Finding my way home through the depths of Montpelier, I came across this stunning front door painted by Alex Lucas. Of course, such a feature shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise in this area, as Alex Lucas is the ‘Queen of Montpelier’, which is the epicentre of her work.
Alex Lucas, Montpelier, Bristol, February 2023
In this piece, two cats are interacting with one another, one above the other, cleverly following the portrait aspect of the door. The space around the cats is occupied with decorative ribbons and flowers. Who wouldn’t want a stunning personalised front door like this? The door and the artwork is so very ‘Montpelier’ if you get my drift. Brilliant.
A quick introduction this week – work pressures are as heavy as ever. These doors were photographed on a dog walk a week or so ago, in a nearby area of Bristol called Montpelier (or Montepeculiar by some), famed for the Bohemian lifestyle of its inhabitants, whether accurately or not. I hope you enjoy my little tour of doors in the district.
Green door with a fabulous lizard knocker, Montpelier, Bristol, April 2022Mr Bloopy door, Montpelier, Bristol, April 2022Number 33 – distressed door, Montpelier, Bristol, April 2022Door and shuttered garage, Montpelier, Bristol, April 2022Alex Lucas artwork around a blue door, Montpelier, Bristol, April 2022Red door, lilac walls and a temple, Montpelier, Bristol, April 2022
So that’s it for another week. May I wish you all a very happy weekend.
If you have made it this far, you probably like doors, and you really ought to take a look at the No Facilities blog by Dan Anton who has taken over the hosting of Thursday Doors from Norm 2.0 blog. Links to more doorscursions can be found in the comments section of Dan Anton’s Thursday Doors post.
It has taken me far too long to take photographs of this wonderful mural by Alex Lucas. It is in Picton Street on the facade of her shop and replaced one that she had painted a few years earlier and which had begun to look a little tired. The makeover is a huge success.
Alex Lucas, Picton Street, Bristol, January 2021
I think that Alex Lucas deserves a title, something like the Duchess of Montpelier would be appropriate on account of the sheer volume of outstanding murals, big and small, that she has painted in the area, helping to make it a ‘go to’ destination for visitors to Bristol.
Alex Lucas, Picton Street, Bristol, January 2021
The black and white birds are beautifully drawn and sit on a backdrop of outstanding purple flowers on a blue background. This is both sumptuous and eye-catching and a massive part of Bristol’s USP (one that Bristol City Council are conflicted about – I’ll probably leave that rant for another post).
Doors 116 – Some random Bristol doors from lock down walks
I have taken a day off work today and so am able to spend a little bit of time sorting out some new doors for you. This is a selection of doors from all around North Bristol from the long dog walks I took during the lock down days.
I am constantly reminded of what strange times we live in that we have developed a whole new language around the coronavirus epidemic, and that we will reference world history in terms of pre-Covid and post-Covid. I find it all very unsettling.
Anyhow – on to the doors. I hope you enjoy them.
Back yard gate, Montpelier, Bristol, May 2020Back yard gate, Montpelier, Bristol, May 2020Back yard gate with graffiti, Montpelier, Bristol, May 2020Back yard gate with graffiti, Montpelier, Bristol, May 2020Front door in blue, Montpelier, Bristol, May 2020A smart front door with boot scraper, Montpelier, Bristol, May 2020
So, that’ll be it for another week. I expect I’ll revert to my graffiti door archive next week, but we’ll have to wait and see. Take care wherever you are and have a great weekend.
If you have made it this far, you probably like doors and you really ought to take a look at the Norm 2.0 blog – the originator of Thursday Doors where there are links to yet more doors in the comments section at the end.
It should come as a rather refreshing change that this week’s doors are not from my street art archives, but doors I photographed during lock down on my walks with the dog. I know that the street art doors are popular, and will return to them in due course.
This week’s selection of doors are mainly from the Montpelier and St Werburghs area on what were sleepy streets back in March, but have now resumed almost normal levels of traffic.
An ordinary door with an extraordinary tile surround, Montpelier, Bristol, March 2020Fancy pants door, Montpelier, Bristol, March 2020Great colours, a mask and a wall built into the door surround, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2020Former door bricked up, Montpelier, Bristol, March 2020Garden door, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2020Back yard door (note the tagged wheely bin), St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2020Tagged door (that tag again), St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2020
So a little canter around the streets of Sy Werburghs an Montpelier in Bristol, I hope you enjoyed looking at the dors as much as I enjoyed finding and photographing the. That’s it for another week, so I hope you all keep well until next time.
If you have made it this far, you probably like doors and you really ought to take a look at the Norm 2.0 blog – the originator of Thursday Doors where there are links to yet more doors in the comments section at the end.
Combining my love of doors with street art this post is of a really old The Krah piece somewhere in Montpelier, I forget exactly where. I think that he visited Bristol a few years ago, and on his trip dropped a few of these small pieces about the place. In truth I can’t be sure about this, but I have found three of them (two during lock down).
The Krah, Montpelier, Bristol, September 2018
The stencil is sinister… a young woman toting a maching gun and grenade, not what one might expect and from a distance the weapons can’t really be seen. Something different from the old archive.
