Mural – Page 7 – Natural adventures

5573. Sidwell Street Exeter

Sophie Mess, Sidwell Street, Exeter, October 2023

One of my most popular street art posts on Natural Adventures was a piece by Vhils on Exeter High Street (which I would link to if links were working on WordPress this morning), a very short distance away from this stunner by Sophie Mess. I love it when ugly corporate or retail buildings commission artwork to brighten things up, and what an impact this floral treat has had on an otherwise dull facade and home for pigeons.

Sophie Mess is an artist based in Devon, who tends to go big with her incredible floral creations, and indeed painted a vast iris piece on the Tobacco Factory wall for Upfest 2022 (yet to be posted here). This piece is simply amazing, so full of rich colours and textures and so utterly uplifting. Every shopping centre in the UK should have one of these. Exeter is blessed to have a piece like this in the heart of their shopping area, and yet the only people looking at it were people wondering what it was that I was photographing. You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. LOOK UP!

5560. Queen’s Road (6)

Martin D'Acy, Queen's Road, Bristol, August 2023 — Martin D’Acy, Queen’s Road, Bristol, August 2023

Although I don’t recall seeing any of his work in Bristol, I am aware of Martin D’Acy and his outstanding murals, having seen some of them in Weston-super-Mare, which to my shame, I haven’t yet published on Natural Adventures. This piece was painted as part of the Bristol 650 year celebration and paint jam, curated and coordinated by Upfest and Bristol BID.

The stunning and tranquil scene, which has been painted on some extraordinarily tricky door panels, depicts manicured parkland and a beautiful stillwater. There is a sense of a designed country estate with attractive follies, something deeply entrenched in British culture. I am not too sure what happened on the bit of wall between the windows and the doors, but it looks like the piece is perhaps unfinished. Nonetheless, this is a truly excellent mural that many may ignore, perhaps assuming it is one of those stick-on plastic pictures that blight shop windows on our streets. My advice to those who don’t open their eyes… put your phone down and look around you.

5474. Cheltenham 2023 (6)

Creative Ginger, Cheltenham Paint Festival, Cheltenham, July 2023

I have only once before posted anything by Creative Ginger, and that was at last year’s Cheltenham Paint Festival, also in the Honeybourne Line tunnels, and featured a young woman cuddling a fawn. This year it was the turn of a young woman cuddling a fox, and what a fantastic piece it is too.

This kind of work contains a lot of emotion and warmth and the style stops just short of photorealistic, while being accurate, calming and soft. Foxes play a very large part in street art (note to self: do a special gallery of foxes) and Creative Ginger has done a great job with this one, and plays with the girls hair colour and texture alongside the foxes. A perfect mural, and one which I am sure appealed to the many families visiting for the festival. It would be great to see Creative Ginger at Upfest.

Creative Ginger, Cheltenham Paint Festival, Cheltenham, July 2022

5377. Gloucester Road

Alex Lucas, Gloucester Road, Bristol, July 2023

I have attempted to photograph this sumptuous piece by Alex Lucas several times, but always there were huge shadows cast across it. At last, a fortnight ago I managed to capture it in all its glory, and with a magnificent blue sky behind. Alex Lucas truly provides a special USP for Bristol with her nature-inspired designs and illustrations that she transposes onto walls so seamlessly, and which are present all around the city.

Painted above a flower shop, this stunning mural featuring what look like chrysanthemums, fuchsias and an iris is full of rich detail. A finch of some kind is hiding within the glorious floral display adding further interest. So full is the piece that you barely notice the two windows taking up a significant amount of space on the ‘canvass’. A rare beauty in this part of Gloucester Road.

5356. Cumberland Basin

Scooj, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, June 2023

Although this is his debut piece, Scooj needs no introduction on Natural Adventures. He finally got the courage to paint his first wall during a Bristol Mural Collective paint jam a few weeks ago on a warm and very windy afternoon.

To be brutally honest his work probably doesn’t match up to his ambition, but the abstract piece is certainly a little different from most of the work seen in the city. There might be a very good reason for that. Some bright colours distract a little from the overall untidy finishing, but for a first effort the piece is passable.

Scooj is not an artist, and so it will be vital to practice his spray skills and hand control, and come up with designs he can execute. This piece is a little muddled, and the ‘holes’ cut through the yellow might be perceived as moons. My advice to Scooj would be don’t give up just yet, keep practising and hit a few more walls. Hats off to the Bristol Mural Collective for creating a gateway for new artists to have a go at painting in a fun and safe environment.

5303. Weston-super-Mare

Bex Glover, Weston Wallz, Weston-super-Mare, May 2023

The Weston Wallz initiative has without question introduced a breath of fresh air in this breezy seafront town. Many of the buildings in the town, instead of being drab and rather weathered can boast some of the finest murals in the country, but it is not only the large walls, but some of the smaller ones too that have a direct uplifting impact on the locals, and Old Post Office Lane hosts a handful of wonderful pieces.

