Curtis Hylton, Cheltenham Paint Festival 2024, Barnyard Close, Cheltenham, July 2024
A couple of weekends ago I managed to spend a day at the Cheltenham Paint festival, which was amazing, and organiser Andy ‘Dice’ Davies and his team should be congratulated for building the event into one of the best paint festivals in the UK, and in a town that has quite a small graffiti/street art sub-culture. I took so many pictures of pieces from this year and previous years, that I will be bunching them together in my posts of the festival, due to sheer volume of photographs in my folders.
Curtis Hylton, Cheltenham Paint Festival 2024, Barnyard Close, Cheltenham, July 2024
Here we start with a wonderful piece from Curtis Hilton on the edge of the town, with a signature piece of a bird composed of flower petals.
DFC1848, Cheltenham Paint Festival 2024, Honeybourne Line tunnel, Cheltenham, July 2024
Next up is a large piece by local artist DFC1848. How magnificently the gold colour on the diver’s helmet picks up the texture of the wall and appears to glisten. Really nice cartoon character fun.
Stephen Quick, Cheltenham Paint Festival 2024, North Place car park, Cheltenham, July 2024
Finally, for this first burst of three pieces from the festival, a stunner from Stephen Quick, a Bristol Stencil Artist, who I caught up with for a moment. He said the he left the peeling white paint on purpose to add texture and interest to the piece. Such a nice man by the way. More of these Cheltenham compilations to follow.
This is the second small gallery of Cheltenham art photographed at the Cheltenham Paint Festival 2023. I am posting this as the 2024 festival begins at the end of this week, and I felt it would be good to share some of last year’s pieces as a bit of a warm up.
Not all the pieces were painted last year – the Alex Lucas mural (feature image) was painted a few years ago, but I only got round to photographing it last year. I hope to be visiting Cheltenham for this year’s festival alongside Paul H, and am getting pretty excited about it all. Enjoy the gallery:
Alex Lucas, Cheltenham Paint Festival, Cheltenham, July 2023Alex Lucas, Cheltenham Paint Festival, Cheltenham, July 2023
This piece was actually painted in 2020 for the Cheltenham Paint Festival. Still looking magnificent.
Ajax Piper, Cheltenham Paint Festival, Cheltenham, July 2023
I don’t know an awful lot about Ajax Piper, but I believe he is a British artist who hasn’t been painting for too long, or so his website might suggest.
Wispa, Cheltenham Paint Festival, Cheltenham, July 2023
A wonderfully colourful and vibrant piece by RBF artist Wispa (featured reasonably regularly on Natural Adventures).
3rdeye, Cheltenham Paint Festival, Cheltenham, July 2023
3rdeye has produced this typically mysterious piece with one of his creature characters and plenty of eyes.
Curtis Hylton, Cheltenham Paint Festival, Cheltenham, July 2023
One of the featured artists at the CPF 2023 was Curtis Hylton, who smashed it with this outstanding large mural on the side wall of the Holiday Inn Express hotel in the centre of town.
I will need to do a few more posts from the CPF 2023, and some more unposted pieces from Upfests passim. So much to do and so little time to do it.
Curtis Hylton, Weston wallz, Weston-super-Mare, May 2023
The Upfest team, through the Weston Wallz project, have secured some of the most commanding walls imaginable, and handing this one to Curtis Hylton was a master stroke of vision and confidence. Rarely will you get such an uninterrupted view of an epic wall like this one, so massive congratulations to all involved
Curtis Hylton, Weston wallz, Weston-super-Mare, May 2023
Many of the murals painted for Weston Wallz carry a marine theme, due to the proximity of the town to the Severn Estuary seaside. In this outstanding piece, Curtis Hylton has painted an eclectic collection of seals, an eel and some freshwater goldfish, with a rather nice starfish thrown in for good measure. The seals and eel have been given the Hylton treatment, incorporating flowers and petals into their form.
Curtis Hylton, Weston wallz, Weston-super-Mare, May 2023
The attention to detail and perfect rendition of wildlife is a gift that few artists have. The goldfish, in particular, are beautifully recreated, although their presence disturbs me a little as a marine biologist, because they are out of place here. I would love to know what Curtis Hylton’s explanation might be.
Curtis Hylton, Weston wallz, Weston-super-Mare, May 2023
This statement piece is a triumph and just another reason for the local people of Weston-super-Mare to be super-proud of their town. Outstanding!
One of the great things about living in Bristol is that it has enormous credibility with street/graffiti artists from all over the country and indeed the world, and so visits from some of the greats are not uncommon. Even so, it was rather a surprise to come across this exceptional piece of floral writing from Curtis Hylton on the long wall at Cumberland Basin a couple of weeks back.
Curtis Hylton, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, September 2021
I haven’t seen writing like this before, and it is a real privilege to see it right here in Bristol. Spelling out SAME (Curtis writes under the name Samer), the floral patterns and colours blend seamlessly painted on a cosmic cloudy backdrop. Utterly breathtaking work from this super-talented artist.
Curtis Hylton is a superstar, and this mural confirms his status as a worldie and no mistake. He has been to Bristol a few times in recent years, both for Upfest events and for painting with his mates, he has also painted at the Cheltenham Paint Festival where a couple of his works are still on show.
Curtis Hylton, Chessel Street, Bristol, August 2021, Upfest 21
This piece, tucked away in one of the residential streets in Bedminster, is simply stunning. The owners of this property have been blessed with a magnificent piece of artwork to call their own and share with their local community.
