Purdown – Page 3 – Natural adventures

6265. Purdown (65)

I met Hardie while he was painting at Upfest, and what a friendly fellow he is. Although I think I have only ever posted one or two of his pieces on Natural Adventures, he seemed to know who I was and was familiar with my blog, which was most encouraging.

The Bristol-based artist doesn’t tend to paint the streets all that often the odd shutter or wall here or there but rarely in the popular hotspots, so it was a super surprise to find two of his pieces side by side in the wartime gun emplacement. His characteristic character portraits are made up of a patchwork of crosshatches, creating a really interesting effect. As you can see from these two pieces, Hardie uses a stencil to create his faces, and it also demonstrates how using different colours can create a different look from essentially the same template. What a pleasure to come across these rarities.

6249. Purdown (75)

One of the great pleasures of my trip to Cheltenham two weekends ago for the Cheltenham Paint Festival was catching up with Conrico while he was painting a wide piece spanning a bridge. We chatted for quite a while, and I came away with the impression of a really decent man who so utterly enjoys his craft. We talked about all sorts of things like where his name comes from and what his connection with Japan is and so on. Fascinating stuff.

This is a gorgeous Japanese scene with a pathway leading up to a small building and a lantern lighting the way. There are ghostly figures sitting on the roof of the structure and nearby, giving the whole thing quite a spiritual feel. Maybe the figures are ancestors. As with much of his work, Conrico has constructed a story and illustrated it beautiful, bringing a tiny little bit of Japan to Bristol.

6244. Purdown (74)

The Art of Sok, Purdown, Bristol, July 2024

After a little teaser in Bristol last year at the M32 Spot and on the cycle path with Rusk, The Art of Sok has had something of a bonanza in the city this summer, and even better than that, I have managed to catch up with the artist twice in the space of a month, and what a lovely fellow he is too.

This beautifully framed piece, on one of the concrete slabs in the old anti-aircraft gun emplacement, breathes new life into this historic monument, and reflects the freedoms that the nation fought the second world war for. The Art of Sok manages to paint flawless pieces, and takes great care to ensure every detail is exactly how he planned it. I believe this could be described as a Manga-style portrait, and is one that definitely ticks all my boxes.

6237. Purdown (73)

Ha ha! ‘It’s all gone woke’, so says this marvellous character by Merny. The phrase is one used by anybody who doesn’t like or disagrees with those elements of policy/regulation/rules/behaviour that they take issue with on account of it not complying with their own values. The peak example of the phrase was probably the quote from former Home Secretary Suella Braverman, who used the term ‘Guardian-reading, tofu-eating wokerati’ to describe Just Stop Oil protesters in 2022. I wonder how she would describe the pigs who are currently protesting against immigrants in the UK. Spot the tumbleweed.

This is a lovely Merny piece, so ‘of its time’, simple and powerful, like so much of his work. The piece was painted around the time of his excellent exhibition, which I understand from speaking to him since, went better than expected, and he managed to sell quite a few original pieces, which is great to hear. I would have loved to have bought one or two of his originals, but alas they were marginally outside my price range. See some of them below:

Merny Exhibition, 17 Midland Road, Bristol, July 2024

6234. Purdown (72)

Peanutsdeli, Purdown, Bristol, July 2024

The Purdown Anti Aircraft gun emplacement is a wartime relic which these days doubles up as a goat enclosure and graffiti spot, giving this monument a second life of sorts. Visiting this spot is always a bit of a lottery because turnover is usually pretty slow, and sometimes there is nothing new to look at, and other times (because visits tend to be infrequent) pieces can be quite badly tagged, or damaged by the goats!

On my last trip, a couple of weeks ago, I his the jackpot though, with several new pieces all in pretty good condition, including this beauty by Peanutsdeli. I have to say that he is probably the last artist I would expect to find up here, so this manga-style cartoon portrait came as a very pleasant surprise indeed. The yelling face fits the rectangular slab perfectly, and I was even able to give the character a little bit of extra hair from the tree behind. More to come from this Purdown visit soon.

Comma

Disproportionate

joy of spotting butterflies

a rare sight these days

by Scooj

6066. Purdown (71)

The anti-aircraft gun emplacement at Purdown, is a bit of a hit and miss spot (no pun intended). Sometimes when I go up there, there have been no new additions, other times I seem to find a raft of new work. It is always a bit of a practical struggle for me, because I take the dog along (of course), and he gets very excited in this enclosed area because of the goats – I have to be swift taking pictures and move on, before he gets too frenzied.

I’m not sure how old this piece by 3GV is, but I don’t recall seeing it before this visit I made last month. 3GV has bookended his letters with a tribute to Vaughn Bode, with Lizard to the left and Cheech Wizard on the right. The irregular letters, with a cool colour palette, are set on a blue diamond shaped background. I feel that 3GV’s work is quite raw, but it is great to see the artist out there practising and improving.

5957. Purdown (70)

Jest Soubriquet, Purdown, Bristol, March 2024

When visiting artists come to Bristol, they will often paint more than one piece, and in the case of some, such as Logoe, they might paint several over a single weekend. I think that this is one of two pieces painted by Jest Soubriquet earlier this year.

The portrait piece is set on a Palestinian flag, thus making it a relevant contemporary addition to the complicated and troubled commentary on the conflict between the Israeli government and Hamas. The portrait is cleverly painted in a patchwork of colours that shouldn’t really work, but somehow do. This is a wonderful and highly distinctive piece from an artist who will always be welcome in Bristol.

5951. Purdown (69)

Scrapyardspec, Purdown, Bristol, March 2024

In recent months, a travelling artist has visited Bristol on a few occasions and left his very distinctive mark. The artist in question is Scrapyardspec, and his original face mega-tags are perfect for small spots such as columns and these square concrete walls up at the Purdown gun emplacement.

There were three of his pieces up there the last time I visited, each similar in form but painted in different base colours. There characterful faces can be found all over the city as Scrapyardspec moves from spot to spot, filling gaps and finding small walls to decorate. I believe he calls London home, and paints in a few favoured spots there.

His Instagram feed is worth a quick look as he posts short videos of how he goes about his work. I expect to see more from Scrapyardspec this year, as he seems rather fond of the opportunities Bristol offers.

5943. Purdown (68)

Set on the windy hilltop of Purdown, overlooking North Bristol, we find a glorious piece by Slakarts at his simple best. His regular stylised character has been given something of a facelift (literally) with both colour fills and patterns. The oranges and reds contrast beautifully with the background blues, rounding the piece off really nicely.

It has been an absolute age since I last met Slakarts (the last time was in St Werburghs tunnel during a lockdown) and now that he appears to be painting a little more frequently, there is a chance I might bump into him soon, which would be nice, because he is a really sound bloke. I am definitely enjoying his spring renaissance.

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