasn’t by a Bristol artist but by a visitor, beyond that I was stumped. It is an outstanding piece from the South Wales artist, and one of two in the area from a visit he made a couple of weeks back.
The piece is very confidently painted, with strong, sharp black outlines and assured solid fills. There is a simplicity about it, but do not be fooled, behind the simplicity lies great technical skill and know how. The expression on the character’s face and movement around him is all rather special. Theartofsok is welcome to return anytime.
We live in a crazy world. On the one hand there is everything to be excited about, all the beautiful things that our planet has to offer – nature, culture, science, poetry, art, landscape, architecture, sport, friendship and so on, the list is almost endless, and yet, on the other hand I feel stifled by all the horrors that surround us, from wars to disease to the rise of authoritarianism, the grip of advertising, selfishness, profit and greed, that list too is almost endless. My small gesture of kindness to myself is to keep writing this blog, all elements of it, as an antidote to the evil and to bring a little focus on the good things that I am grateful for.
Laic217 among many, many others brings me pleasure and happiness, both on discovering his work and then on recording and writing about it. This is a particularly good one from him on the cycle path between Sparke Evans Park and Temple Meads station.
The character, wearing a wooly hat and smoking, has a dark and sinister appearance, cleverly created by the absence of any white in the eyes, which is unsettling. The brilliantly painted skull tattoo adds a little threat and menace. No need to sign this one as it is pure Laic217 at his best, and although his choice of subject might not suit everyone, his mastery of technique is a sight to see.
Natural adventures 