Tag: Purdown

5302. Purdown (58)

Enn Kay (NAK), Purdown, Bristol, May 2023
Enn Kay (NAK), Purdown, Bristol, May 2023

Let’s hear it for the goats! The ruins of the Purdown Anti-Aircraft gun emplacement, commanding fine views over North Bristol, are contained within a fenced area into which goats are introduced each spring, presumably to keep the undergrowth in check. This humorous piece by Enn Kay (NAK), carries a strong message for dog owners, to make sure they are kept on a lead, as there have been several attacks by dogs on the goats. This is a sentiment I fully agree with as a responsible dog-owner, and I always have my cocker spaniel on the lead in this space.

Enn Kay (NAK), Purdown, Bristol, May 2023
Enn Kay (NAK), Purdown, Bristol, May 2023

The goat, in cartoon style, is looking pretty fed up with yet another dog passing by, mine was right in front of this piece while I photographed it. It is beautifully painted, and the look on its face is priceless. It goes to show that not all advisory notices have to be authoritative and stern, humour and kindness can have a similar impact. Nice work from Enn Kay.

5295. Purdown (57)

Full Time Ghoul, Purdown, Bristol, May 2023
Full Time Ghoul, Purdown, Bristol, May 2023

It is happening a little too frequently on Natural Adventures, but Full Time Ghoul (FTG) is another artist who is definitely underrepresented on these pages, and I might have to do a sweep of my archives and post a whole group of pieces in one go.

Full Time Ghoul, Purdown, Bristol, May 2023
Full Time Ghoul, Purdown, Bristol, May 2023

Full Time Ghoul pretty much always paints his mega-tag, either in single or multiple forms. Here we have three ghouls joined together in a pattern resembling an everlasting knot. Recently, FTG has been using these pink and red colours for his work, and I imagine he might have bought a bulk order of paint and is gradually working his way through it.

Full Time Ghoul, Purdown, Bristol, May 2023
Full Time Ghoul, Purdown, Bristol, May 2023

There was another smaller and older piece from FTG up at Purdown, so I thought I’d include it with this post to demonstrate that his distinctive pieces are easy to recognise. Watch this space for more from Full Time Ghoul.

5283. Purdown (56)

Daz Cat, Purdown, Bristol, May 2023
Daz Cat, Purdown, Bristol, May 2023

A little bit about the mechanics of Natural Adventures, which might explain why there is a bit of a time-lag between a piece being painted and that piece being posted on the blog. I would guess that on a typical day I will come across 5–10 pieces of street/graffiti art that are new to me, and all of these go into a monthly folder. I then select from the folder pieces I’d like to feature on the blog and upload them in batches, so that I usually have at least a week’s worth of images ready to go, which gives me time to write the post in the morning before work, or the evening before.

So anything appearing on Natural Adventures will be at least a week old, and often considerably more. In exceptional cases I might fast track something special to the front of the queue, but that is rare. So if you are looking for ‘breaking news’ blog posts here, you are in the wrong place.

Daz Cat, Purdown, Bristol, May 2023
Daz Cat, Purdown, Bristol, May 2023

This is an interesting piece from Daz Cat in a spot that he likes to frequent. The blue cat character, with the yellow top, appears to be casting away an abominable creature with rabbit ears, horns, cat-like claws and a dragon tail – what is that thing? There is lots of movement in the piece, aided by the cream flashes, but its meaning is a little lost on me.

Looking at it again, the creature looks like it is by GYS? And the style is rather different from Daz Cat’s. There is nothing on Instagram that would help me work this out, though.

5268. Purdown (55)

Mr Sleven, Purdown, Bristol, May 2023
Mr Sleven, Purdown, Bristol, May 2023

When I saw this piece appear on Mr Sleven’t Instagram feed, I decided to get up to Purdown at the first possible opportunity before it got tagged or damaged by the small herd of goats that live in the derelict anti-aircraft gun emplacement that protected Bristol during WWII.

Mr Sleven, Purdown, Bristol, May 2023
Mr Sleven, Purdown, Bristol, May 2023

The cartoon doodle style piece is beautifully executed, and the white/grey piece stands out so well of the deep, rich red. There is a crispness and originality that I find really compelling, and if I am honest, I’d love to have something like this hanging on my wall (less the concrete, of course). A lovely piece and great to see after quite a long absence from Mr Sleven.

