Mural – Page 12 – Natural adventures

3786. Upfest 2021 75×75 (10)

One of my all time favourite artists in Bristol is Hazard, and it is not difficult to understand why. Her portraits, so full of depth, emotion and colour, can be found dotted around the city, and although many have long-since gone, there are still several to be found. This new piece for the Upfest 75 walls in 75 days initiative, is breathtakingly beautiful. It is also frustratingly difficult to photograph.

Hazard, North Street, Bristol, June 2021, Upfest 21

I passed by while she was mid-way through painting the piece and was going to stop for a chat, but I could see that she was in full flow and I didn’t really want to disturb her. I rather like the ladder on the side of the building, taking away a little bit of the glamour we might associate with being a muralist.

The piece itself is a gorgeous portrait of a woman in deep red colours with blue hair and a Garland of what looks like clouds and vapours in a pinky orange hue. The connection with nature is obvious, as it is in so many of Hazard’s pieces, with the leaves to the right of the piece.

It is so good to see Hazard back out painting our walls, it has been a quiet eighteen months from her.

3783. Upfest 2021 75×75 (9)

It is a funny thing, but I think that this is the first time I have seen this wall painted with a single piece. It is a long wall with quite a few challenges, such as the notice board and the telegraph poles, but Molly Hawkins has done a splendid job, creating this wonderful mural for Upfest’s 75 walls in 75 days initiative.

Molly Hawkins, Greville Street, Bristol, June 2021, Upfest 21

I have not come across Molly Hawkins before but I understand, from doing a little research, that she is a Bristol-based mural artist and illustrator. I believe she has other murals in Stokes Croft and Bedminster that I am going to have to track down at some point.

In this piece she has concealed a female figure holding a triangle that contained a whole lot of symbolism for the artist. She explains this on her Instagram account as follows:

I read up on the symbolism of a triangle, and found a meaning that resonated with me, and inspired the design for this piece:

‘A triangle represents manifestation, enlightenment, revelation and a higher perspective. It is often used to mark the cycles of growth that lead to a higher state of being. Spiritually, it represents a path towards enlightenment or connection to an omnipresent being.’

A very nice mural and addition to the Upfest event

3748. Upfest 2021 75×75 (3)

I have a feeling that this was the first of this year’s Upfest 75×75 pieces (75 walls painted in 75 days in lieu of a full blow street festival over a long weekend) and is by the magnificent artist Will Barras who is no stranger to Upfest.

Will Barras, St Francis Road, Bristol, May 2021, Upfest 21

There is a lot to love about this piece, in particular the local references to rock climbing, spray-painting and of course the moonlit Clifton suspension bridge. The night scene is painted very cleverly in muted colours to give it that dusk or nighttime feeling which works so well, and the mural seems to suck the light away from its surroundings.

The perspectives and energy of the cyclist seem to create a sense of energy and movement. There is a lot of dynamism in the piece, in spite of its dark tones. Replacing the Caro Pepe piece that existed here before was always going to be a big ask, but Will Barras has risen to the challenge and given us something unusual and rather special.

3709. Upper York Street (25)

One of the golden rules of enjoying urban architecture and culture is to remember to look up. We spend most of our lives looking at where we are going, or worse, looking at our digital screens, that we forget to look back, look around and look up. If we don’t pause to look and enjoy then we risk the world passing us by, and then, what’s the point of anything?

Gage Graphics, Upper York Street, Bristol, May 2021

The recent piece I featured by Gage Graphics on the front elevation of a new development is actually one of three pieces (that I have found) on the building by Ollie Gillard. This one is high up on the balcony of one of the apartments and is really quite magnificent. Painting on brickwork like this can’t be particularly easy, and it might have been better to have rendered this section of wall prior to commissioning the artwork however the end result is outstanding.

The piece features a cockatoo wearing a headdress made, ironically, of feathers, and singing into a sparkling microphone. In the distance a mountain rises high and at the top left the sun shines with some birds silhouetted against it. I don’t know what the story is but I definitely like the piece.

3680. Bedminster Parade

It has taken me a while to get round to posting this wonderful facade piece from Paul Monsters which in its short lifetime has become a bit of a landmark on Bedminster Parade. What a fabulous boost murals can give to an area, and this is a prime example, I am only surprised that it doesn’t happen an awful lot more than it does.

Paul Monsters, Bedminster Parade, Bristol, April 2021

Paul Monsters’ designs are instantly recognisable and combining his shades of colours with geometric patterns lift the work creating a clever 3D effect. Definitely eye catching even for those with their heads buried in their mobile devices. Let’s get the whole city brightened up! More like this please Paul.

3678. Upper York Street (24)

To deliberately misquote a biblical phrase, ‘the Lord taketh away and the the Lord giveth’. The whole area of small businesses and light industrial units in the Upper York Street and Wilder Street area have been knocked down for new developments including housing and student accommodations, depriving street/graffiti artists from some premium walls. The gentrification programme is moving at pace and sweeping all around it aside.

