Underneath the flyover complex in Cumberland Basin, in a spot favoured by the artist, is this magnificent recent piece by Acer. The stylised work depicts the Clifton Suspension Bridge that would be visible from this spot were it not for all the concrete.
Acer has many strings to his bow, and this geometric piece has a stained-glass window appearance. It is beautifully designed and very calming in a less than calming environment. Superb work in a spot that he has painted before.
This is a little Christmas piece from Soge, who has quite a quiet year in 2021, and is a welcome sight. There haven’t been as many Christmas themed pieces this year as I might have expected, but I haven’t been out too much last week so hope to stumble across a few more.
This is actually part of a collaboration with Hire, and the pair have painted quite a few times together in the past. Nicely designed and finished, this is a welcome return from Soge. Happy Christmas.
Happy Christmas folks, a very special day for us, just the nuclear family, no visits, no visiting, just us. Over the last two years we have become used to each others’ company and generally get on surprisingly well, so being together today for our festivities is stress free. I am in between preparing the turkey and sorting vegetables and have a slot to do this quick post.
Two of Bristol’s finest artists, Tom Miller and Kin Dose (now referred to as Kin Official) have combined to produce this remarkable Christmas collaboration on Nelson Street.
On the left is a very special mural from Tom Miller, as imaginative as usual and brimming over with winter themes. I think that the figure is handling Christmas parcels, emblazoned with hearts. There is so much movement and colour as you might expect with Tom Miller. A wonderful piece.
Next to Tom’s piece is an incredible Grinch mural by Kin Dose, who really is one of my favourite artists in Bristol. His attention to detail and photo realism techniques are awesome. In this piece, I love the coronavirus Christmas decoration, so in keeping with the Grinch character.
A perfect Christmas collaboration. Once again may I wish you all a very happy day.
In recent months, there have been a lot of these ghoul character pieces appearing all over the place, and I feel that now is a good time to introduce them to Natural Adventures. The design, that has a Celtic knot look about it, is by Full Time Ghoul (FTG).
The main concentration of FTG’s pieces are along the cycle path bordering the River Avon, and I look forward to sharing some of these with you in the New Year. Is this the ghost of Christmas past, present or yet to come I wonder? Or perhaps just a little bit of knotty ghoul fun.
Happy Christmas folks. I hope I will have a moment to post tomorrow, but Don’t hold your breath.
It’s Christmas Eve, hooray! I am going to give us all a bit of a break and keep my commentary of this sensational collaboration by Sepr and 3Dom brief. Characters accompanied by writing in this long panel. Great stuff.
Alex Lucas has had a very good and productive year. Her beautiful murals, most of them commissions, have been appearing with joyous regularity through the year. This is one of her latest pieces, just off North Street in Bedminster, and is the centrepiece of a Christmas mural trail produced in partnership with Upfest, Aardman Studio and Netflix, promoting Aardman’s new animation Robin Robin.
I will have to walk the length of North Street at some point, perhaps over the Christmas break, to photograph all the other little characters along the trail. This is a very Bristol thing going on and something all citizens here can be proud of. A coming together of a Bristol-based film studio, a Bristol artist and a Bristol street art events business… a fine combination.
I have said it before, but there are a few artists in the Bristol whose illustrations, designs and murals have become synonymous with the city and I would name Alex Lucas as one of these, and the other two would be Cheo and Andy Council. These three adding colour and recognition to the place.
You can never rule out anything in the world of street/graffiti art, and to do so would be to suck the surprise and joy out of it all. I would never have predicted a Flava136/Mudra collaboration, and yet down in the Deaner we have a near-perfect mash-up from these two superb artists.
This is a great example of a blended collaboration where it is difficult to be certain who painted what. There are of course the obvious bits that have all the hallmarks of the individual artists, but the bits in-between… A trained eye can tell them apart, but to most people you’d look at this piece and consider it to be by one artist.
Basically the central monster and smiley face are by Flava136, and the left and right hand elements (which spell out MUDRA (some creative imagination required)) are by Mudra. The whole thing is an absolute gem and I hopt that they will get together again sometime in the future.
Christmas is supposed to be a quiet time at work, but it isn’t. I have been as busy as ever, and early starts rather disrupts my blog post writing routine. This post has had to wait until I have packed away my laptop, but I hope it is worth the waiting for.
The original and creative piece will be a delight for anyone who still enjoys vinyl and is a representation (a very good one at that) of a 45 rpm 7 inch single ‘Do I Love You (Indeed I Do) by Frank Wilson. The artists who created the piece are Streetofsoul and Dinero DIY, and I believe they have already dopped another single elsewhere in the city.
The piece is so realistic, it absolutely looks like a giant vinyl record had been left on the ground. I haven’t seen anything like this before, and I think it is brilliant, introducing a whole new concept and idea to street art. Watch this space for more like this one.
I love my little walks down Leonard Lane, it feels rather secret, old and magical (if you can ignore the smell of piss) and there is always something new to notice. This little character, created and installed by Mutatee has been in the Lane for a while and looks a little worse for wear, but I thought I’d include it in any case because it is all part and parcel of the Bristol street art scene.
It is well worth following Mutatee’s Instagram account @mutatee_ to see how she makes all her characters, it is a fascinating process. The character is from the film Labyrinth, starring David Bowie and a whole host of puppets. I believe the worm is called William. In this cast by Mutatee, the tufts of hair have been broken off, perhaps by someone trying to ‘steal’ the piece. A pity really, because it is little installations like this that add interest and intrigue to the city.
Mest is an artist whose writing is improving all the time, not only in quality but also in creativity. Sticking to his standard letter shapes, he gets his variety through his fill designs and colours. I have so many more of his pieces that are not yet published, but posting pieces on Natural Adventures is a very competitive marketplace at the moment. I will get round to publishing more in due course.
The colour contrasts between the orange background and cool blue letter fills works wonderfully, a real hot and cold battle going on in front of our eyes. Mest has also been playing a little by picking out some of the brick work with pink lines. A sprinkling of little yellow dots rounds the piece off nicely. A fine piece from Mest which gets me ever closer to publishing a gallery of his work… watch this space over the next month or two.
Natural adventures 