Curtis Hylton, Chessel Street, Bristol, August 2021, Upfest 21
The mural features a little boy in a yellow raincoat feeding a collection of yellow birds that are partially composed of flowers – a theme that lies at the heart of Curtis Hylton pieces. This combination of petals and feathers is so effective and creates a wonderful connection with nature.
Curtis Hylton, Chessel Street, Bristol, August 2021, Upfest 21
Next to the front door is a cheeky little robin painted in slightly more russet tones, but well-matched with the rest of the piece. This photograph will undoubtedly be making an appearance in Thursday Doors sometime in the future – a fairly ordinary door enhanced by its surroundings.
Curtis Hylton, Chessel Street, Bristol, August 2021, Upfest 21
To the right of the piece is a beautiful finch with its wings spread out wide and its chest revealing a couple of roses and a magnolia flower. Amazing. This is a ‘must-visit’ mural from Upfest’s 75 walls in 75 years event, and I hope that it remains well beyond the usual one-year life cycle for these things.
Curtis Hylton, Chessel Street, Bristol, August 2021, Upfest 21
All of this activity and the little boy watches on.
A recent epic collaborative piece on an ‘Upfest’ wall appeared without warning or fanfare a couple of weeks ago that brought together some fine atists, namely: Smak, Sled One, Ments and Curtis Hylton. What an utterly pleasant surprise and something of an improvement on the piece that adorned this wall before it.
Smak, Clift House Road, Bristol, October 2020
On the left is a crazy but exquisite scene depicting venus flytraps feasting on various flying insects. In the middle is what looks a bit like an old microphone, although I’m not too sure if that is what it is. The story here… your guess is as good as mine.
Curtis Hylton, Ments and Sled One, Clift House Road, Bristol, October 2020
Sled One has pulled together an equally bizarre piece that sems to be of a king cobra dressed as a policeman complete with truncheon and whistlewith an iced ring doughnut round its neck. The policeman woud appear to be in pursuit of a graffiti spraying mouse or two. Could this be a reference to some heavy handed policing which let to the prosecution of a street artist in St Werburghs tunnel recently?
Curtis Hylton, Ments and Sled One, Clift House Road, Bristol, October 2020
To the right is a beautiful Hornbill by Curtis Hylton whose work usually involves a blend of stunning creatures composed of flowers, and he has worked miracles with this style here. Curtis Hylton has also embraced the colour scheme used by Sled One so that the two pieces merge into a true collaboration.
Ments, Clift House Road, Bristol, October 2020
Dotted around the whole piece are a dozen or so ‘liquid’ spheres painted by Ments. It has been clear from recent pieces by Ments that he is working hard to create these solid/liquid forms and judging from his contribution to this collaboration this direction he is moving in is going really well. The whole collaboration is a celebration of bright creative ideas and utterly worth seeking out, although parking nearby is a bit of a challenge.
Smak, Curtis Hylton, Ments and Sled One, Clift House Road, Bristol, October 2020
I know that some of you will have been waiting for me to post this, as it is an internationally high-profile collaboration by My Dog Sighs and Curtis Hylton and is already deeply embedded in the ‘datasphere’. Nonetheless I wanted to give you my own perspective of this wondrous Bristol piece.
My Dog Sighs and Curtis Hylton, Windmill Hill, Bristol, April 2019
Firstly, props to Upfest for organising this special event. This year Upfest are taking a rest, a fallow year, from the Summer street art festival. Instead they are going to be orchestrating a few large and significant walls like this one, which will continue to keep Bristol firmly on the street art map.
My Dog Sighs and Curtis Hylton, Windmill Hill, Bristol, April 2019
While I am certainly familiar with the work of My Dog Sighs, I don’t think I have come across Curtis Hylton before, but he is an artist/muralist based in Hampshire, which is probably why he teamed up with MDS who lives in Portsmouth. Curtis painted the amazing artwork surrounding the eyes by MDS. The blue feathers on the left hand side, I believe are of a kingfisher, and in a WIP shot I saw from Paul121 showed some orange feathers, which were subsequently replaced with blue.
My Dog Sighs and Curtis Hylton, Windmill Hill, Bristol, April 2019
Eyes are one of the things that MDS specialises in and this one shows a very Bristol scene… the windmill is from Windmill Hill, the balloons from the Bristol balloon fiesta (one of the largest in Europe) and the Clifton suspension bridge. The silhouette runs through the middle of the eye with an extraordinary orange below and stunning sky scene and reflected eyelashes above. Just amazing.
My Dog Sighs and Curtis Hylton, Windmill Hill, Bristol, April 2019
The eye on the right hand side of the piece shows the same scene… it would look very odd if it didn’t.
My Dog Sighs and Curtis Hylton, Windmill Hill, Bristol, April 2019
Surrounding this his eye is a different scene altogether. Beautiful cream roses and rose petals, together with some other flowers just below the eye. Taken as a whole the collaboration is beyond impressive, and one of the best to be seen in Bristol for a long time.
My Dog Sighs and Curtis Hylton, Windmill Hill, Bristol, April 2019
Just to the right of the piece, the artists completed the wall with further decorations that on their own world be worth the trip, let alone the main work. MDS has really nailed the water drops here. I am going to try and see if I can copy them this weekend, if I get a chance to practice in the garden. Not holding my breath though.
Great to have this world-class piece in Bristol. Bravo My Dog Sighs and Curtis Hilton.
Natural adventures 