It would appear that the developers of this block, which has been build with alarming speed during the coronavirus pandemic, have offered a small gesture that acknowledges the area’s street art heritage with this incredible mural from Gage Graphics. We know what an accomplished artist Ollie Gillard is and his outstanding murals can be found on private houses, restaurants and businesses all over Bristol. This is another fabulous addition to his portfolio that contributes to the whole Bristol USP thing.

The piece itself is a wonderful tropical paradise scene in which creatures of the forest admire a circus act being performed by a little mouse in the wooded foothills of a small mountain. Ollie Gillard transports us to a different place with this mural and there is so much detail to look at and admire. Well worth a visit, but does it compensate for the loss of the local street art walls, I guess only partially. It will be interesting to see whether this new build gets tagged and bombed, once all the hoardings come down.

3661. Stapleton Road

Silent Hobo paints some of the very best large murals in Bristol and this one on the railway bridge in Stapleton Road is so large that I have split it into component posts to keep it manageable. This bit of the remarkable mural is on the side of the of the bridge and runs perpendicular to the M32 motorway. I was lucky enough to have a quick chat with Silent Hobo as he was just starting on this elevation.

Silent Hobo, Stapleton Road, Bristol, April 2021

I say this every time I write about Silent Hobo, and I am certainly not going to break with tradition now, that he has an incredible knack for capturing a mood and reflecting it back to us. The youth of Bristol and a contrast of urban clutter offset by nature and hope are themes he explores in so much of his work.

On this section of wall some Easton youths are interaction with nature and their environment, and key to this embrace is rail and bus services which are greener methods of transport than cars. I love the artwork and I love the themes.

I noticed a few days ago that the bottom of this wall had been tagged with white paint, but when I went there yesterday, the offending tags had been painted out. I love it that people care about this community mural. The rest of the mural will be in a new post soon.

3539. New Stadium Road (29)

Tom Miller is an artist I have taken a great deal of interest in ever since I first encountered his unusual surreal pieces in Stokes Croft and in The Bearpit back in 2016. At that time he was still studying his craft at the university, but it was clear that he was creating something rather special. Some of his work is captured in this gallery.

Tom Miller, New Stadium Road, Bristol, February 2021

What is most pleasing is that he is now getting a number of commissions and his artwork is appearing on large walls around the city, but he is keeping it real by continuing with his street art work too. This magnificent piece on one of the most prominent walls in Bristol took him a couple of weeks to paint and during that time I stopped to catch up with him.

Tom is genuinely one of the nicest artists I know, he is so modest and always seems to enjoy a bit of a chat. I have to say that I was concerned for his safety when he was painting this, because it was incredibly windy and the scaffold tower was wobbling much more than would have been comfortable. He survived though and what an amazing job he did.

This piece, as you would expect, is so full of colour and detail. Some might call it busy, but I would call it expressive. Lots of body parts combined with flowers and other familiar shapes and objects fill the space, and then there is some respite from this crowded scene to the right of the piece with two less frenetic panels.

The focal point is the face in the middle, and I wonder if it might be a subconscious nod to a piece that stood here for a few years of a large portrait of a girl with a yellow face.

As I said, the two panels on the right offer something different from the rest of the piece, with some landscape and cosmos to calm things down a bot. The far right section reminds me a little bit of the Pink Floyd record sleeve of ‘Dark Side of the Moon. This epic wall is a great addition to Bristol’s iconic street art culture and is one that people leaving the city on the M32 can’t fail to see.

3474. Dean Lane skate park (386)

Nina Raines dropped me a message on 17 January to say that she and some friends were going to be repainting the North Street dental surgery, just in case I was able to come along. Unfortunately work is so busy at the moment, it is impossible for me to choose the moments I get to visit spots around Bristol, and the two days this was being painted were chockablock, which was very disappointing. Far from disappointing though was the outstanding piece that Nina Raines, Phoebe Tonks and Ana Cruz painted along the practice wall.

Nina Raines, Phoebe Tonks and Ana Cruz, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2021

This is one of those collaborations where all three artists have combined their talents in the one piece and it is impossible for me to know who painted which bit, so this is a true fully-integrated collaboration. The 1950s look and feel of the lady with her toothbrush and toothpaste at the ready is inspired and adds a superb splash of colour in this corner between North Street and Dean Lane.

While the lady character is the focal point of the piece, there is so much other interest on this busy wall with the decorative patterns and outlines of children and a tooth fairy. In my view this piece is brilliantly designed and brilliantly executed, and I sincerely hope that the dental surgery are pleased with it. This is a fine landmark in this part of Bedminster.

Ali Hamish Campbel and Nina Raines, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2019

3456. Picton Street (3)

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.

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).

	Dan Antion on Thursday Doors – 11 June…
	paulh121 on 7701. North Street
	Suzette Benjamin on Thursday Doors – 11 June…
	scooj on Roman Snail
	scooj on 7700. Cumberland Basin

	Dan Antion on Thursday Doors – 11 June…
	paulh121 on 7701. North Street
	Suzette Benjamin on Thursday Doors – 11 June…
	scooj on Roman Snail
	scooj on 7700. Cumberland Basin

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: