Mini break

.

The girl returns home

weathered and very chatty

family restored

.

by Scooj

Father’s Day

.

My fathers are gone

today I celebrate them

fondest memories

.

by Scooj

Tent

.

Ten years old or more

practice pitch in the garden

the girl goes camping

.

by Scooj

Parsley in my ears

.

Waiting for the boy

to watch the match together

the joy of playback

.

shut out all noises or clues

I’ll put parsley in my ears

.

by Scooj

This is a rather cryptic Tanka which I am composing while waiting for my son to get home from his late shift so that we can watch the England v Scotland match together on playback. I have to guard against hearing the neighbours shouting or turning on the radio or even using my phone in case I see or hear anything that might give away the score.

Putting parsley in my ears is an oblique reference to an Asterix cartoon book ‘Asterix the Gladiator’ in which the Roman soldiers put parsley in their ears so that they wouldn’t hear Cacofonix the bard singing, such was the dreadful noise he made.

3742. Cattle Market Road (8)

The extraordinary pieces on Cattle Market Road from last summer were beginning to get a bit tagged up and have recently been fair game for new work. This is one of the new collaborations to appear there, by Acer One and Conrico.

Acer One, Cattle Market Road, Bristol, May 2021
Acer One, Cattle Market Road, Bristol, May 2021

It seems to me that Acer One is pretty much up for collaborating with anyone in Bristol who can chuck paint at a wall. Here he gives us a ‘LAZY DAZE’ block of writing in his geometric font on a beachy backdrop painted by Conrico. Acer One’s letters always play tricks with my eyes, sometimes when I look at the lettering it is completely flat pattern and I can’t make out the shapes, other times, if I stand further back, the 3D effect kicks in. Very clever stuff.

Conrico and Acer One, Cattle Market Road, Bristol, May 2021
Conrico and Acer One, Cattle Market Road, Bristol, May 2021

Conrico is a busy artist who paints loads of walls, but often in places unfamiliar to me, so he is somewhat underrepresented in Natural Adventures. In this collaboration Conrico has created an island paradise setting with some fun elements such as the exaggerated wave and little yacht, and the crab waving a placard which reads ‘Oli T, Conrico Steez, Acer One’. Which brings me to the point of the piece, which is a tribute to Oli T’s original Lazy Daze piece painted in Kingsdown in the early 1980s, one of the earliest spray can murals in the city (information taken from Acer One’s Instagram thread).

Chill

.

Dog on the sofa

the ban long since forgotten

head rests on my knee

.

by Scooj

The first thing I see (1)

.

A wall of ivy

smothering a damson tree

only one winner

.

by Scooj

Common Blue Damselfly

.

On arson-burned brush

a dainty damselfly rests

harsh environment

.

by Scooj

Ivy broomrape

.

Parasitic plant

sustained by its ivy host

beautiful flowers

.

by Scooj