RAW – Natural adventures

2203. St Werburghs tunnel (80)

It is not often that you see a nicely painted van in Bristol, even though there are a great many vans with spray paint on them… sadly most of these are fairly rubbish throw ups or tags that frankly are untidy.

This is a lovely piece of 3D writing from Rusk which appeared near the entrance of St Werburghs tunnel recently. Since I took this picture, the other side has been sprayed by Soker, so this is one classy van. I have not seen writing like this from Rusk before, nor have I seen any kind of scenery work like this, so this is a bit of a collector’s item. Nice to witness the versatility of this great Bristol writer.

2202. St Werburghs tunnel (79)

A couple of weeks back there was a large paint jam in St Werburghs tunnel, and it would seem that it was something of a RAW (Read and Weep) get together. This collaborative piece included the T-Rex burner that I featured a few days ago, which was just to the right. These two are Ryder and Jaksta.

I don’t need to repeat myself, although I constantly find myself doing so, by telling you that Ryder is an incredibly accomplished writer, and here he has created something rather special in shades of gray with blue highlights. Having started trying to paint a little in the garden I realise how much I have to study what these guys do to understand tricks and techniques. Paint big was an important piece of advice I was given – smaller pieces are more difficult.

When I have been in the tunnel, it seems everyone notices the pig – he really stands out and the kids that walk past love him. Jaksta is a master of the character piece and his work often joins up pieces of writing like it does here. It is the details I love in this piece, the black shading and white highlights that give a 3D feel to the whole thing, and the two shades of pink that make it look like the light is coming from the right (which in this part of the tunnel it actually does). Great work.

2196. St Werburghs tunnel (78)

I’ve not posted anything by T-Rex for a little while now, but was lucky enough to come across this wonderful piece in St Werburghs tunnel recently. It was painted during quite a large paint jam a week or so ago alongside work by other RAW artists.

Having just bought some spray paint and tried out a little in my garden, I can’t begin to explain how difficult this is and what exceptional talent and experience is needed to produce a piece like this one. The shapes of the letters, the incredible fill patterns and sharp lines, not to mention the expressive dinosaur, are so well worked. I don’t really understand how these guys do it. T-Rex, I doff my cap. The sooner I pack away my paint the better.

2156. Upper York Street (14)

I love it when it happens, when an unannounced collaboration appears as if by magic. This sensational work from Smak and Hazard is one of those special pieces, and I think they have absolutely smashed it.

Smak, Upper York Street, Bristol, April 2019

Smak has again gone for one of his double burners, where he has cleverly crafted two versions of his name into one piece. If you look carefully, there is one in blue and one in mostly orange. Such an accomplished thing to do from an artist who seems to be at the top of his game at the moment.

Hazard, Upper York Street, Bristol, April 2019

Then to Hazard’s fabulous frog, which I have to say has come as a huge surprise because I am more used to seeing her portrait pieces. I am a naturalist by training, and I have always had a bit of a soft spot for amphibians, especially frogs, so this piece really chimes with me.

Everything about this frog is good, the colours and the shading and the light reflecting off the body and the eye. Such an unusual piece to find on the streets of Bristol, but a wholly welcome one. More of this kind of thing please! A great collaboration on Upper York Street, so utterly well worth a look.

2154. Moon Street (65)

I recently posted a collaboration piece by ‘Ware’ and Jaksta from Upfest 2016, and I stated then that I wasn’t very familiar with ‘Ware’s work. Well nothing has changed there except that I now know his Instagram moniker is @mickeyraw and I able to see when he has painted new work. I found this one down in Moon Street recently, and it is a fine piece of wildstyle writing by this RAW artist.

The colours work really well together and the execution of the piece is truly first class. I am looking forward to seeing more from ‘Ware’ or do I call him Mickeyraw? I started with Ware, so will continue until I know better.

2151. M32 roundabout J3 (138)

There was a recent paint jam down at the M32 with fur artists participating. The only one that I recognised was Smak, so I guess the others were visitors to Bristol, or don’t paint all that often. This piece by Smak was the pick of the bunch, although the others were pretty good too, and I’ll post them in due course.

Smak, M32 roundabout, Bristol, April 2019

The colours of this piece stand out so brilliantly against the white background and I consider this to be a truly masterful piece of writing. I am pretty hacked off that I cut off the ends of the piece in both photographs but the pavement here is pretty narrow and it is difficult to get the full span of a piece in shot. I am even more annoyed that I went back there last night and forgot to retake the pictures. Sensational work though.

2121. M32 roundabout J3 (134)

It is always great fun to see how street artists can play with each other’s work. For example, this piece is not a collaboration, it is an add-on. The original work was a RAW collaboration the centrepiece of which was this fabulous character by Jaksta.

Jaksta, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2019

Turnover on this wall has been unusually high this spring and when ‘the monday club’ a group of artists including Nevergiveup, Tasha Bee, Soap, Run Z and Zake set about painting here, Nevergiveup worked around Jaksta’s piece almost like a respect thing, his bunnies leaning in towards the character, together with a carefully, thoughtfully resprayed background.

Often Jaksta’s characters are well known film stars or personalities, but I’m not sure I know who this is. What we have here is two pieces for the price of one… and some more bunnies for the collection.

	Lemuel on 2210. Stokes Croft
	Lemuel on 2210. Stokes Croft
	paulh121 on 2214. Hepburn Road (9)
	paulh121 on 2213. Wilder Street (31)
	scooj on Play

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