This was a most wonderful surprise as I headed towards Leeds Station to catch a train back to Bristol. When I arrived, I had left the station from another exit and so hadn’t spotted this enormous and rather famous piece by Nomad Clan. It is quite difficult to give a sense of scale, but the mural spans several floors on the side of the building.
Nomad Clan, New Station Street, Leeds, May 2025
Photographing this piece is near impossible, and definitely one for those with drone cameras. Owls are a symbol of Leeds and appear on the city’s coat of arms, and can be found all over the centre. These greyscale owls are obviously in recognition of this and beautifully painted against a full moon and a lightbulb. One of the owls also has a crown – it’s a graffiti writing thing, which gives this high-end piece a bit of street credibility too. Like I said at the start, simply wonderful departing gift from the home city of my late father and his family.
Sophie Tuttle, Cheltenham Paint Festival 23. Cheltenham, July 2023
There were an awful lot of beautiful birds painted at the Cheltenham Paint Festival this year, whether by coincidence or design I simply don’t know, but it feels like the nature theme is running strongly through street art these days, perhaps as a subliminal or conscious response to the global biodiversity crisis we face.
Sophie Tuttle, Cheltenham Paint Festival 23. Cheltenham, July 2023
This enormous piece by Sophie Tuttle on the side of a building on Devonshire Street features two owls, one in good health, the other a skeleton, joined together by a red thread that each is holding in its beak. There is symbolism here I’m sure, and perhaps it is the delicate line we walk between life and death.
Sophie Tuttle, Cheltenham Paint Festival 23. Cheltenham, July 2023
Both of the owls are perfectly painted, and each has a halo behind with a floral design in subtle blues. Perfectly proportioned and anatomically correct these owns are as much a study of form as they are paintings of birds.
Sophie Tuttle, Cheltenham Paint Festival 23. Cheltenham, July 2023
I don’t believe I have come across Sophie Tuttle before, but that is hardly surprising since she is Boston- based. Her commitment to free and accessible art is a great thing indeed, and what a privilege to see her amazing artwork at the Cheltenham Paint Festival. Perhaps we could entice her to visit Bristol some time.
I think I am right in saying that Paul Monsters is the only artist at Upfest’s 75 walls in 75 days event to have painted more than one wall, although I still haven’t posted his first collaboration yet. This is his second collaboration, and this time he has combined delightfully with The Hass.
The Hass and Paul Monsters, Ashton Road, Bristol, August 2021, Upfest 21
The collaboration is painted on two sides of a building on Ashton Road, not far away from the Ashton Gate football stadium. The portrait, which looks a little bit like a self-portrait, is by The Hass, but the way it blends into the geometric patterns of Paul Monsters is what makes this a proper collaboration in my eyes.
The Hass and Paul Monsters, Ashton Road, Bristol, August 2021, Upfest 21
The Hass is a super-talented artist who writes under another name for his graffiti pieces. The portrait has such amazing depth, with perfect use of different tones and shading to bring out the features and highlight all the wrinkles and contours of the face. A masterful piece of wall art.
The Hass and Paul Monsters, Ashton Road, Bristol, August 2021, Upfest 21
It is quite unusual to see this colour combination used in the geometric work of Paul Monsters. More often he works with yellows, greens, browns, oranges and purples, but here he has gone for a rather more subtle colour palette which works really well on this particular space.
The Hass and Paul Monsters, Ashton Road, Bristol, August 2021, Upfest 21
I am not too sure about the significance of the owl, but The Hass has absolutely smashed it. The owl appears to be wearing a little red cap, shared by the self-portrait, and I wonder if The Hass is the owl. Who knows? I’ll have to ask him next time I see him.
All in all, another outstanding wall in this summer series. We citizens of Bristol are a lucky bunch really.
The Hass and Paul Monsters, Ashton Road, Bristol, August 2021, Upfest 21
I didn’t find as many Halloween pieces this year as I usually find, but that might be as a result of the terrible wet weather we have had over the last week or so. I did however manage to capture this piece under Brunel Way by Pl8o and although not overtly Halloween, I think this collaborative wall was to celebrate the festival.
Pl8o, Brunel Way, Bristol, October 2020
This piece is painted out entirely in greyscale which is rather nicely done. The owl in a darker grey stands out and adds interest to the piece overall. The bags in front of the piece actually belong to Varo who was painting the word ‘Conspiracy’ just to the right of this piece. Pl8o continues to go from strength to strength.
Daub is an artist I have come across a few times at the Cheltenham Paint Festival and at Upfest in Bristol. His ink pen pieces are most distinctive and painstakingly crafted. Last year I stopped for quite a lengthy chat, but this year was a little more difficult to interact due to social distancing.
Daub, Paint Festival 2020, Cheltenham, September 2020
This mesmerising piece is of an owl, I think, and between the large eyes is a small yellow beak, introducing the only colour to the work. What is not clear from these pictures is the amount of detailed shading that you can see when you get close up. A nice piece from a festival regular.
I have just checked and I never posted his piece from last year… I’ll have to put that right.
Another one from my archive, but the piece, by Kin Dose is somewhat older than my photograph of it. Positioned in a bricked up gateway this stencil is perfectly framed, and is sited in an area without much street art itself, but the surrounding areas are awash with it.
Kin Dose, Bedminster, Bristol, April 2019
I have seen this owl stencil a few times in Bristol, but each one has a different background of colours and swirls, this one with a big bright hunter’s moon. This is what Kin Dose brings to his stencil work, each piece is distinct and different even though at it’s heart is the same core piece. A nice find.
I love it when you start to see the work of an artist who has previously been off the radar, and recently I have become aware of a couple of stencils by Yoshi of which this owl at St Werburghs is one. Actually it is a cat owl, and if you look carefully at the face you’ll see why.
Yoshi, St Werburghs, Bristol, August 2019
It would seem that Yoshi is reasonably new to the street art scene and is very much in a discovery phase of his work with sencils, trying out different materials and ideas. Yoshi has a good Instagram feed that offers a little bit of narrative and insight into his work, which is great, I also have noticed that there a couple more stencils I need to go out and find. Looking forward to seeing more work from Yoshi.
I have just taken a good long hard look at this piece by Harpoart prior to writing about it and the thing that screamed out at me was how much this looks like a stained-glass window study. It turns out on doing a little research on the Interweb that he is not only a street artist, but is also a stained glass maker.
HarpoArt, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
Harpoart has created this stunning owl, at least I think it is an owl, on an approach, set on a wonderfully textured blue background. There is a lovely sense of movement about the piece.
HarpoArt, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
I’m not sure that I have seen any of this Brighton artist’s work before, I don’t think so, but perhaps I should make a mental note to make a trip to Brighton some day.
Natural adventures 