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Setting the dog off
autumnal barking cycle
woof! Get off my land
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by Scooj
Autumn visitor
Tag: Fox
5474. Cheltenham 2023 (6)
I have only once before posted anything by Creative Ginger, and that was at last year’s Cheltenham Paint Festival, also in the Honeybourne Line tunnels, and featured a young woman cuddling a fawn. This year it was the turn of a young woman cuddling a fox, and what a fantastic piece it is too.
This kind of work contains a lot of emotion and warmth and the style stops just short of photorealistic, while being accurate, calming and soft. Foxes play a very large part in street art (note to self: do a special gallery of foxes) and Creative Ginger has done a great job with this one, and plays with the girls hair colour and texture alongside the foxes. A perfect mural, and one which I am sure appealed to the many families visiting for the festival. It would be great to see Creative Ginger at Upfest.
5303. Weston-super-Mare
The Weston Wallz initiative has without question introduced a breath of fresh air in this breezy seafront town. Many of the buildings in the town, instead of being drab and rather weathered can boast some of the finest murals in the country, but it is not only the large walls, but some of the smaller ones too that have a direct uplifting impact on the locals, and Old Post Office Lane hosts a handful of wonderful pieces.
Bex Glover is no stranger to Bristolians, and to see one of her beautifully designed murals in Weston-super-Mare as part of Weston Wallz 2022 was a real treat. Her nature pieces create a sense of calm and beauty, and reminds of a natural world that we should cherish. The fox is a beauty, and I am rather fond of the two little fish that make an appearance too. A wonderful piece in a ‘ghost’ window.
Play
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Enchanting moment
fox cubs frolic on the bank
innocent playtime
.
by Scooj
- Yesterday I was lucky enough to watch three, at least, fox cubs playing on the far bank of the urban River Frome. I was captivated by them, having first heard them rustling in the undergrowth. I watched on for about ten minutes, wishing that I could share the moment with other passer’s by, but there were none. I had to leave because the dog, bless him, was getting restless. He couldn’t see the fox cubs because the river is bounded by a 4ft high wall. My photographs were a bit fuzzy because I was on full zoom, this is one of the better ones.
5259. Upfest 2022 (69)
Foxes have a special place in Bristol. Although urban foxes are found throughout the UK, it was in Bristol where they first were recognised as a ‘thing’ through a research programme conducted by Bristol University. In fact, their research showed that Bristol played host to the most densely populated community of foxes ever recorded, centred around my old allotment. The funny thing is that even though they are so common, there is something quite special about seeing a wild mammal living amongst us.
Justinks, who has painted at Upfest a few times, has absolutely nailed it with this outstanding greyscale rendition of a sleeping fox. It is a truly beautiful painting and captures not only the form of the fox perfectly, but also its peaceful sleeping state. A wonderful piece.
4984. St George skate park (561)
Conrico is an artist who sees to keep himself very busy either with commissions or his street art. Either way, there always seems to be something new by him to go out and find. This is a lovely piece on the back of a skate ramp in St George skate park, where the turnover of artwork tends to be rather slow.
In this piece Conrico has written his name in chrome on an oriental scene, a recurring theme for Conrico. The house on the left has beautiful architecture from, I would guess, China. A night time sky with a full moon leads across to a fox appearing from a wisp of smoke. As with most of Conrico’s work, there is a story here – I guess it is up the viewer to fill in the gaps. Lovely work, photographed on a very cold icy day.
4954. Hurlingham Road
I know exactly why I never posted this outstanding mural by Spike Clark in Hurlingham Road, it is because I was waiting for a clean photograph without cars parked in front of it. Well, I have given up. I think the cars are super-glued to the road, so I will have to post the pictures I have.
I had thought that Spike Clark was from out of town, and had written a paragraph about not needing to hire artists from elsewhere because there was such a pool of talent in the city, but it turns out that Spike Clarke works out of Bristol, so I have rewritten that paragraph. Spike Clark has produced this mesmerising ‘the quick brown fox’, which has become a significant landmark in this part of Bristol.
The honeycomb decoration is absolutely stunning and provides the perfect backdrop to the leaping foxes, each cell beautifully filled and colour coordinated. Liberal use of shadow black, or some other similar paint, provides the depth for each cell, creating a fabulous 3D effect.
The whole piece feels a bit like a time-lapse capture of the fox as it leaps along the wall. Foxes are always associated with Bristol, long before urban foxes were a national ‘thing’, Bristol had a strong and healthy population of foxes, and at one point played host to the most dense population of foxes ever recorded in the UK (on my allotment, in fact).
Maybe one day I will manage to capture this beauty in one face on photograph, but I am not holding my breath.
4747. M32 Spot (147)
It would seem that after a rather dormant spell over the summer, Daz Cat is becoming a little more active again, and his pieces are definitely moving more in the direction of narratives than straightforward portraits of cats and dogs.
In this column piece, under the M32, a cat, with a fox curled up on its head is holding a little dog and is standing next to a chicken with a frog on its head. Don’t ask what the story here is, I wouldn’t know where to begin. I prefer to enjoy the spectacle and the elements that make it up. Another fabulous us piece from Daz Cat.
That time of year
.
Disproportionate
noise of lovemaking foxes
upsetting the dog
.
by Scooj
4114. Dean Lane skate park (445)
It is thrilling to see so many female artists hitting the streets through paint jams organised by the Bristol Womxn Mural Collective, and last month’s session in Dean Lane skate park were particularly productive, including this gorgeous fox mural by Urban Fay (Natasha Fay Watson).
I’m not too sure I have posted anything by Urban Fay before, so this fox, a creature so closely associated with Bristol, is a perfect start. The decaying animal reminds us of the circle of life, and there is a lovely bit of narrative from the artist on this:
What wondrous blessings each morning’s sunrise brings us. The cycle goes on.
Natural adventures 