I have enjoyed the work of Mr Draws over the years and enjoy his company too so it was mighty fine to see him joining in with Eman’s birthday paint jam down in Cumberland Basin at the end of July.
Mr Draws has taken a slight departure from his customary ‘DRAWS’ letters to create this rather nice ‘My happy place’ piece. The letter style and fill are very ‘Mr Draws’ if that makes sense, particularly the pink camouflage patterned fills. A happy piece for a happy day.
As a long-time admirer of Flava136’s work, it was a real treat to meet the artist for the first time during a paint jam on the long wall at Cumberland Basin. As is so often the case when meeting these folk, he was an awful lot younger than I had expected, but isn’t that what old people say about everyone?
Watching Flava136 bring this piece together was an education, and his skill and technique shone through in his ability to keep such clean lines throughout. The design and colour selections of this one are quite exceptional, and I think this might be my favourite of his yet.
Featuring a kind of mash-up of a monster and some abstract artwork, Flava136’s work is always instantly recognisable and definitely a crowd-pleaser. Although he doesn’t live in Bristol, he manages to visit reasonably regularly which can only be a good thing. Excellent piece.
More often than not, I try to avoid posting pictures with shadows on them, because they can obscure the artwork or distract the eye. In this instance though I think the shadows add to the overall drama of the piece by 3F fino.
The piece, from a little while back, shares a theme that 3F fino has painted before of a portrait of a masked figure. Set in an urban landscape at sunset (or sunrise, it is always difficult to know which) the piece is incorporated into the brickwork of the wall, something I always like. A nice eye-catching piece.
Watching Zake apply the light and dark shading to this fabulous piece during Eman’s birthday paint jam was a real pleasure. He has become something of a specialist at refining the effects of light and dark on his faces with the light source in this case coming from the left hand side. This clever shading exaggerates the features and created more of a 3D effect.
Although his English isn’t great, it was nice to be able to talk with him for a while about his technique. Like all the artists around him on the day, he really seems to enjoy what he does. My only regret from the day is that when I returned the next day to take photographs of the finished pieces, three of them, including Eman’s, had been painted over.
It was really great to catch up with DFC1848 when he was painting this piece during a paint jam for Eman’s birthday at the beginning of August. The sun was out, there was a fabulous turnout of artists and all was good with the world.
DFC1848 has painted a few of these ‘double’ characters and in this one continues to add in title flashes and decorations, always looking to add complexity to his designs. One of the things I really like about this is how he has ‘stitched’ the two halves together with a bit of cord, rather like Andy Councils recent pieces.
A nice clean piece and a fun character, DFC1848 is going from strength to strength. During our chat he kept on telling me to get out and paint. I really do need to do something about this state of affairs having talked about it for the last couple of years.
Sometimes it is the originality and impact of a piece that draws attention, and this dragon’s eye by Wilter Worm, a Bristol artist who also goes by a more familiar name – Eman. I am not sure why he paints under different names, it is something some artists do, but I will ask him when I next see him.
This close-up detailed piece is so compelling and the scales, horns and eye really nicely done. A labour of love which I expect took a little while to complete. I am a big fan of this kind of work, and once again it shows off the versatility of the artist.
One of many great things about summer is that is gets people outdoors more often and in particular, artists who might be more familiar with their studios get a chance to express themselves by painting a few walls. This piece by Yoliws was created during a paint jam organised by the Bristol Womxn Mural Collective a few weeks back.
Although Yoliws doesn’t paint walls too often, her style is highly memorable and always rather fun and joyful. The figures she paints are wobbly and stylised, the sorts of things that would work really well on cards or illustrating the pages of children’s books. Simple and beautiful.
Another piece in Turoe’s ‘shyte’ series, this time in yellows and oranges, and a slight variation in spelling. As a reminder, this series began during the first lock down with the sentiment of it’s been a ‘shyte year’, and since then Turoe has stuck with the winning formula.
The letters are in a clear lower case font, beautifully finished with nice red 3D shadows and a blue and a white border. This is another tight piece from the prolific writer.
This is another example of the willingness of Eman to stretch himself and experiment with different subjects and forms, and I for one am thoroughly enjoying the ride. The skull of an ungulate would not be everyone’s first thought for street art, but it is a perfect study for honing the skills.
Eman’s versatility and productivity is elevating the artist’s profile in Bristol, and all the hard work is paying off. Two things I love about this piece: the shadings of blues and whites to give the skull some depth and texture; and the somewhat counterintuitive red border, which is quite a bold thing to do. Great piece.
If this piece hadn’t been signed, and hadn’t appeared on Instagram, I am not sure that I would have ever identified the artist as Georgie. I know that she varies her styles and techniques quite a lot, but this one, in my eyes, is totally different. Painted as part of the Bristol Womxn Mural Collective paint jam from a little while back, this piece perfectly fits the aspect of the wall at this point.
It is funny, but I thought I had photographed dozens of Georgie’s pieces, but it turns out that it is actually only a handful. This slender elf figure appears to be doing some kind of yoga or exercise routine, but is very clearly connected to nature, which is a popular contemporary theme these days. I think the whole piece has a hint of 1930s illustration about it, except for the rabbit, which I don’t think adds anything to the painting (sorry). Great to see Georgie getting out and about.
Natural adventures 