Tag: Portrait

5164. Elton Street (20)

Vozie, Elton Street, Bristol, April 2023
Vozie, Elton Street, Bristol, April 2023

Who knew? Vozie can do portrait pieces. I have not been following Vozie for all that long, maybe a year now, but this is the first piece that I have seen that isn’t her exquisite writing. Surprises like this are what makes photographing and documenting street art so pleasurable.

Vozie, Elton Street, Bristol, April 2023
Vozie, Elton Street, Bristol, April 2023

The portrait, with psychedelic colours and designs, is beautifully structured and finished, with the hair and eyes being particular highlights. It is incredible how different artists bring different things to portraits, for example, this piece could be compared to Pekoe’s work, any yet their styles are so utterly different. Great to see something totally different from Vozie.

5137. Greenbank (77)

Sprat, Greenbank, Bristol, March 2023
Sprat, Greenbank, Bristol, March 2023

What a lovely and rather original piece this is from Sprat, who really doesn’t paint on our streets nearly as often as I would like to see. I think I have photographed four of his works, of which this is one, but that is over a period of a year or two. His work always makes an impression because of its originality.

Sprat, Greenbank, Bristol, March 2023
Sprat, Greenbank, Bristol, March 2023

The first thought that came into my head when I saw this, was the film ‘mask’ starring Jim Carry, but the more I look at it, the more I realise how this piece is nothing like the Mask character. The overall image is striking, and the colour of the hat contrasts so well with the sickly green of the face. This is a nicely designed and stylised portrait piece, and I’d love to see more like this.

5100. M32 Cycle path (202)

Rozalita, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, March 2023
Rozalita, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, March 2023

Ooh! This is a superb throwback piece from Rozalita, who used to be Rosalita, and now prefers the moniker Rohzi. I shall continue to use the name Rozalita. I say this is a throwback piece, because her earlier works were almost entirely influenced by circus or carnival characters, but this is the first one I have seen for a while.

Rozalita, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, March 2023
Rozalita, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, March 2023

As always with stage makeup, one always wants to know what is going on behind the smiling facade, and Rozalita has captured this duality perfectly in this stunning portrait. I am looking at it and trying to examine the face behind the mask, is she happy, is she sad? The stylised hair adds to the deceit. What a wonderful portrait piece, and one of my favourites of the year so far.

5089. M32 Spot (159)

Saik0134, M32 Spot, Bristol, February 2023
Saik0134, M32 Spot, Bristol, February 2023

I took these pictures a short while ago, but held back on publishing a post because I couldn’t work out who the artist was. It took me a long time to work it out, but I got there in the end. I’m not sure I have seen his work before in Bristol, but it is clear that Saik0134 is a hugely talented artist, and is welcome back anytime.

Saik0134, M32 Spot, Bristol, February 2023
Saik0134, M32 Spot, Bristol, February 2023

Painted on one of my favourite walls in Bristol, this portrait/writing combo stands out from the crowd. The bright lettering and striking portrait are real attention-grabbers. Even though the piece is not painted on a buffed wall, it doesn’t seem to matter too much, with the piece occupying nearly all the space. The letters spelling SAIK are nicely done in yellow and orange with light blue drop shadow, but for me it is the portrait that is the trump card.

Saik0134, M32 Spot, Bristol, February 2023
Saik0134, M32 Spot, Bristol, February 2023

The eye is drawn immediately to the woman’s glasses, reflecting the light, a clever street art technique, and she is beautifully painted in shades of blue and grey. This is a fabulous portrait piece, and I would love to see more from the artist in Bristol, or anyone else for that matter. This artist is not to be confused with another who used to paint in Bristol called Saik One.

5083. Greenbank (74)

Merny, Greenbank, Bristol, March 2023
Merny, Greenbank, Bristol, March 2023

More Merny mirth. The utterly unique style of this storytelling artist is always enjoyable, and forces the viewer to stop and think for a moment or two. Here the subject is busy, fixated on his phone. My interpretation is that he is telling himself he will go to sleep in one minute, knowing that his addiction to social media will not allow that to happen.

Merny, Greenbank, Bristol, March 2023
Merny, Greenbank, Bristol, March 2023

The naive style combined with the numbered tags are so much a part of Merny’s work, that there really is no need for a signature. Some may dismiss his work, but I consider it to be thoughtful, challenging and deliberate, and am cheered up every time I find a new piece.

5077. M32 Spot (158)

Lazo, M32 Spot, Bristol, February 2023
Lazo, M32 Spot, Bristol, February 2023

This is only the second piece by Lazo that I have seen, and I was fortunate enough to meet him when he was painting this column. As with his first piece, there is something very captivating about this portrait, and the style is quite different to that which we might expect to see in Bristol.

