Mural – Page 3 – Natural adventures

6651. Braggs Lane

Billy, Braggs Lane, Bristol, December 2024

It is my birthday today. It is a busy day of packing, sightseeing and travelling. We are due to return to Bristol at around midnight, when our little break will sadly be over. Some great experiences and memories will remain with us and sustain us through the rest of the winter, I hope. I found this piece by Billy a little too late I fear, it would have been nice to have seen it without the tags.

Billy’s no nonsense simplicity and story-telling illustrative pieces are a real strength, and this piece shines through the tags with class. My guess, and it is a guess, is that this is a mural about peace in Palestine. The bird might be a dove, the semi-circular shapes might be watermelons, a motif of Palestine. Of course, it could be something else entirely. Whatever it is, there is a story in the illustration. Nice work from Billy.

6609. Gloucester Road

Hazard, Gloucester Road, Bristol, September 2024

I found and photographed this piece a little while ago, and perhaps should have waited and got some better pictures, once the site in front of it was cleared. The huge mural was an unsigned mystery, and so I have held back on posting it. Once again, I have Paul H to thank for his detective work in finding out that it is by Hazard. Well, well, well, who’d have thought it?

Hazard has a particular style that is quite easy to pick out, but this commission on the side of the Anchor pub on Gloucester Road is nothing like her usual style, and I don’t think I would have ever guessed it was by her, especially as she left Bristol about two years ago.

There is so much to like about this mural, which tells the Bristol story, with balloons and the Clifton Suspension Bridge, some colourful Georgian houses, a swan, a gull and of course an anchor. It really is a magnificent mural, but I simply don’t understand why she didn’t sign it… curious. Driving south along the Gloucester Road, this piece has quickly become something of a landmark.

6603. Dove Street South

Fowsachi, Dove Street South, Bristol, November 2024

UPDATE: Thanks to Mike Matthews for informing me that the artist is in fact Fowsachi.

As regular readers will know by now, I don’t really like posting pieces by unknown artists, but it does happen from time to time, in particular in relation to large one-off murals, like this one. I expect that this piece is signed, but it is difficult to get close, because it is painted in the middle of a housing block, and it would feel a little awkward to go snooping around.

I don’t recognise the style of this artist, which makes me think that it is either painted by a visitor, or by an artist who rarely paints in Bristol… of course I could be quite wrong on both counts. The bright and colourful piece is certainly uplifting in quite a bleak block, and features bold elements including a figure, and what looks like a parrot. All part of the Bristol street art scene, and a welcome addition to the area.

6601. Upfest 2024 (60)

Jack Lack, Upfest 24, Greville Street, Bristol, May 2024

Jack Lack is an artist from Stuttgart, Germany, who is a muralist who uses cans and rollers in his work, influenced by the graffiti scene. When I first saw this impressive and moving piece, I assumed the animal was a fox, but it was nagging me that the proportions of the snout, and markings were all wrong. It turns out that it is a red panda, and this is what the artist wrote about the piece:

Sometimes things are easier to comprehend if they are fluffy, so here is an endangered red panda dealing with a pointy nest. Hopefully soon we can steer the world to an increase in safe homes for everyone.

So it would seem that the red panda nestled in amongst some arrows is a metaphor for safe homes for everyone, and I guess that means domestically and those suffering in war zones or other disaster areas around the world. It is a powerful piece, but more than that it is superbly painted, and a stand out piece from the 2024 Upfest festival.

6600. Upfest 2024 (59)

Dave Bain, Upfest 2024, Bristol, May 2024

Dave Bain is a reasonably well known muralist in Bristol, and I have featured a few of his pieces before in Natural Adventures. This was his Upfest 2024 piece, which as you can see took up the whole front of a terraced house, giving it that something special compared to its neighbours.

Dave Bain’s imagination and creativity have run wild in this floral piece which combined familiar shapes and figures with abstract ones. There may be a little symbolism in the piece too, with a spaceman-like figure holding up a polyhedral shape on a starry background. I feel that sometimes Dave Bain could be a little bit more adventurous with his colours, because this colour palette is quite subtle, and perhaps doesn’t do the artwork justice (my view only). An interesting festival piece.

6572. Greenbank (141)

Le Imposter Design, Greenbank, Bristol, June 2024

Street art takes many forms, and encompasses so much more than graffiti writing and spray-painted portraits, characters or scenes. It is a broad church that encompasses murals using spray paint or other painting materials, paste-ups and installations large and small. Hardcore followers like to stick with spray paint work, but I like to find and write about all forms of street artwork, and this wonderful toadstool piece by Le Imposter Design is a perfect example of a modest hand-painted tiny mural.

