Tag: Portrait

4339. Greenbank (34)

I cannot fully express how much I am enjoying Rozalita’s renaissance, and find myself simply marvelling at her work. This piece fits the formula of a few of her recent pieces with a two tone portrait framed within a floral display. One of her favoured spots is this long wall on the Bristol to Bath cycle path, and several of her pieces can be seen here in one visit.

Rozalita, Greenbank, Bristol, March 2022
Rozalita, Greenbank, Bristol, March 2022

The colour tones of this piece are perfectly complementary, and help to bring out the features in the greyscale face. I’m not too sure what the blue cap is all about, but it separates the face from the background very nicely. The flowers are very nicely painted, I particularly like the one on the left, which looks a little bit like a protea. The improvements in Rozalita’s work is tangible from piece to piece, and I have a tinge of excitement each time I come across a new one.

4315. Stokes Croft

Although I struggle to keep on top of the sheer volume of amazing street art and graffiti that appears in Bristol every day, I always make space on Natural Adventures for Pekoe. She is one of a handful of artists whose work I will try my hardest to post whenever I photograph it. Another example would be Laic217. There is something about Pekoe’s portraits that I find compelling and unique and feel the need to share.

Pekoe, Stokes Croft, Bristol, March 2022
Pekoe, Stokes Croft, Bristol, March 2022

This piece has been here fort a little while, but I only recently got round to photographing it. Before this piece there was another of her pieces, but this one is a real beauty. Fabulous colours and a half body portrait, rather than just a head. The piece overlooks the summer seating area of a café and is immediately below the recently refreshed Stinkfish piece in Stokes Croft. Very nice work indeed.

Pekoe, Stokes Croft, Bristol, January 2018
Pekoe, Stokes Croft, Bristol, January 2018

4298. Brigstocke Road (2)

There seem to be an extraordinarily large number of roadworks happening around the city at the moment (I put it down to council year-end spending), and my journeys to street art spots are being somewhat disrupted. Mostly this is an irritation, but in this instance I was diverted down a road I rarely drive along, and my prize was finding this magnificent Kosc piece that I have known about for a while, but just wasn’t too sure where it was.

Kosc, Brigstocke Road, Bristol, March 2022
Kosc, Brigstocke Road, Bristol, March 2022

Kosc has been knocking it out of the park lately with his distinctive black and white portraits set on a vibrant scarlet-orange background. This is a fabulous portrait of Lady G, Angela Frances, about whom I know precious little and am unable to find anything on the Interweb. The BS2 refers to the Bristol post code that covers much of the St Paul’s area, including Brigstocke Road.

Kosc, Brigstocke Road, Bristol, March 2022
Kosc, Brigstocke Road, Bristol, March 2022

Finding pieces like this, that are off the beaten track, is one of the most rewarding things about photographing and cataloguing street art, and this left a very large smile on my face.

4296. M32 roundabout J3 (389)

At the second attempt, I managed to get a couple of shots of this wonderful piece from Merny. My first effort was scuppered by shadows cast on the piece from the bushes. The first rule of street art photography is to try to pick an overcast day, unless the walls you are photographing are not compromised by shadows or in shadow.

Merny, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2022
Merny, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2022

Merny is continuing his themed work featuring a person in an everyday situation with a caption and some point labels with numbers or letters in them. In this piece a lady with an iPad is looking at her screen and saying ‘oh dear’. Her utterance could be in response to any number of things, and the clever thing about this piece is that it requires the viewer to fill I the gaps and write their own story. The story for me is the Ukraine war. That could be me hovering over my iPad searching out the latest news. Another excellent piece from Merny.

4286. Brunel Way (145)

The Bristol Womxn Mural Collective paint jams have become events worth looking forward to in Bristol and always turn up some real gems that offer something slightly different to the usual fare we see on a daily basis.

Raquel Blazquez, Brunel Way, Bristol, February 2022
Raquel Blazquez, Brunel Way, Bristol, February 2022

This is a gorgeous portrait piece by Raquel Blazquez and is a perfect follow up to the piece she painted in Dean Lane skate park in November 2021. There is a lot of feeling and emotion in this portrait, and how good is it to see this kind of free art in a D.I.Y. skate park, in the middle of a concrete jungle? Seeing fine art pieces in these settings is truly wonderful, and long may these paint jams last. Exquisite work.