Bex Glover is no stranger to Bristolians, and to see one of her beautifully designed murals in Weston-super-Mare as part of Weston Wallz 2022 was a real treat. Her nature pieces create a sense of calm and beauty, and reminds of a natural world that we should cherish. The fox is a beauty, and I am rather fond of the two little fish that make an appearance too. A wonderful piece in a ‘ghost’ window.

5265. Weston-super-Mare

Aspire, Weston wallz, Weston-super-Mare, May 2023

In the last, very sunny weekend of May, Paul H and I took a trip to Weston-super-Mare to have a look at some of the murals from Weston Wallz (a festival organised by Upfest) painted this year and in previous years. It is apparent everywhere in this Victorian seaside town that there is an immense sense of civic pride in the murals, and there is no doubt that they are seen by the local authority and others as part of the rejuvenation of the town and a visitor attraction. The power of street art.

The first piece we saw as we walked from the station towards the sea front was this magnificent, large mural by Aspire, on Station Road. Aspire is no stranger to Natural Adventures, and his bird pieces are always a fine addition to any street art festival. This beautiful great tit piece, painted in 2022 follows a theme that Aspire has been working on for a couple of years, which is to position nature and human impact side by side creating a slightly uncomfortable juxtaposition. Beautiful artwork with the trademark ‘pixelated’ patches, makes this a wonderful introduction to Weston Wallz for anyone arriving on the train.

4965. Cheltenham Road

Tanith Gould, Cheltenham Road, Bristol, December 2022

I have been meaning to post this outstanding and captivating shopfront commission by Tanith Gould in Cheltenham Road since I first saw it a few months back. Finally, over the Christmas break, I managed to get out on foot and grab some nice pictures from the opposite side of the street.

It is great to see what Tanith Gould can do at scale, and she has absolutely nailed it with this octopus piece over two levels of the building. The words “for where your treasure is, there your heart shall be also” sounds like a quote from Pirates of the Carribbean (especially with the octopus prompt), but is actually a biblical quote (Matthew 6:21)

The piece is beautifully finished, and has enough detail and mischief to keep you looking at it, and it seems to work perfectly on this old city shopfront. I would love to see more commissions from Tanith Gould, who thus far, has been painting on the streets with the Bristol Mural Collective at their occasional paint jams.

4954. Hurlingham Road

Spike Clark, Hurlingham Road, Bristol, June 2022

I know exactly why I never posted this outstanding mural by Spike Clark in Hurlingham Road, it is because I was waiting for a clean photograph without cars parked in front of it. Well, I have given up. I think the cars are super-glued to the road, so I will have to post the pictures I have.

I had thought that Spike Clark was from out of town, and had written a paragraph about not needing to hire artists from elsewhere because there was such a pool of talent in the city, but it turns out that Spike Clarke works out of Bristol, so I have rewritten that paragraph. Spike Clark has produced this mesmerising ‘the quick brown fox’, which has become a significant landmark in this part of Bristol.

The honeycomb decoration is absolutely stunning and provides the perfect backdrop to the leaping foxes, each cell beautifully filled and colour coordinated. Liberal use of shadow black, or some other similar paint, provides the depth for each cell, creating a fabulous 3D effect.

The whole piece feels a bit like a time-lapse capture of the fox as it leaps along the wall. Foxes are always associated with Bristol, long before urban foxes were a national ‘thing’, Bristol had a strong and healthy population of foxes, and at one point played host to the most dense population of foxes ever recorded in the UK (on my allotment, in fact).

Maybe one day I will manage to capture this beauty in one face on photograph, but I am not holding my breath.

4927. Church Road

Farrah, Church Road, Bristol, December 2022

Accidental finds are often the most rewarding, and to come across a mural of this size that I had no idea existed was a particular joy. Farrah has painted commissions all over Bristol, and her unique brand of abstract brush stroke pieces are becoming another established feature of the Bristol USP.

This end of terrace wall was sponsored by Park Insurance, for which we are all grateful I’m sure. Farrah, in her Instagram feed, talks about the importance of trees that give us “shelter, stability, food, water and oxygen”. Trees give us a whole lot more, including habitats for wildlife, food, carbon storage and an enormous sense of wellbeing. Although this tree mural can’t provide all of those things, it can certainly help to remind us how important trees are.

Farrah has expertly crafted the tree and some of the creatures in it, such as the squirrel, using her attractive brush stroke style that seems so effortless when you watch videos of her at work. It is a technique that she has perfected and seems to be taking to a higher level all the time. This is a piece definitely worth seeking out if you happen to be in the St George area of Bristol.

	M. on 7584. Stapleton Road
	cjsmissionaryministe… on 7568. M32 roundabout J3 (…
	Cath Moore on Thursday Doors – 9 April…
	hitandrun1964 on Urbane fox
	cjsmissionaryministe… on Urbane fox

	M. on 7584. Stapleton Road
	cjsmissionaryministe… on 7568. M32 roundabout J3 (…
	Cath Moore on Thursday Doors – 9 April…
	hitandrun1964 on Urbane fox
	cjsmissionaryministe… on Urbane fox

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