Tag: M32 cycle path

3417. M32 cycle path (100)

Another Christmas 2020 piece, this time from Eman who since his reasonably recent arrival in Bristol has been making his mark about the place. This piece was painted alongside Decay, and it is interesting that both artists opt for a little character in their name.

Eman, M32 cycle path, Bristol, December 2020
Eman, M32 cycle path, Bristol, December 2020

I think that this piece is an improvement on the first one that I saw in pretty much the exact same spot. The colour progression from letter to letter is nicely worked out and the blue shadow is nicely done. The character is rather cute and brings us those Christmas wishes. An all round nice piece.

Eman, M32 cycle path, Bristol, December 2020
Eman, M32 cycle path, Bristol, December 2020

This little character, also by Eman was lurking nearby.

3407. M32 cycle path (99)

The second half of 2020 was not a productive one for Decay, in terms of street work, so it was great to see some new pieces during the Christmas holiday break. This is a very neat and tidy Christmas piece on the M32 cycle path.

Decay, M32 cycle path, Bristol, December 2020
Decay, M32 cycle path, Bristol, December 2020

I think that this is the first piece I have seen in Bristol since August, although he did make an appearance at the Cheltenham Paint Festival in September that I haven’t posted yet (note to self – post a few more from the festival soon). In this nicely styled piece spelling out DECAY, his little character, Chuck, is greeting us with a Christmas Ho ho ho! It will be interesting to see what happens with the new hard national lockdown imposed yesterday. I expect some artists will make time to get out and about and others may go to ground. We shall see.

3392. M32 cycle path (98)

It was while she was finishing off this piece that I first formally met the wonderful Pekoe, thanks to an introduction from Paul H. It was so good at last to meet her, and especially nice because she knew exactly who I was and was appreciative of the posts I had written here on Natural Adventures and on Instagram.

Pekoe, M32 cycle path, Bristol, November 2020
Pekoe, M32 cycle path, Bristol, November 2020

Pekoe, as well as finishing off her own piece was helping a friend with practising his own art work adjacent to her portrait. The act of a kind and helpful person. Her green three-quarter profile is exquisitely offset by the shock of orange hair collected into a bun, making great use of the space available on the panel she was painting.

Pekoe, M32 cycle path, Bristol, November 2020
Pekoe, M32 cycle path, Bristol, November 2020

Big hair is a major part of Pekoe’s portraits and in this one she has really excelled herself in my view. The decorations intertwined in the bright orange, red and yellow hair show off her signature style. I love this piece and will always associate it with making her acquaintance for the first time of many I hope.

3390. M32 Cycle path (97)

This is the first piece I have posted from an artist new to me who writes under the name EMAN. I note from his Instagram that he has been painting Bristol walls for a while, but I just don’t seem to have come across his work before. In the gloom of an evening a couple of weeks back I was lucky enough to meet him while painting this piece during an impromptu paint jam along the M32 cycle path.

Eman, M32 cycle path, Bristol, November 2020
Eman, M32 cycle path, Bristol, November 2020

Eman was rather pleased with his character in yellow, which he was developing and which I think might become a bit of a signature element to his work, a bit like Chuck is in Decay’s work. This piece spells out EMAN in a thin yellow strip with a shadow that gives the sense of a piece of ribbon, which is rather clever.

Eman, M32 cycle path, Bristol, November 2020
Eman, M32 cycle path, Bristol, November 2020

This is a nice piece and I already have a few more on file for posting sometime soon.

3378. M32 Cycle path (96)

I took this photograph as the light was fading at the end of an impromptu paint jam along the M32 cycle path. This would explain the slightly dour appearance of the piece, which is actually a bright and cheerful work from Smak.

Smak, M32 cycle path, Bristol, November 2020
Smak, M32 cycle path, Bristol, November 2020

The graffiti writing reaches the usual high standards associated with Smak, with superb fills and sharp lines that he delivers with such consistency. He has included a little character with this piece, a cat (looking a bit like a tiger) drinking milk from a bottle with a straw (a paper one I hope).

