2861. Cheltenham 2019 (32)

I posted this collaboration by Turoe One and Rusk yesterday without any words by mistake, so here it is today with some words. Not surprisingly the post received as many views/likes as it might have done without any description which is a little disheartening, but it is still nice that people apreciate the pitures. Thank you Paul for pointing out my error.

Turoe One and Rusk, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019
Turoe One and Rusk, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019

The piece itself was painted at the Cheltenham Paint Festival last September and I was lucky enough to bump ito the artists while they were grabbing some sandwiches midway through their session. The photograph above is the only one I have with the whole piece, including  the bookend characters.

Turoe One and Rusk, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019
Turoe One and Rusk, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019

Both artists should be familiar to regular readers of Natural Adventures, and didn’t have to travel far from their native Bristol to get to Cheltenham. My poor knowledge of popular culture prohibits me from telling youn too much about the characters in the piece but it is certainly spectacular and a true collaboration where both artists have contributed to all aspects of the work.

The end characters are beautifully painted, and I would guess the one on the left was by Turoe One and the other by Rusk (I’ve got a 50/50 chance of getting that one right).

A most impressive piece from these two graffiti writers.

 

2860. Cheltenham 2019 (31)

At last I have a space to unlock this amazing piece by Sophie Long at the Cheltenham Paint Festival featuring a family of polar bears taking a walk. The piece is one of the larger ones that I have seen by the Bristol-based artist and was one of the highlights of the festival. Unfortunately, although I went to the festival on two days, I didn’t get to meet Sophie on this occasion.

Sophie Long, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019
Sophie Long, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019

The painting carries all the hallmarks I would associate with Sophie Longs work. The bears are beautifully laid out in differing poses and touched with some colourful paintwork that complements the overall composition. Imagine how different this piece would look if it were just plain white bears.

Sophie Long, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019
Sophie Long, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019

Of course, no Sophie Long piece would be complete without drips, and this piece has lots of them. This is a fine wildlife work from an artist who specialises in this kind of subject.

2859. Cheltenham 2019 (30)

My Dog Sighs, a hugely popular and talented artist from Portsmouth was extremely busy at the Cheltenham Paint Festival last September. His main project, painting a small lorry (yet to be posted) was accompanied by a number of smaller pieces dotted around town. This ceramic tile was one of those ‘extras’.

My Dog Sighs, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019
My Dog Sighs, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019

The little everyman character was hiding near the entrance to a car park. The shattered and fragmented tile has the word ‘broken’ across the top and everyman is looking a bit sad. This is an imaginative piece and characterises the influx of art that festivals bring in addition to the sanctioned and legitimate works.

2858. Cheltenham 2019 (29)

One of the upsides to the Covid-19 lock down is that I get to catch up a bit on my inexhaustible archive material, and the next five posts are all from the Cheltenham Paint Festival that I visited in September of last year. This wonderful Disney influenced genie from Aladdin is by Nol.

Nol, Painnt Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019
Nol, Painnt Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019

Nol is a real festival favourite and I have had the pleasure of meeting him on a couple of occasions at Upfest. His cartoon monsters in bold colours with solid fills are real crowd-pleasers and he is capable of producing small pieces to entire building walls with his characters. A gentle giant of a man whose work is greatly admired and who is popular in the street art community.

2679. Cheltenham 2019 (28)

Aah, pigs swimming, but not any ordinary pigs, it looks like these might be related in some way to the uniformed kind. I absolutely love this rather surreal mural from Peter Sheridan at the Cheltenham Paint Festival 2019. It is an outrageous piece beautifuly painted.

Peter Sheridan, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019
Peter Sheridan, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019

Peter Sheridan painted one of my favourite pieces of Upfest 2018 and he has carried on his brilliant work in Cheltenham. It took a while to find this piece but it was well worth the endeavour. It is not only the bizarre and humorous story of the piece, but the execution is quite exquisite.

Peter Sheridan, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019
Peter Sheridan, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019

Any piece with water is always going to be a challenge, but it is one that the artist has risen to and mastered. There are two other pieces that instantly come to mind when I see this and they are; the Odeith crocodile at Upfest 2018 and the figure in water by Cosmo Sarson at Upfest 2016:

Odeith, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
Odeith, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
Cosmo Sarson, Greville Road, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
Cosmo Sarson, Greville Road, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

 

2678. Cheltenham 2019 (27)

I love the work of I Bee W, but feel a bit guilty that I haven’t posted much of his work – there is no reason for this, I just have a few pieces in my archive that never made it out. This poignant piece from the Cheltenham Paint Festival 2019 was always going to get posted as the subject matter chimes with me.