I have posted all the Le Imposter Design pieces that I have found (three so far), because I feel they help to represent this vast spectrum of street art in Bristol. Most of her work features plants or fungus, and this is a particularly nice example, with a purple-capped toadstool and some rather pretty ground plants and flowers. She has added some little stars, to add a little bit of context and atmosphere. The piece is small and low down on the hoarding. Blink and you would miss it. More to come from Le Imposter Design.

6457. Little Bishop Street

Hazard, Little Bishop Street, Bristol, August 2024

Sometimes I am slow to find a piece, coming a across it accidentally and rather late to the party, and sometimes I am slow to post a piece for whatever reason, and dig it out of my archive. In the case of this stunning mural from Hazard I was slow on both counts.

Hazard leaving Bristol is a big loss, and although she returns from time to time to paint a large wall for a commission or a Festival, it isn’t quite the same as her being here to drop a street piece from time to time. I guess people move around the country all the time for all sorts of different reasons, but they are missed by those they leave behind. This magnificent mural is painted on the side of the Julian Trust night shelter for homeless people and features a rough sleeper painted in the blues, reds greens and purples that are very much part of Hazard’s favoured palette. This is a great example of how to uplift an ordinary building, and add relevance to its function. Fabulous.

6440. Church Road

Dave Bain and David J. McMillan, Church Road, Bristol, September 2024

I find myself in a bit of a rush this morning, because I have a dental appointment before work. I’m slightly anxious about what is going to happen with my tooth, having lost quite a large section of it a week or so ago. I guess I have to yield to the professional and just get on with it.

I drove past this mural a few weeks ago, coming back from the dog sitter who lives in a part of town I don’t go to all that often. I don’t know how long it has been there, but I can’t recall ever having seen it before.

The large mural on Church Road is by Dave Bain and David J McMillan, and not being overly familiar with the work of either artist, I am not too sure who is responsible for which parts of the mural. The piece speaks of recreation and connecting with nature, which is always a welcome theme in my view. I love the execution of the mural, but I fear that the colours look a little washed out, but that might be an artifact of the rather overcast weather when I took the photographs. It is always great to find new pieces, especially significant murals like this one. Nice work from Dave and David.

6291. Upfest 2024 (46)

Hannah Adamaszek, Upfest 2024, North Street, Bristol, May 2024

One of the first pieces I saw being painted at Upfest this year was this wonderful, relaxing piece by Hannah Adamaszek. As is usually the case, she was accompanied by her friend and artist Stephen Quick, who was making use of his height to help out with some of the harder-to-reach parts of the mural.

Hannah Adamaszek manages to create a great sense of calm and wellbeing in her pieces, which usually feature people in relaxed poses or situations. She has done an outstanding job of capturing the movement and colours of the water in which the subject is swimming.

I think I have seen one of her pieces in Leake Street tunnel, otherwise I have only seen her Upfest and Tobacco Factory pieces, but they are enough to satisfy my appetite for her work. Great mural.

6230. Upfest 2024 (45)

Epod, Upfest 2024, Pantiles, Bristol, May 2024

There are some pieces, especially during street art festivals, which simply have the ‘wow’ factor, where you stand before them in admiration, and in my view, this stunner by Epod3000 is one of those. Firstly, this wall is one of the most striking in Bedminster, and although not the easiest to photograph, it certainly has impact when it reveals itself to those walking along West Street.

The piece, called ‘Side.E’, a reference to the vinyl LP and deck at the top features a beautiful portrait of a woman (with lots of drips). The clever bit is that Epod has apinted the portrait in a way that makes it look like a poster that is peeling off from the wall – you know… the way advertising posters do after a while. It is a device used quite a lot in street art, and done well, like this, is wonderful.

Because of the wall opposite the piece, it is quite difficult to take a decent photograph from directly in front of it, without it looking a little distorted, but I have done my best here. I was lucky enough to see another of his pieces yesterday in Cheltenham, which I will post in due course. All great stuff from Epod.

	China Dream on Thursday doors – 12 Febr…
	bushboy on Thursday doors – 19 Febr…
	skat on Mozart balls
	Suzette Benjamin on Thursday doors – 19 Febr…
	Dan Antion on Thursday doors – 19 Febr…

	China Dream on Thursday doors – 12 Febr…
	bushboy on Thursday doors – 19 Febr…
	skat on Mozart balls
	Suzette Benjamin on Thursday doors – 19 Febr…
	Dan Antion on Thursday doors – 19 Febr…

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