Although I photographed this piece by Zoe Power back in April, it had been painted some considerable time before that, years, I think. This entrance to the Bimm Institute is tucked away behind the Full Moon pub in Stokes Croft.
The busy and bright mural is beautifully designed around the archway and surround to the entrance of the building, with the emphasis being on the arch. Full of colour and optimism, the piece adds so much to an otherwise rather ordinary building.
This futuristic cityscape by Conrico has made it straight into my favourites for 2025. It was painted over the central section of a three-way collaboration by Sled One, Oust and Stivs, and if you look closely to the right side of this piece, you’ll see a shout-out to Oust.
There is so much depth in this piece, not only literally with the deep perspective of the street scene, but also emotional depth. Conrico depicts a world without humans, who have been replaced by AI robots, who have inherited the ordinariness and drudgery of their human forebears. It feels like a direct replacement, rather than the shiny new world we are being promised by Elon Musk and the like, and presents an alternative view of the future.
The mural is full of pathos, perhaps epitomised by the touching scene in the foreground where a robot is crouching to pet a cat, a real cat. All of this scene is painted with Conrico’s unique style that looks like the whole thing was painted with brush strokes. This is a truly outstanding work. Bravo Conrico, Bravo!
A couple of really quick posts today, I forgot that I was going in to the office today and haven’t left myself much time. This is a wonderful mural from Silent Hobo on the newly opened Last Chance Saloon, which was revealed about two weeks ago.
Silent Hobo is wonderfully adept at painting these large murals and capturing so much that represents the young people of the city with stories and emotions throughout the piece. Two large walls beautifully painted.
Silent Hobo has painted city scenes and dropped clues that it is Bristol, such as the hot air balloons, but also the architecture of the buildings. The beautiful scene above the front entrance of the saloon is relevant and heart-breaking, stirring up all kinds of emotions. Brilliant work from Silent Hobo.
This is why I love the Bristol Mural Collective so much. This piece is unlike anything you are likely to see on the streets very often. It could belong on a sketchbook page and never be seen, but here it is in the middle of a quiet lane displayed as a piece of public art.
I haven’t seen any work by Amber Bardell before, and I’m not sure whether she has painted murals before, but this is a charming illustration mural of a bird pecking up four-leaf clovers, in keeping with the luck theme of the paint jam. There is a child-like quality and simplicity to the piece, which is nicely painted. A great contribution in Lucky Lane.
Amy McHugh first came onto my radar at the last Bristol Mural Collective paint jam on the Greenbank hoardings with a peace for Palestine mural. This time she has gone bigger with a nature theme and some comforting words for ‘Rob’.
The words are written in a lovely illustrative font, and I guess were painted with a brush. They say: ‘I’m sorry it’s so tough – it’s ok not to feel ok – one thing for sure is change – I’m sending love today – for Rob and all who struggle’. Kind words accompanied by kind birds and animals. The naive style is enchanting and would work well as illustrations in a picture book.
While I was away on holiday, the Bristol Mural Collective held a paint jam in Lucky Lane. I had been told by Nina Raines, the organiser, that it was happening, and was really sorry to miss it. Because I wasn’t there, I don’t know whether this wonderful piece by Pelmo was already there or was painted on the day.
Pelmo has painted in Lucky Lane a couple of times before, so I am guessing he lives nearby. This is a fabulous composition of a man, with a paunch, sitting on a bench in a rather surreal landscape, including a couple of sunflowers in pots with music 🎵 tumbling from them. A bright, witty and rather peaceful mural by Pelmo.
Doors 325 – Street art and graffiti doors
Whenever I run a street art doors post, it tends to signal that I am busy or under pressure and haven’t had time to sort out a ‘regular’ post. I have just returned from holiday and simply haven’t been able to prepare for the continuation of Marrakesh Doors that I was expecting to post today.
The reason it is quicker to post about street art doors is that all the pictures have previously appeared on Natural Adventures in my street art/graffiti posts, and are ready to go, which means the only bit I have to sort out is this writing bit.
These pictures were mostly taken in May last year, many of them painted during the Upfest 24 paint festival (the largest street art festival in Europe). I hope you enjoy them.
I sincerely hope that normal service will return next time as I continue with some more wonderful doors from Marrakesh. Have a great end of week and 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 weekly Thursday Doors post.
Another powerful combination of imagery and words from the Bristol Mural Collective paint jam that was themed on Palestine. This particular piece by Amy McHugh is visually impactful using the image of a dove of peace carrying a flower, and shedding a tear.
The colours, as with most of these paint jam pieces, pick up on the colours of the Palestinian flag, which are all represented. The words “None of us are free until we’re all free – Palestine” are interesting, especially their approximation to the Jewish poet Emma Lazarus who wrote in 1883, “Until we are all free, we are none of us free.” It is a sentiment I believe many of us can agree with, but I fear we might be in for a long wait.
This is a strong message of support for Palestine and the people of Gaza and the West Bank by Amy McHugh.
In recent years, Jimmer Wilmott has turned his focus away from his zany surreal pieces and towards his equally zany alphabetti spaghetti work, which are really cleverly painted, but (speaking as someone who is phobic of tinned spaghetti in tomato sauce) slightly yucky.
I imagine that this piece is a private commission, because it is in somebody’s backyard, and I had to stand on tiptoes with my phone fully stretched above my head to take the photographs. I’m not sure that I’d want this in my garden, but each to his own. The letters picked out in this piece spell FAMILY, and in a way, that is rather touching. Jimmer rarely produces subtle pieces, and this is a country mile away from subtle.
On one of my recent and rather infrequent walks to work, I came across this piece by Lucy Danielle and I think curated by Global Street art. I have inly seen her work once before (I think) and that was in Leicester last year, as part of the ‘Bring the Paint’ festival.
In this large mural, Lucy Danielle has combined some abstract illustration with a portrait that is split in the middle, with one half being photorealistic and the other a comic-like illustration. I can’t tell if the graffiti on the GWR train is part of the artwork, or has been artfully added by a tagger subsequently. The whole thing is a bright and colourful addition, in this tucked away street.
Natural adventures 