Character – Page 35 – Natural adventures

5475. Cheltenham 2023 (7)

Elno, Cheltenham Paint Festival, Cheltenham, July 2023

One of the highlights of my trip to Cheltenham for this year’s Paint Festival was the opportunity to meet and chat with Elno, a lovely, lovely person who made plenty of time to talk about her work, and a piece that I photographed earlier in the year from the Lighthouse Community Gardens. I caught up with her just as she was completing the piece, only the sword handle was incomplete and, of course, her signature.

I made a bit of a mistake asking Elno if her character had any links to Avatar (the film), and she swiftly put that one to bed. I gather that she has been painting characters like this for a while, and it is purely coincidental that this one resembles any kind of animation film characters, and if I am honest, I feel a bit of a fool for even asking as the resemblance is tenuous at best.

There is so much to like in this piece from the composition with its very strong Japanese influence. Characters with large eyes are always beguiling and beautiful, and the red hair, complete with flower, complements the blue skin perfectly. I love the touch of patterned material on the woman’s shoulder, adding some extra class to the piece. I suggested that she try to make it to Bristol for Upfest, a suggestion that didn’t fall on deaf ears. Let’s hope.

Elno, Lighthouse Community Garden, London, April 2023

5470. Brunel Way (224)

It was while he was finishing off this writing/character piece that I first met Bean, and what a decent bloke he is too. We chatted for a while, and I was impressed by his knowledge of other artists in the city, which believe me, isn’t always the case with graffiti writers or street artists, who can sometimes be locked into their own work or crew and immediate friends.

I don’t know where Bean refined his skills before coming to Bristol, but he has definitely hit the ground running with immaculately finished work. This piece combines his character skills with a lovely piece of writing in great colours. The whole thing might have benefited from buffing the wall, to help it stand out a little from the fairly busy wall beneath it. There is an awful lot to like about this piece, and indeed the others that are adjacent to it. For a short while, this stretch of wall was ‘owned’ by Bean. I am definitely enjoying what he has to offer, and look forward to more from him.

5463. St Werburghs tunnel (380)

Slakarts, St Werburghs, Bristol, August 2023

The work of Slakarts tends to be occasional these days, rather than frequent, but in a way that makes it a little bit more special when it does come along. This double portrait piece was a lovely surprise a couple of weeks back at the entrance to the tunnel, which the council have once again, in their wisdom, buffed over.

There is a story to this piece I would think, and my guess would be that Slakarts has a dog and he is showing his love and appreciation in this piece. The quick characters piece is filled with a light white backwash and finished with strong clean black outlines, all the hallmarks of a job done in a bit of a hurry. It is nicely thought out though, and the contented couple are accompanied with the words “Man’s best m8”, which is rather sweet really. Great to see that Slakarts has managed to get out again, even if only occasionally.

5455. Cumberland Basin

Peanutsdeli, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, August 2023

I am a huge admirer of Peanutsdeli’s work, but unfortunately he does most of his painting in the Cheltenham/Gloucester/Stroud area and only occasionally comes to Bristol, which is a real pity. This is an absolute belter, painted for Werm’s recent birthday jam.

The slim characters that Peanutsdeli creates, look like they are straight from a comic book and have something of a Manga style about them. In this piece, we have a vibrant heroine, complete with red hair and blue cape. The character is outlined with a thin black line, a trademark feature of Peanutdeli’s work. Loads of movement and beautiful detail in the piece, which obeys ‘house’ colours of blue and pink selected for the collaborative paint jam wall. I would love to see much more of Peanutdeli’s work in Bristol.

5452. St Werburghs tunnel (379)

Fiva, St Werburghs, Bristol, August 2023

What a treat! Two Fiva pieces in the space of three weeks, both in the tunnel, and both reminding us of what we have missed over the last couple of years. I am not too sure why he has been absent for so long, perhaps he moved away or there were other real life events that made painting difficult, but he is back and that is what matters. At the end of the last post I wrote “I hope this isn’t a flash in the pan”. The appearance of this piece puts that worry to bed.

