Tag: Kingfisher

5619. Friernhay Street, Exeter

Flora&Fauna, Friernhay Street, Exeter, October 2023
Flora&Fauna, Friernhay Street, Exeter, October 2023

I have seen many birds painted on walls over the years, and some species are more popular than others. On a survey of one, the top three birds I have seen are: 3rd – Goldfinch; 2nd – Robin; and 1st by a country mile, Kingfisher. There is something magical about kingfishers and they certainly capture the imagination of street artists.

Flora&Fauna, Friernhay Street, Exeter, October 2023
Flora&Fauna, Friernhay Street, Exeter, October 2023

I had to do a lot of detective work to hunt down the name of the artist who painted this beautiful bird tucked down a side street especially as f&f wasn’t a lot to go on – turns out it is Flora and Fauna, and this is one of two of their pieces I found on my short exploration of the city. The piece is striking and rather beautiful, and painted in a fairly soft style, without too much fine detailing. F&f is certainly an artist I’d like to se more of… a potential candidate for Upfest?

5592. Cheltenham 2023 (11)

Sam Art, Cheltenham Paint Festival, Cheltenham, July 2023
Sam Art, Cheltenham Paint Festival, Cheltenham, July 2023

Each time I do a burst of ‘festival’ pictures I become mindful of just how far behind I am with my posts – I still have dozens/hundreds of pieces to share from Upfest 2022 and many more from Cheltenham last year and this. I simply have to face the fact that I won’t be able to publish them all, at least not until I have retired. This is an unbelievable piece by Sam Art at this year’s Cheltenham Paint Festival.

Sam Art, Cheltenham Paint Festival, Cheltenham, July 2023
Sam Art, Cheltenham Paint Festival, Cheltenham, July 2023

Sam Art uses spray paint to create his photorealistic masterpieces, but he does so in a studio and then transports the piece to the festival site. Some might consider this cheating, but it is not. The pieces take a long time to paint and would probably be next to impossible outside exposed to the elements. The portrait of a young girl is stunning and the kingfisher – a street art favourite – sensational. The splashes of colour contrast perfectly with the greyscale portrait. Magnificent stuff once again from Sam Art.

5465. Queen’s Road (4)

Aspire, Queen's Road, Bristol, August 2023
Aspire, Queen’s Road, Bristol, August 2023

Aspire is no stranger to the pages of Natural Adventures, indeed, when he was still living in Bristol his outstanding bird paintings were a regular feature on the blog. Sadly, for us, he left for London, and now is just an occasional visitor to the city and to street art festivals in and around the Bristol area.

Aspire, Queen's Road, Bristol, August 2023
Aspire, Queen’s Road, Bristol, August 2023

It is so good that Apire was invited to take part in the Bristol 650 years celebration paint jam in partnership with Upfest and Bristol BID, and he has done a great job with this magnificent bird piece. The four-panelled mural shows that Aspire is equally good with brushes as he is with spray cans and he has captured the renaissance theme well with the addition of a piece of red material draped from a plant. The Kingfisher and Peregrine are, as you might expect, perfect and both incorporate the pixelation Aspire adopts in his work.

Aspire, Queen's Road, Bristol, August 2023
Aspire, Queen’s Road, Bristol, August 2023

The kingfisher is absolutely stunning and is a bird that many artists paint, probably on account of its beautiful blue and gold plumage. Unless Aspire pays Bristol a visit to see friends etc, I can’t imagine we’ll see him again until next year’s Upfest.

3892. Upfest 2021 75×75 (46)

How utterly perfect to welcome Aspire back to Bristol for Upfest’s 75 walls in 75 days, and what an amazing huge mural he has gifted the fine people of Bedminster. I have to admit that this piece came as a bit of a surprise as he seemed to have painted it quite quickly between visits, or maybe I just didn’t stop to look the right way at the right time.

Aspire, Fairfield Road, Bristol, August 2021, Upfest 21
Aspire, Fairfield Road, Bristol, August 2021, Upfest 21

I thought I was going to get a bit frustrated with the parking situation, but the gentleman in the black van was very obliging and moved out of the way for me to take a picture, and just to prove it, here he is giving me the thumbs up. If you don’t ask, you don’t get. The upshot was I managed to get a full and uninterrupted photograph of the wall.

