Incorporation
of natural forms, calms the
fraught urban landscape.
by Scooj
Incorporation
of natural forms, calms the
fraught urban landscape.
by Scooj
This is another beautiful bird creation by Aspire in Picton Lane, a little alleyway tucked away in Montpelier. I think these are house sparrows, which were so common when I was a youngster, but are something of a rarity these days.

I am full of admiration for the way that Aspire can just turn up to a wall and within a few hours transform it into something of beauty. His talent is as rare as the birds he paints.

I am filled with horror to learn that he has recently moved to London. Our loss is most certainly London’s gain. I wish him all the very best…the streets are lined with gold don’t you know.

I am sure that he will come back occasionally to his native Bristol, lest we forget (an unlikely scenario). Bon voyage.
Where tompot blennies
thrive and encrusted spider
crabs scuttle away.
by Scooj
Inspired by the utterly brilliant blog by Heather Buttivant called Cornish Rockpools: https://cornishrockpools.com/blog/ – go take a look.
Time to post a few more pieces from Upfest 2016. This wonderful fish, in the playground of Ashton Gate School, is by Angerami, an artist from Sao Paolo but who now travels the world for his art. He has a Wikipedia page, but sadly it is in Portuguese (I think), and I don’t know what it says.

The biography for Angerami in the Upfest Programme is as follows:
‘Angerami uses travel as an immersive process in the nature, revealed through art in many different medias. Travelling is a passion, which allows connection with his perception of time, space, spiritual awareness and human presence on earth.’
Go figure that out…translated I guess from another source. He paints fish on walls, and that is good enough for me.
As a naturalist by training, I find it difficult not to be enthralled by these magnificent frogs painted by JXC at Upfest this year. I was lucky enough to see this piece half way through its creation and again on completion.



I don’t know quite why, but I have held on to these pictures for some time now. I think it is because I was worried that I might have already posted them. I have to confess that my blog is becoming a bit of a logistical challenge…dozens of folders and thousands of images…sometimes I lose track.

Aspire sprayed this a little while ago, and within a very short space of time, a rather ‘jobsworth’ enforcement notice went up over the top of it. Some people are really stupid, or don’t really care, but when you look at the whole scene I know which bit I consider ugly and which out of place.


In late October
Westonbirt Arboretum
leafy canopies
display their red, gold and green
magnificence, for our joy.
by Scooj. Photograph courtesy of Scoojette.
Without question, one of the highlights of this year’s Upfest was this magnificent mural by the fabulous Louis Masai. His works are nearly always highlight threats to the environment or endangered species and on that ticket alone he ranks highly in my own personal favourite artists.

His recent murals have featured animals painted with a patchwork quilt kind of effect, and in this case the rhinoceros is being stitched together by a honey bee and a bumble bee.
It is difficult not to be impressed with this work, and not surprisingly Louis Masai’s status in the street art world has grown in the last year or two.

Definitely, definitely in my top five pieces from this year’s festival. It is a pity that it is slightly off the beaten track as many visitors to Upfest will have missed it. The piece is on the Redpoint Bristol Climbing Centre on Winterstoke Road.

It would be great if he could return next year, although I’m not sure he could better this one.
This amazing Tiger is no longer there; the wall has since been painted by Jody for Upfest 2016 (more on this to come). The tiger was painted for the Upfest 2015 festival and I never really got round to posting about it.

It is funny how things come about. I didn’t really know the artist, Osch (Otto Schade), until fairly recently and now I seem to be coming across his work all over the place in London. In fact I think I mentioned in a recent post that he hadn’t done much in Bristol. I was wrong, he did this.

The tiger is captivating and uses Osch’s unraveling bandage style of artwork. This work was something of a landmark on North Street and was part of a campaign to raise awareness for the Save Wild Tigers charity.
On the downside, this is one of the most difficult Upfest walls to photograph. It is very high and in a narrow lane and the best views are from a privately accessed roof. I’m afraid I didn’t have access, so my pictures are a little distorted.