Fiva has used this overlay technique to great effect before, and it is such a clever way to tell two stories in one go. There are large block capital letters in Grey spelling out ‘FIVA’ and overlaid is a lower case, script written ‘fiver’ in pink and blue (that winning combo again). The clever part is how these interact, for example, the bevelled edge of the capital letters runs through the lower case letters, but in different shades. No self-respecting Fiva piece is fully complete without a cheeky cartoon character, and this grey chappie with a purple cap rounds off the piece magnificently. Looking forward to more from an artist who has been much missed.

5445. Cumberland Basin

DFC1848, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, August 2023

There are artists whose progress is slow and steady and there are others who have accelerated through the levels, hitting many highs along the way, and one of those is DFC1848. Over the last few years, DFC1848 has progressed from toying with ideas to turning out sharp, clean original character pieces that sit comfortably alongside anyone, and this piece is a great example of that.

The growling wolf was painted during Werm’s birthday celebration paint jam, and was a stand-out piece, dutifully adopting the theme colours of pink and blue. The design itself is really cool, and technically it is a bit of a beast, with loads of cutting in to achieve all those crisp sharp points. A lovely piece from an artist who clearly enjoys his work.

5440. Brunel Way (223)

It was a great pleasure to meet Bean for the first time recently, and this was one of the three pieces he has painted side by side under Brunel Way on three separate occasions. It really is important to emphasise just how good an artist Bean is, and what a significant impact he is making on the Bristol scene in such a short time, having only arrived in the spring this year.

Bean is equally comfortable with characters or writing, and here he has combined both. His original characters are creative and imaginative and always on point. Solid fills, great shading and sharp lines contribute to well worked and finished pieces. This particular character appears to be popping out of a spray can, like a Jack-in-a-box, holding a spray can of the same colour. The letters are fabulous too, with great fills and some cool shading at the edges to give a 3D effect. Altogether this piece showcases the talents of this remarkable artist.

5426. Dean Lane skate park (630)

Awkward is an artist who makes occasional appearances in Dean Lane, although I’m not sure I have seen his work anywhere else in Bristol. He specialises in his mega-tag character faces that are usually accompanied by a speech bubble.

In this piece, the unnerving character painted in red has huge yellow comedy eyes. The nose is represented only with two nostrils, resembling a skull. The speech bubble has the letters AWK sitting above WARD. The whole piece is set within a blue cloudy background with a few bubbles. These rare appearances, I feel, don’t fully do justice to an artist who has clear and obvious talent, but who may be constrained by time to put into his artwork. His pieces are always worth looking out for though.

5421. Brunel Way (221)

It was an enormous pleasure to meet Bean for the first time recently in this exact spot. He was painting a third piece alongside this and another one. The young artist hasn’t been in Bristol very long, but his character pieces have already made an impression, and he is fast building a reputation. It is funny that some artists don’t seem to know too much about the other artists around them, but it would seem that Bean is aware and admires the work of many artists in the city, and much of our conversation focussed on the art scene here.

This piece depicts, in a fabulous cartoon style, a young man complete with spray can in hand, setting about spraying some graffiti. There is something almost old-school about this piece that makes it the work of more than just a character piece, there is a sense of heritage blended with the contemporary. The piece is great fun and really nicely finished. If he carries on like this, Bean has a fantastic street art future ahead of him.

5420. M32 Spot (168)

It would seem that Slakarts has been busy with real life lately, and his pieces are few and far between and tend to be ‘quick ones’ in contrast to the more sophisticated and designed pieces he was painting throughout 2021, 2022 and at the start of this year.

In this piece, Slakarts returns to his base character, cunningly fitted onto the column, with a slight stretch. Great fills and superb cutting-in of the black outlines throughout the piece. The selfish part of me wants to see more Slakarts pieces on the street for me to enjoy, but I am also happy that he might be busy with work/family or other distractions keeping him off the streets.

	scooj on 7435. River Avon (107)
	scooj on 7165. Dean Lane skate park…
	scooj on 7458. Greenbank (181)
	scooj on 7458. Greenbank (181)
	scooj on 7458. Greenbank (181)

	scooj on 7435. River Avon (107)
	scooj on 7165. Dean Lane skate park…
	scooj on 7458. Greenbank (181)
	scooj on 7458. Greenbank (181)
	scooj on 7458. Greenbank (181)

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