.
Rising high above
lush, wooded levada paths
ancient lava peaks
.
by Scooj
Heart of Madeira
Tag: Portugal
Ents
.
From Atlantic mists
twisted characters emerge
an ancient forest
.
by Scooj
Luxury
.
Madeira villa
so beautifully designed
and stunning sea views
.
by Scooj
Thursday doors – 27 March 2023
Doors 218 – Bristol street art and graffiti doors
I am running a workshop in London today, so I prepared this post last night. All the doors in this post have previously been posted in my graffiti/street art category, but this is the first time for Thursday Doors. The doors were first posted in June 2022. Enjoy:
Painted by Irony during Upfest, Europe’s largest street art festival.
Poor Mickey.
Utility box door in Porto
Another utility box door in Porto
So much street art to enjoy in Porto.
So there we have it for another week. May I wish you all a happy weekend.
If you have made it this far, you probably like doors, and you really ought to take a look at the No Facilities blog by Dan Anton who has taken over the hosting of Thursday Doors from Norm 2.0 blog. Links to more doorscursions can be found in the comments section of Dan Anton’s Thursday Doors post.
by Scooj
Thursday doors – 15 December 2022
Doors 203 – My favourite doors of 2022 – a review
It is customary on the last Thursday before the Christmas break to present a selection of favourite doors from the last year. This is my selection, and I had some real beauties to choose from this year. I hope you enjoy them this second time round. I look forward to seeing other Thursday door selections too.
So that’s it for the year. 2022 has been a very difficult year for so many reasons. I guess it is fitting that the final pair of doors in blue and yellow represent the colours of a country that I hadn’t given much consideration before dictator Putin’s “special operation” and invasion this year. I dedicate this gallery of doors to the people of Ukraine, keeping them very much in my thoughts this Christmas.
May I take the opportunity to wish you all a very happy holiday season, and Christmas. See you all on the other side.
If you have made it this far, you probably like doors, and you really ought to take a look at the No Facilities blog by Dan Anton who has taken over the hosting of Thursday Doors from Norm 2.0 blog. Links to more doorscursions can be found in the comments section of Dan Anton’s Thursday Doors post.
by Scooj
4857. Porto (15)
One of the key differences between street art in Bristol and street art in Porto is the walls to paint on. In Bristol, most of the walls are brick, rendered, shutters, containers or hoarding. In Porto, sun-bleached stone walls and breeze block walls are favoured by artists, although commissions tend to be on rendered walls, much like at home.
This is a lovely piece by Fedor (a street artist and graffiti writer from Porto), fringed with some Costah paste ups to its left. The wise old dog is beautifully painted and the mastery of working with a spray can, can be seen in the dog’s nose, with three shades (like a stencil) providing texture and depth. A lovely and slightly weathered piece.
4856. Porto (14)
I love this. If you are going to create street art in Porto, what better medium to use than tiles? Looking back through my photographs of Porto street art, my only regret is that I didn’t find more of these installations by Berri Blue than I did.
Berri Blue is a Polish/Irish artist working in Porto who believes that interpretation of her work is up to the viewer. Well I fully approve of that, but interpretation of her work could end up down a rather macabre blind alley, so I will take a more superficial viewpoint and thoroughly enjoy the artwork and presentation, including the selection of location. The people of Porto are blessed to have pieces like this one in their city.
4855. Porto (13)
This piece, by Costah, was photographed in early June and is clearly in support of Ukraine. The shock waves of Putin’s aggressive war against Ukraine since then have contributed to human suffering far beyond the borders of the two countries. There is little that citizens of Europe can do apart from offering help and hope.
Costah has placed a pair of his characters in a solemn embrace in the centre of a Ukrainian flag and the word HOPE. In an act of solidarity for the oppressed, he has also listed Palestine, Myanmar, Syria, Afghanistan, Yemen and Iraq along the foot of the piece. Pieces like this remind us about the bigger picture and take us away from our first world problems, at least for a moment.
4854. Porto (12)
Although small, this wheatpaste was probably the most striking piece of street art that I came across in Porto. The placement of the piece was key, being on a bright yellow wall in a side street. The curious would stop and take a closer look, others would stroll on by without a glance.
The wheatpaste is by a French? artist Antoine Caramalli whose work appears to be strongly themed and considered. The two characters, a man and a girl are riding an octopus, and why not? And the man is wearing a pair of blue and red 3D glasses, a recurring theme in the artist’s work. Unusual and intriguing.
4853. Porto (11)
Although I have more than enough Bristol pieces I want to share on Natural Adventures, I feel it would be wrong not to also feature a few more pieces from my trip to Porto in June this year. It is remarkable how different these pieces are from the kind of thing we see back home, and it illustrates how each country/city has its own distinct style and culture.
This small selection is from Hazul, who would appear to be the most prolific artist in Porto, alongside Costah. Judging from the aged look of some of Hazul’s pieces, I would guess that the artist has been painting the city walls for quite some time.
Hazul specialises in beautiful abstract designs, normally painted in soft muted colours, and quite often incorporates a crystal, acting like a signature. I think that I have enough photographs of Hazul’s work to do a little gallery, which demonstrates both the endurance and proliferation of the artist’s work.
Natural adventures 