Portrait – Natural adventures

5271. St Agnes

I am inherently lazy, or at least that is a self-perception reinforced by years of my mother and teachers telling me so when I was in my teens. A self-fulfilling prophecy? Maybe. I took this picture about a week ago, but am not too happy with it because of the dappled shadow cast across it. I am posting it now, however, because it is a great piece from David Puck, and I am not sure that I can be bothered to return to get a clean shot of it. There is also the factor that I rarely walk around this spot, and have other places that I prioritise.

I haven’t posted many pieces by David Puck, but he (they) is a Bristol artist (I think) who has painted wheatpastes in the city and some murals too. While they don’t paint a lot on the streets, their portraits are always rather attractive and engaging, and this one is a beauty. I have a feeling it might have been here for quite a while as it references Astrozeneca, which is sooo last year. A fine piece indeed.

5266. Weston-super-Mare

Hazard, Weston Wallz, Weston-super-Mare, May 2023

A little tricky to photograph, but wonderful to behold is this beauty by Hazard which was painted in 2022 for Weston Wallz. The atmospheric portrait piece was painted last year, but I think it was probably after my visit, so this was the first time I got to see it.

Hazard has adopted her duplicate portrait theme, with a second ‘ghost’ face hidden in the hair, and she has cleverly incorporated the sea and waves into the piece, in keeping with the maritime location. The rich tones used in the piece are very easy on the eye, and there is a serenity and calmness to it. Weston Walz brings so much to the town… imagine how bland and indeed rather depressing this wall would have looked before Hazard painted it. It is no wonder that the citizens of Weston-super-Mare are so proud of their murals.

Lobe

A gallery of stylised portrait pieces by Lobe, an artist who used to live in Bristol where she painted regularly between 2019 and 2020.

Instagram: @lobe_ita

Lobe, Armada Place, Bristol, February 2020

Lobe, St Werburghs, Bristol, December 2019

Lobe, M32 cycle path, Bristol, November 2019

Lobe, M32 roundabout, Bristol, October 2019

Lobe, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, October 2019

Lobe, M32 roundabout, Bristol, September 2019

Lobe, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2019

5256. Upfest 2022 (66)

Such has been the productivity on the streets over the last year combined with my attempts to post as much as I can, I have completely neglected my Upfest 22 posts, which really isn’t very impressive. I will try to squeeze in as many as I can whenever I can, because there was so much quality art to see from what was a very successful couple of days at the end of May 2022.

I had to have several goes at photographing this magnificent piece by Anthroe, but it is the damn cars that make it so challenging. The piece itself is a fabulously colourful portrait of a woman holding a bouquet of flowers, with what looks like a petrol pump (surely not) in her left hand. The whole piece is set on an abstract patterned background. This is one of my favourite pieces of the festival by an artist I don’t know at all, but I believe that he lives and paints in Los Angeles, so it is great to see this piece here in Bristol.

5255. M32 Spot (164)

How truly wonderful to see a Skor85 piece for two big reasons; the first is that I haven’t seen any of her work in an absolute age, and secondly, she is one of the nicest, kindest and most bubbly artists in Bristol. Even better is that this is one of two pieces she painted during this paint jam organised in the M32 Spot by Conrico.

The column piece looks like a mash-up of a portrait with a design idea, and kind of comes in a top and bottom half. The portrait below seems to portray happiness, but is somewhat at odds with the deer design above, which is more stylised and looks ready to go onto the front of a Christmas card. I am puzzled by the rune on the deer’s forehead… is it an expression or is it a tag? I think the former. The whole thing is a welcome return from Skor85.

5252. Lighthouse Community Garden, London (10)

Vane MG, Lighthouse Community Garden, London, April 2023

Here we have another wonderful portrait piece from the Lighthouse Community Garden in London, this time from an artist called Vane MG. She is an artist and designer originally from Colombia, but is now living and working in London. The following is from her excellent website:

She worked in the Design world from 2009 & in 2015 she started working on projects which focussed on highlighting the importance of Latin American women. Her objective is to attempt to reclaim elements of the cultural past, integrating it with the present and creating new images that help to define a lost identity.

The portrait of a young girl is exquisitely painted in lilac and turquoise tones, creating depth with clever light and shadowing. A child’s windmill is in front of the girl, whose expression is slightly haunting, with the glimmer of a smile hiding a sadness – at least that is how I see it. A truly lovely piece for another artist who needs to be snapped up for the next Upfest festival in Bristol.

5251. Lighthouse Community Garden, London (9)

Elno, Lighthouse Community Garden, London, April 2023

One of the things about finding street art in a place that isn’t your home, is that you will come across artists that you are unfamiliar with, and that is certainly the case here with this fabulous portrait piece by Elno at the Lighthouse Community Garden in Stratford.

Elena Gonzalez Nieto also known as ELNO, is a Spanish visual artist based in London since 2014 (taken from her fabulous website) who it would seem specialises in stunning portrait pieces elaborated with bright colourful backgrounds. Although painted last year, the piece looks fresh and vibrant – definitely a candidate for Upfest I would have thought.

5233. Lighthouse Community Garden, London (8)

Apparan, Lighthouse Community Garden, London, April 2023

I have only once before seen work by Apparan and that was on a collaborative gate piece at Upfest last year with Jelly. Finding this piece on a work trip to London was therefore a real treat. The portrait is really beautifully done, although the hair looks a little more abstract than the rest of the portrait.

There is a lot of depth in the piece, and the shadows around the lady’s neck are very nicely painted. I also really like the leaf print dress, and the folds in the material. There is something very summery about the piece, augmented by the verdant mini-meadow in front of it. Wonderful work from Apparan.

Jelly and apparan, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022

5231. Cumberland Basin

Laic217, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, May 2023

Laic217 is on fire at the moment, and painting fairly regularly, which is great to see. This portrait piece takes us back to a theme that Laic217 particularly enjoys, which is the distortion and disintegration of the face.

Set on a red background, the skin is melting away to reveal the skull underneath. Of course, a baseball cap with an ‘L’ on it is a required accessory and shows off the artist’s skill with recreating the illusion of fabric and materials. A great example of Laic217’s work, with more to come on Natural Adventures soon.

5223. Brunel Way (206)

Good morning all. A fine start to a brand new week, the sun is shining and in the blink of an eye it will be Friday and the beginning of another weekend. This amazing cartoon portrait piece by Zake was added on to an existing collaborative wall, and looks like it could almost be a part of the paint jam, but it was added a day or two later.

Perhaps a little bit creepy, Zake’s face is less than happy, with large tears rolling down the cheeks and a rather snotty nose. The open mouth looks like an archetypal cartoon whale mouth, if you know what I mean. The face is sitting over a daisy and a bed of clouds. There may be some symbolism here, but I can’t quite fathom it out. I also don’t think the balance of the piece is quite right, and although I can’t put my finger on it, it leaves me a little uncomfortable.

	Matt on 5273. M32 roundabout J3 (…
	Teresa on Thursday doors – 8 June…
	Sheree on Thursday doors – 8 June…
	paulh121 on 5272. Dean Lane skate park…
	Manja Maksimovič on Thursday doors – 8 June…

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