Raquel Blazquez, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2021
Raquel Blazquez, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2021

4274. St Werburghs tunnel (281)

It is very easy to get complacent when artists regularly produce great work, which is something I try to guard against. We can take it for granted sometimes without recognising that each piece is a discrete and unique work, we just expect it. I felt this when starting this post, that this was another nice piece from Pekoe, but it is so much more than that, and requires a great deal of thought and effort on her part.

Pekoe, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2022
Pekoe, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2022

The piece was painted as the central part of an RBF collaboration with Bnie to her left and Evey to her right. Pekoe has returned to a theme she has used many times before of the portrait having a third (all seeing) eye. I just had a flashback to my biology lessons as a youngster and recalled the pineal body… also known as the third eye. Read up on it if you care to, it is interesting stuff. Great hair and a great piece that has been enhanced with colour correction as the original photograph is very yellow/orange.

4270. Greenbank (27)

In this piece we have something a little different from Kool Hand, different and really interesting. Painted alongside the unforgettable sushi box by Conrico, this is a letter/portrait combo.

Kool Hand, Greenbank, Bristol, February 2022
Kool Hand, Greenbank, Bristol, February 2022

The letters are ‘KH’ for Kool Hand and are being sprayed by the character. The character is unlike anything I have seen from Kool Hand before and may mark a shift in direction for his work. I am excited to see where this development takes us. A work nicely done.

4266. Dean Lane skate park (466)

We are blessed in Bristol to receive a constant stream of fabulous street artists and graffiti writers that come and visit the city and leave behind beautiful presents for us. This is one such example from a short while ago by Asmer art.

AsmerArt, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2022
AsmerArt, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2022

I know nothing about the artist, beyond their Instagram profile that says ‘Czech artist based in London’ but I can spot class when I see it, and this is a very classy piece from an accomplished artist.

AsmerArt, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2022
AsmerArt, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2022

A writing/character combination that works so well and has been executed beautifully, and a seriously compelling image that draws you in to take a closer look. I sincerely hope that it isn’t too long before AsmerArt returns for another trip to Bristol.

4260. St Werburghs tunnel (280)

It was while she was painting this outstanding piece that I met Rozalita for the first time, and it was a great moment, because I have long been an admirer of her work, and it is always nice to make a connection with the artist in person. We chatted for a while about the technique she was using to paint the piece, which is referred to as a doodle grid.

Rozalita, St Werburghs, Bristol, January 2022
Rozalita, St Werburghs, Bristol, January 2022

This piece also marked a departure from her customary carnival and clown themed pieces, for which she has made a name for herself in Bristol. This is a deliberate shift, designed to broaden her portfolio the the aim of picking up some commissions, and making a living from her art.

Rozalita, St Werburghs, Bristol, January 2022
Rozalita, St Werburghs, Bristol, January 2022

This mural is rather unusual, showing two faces in an apparently distressed pose. There is something odd, creepy almost, about the two characters, and I think it has to do with the eyes. It shows how unsettling it is to see representations of faces with eyes without pupils. This is a powerful piece, and could easily represent the horror of the unfolding invasion of the Ukrain by Russia today, even though it was painted a few weeks ago.

4249. Greenbank (24)

It would seem that Rozalita is on something of a mission at the moment, and her work rate is on an exponential growth. But it is not only her work rate that is impressive, but the subject matter of her pieces that is changing dramatically, and this is all fantastic to see.

Rozlita, Greenbank, Bristol, February 2022
Rozlita, Greenbank, Bristol, February 2022

There is so much to like about Rozalita’s work, not only her compositions, but her paintwork itself which looks more like it has been applied with a brush than spray paint. Each component of this piece is wonderful, the portrait and horses in a blue monochrome style and the extraordinary pink orchid flowers framing the piece. Such a great surprise and yet another fine piece coming off the Rozalita conveyor belt lately.