I bee W, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019
I bee W, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019

There is a high-gloss quality about this piece, which is remarkable really as it has been sprayed onto chipboard. The image is a sad tale of the disappearance of wildlife through biodoversity loss and climate change, the two most significant issues facing the planet. A little red-eyed tree frog – a representative of life on earth – is saying ‘Bye then!’ as if its existence is a trivial afterthought. Although quite funny, I find this piece and all it represents very depressing. I never thought I would witness first-hand the tipping point, where slowing or reversing biodiversity loss becomes impossible, but all I see around me is an acceleration towards that eventuality. Big changes are needed urgently if we want a beautiful future.

2677. Cheltenham 2019 (26)

One of the rather comforting things about the Cheltenham Paint Festival was the number of familiar Bristol-based artists who had been invited to paint, including the wonderful Mr Draws who is no stranger to Natural Adventures.

Mr Draws, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019
Mr Draws, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019

This imaginative piece combines a toothpaste tube with mountains… who’d have thought? When I first started photographing pieces by Mr Draws, a great many of them featured mountains, so it was nice to see this retrospective piece in Cheltenham. I have previously published a gallery of his work which you can see here.

2676. Cheltenham 2019 (25)

I have only once before come across the work of Buber Nebz and that was a fabulous dog piece that he painted at Upfest 2016. That dog and this fine painting of a woman listening to music could hardly be more different and demonstrates that the artist is most versatile and constantly evolving his style. On his website biography he stated that his recent works contain pixels, something he is playing with at the moment and that can be seen in the hair of this woman.

Buber Nebz, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019
Buber Nebz, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019

I think that this piece has an oblique reference to the book theme of the festival, by mentioning words in the context of music with the slogan ‘where words fail, music speaks’. I’m not sure if this is Buber Nebz’ quote or he is quoting someone else, but it seems to work well here. This is a nice clean piece with a great colour palette – a great contribution to the festival.

Buber Nebz, Upfest , Bristol, July 2016
Buber Nebz, Upfest , Bristol, July 2016

2675. Cheltenham 2019 (24)

Consistently creative, hugely talented and generally just brilliant, Chinagirl Tile keeps on turning out the most incredible ceramic installation pieces time and time again. This clever combination piece for the Cheltenham Paint Festival 2019 features a ceramic tile girl spray painting a child-like horse with blue spots. I was lucky enough to catch up with Chinagirl Tile when she was putting this piece together – it was all a little tense as she was running low on the bonding material for glueing the tiles to the wall. While we chatted I managed to sneak a picture of her plan for the piece, and I have to say it all turned out pretty much as she had imagined it.

Chinagirl Tile, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019
Chinagirl Tile, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019

I think that Chinagirl Tile is unique amongst street artists in that I don’t know of any others who make such elaborate and artistic original tiles of this type. There are many installation artists, but none who do anything like this.

Chinagirl Tile, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019
Chinagirl Tile, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019

The girl is made up of about fifteen or more separate tiles, each perfectly crafted, glazed and fired and pieced together seamlessly. It is a painstaking process but one that yeilds such fabulous results. And… you’ve got to love that monkey on her shoulder.

Chinagirl Tile, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019
Chinagirl Tile, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019

At festivals, Chinagirl Tile consistently remains one of my favourite artists and any town anywhere in the world would be uplifted by one of her beautiful tile installations. The best part is that they tend to remain intact for several years, for people to enjoy.

2643. Cheltenham 2018 (9)

When they (whoever they are) created Irony, they certainly bundled up an enormous amount of talent into one person. This magnificent portrait piece was painted by Irony for the Cheltenham Paint Festival in 2018, but luckily for everyone who lives in or visits the town, it is still there for all to see.

Irony, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019
Irony, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019

I had seen this piece many times on Instagram, but to see it ‘in the flesh; is another experience altogether. It is breathtaking. I don’t know the backstory to this piece, if even there is one, but it really is special.

Irony, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019
Irony, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019

It is a pity that we don’t get to see much of Irony’s work here in the West of England, but I guess we have Upfest and the Cheltenham Paint Festival to lure him out of London from time to time.