On the footbridge over the railway that divides St Werburghs and Montpelier is this lovely panel piece by Lobe. I had no idea it was here and can’t tell you how old it is, but it looks pretty fresh to me, and if it is old, has weathered pretty well.
Lobe, Montpelier, Bristol, April 2020
I think that finding pieces that you don’t know about is by far the most rewarding for a street art hunter (incidentally a phrase I dislike – it has the ring of ‘trainspotter’ about it), and when it is by an artist you admire that makes it a little more special. Lobe has managed to get the piece to fit the space perfectly, and some thought has gone into it. Great hair and hat. Love the piece… perhaps she should to more here.
The new world in which we all find ourselves is taking a little getting used to. I have managed to get out and walk the dog every day (the dog I never really wanted, but wouldn’t be without now) and have found something of a routine, which helps to maintain some kind of sanity. Recently, Montpelier and St Werburghs have been destinations of choice, not least because of the rich seam of doors to be found there.
This selection from a couple of weeks ago are typical of the Montpelier area. Montpelier is an interesting district and is at the heart of middle/working class alternative thinking and alternative lifestyles sometimes rather romantically depressed up as a Bohemian hub. Certainly the area is artistic and there is a real mix of housing from rather grand to not so grand. For door lovers this eclectic mix provides so much opportunity. Expect more doorscursions from me in Montpelier in the coming crazy weeks ahead.
No more chit chat (relief all round). Some doors:
Worn and weathered garage door, Montpelier, Bristol, March 2020Garden gate, Montpelier, Bristol, March 2020Garden gate, Montpelier, Bristol, March 2020Door within a sliding door, Montpelier, Bristol, March 2020
This garage/workshop door really is my kind of door. It has everything… character, door within a door, function, age, neglect all round interest. My pick of the week.
A pair of doors with beautiful stained glass widows above, Montpelier, Bristol, March 2020Door with beautiful stained glass widows above, Montpelier, Bristol, March 2020
The last two pictures of doors were included not so much for the doors themselves, but more for the very stylish stained glass triptych above. I can feel myself thinking ‘they just don’t make ‘em like they used to’ when I see door architecture like this. Modern design and materials are all well and good, but cost has compromised so much in the way of decoration.
That’s your lot for another week – there will be more next time. May I take this opportunity to wish you all a happy Easter and happy Passover
If you have made it this far, you probably like doors and you ought to take a look at the Norm 2.0 blog – the originator of Thursday Doors where there are links to yet more doors in the comments section at the end.
I become a centenarian with this post – have I really done a hundred of these? With an average of about five doors per post, that is some five hundred doors I have shared on Natural Adventures. I hope you have enjoyed them as much as I have.
This week’s collection is from a dog walk over the weekend which took me into the depths of Montpelier, a Bohemian district of Bristol sandwiched between St Paul’s, St Andrews and Stokes Croft.
The dog has become my ticket (him and the allotment) out of the house for my daily exercise fix and because I take fairly random routes for my walks I am exposed to a whole ton of new door opportunities. I guess you might call these dog-doorscursions.
Enough chit chat, here is this week’s selection:
Artistic/badly painted door, Montpelier, Bristol, March 2020Old-style door with awning, Montpelier, Bristol, March 2020Pink door with a stained glass sun, Montpelier, Bristol, March 2020How to make a secure entrance look cheerful, Montpelier, Bristol, March 2020Utility door, Montpelier, Bristol, March 2020
I hope that I can bring you more doors next week.
If you have made it this far, you probably like doors and you ought to take a look at the Norm 2.0 blog – the originator of Thursday Doors where there are links to yet more doors in the comments section at the end.
What a week. This is my first Thursday doors post since the lock down was imposed in the UK, and it is a very unsettling and confusing time for us all. Under our rules we are allowed one outing a day for personal exercise, provided we follow all the social distancing rules.
I am alternating my exercise of choice between working on the allotment and walking the dog (in my wildest dreams I never thought that the dog would offer me the means of temporary escape from ‘house arrest’). Yesterday we took a walk down to Stokes Croft and Montpelier and, never one to pass up an opportunity, I photographed some doors.
Just in case you thought this might be irresponsible, I kept my distance from the few people that were out (mostly, like me, exercising in some way), and carried out all the necessary hand washes before leaving and on return home. One observation was that I saw more homeless people on the streets than I saw homed people… I worry about their fate, a group already likely to be more prone to sickness and with nowhere to go to keep clean.
So here are some doors from my exercise dog walk:
Green gates, Montpelier, Bristol, March 2020Pink door, Montpelier, Bristol, March 2020Two doors and a tiled entrance, Cheltenham Road, Bristol, March 2020Garden gate, Ashley Road, Bristol, March 2020Solicitor’s door, Stokes Croft, Bristol, March 2020
Well that’s it for this extraordinary week during an extraordinary period in all our lives.
If you have made it this far, you probably like doors and you ought to take a look at the Norm 2.0 blog – the originator of Thursday Doors where there are links to yet more doors in the comments section at the end.
Natural adventures 