5088. Purdown (54)

Sam Brentall, Purdown, Bristol, March 2023
Sam Brentnall, Purdown, Bristol, March 2023

This piece seems to benefit from being framed by the snow and the heavy grey sky. It is by an artist I haven’t come across before, Sam Brentnall, and my first impression is a good one.

Sam Brentall, Purdown, Bristol, March 2023
Sam Brentnall, Purdown, Bristol, March 2023

The stylised dog heads stacked on top of each other create a strong and colourful pattern, and the whole unusual composition is fun to look at. It looks like the black outlines have been painted using marker pens rather than spray cans, and this seems very much like the work of a studio artist who is exploring possibilities with street art. I sincerely hope to find more street work from Sam Brentnall this year.

5084. Purdown (53)

Zubieta, Purdown, Bristol, March 2023
Zubieta, Purdown, Bristol, March 2023

It does snow in Bristol once in a while, but it is quite rare, and the March cold snap left us with a couple of inches for a day or two. It was bitterly cold on this dog walk with my daughter, and I didn’t want to hang around too long taking pictures, much to my daughter’s relief.

Zubieta, Purdown, Bristol, March 2023
Zubieta, Purdown, Bristol, March 2023

The picture, by Zubieta is at odds with the snowy background, and had probably been painted a week or two before in the relative sunshine. Zubieta has painted two colourful flowers in conversation, with one telling the other “You can’t afford me”. The whole piece is nicely composed and definitely a welcome site on a cold day.

4988. Purdown (52)

Mr Sleven, Purdown, Bristol, January 2023
Mr Sleven, Purdown, Bristol, January 2023

It is a rare thing indeed to find a Mr Steven piece these days, so it was extra pleasing to see this small burner up at Purdown. Although only a small piece, it is really nicely  finished, and stands out from the crowd in this unusual Bristol spot.

Mr Sleven, Purdown, Bristol, January 2023
Mr Sleven, Purdown, Bristol, January 2023

The letters ‘Slev’ are delineated by the lovely green 3D drop shadow, with a pink trim border. The fills are rather lovely, with three horizontal colour layers and an array of complementary spots. This is a lovely ‘quick one’ from Mr Sleven, and I hope to see more from him soon.

4974. Purdown (51)

Full Time Ghoul, Purdown, Bristol, January 2023
Full Time Ghoul, Purdown, Bristol, January 2023

It feels good to post a new piece by Full Time Ghoul, because so many of his pieces end up in my archives without ever seeing the light of day, something I must resolve somehow, because I genuinely like his motif and the way he fills spots all over Bristol.

Full Time Ghoul, Purdown, Bristol, January 2023
Full Time Ghoul, Purdown, Bristol, January 2023

This trio of green skulls set on a fiery red and orange background is really rather special. I’m not too sure bout this, but the top of the skulls look like they spell OSM, although I have no idea what this stands for. Nice work from FTG.

4968. Purdown (50)

Kool Hand, Purdown, Bristol, January 2023
Kool Hand, Purdown, Bristol, January 2023

My last visit to Purdown ended up being rather fruitful, which isn’t always the case. I have been up there to walk the dog of late and there has been absolutely nothing worth photographing, that is until now.

Kool Hand, Purdown, Bristol, January 2023
Kool Hand, Purdown, Bristol, January 2023

This is a rather nice crocodile piece by Kool Hand that has a little bit of a story going on. It looks like our croc friend is little hungry, tempted by a swimmer’s feet overhead. A but of fun on a small piece of wartime concrete from Kool Hand.

4964. Purdown (49)

Slakarts, Purdown, Bristol, January 2023
Slakarts, Purdown, Bristol, January 2023

I am guessing that Slakarts is busy these days in his non-street art life, because 2022 has been a very quiet year for him, and this is one of only a handful of pieces I have seen in a long time. This is how it goes for most street/graffiti artists, peaks and troughs of activity for a multitude of different reasons. It was fabulous, therefore, to come across this piece up at Purdown.

Slakarts, Purdown, Bristol, January 2023
Slakarts, Purdown, Bristol, January 2023

Slakarts tends to maintain his central character, pimping it with ever more elaborate ideas. In this piece, the character is on the left, but the whole piece is a bit of a mash-up of randomly distributed elements of the character’s features, a nose, teeth, an ear and a tongue are thrown into the mix. Nicely designed and thought out. Let’s hope Slakarts can get out more in 2023.