Aspire, Fairfield Road, Bristol, August 2021, Upfest 21
Aspire, Fairfield Road, Bristol, August 2021, Upfest 21

The mural itself is awesome, and takes Aspire into the next level. I am not sure how many large murals he has done since moving to London from Bristol, but this is definitely the biggest I have seen.

Aspire, Fairfield Road, Bristol, August 2021, Upfest 21
Aspire, Fairfield Road, Bristol, August 2021, Upfest 21

The focus of the piece is a stunning Kingfisher, with a cherry on the top, and a little bit of pixelation, for which Aspire is famed. However, Aspire has combined the bird with a classical study of a bowl of fruit and the combination makes for a very special and intoxicating mural. This is glorious stuff and reminds us of what we have been missing in Bristol (as if we didn’t already know) since Aspire left. Bravo!

3543. M32 roundabout J3 (287)

When I visit the M32 roundabout, I usually stop for a few moments and take a look at the River Frome as it escapes its culvert and meanders towards the city centre before entering another culvert. This is a magical stretch of river and an oasis for wildlife slap bang alongside the M32 motorway. It was while I was photographing this new piece from Kool Hand that I spotted a kingfisher darting out of the tunnel and along the course of the river. It made my day… actually it made my week.

Kool Hand, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2021
Kool Hand, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2021

In a way I have Kool Hand to thank for this brush with nature, because If I hadn’t been photographing this piece at exactly the right time, I would have missed the bird. This is a wonderful throw up from Kool Hand featuring his trademark orangutan face with a baseball cap. A good day.

Kingfisher

.

Iridescent blue

alongside the motorway

River Frome wildlife

.

by Scooj

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3290. Cheltenham 2020 (12)

Kingfishers are a favourite subject for street artists and it is amazing how these little bird can give such inspiration, I wonder what it is about them that makes our hearts sing, is it the colours? The fleeting glimpses? The fishing? Who knows, but they are certainly a very popular.

Graffoflarge, Paint festival, Cheltenham, September 2020
Graffoflarge, Paint festival, Cheltenham, September 2020

I don’t know anything about the artist Graffoflarge, but he clearly has a sense of humour by fusing a kingfisher and duck in this piece. The artwork is really interesting, being made up largely of lines and the background is beautifully done to provide the perfect backdrop for the subject. Vibrant and fun, a classy piece.

2958. North Street

There is something about kingfishers and artists. They seem to represent beauty and freedom and perhaps the slightest connection with nature that our urban societies have, in the main, lost.

Kin Dose, North Street, Bristol, May 2020
Kin Dose, North Street, Bristol, May 2020

This shutter piece had been commissioned and painted during lock down, and I have a feeling that Kin Dose also painted the adjacent shop shutter at the same time, although I have not managed to photograph that yet.

Kin Dose, North Street, Bristol, May 2020
Kin Dose, North Street, Bristol, May 2020

The whole piece has a feeling of vibrancy and movement about it. The abstract background of pinks, blues and whites setting up a rich frame for the kingfisher itself. The bird is exquisitely painted (it is not the first time Kin Dose has painted a kingfisher in Bristol) and a massive asset to this end of North Street.

2700. Shoreditch, London (37)

Continuing with some pictures from a (not so recent) visit to Shoreditch, I thought I’d share this rather atypical piece by SkyHigh. Regular readers will be familiar with his exceptional graffiti art pieces where each letter in the word SKYHIGH has its own unique font and style. This however is something completely different.

SkyHigh, Shoreditch, London, November 2018
SkyHigh, Shoreditch, London, November 2018

SkyHigh’s command of his craft is clear when he can paint something like this amazing kingfisher, which at first glance I thought might have been by Aspire. I’d love to know what it is about kingfishers that so many artists depict them… note to self, do a ‘kingfisher special’ some day. This is a magnificent piece by a magnificent artist of a magnificent bird.

Kingfisher

First published in May 2015, I felt this haiku deserved a repost. I had kingfishers on my mind.

 

Slow lowland rivers,

pulling nets for a living,

those halcyon days.

 

by Scooj