Lazo, M32 Spot, Bristol, February 2023
Lazo, M32 Spot, Bristol, February 2023

Lazo’s long face is perfect for column artwork and looks amazing, especially if you crop out the yellow paint at the top of the piece. I particularly like the depth and tone he achieves with his ‘brushstrokes’. The eyes too have something rather special about them. I am looking forward to seeing more from Lazo this year.

Lazo, New Stadium Road, Bristol, November 2022
Lazo, New Stadium Road, Bristol, November 2022

5067. St Werburghs tunnel (358)

Zake and Chill, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2023
Zake and Chill, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2023

I love the irrepressible nature of Bristol street artists. There has been a bit of a war on this wall recently, with Bristol City Council buffing the wall with grey paint, only to be painted over moments later by artists and writers. For goodness’ sake, BCC, make this a legal wall and save your (our) money. Two of Bristol’s best character artists, Zake and Chill, have combined to decorate this wall, and have absolutely smashed it.

Zake, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2023
Zake, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2023

I go away for a couple of days, and what happens? This audacious piece appears, to engage and entertain passers-by. Zake has been on fire recently, and is arguably the busiest artist in town. His portraits are becoming more expressive and adventurous with each outing. Watching his work develop is one of the great pleasures of what I do.

Chill, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2023
Chill, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2023

Chill has also now become firmly established in the Bristol scene, which doesn’t equate to him being establishment (just in case you were wondering). In this piece, Chill is continuing his experimentation with colour, instead of presenting us with the black and white we are more accustomed to seeing. I think the colours are working, although it takes a little bit of getting used to. What a wonderwall from these PWA artists.

5057. M32 roundabout J3 (455)

Stivs, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2023
Stivs, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2023

Stivs has been absolutely smashing it with his character pieces lately. Better known for his calligraffiti writing, who knew that his artistic skills are so much broader than that. He really is an exceptionally talented and diligent artist.

Stivs, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2023
Stivs, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2023

This beautiful girl character piece forms the letter ‘S’ in the middle of DSC, his crew letters and he has named this piece Dodgy Sheila Crew – playing with the letters. Stivs is using these orange tones in his character pieces at the moment, and they are extremely effective, in a way that greens, blues and greys etc might not be.

Stivs, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2023
Stivs, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2023

I am including an almost complete piece that Stivs painted a day or two before this one, which had been painted overt by the time I went back to get a clean shot of the finished work. It is another stunning portrait piece. In recent weeks Stivs has taken his work onto another level.

5048. M32 Cycle path (199)

 

Pekoe, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2023
Pekoe, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2023

It is a curious thing when an artist paints over their own work, but that is what happened in this instance. Maybe Pekoe didn’t like her last portrait piece here, or maybe she didn’t want to paint over anyone else’s work out of politeness, who knows, but the replacement is an upgrade in my view, and anything from her is always a bonus in my book.

Pekoe, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2023
Pekoe, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2023

The portrait is painted in purple tones, with blue hair, and the girl carries a slightly anxious expression. Many of Pekoe’s portraits are tinged with sadness, but I don’t think that is the case here, for a start, there are no tears. Some subtle shading brings depth to the face, and the white circles emphasise the lips and eyes. This is another beautiful piece from Pekoe.

Pekoe, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2023
Pekoe, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2023

5000. Greenbank (69)

Rozalita, Greenbank, Bristol, February 2023
Rozalita, Greenbank, Bristol, February 2023

Ta da! This post marks something of a landmark for me and Natural Adventures… it is the 5,000th street/graffiti art post. Natural Adventures has come a long way from its origination as a place to document a journal I kept of an adventure in the South Atlantic in 1987. Haiku and street art just crept up on me, and have now become a central pillar in my life.

I cannot think of a better way to celebrate this milestone than with an outstanding and passionate piece by Rozalita AKA Rohzi.

Rozalita, Greenbank, Bristol,

I was fortunate enough to have a long chat with Rohzi as she was buffing the wall for this piece, and once the conversation got going, she really opened up and I was thoroughly enjoying myself until the dog decided he’d had enough and started to bark, which means he wants to go. The conversation ended a little too abruptly for my liking, but it is an occupational hazard when walking the dog and photographing street art.

Rozalita mentioned that the portrait was of people from an Amazonian tribe, and she was going to leave a hashtag on the piece to find out more, but that didn’t seem to happen. The portrait itself is exceptional and demonstrates just how far she has come over the last year or two. I do hope it isn’t too long before I get a chance to continue our chat.