Tag: No Frills

1630. Dean Lane skate park (148)

This is another fine crisp clean piece from Slim Pickings, whose work I am really enjoying at the moment. I took these pictures just as he was finishing off the piece and was able to meet him for the first time. I was full of enthusiasm, having just finished my spray session at the Upfest shop on North Street. In the course of our conversation he told me he had been spraying for some 30years, which I found humbling and mildly embarrassing as he had only recently crossed my radar.

Slim Pickings, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2018
Slim Pickings, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2018

I love his clean lines and fills – each one of his pieces striving to be better than the last. Slim Pickings is clearly a man who loves his art and constant search to keep up the high standard. He gave me a few tips, for which I am grateful. Nice piece.

1619. Dean Lane skate park (147)

It is only about three months ago that I first found out about Slim Pickings. Since that time, I have met him, posted about him and found quite a few of his pieces in my archive. This one is rather interesting because it is a mirror image of his usual tag.

Slim Pickings, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2018
Slim Pickings, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2018

I don’t know if this would have been easy for him to do, or a real challenge. I would find it very difficult, because I struggle with mirror image layout. I know this because I live in a semi-detached building which has a mirrored layout on each side. When I have been next door, it does my head in. I can’t transpose the reflection in my head. Slim Pickings has left us with a perfect reflection beautifully sprayed in chrome. More to come from this No Frills artist.

1594. Dean Lane skate park (143)

On my way home from my spray art lesson in the Upfest shop garden with Loch Ness, I made a quick diversion into Dean Lane because not to do so would be negligent. There were one or two new pieces, but best of all was bumping into Slim Pickings as he was finishing off a piece. The subject of this post is actually an old one of his from December last year which I thought I’d share, now that I am building an understanding of his work.

Slim Pickings, Dean Lane, Bristol, December 2017
Slim Pickings, Dean Lane, Bristol, December 2017

When Slim Pickings writes, and he has been spraying for 30 years, he sticks to the same motif with clean simple lines. The letters are TES (thank heavens I got there in the end – Slim Pickings put me through the ordeal of guessing the letters). He gave me plenty of tips about 3D work and told me that often, when he decorates the letters with patterns and the like it is often because he has some spray cans with a little bit of paint in them to finish off.

Because Slim Pickings works with the same letters, he knows exactly how much paint of each colour he will need. Kind of handy if you are travelling light. Besides being a really nice guy, I think his work makes complete sense to me and is always tidy and clean. Hats off to the man who until a couple of months ago was off my radar…d’oh.

1585. Dean Lane skate park (141)

Once you recognise an artist’s work and know who they are, it feels like you suddenly see their stuff everywhere. Certainly that is the case with Slip Pickings. I think I have seen his work for several years, but never posted any of it until recently. This particular piece I think is a real gem.

Slim Pickings, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2018
Slim Pickings, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2018

The forgiving shape of his letters combined with the blue cloud background and green bubble design and graded filler makes for a piece that is very easy on the eye. Even if you are not a fan of writing, it is easy to appreciate how nicely done this piece is. More to come, new and old from this No Frills artist.

1582. Dean Lane skate park (141)

I have really only been featuring work from Biers for about a year or so, since I first started to recognise his work. I have since met him several times and have enjoyed our conversations. Having contact with street artists is important in getting a better insight into their work and what makes them tick.

Biers, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2018
Biers, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2018

I know from Biers’ Instagram account that his food is important to him, as is his black book in which many of his pieces begin. Seeing his sketches gives me a real feel for his style, and for me, it is the ‘B’ that always stands out in all his work and so it is in this one.

 

1563. Dean Lane skate park (138)

It has only been a few weeks since I first was able to put a name to this tag, and since then I have seen it several times. The graffiti artist is Slim Pickings, who is part of the No Frills collective.

Slim Pickings, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2018
Slim Pickings, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2018

I rather like this curved wall at Dean Lane, and this clean piece stands out really well over the messy burners underneath. I still don’t know enough about Slim Pickings to read what his tag says, but it looks like TEUP or TOP or something like that. More from SP to come.

1438. Old Bread Street (13)

The boards at Old Bread Street have all but gone now and given way to a large construction site, which I suppose was inevitable. It does seem that there are fewer spots left in Bristol than there were a year ago which means that artists tend to concentrate on the places that remain, and therefore turnover increases.

Biers, Old Bread Street, Bristol, September 2016
Biers, Old Bread Street, Bristol, September 2016

Anyhow, this is a little glimpse back a year or two to a piece by Biers, whose beautiful and unique letter styling stands out. This is a nice clean piece that oozes character and playfulness, nothing self-conscious and earnest about this one. Glad I dug it out. Shame about the water droplet on the picture.

1334. Dean Lane skate park (112)

I said in a recent post that Biers has been busy recently, and this is a second piece of his from Dean Lane in a very short space of time, and he has done at least one more somewhere else since

Biers, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2018
Biers, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2018

I am not sure who the character in this piece is, ought I to know? Biers has gone for a large one here, taking up much of the long wall at Dean Lane, of course it is gone now, but I was pleased to be able to catch it. In my view this is one of the best pieces I have seen from Biers, the colours and contrasts are good and he has lovely clean lines around the piece.

Biers, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2018
Biers, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2018

I think one of the things I really like about his work is the style of his lettering, there is something unique about it, the B and the S being particularly special. I can’t really pretend to know too much about such things, but I know that I like this work. Now who is that gorilla-like character.

Doing a little bit of a Google search has led me to the character probably being from the Nintendo Wii game ‘Punch-out’. Not one I ever played. Glad I sorted that out because it was beginning to bug me. No Frills.

1263. Dean Lane skate park (103)

Biers is a really friendly artist who I have met on several occasions now. This was a piece from back in July 2017 which has been in my archive because Upfest posts tend to dominate my July/August time, and other street art snapped up around Upfest tend to get a little overlooked. But enough is enough, I am liberating a few images taken during last July since they are too good to ignore.

Biers, Dean Lane skatepark, Bristol, July 2017
Biers, Dean Lane skatepark, Bristol, July 2017

Biers, I think, is connected with the No Frills crew, although my understanding of crews is patchy at best. He often writes No Frills on his pieces or NFS. I managed to find him working on this piece, and was lucky enough to return a few days later and see it in its finished state. Sometimes work on these walls can last only a day or two, especially in the summer.

Biers, Dean Lane skatepark, Bristol, July 2017
Biers, Dean Lane skatepark, Bristol, July 2017

This is a nice clean piece that spells out Biers which once you get your graff goggles on you can easily read. I still find it interesting the way the layers go on in these pieces, with the fill going up first and the borders and finer lines last. Great skill required.

1207. Dean Lane skate park (94)

A very quick seasonal piece from Biers. I was lucky enough to come across the artist while he was spraying this piece, but all was not well. The walls were damp and the blue paint hadn’t really properly obscured the graffiti behind it, and it wasn’t drying, which made spraying rather difficult.

Biers, Dean Lane, Bristol, December 2017
Biers, Dean Lane, Bristol, December 2017

There are a few things going on here – the christmas pudding appears to spell out NFS, which might be short for ‘no frills’ a phrase used by Biers in his works. There is deliberate ambiguity here where the pudding might also spell out ‘Noel’.

Biers, Dean Lane, Bristol, December 2017
Biers, Dean Lane, Bristol, December 2017

Even though Biers was quite unhappy with the whole thing, I rather like it, and it is always nice to see these festive pieces. He told me that it is a shortened version of a larger piece that he has an ambition to do. I won’t spoil the surprise, just on case he ever gets time to do the full thing.