3366. M32 Cycle path (95)

This door is getting some great attention, with Daz Cat, Slakarts and now Soap all giving it a coat of paint in recent months. This is a classic piece of soap work, almost like a mega-tag and takes me back to when I first became aware of his style.

Soap, M32 cycle path, Bristol, December 2020
Soap, M32 cycle path, Bristol, December 2020

I don’t know what Soap calls this character/tag but to me it looks like a double mouthed skull, clever stuff. I imagine that Soap can probably spray throw ups like this one in his sleep, although that probably belittles the skill needed to spray anything half-decent on a wall and this is way more than half-decent.

3360. M32 Cycle path (94)

I wasn’t expecting to find one Rosalita piece, so to find two was a treat, but three in one place in one day is what my grandmother would call a ‘red letter day’. This is the third sumptuous offering from Rosalita, joined in the collaborative wall by 3F Fino.

Rosalita and 3F Fino, M32 cycle path, Bristol, November 2020
Rosalita and 3F Fino, M32 cycle path, Bristol, November 2020

On the left of the wall is an acrobatic cherub in pink doing a handstand on a skull while shooting an arrow from a bow with its feet. Is this a take on Cupid? The other half of the wall has a character climbing through a hole in the wall dressed in a balaclava, jumpsuit and green gloves. All a bit off-the-wall, almost literally, but good fun nonetheless. A happy find, which unfortunately only lasted a week or so, which is unusual, because this wall has a pretty low rate of turnover usually.

3359. M32 Cycle path (93)

It was during a recent impromptu paint jam along the M32 cycle path that I was lucky enough to meet Zake for the first time. I had seen him paint once before, but not stopped for a chat. Luckily I arrived just as everyone was finishing off, so I had the double delight of not only meeting so many artists, but also taking photographs of the pieces in their freshest possible state.

Zake, M32 cycle path, Bristol, November 2020
Zake, M32 cycle path, Bristol, November 2020

This is a rather likeable monster figure with long arms extending from a stumpy body. I like the direction his work is taking and it has come a long way from his earlier column pieces at the M32 spot. I like to look at details in pieces and here he has added a little window to the right of the piece, and the light cast has given a little bright highlight on the monster’s back. These little things matter. Lovely piece.

3350. M32 Cycle path (92)

You can go months without seeing anything from Rosalita and then out of the blue, three gorgeous pieces come along at once and each of them within fifty metres of each other. This is the second cherub piece I have posted in recent days and carries with it the message ‘We may not have it altogether, but together we have got it all’. This is a clever wordplay mechanism called a chiasmus (I love these) for example ‘I’d rather have a full bottle in front of me than a full frontal lobotomy’ or ‘It’s not the men in my life that count, it’s the life in my men’ (thank you, Mae West).

Rosalita, M32 cycle path, Bristol, November 2020
Rosalita, M32 cycle path, Bristol, November 2020

The cherubs, one reclining and being comforted by the other, are suitably chubby and have been beautifully crafted. The fills add an extra layer of depth and intrigue. Both of the cherubs look rather sad and I wonder if they reflect the time we live in and the terrible year we have all experienced. Lovely piece.

3343. M32 Cycle path (91)

Last weekend, a chance meeting with Sam Spade (a street art hunter) in St Werburghs tunnel, led to one of those perfect moments for photographing street art and meeting artists. He told me that there was a lot of activity on the M32 cycle path, behind the Black Swan and that I ought to get myself over there. I was heading in that direction anyway, but the light was fading and I might just as easily have headed home. Luckily I went to take a look and there was a paint jam of about seven or eight artists just coming to an end, many of whom I hadn’t met before (more on that in posts to come).

Sled One, M32 cycle path, Bristol, November 2020
Sled One, M32 cycle path, Bristol, November 2020

This piece from Sled One had already been completed, and he was just hanging around watching the other artists as they completed their work. Sled One is one of the most gifted artists I know, and he seems to be able to create stunning work, graffiti writing or character pieces, with consummate ease. Here the letters spell out SLED (although it almost looks like he has slipped in  an extra D) in a selection of letter shapes and colour shadings. The red and blue cloud clumps add an extra dimension to this fine piece of writing.