Slim Pickings (TES), Cumberland Basin, Bristol, August 2021
I mentioned a few days back that In hadn’t posted anything like as many pieces by Slim Pickings (TES) as I should have done over the last few years, so I set out to remedy that by doing a trawl through my archives. This is what I came up with, and this is just for 2021, so I expect to do another of these mini-galleries for subsequent years.
Writing TES, Slim Pickings (the name of his Instagram account when I first encountered his work) maintains the exact same general form for his letters, tinkering at the edges with colour changes and some other playful additions. Here are the pieces I should have posted before:
Slim Pickings (TES) Brunel Way, Bristol, January 2021Slim Pickings (TES), Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2021Slim Pickings (TES), M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2021Slim Pickings (TES), L Dub, Bristol, March 2021Slim Pickings (TES), Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2021Slim Pickings (TES), Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2021Slim Pickings (TES), Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, June 2021Slim Pickings (TES), M32 Cycle path, Bristol, June 2021Slim Pickings (TES), Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2021Slim Pickings (TES), Dean Lane, Bristol, August 2021Slim Pickings (TES), Dean Lane, Bristol, August 2021Slim Pickings (TES), Dean Lane, Bristol, December 2021
Slim Pickings (Tes), Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2023
There was a time, when turnover was slower and the number of artists was fewer, that I would post every piece by Slim Pickings (TES) that I saw. Now, I have an embarrassingly large number of his pieces sitting in my archive, so I have a feeling that I might have to round them up and do a special post of his work from the last couple of years. This is indicative of the up tick in activity these days.
Slim Pickings (Tes), Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2023
This recent TES was painted on a sloping surface, and not the easiest to photograph – at times like this, a little drone would come in very handy. Nicely done in blues with pink splats and drips. The more observant viewer might notice another TES in the background, just beneath the letters DLH (which stands for Dean Lane Hardcore – an annual music/graffiti/skating/booze event held in the skatepark). Sorry for the neglect Slim Pickings.
Just because this is the first appearance from Tes (Slim Pickings) for quite a long while, it doesn’t mean that he hasn’t been painting much recently. On the contrary, there are many of his pieces in my archives that I haven’t managed to post, such is the stiff competition at the moment. It is a crying shame that so many outstanding pieces may never see the light of day on Natural Adventures, but it just indicates the quantity of artists out there at the moment.
Slim Pickings (Tes), Sparke Evand Park, April 2022
These are quite recent works by Tes and they show a playful reversal or mirror image of his usual mega-tag. Well if you’ve only got three letters, you have to find some way of switching it up a little, and this is just the ticket.
Slim Pickings (Tes), Sparke Evand Park, April 2022
These pieces were painted alongside some No Frills crew friends during a paint jam, that included Bags, Turoe and Biers in early April. Both pieces are nicely executed, as one would expect, and demonstrate that even with quite a formulaic approach, Slim Pickings manages to bring variety to his work through colour selections and details.
Tes, or Slim Pickings as I call him, is one of the most consistent writers in Bristol with his familiar TES super-tag, but every once in a while he throws something different at us, and this piece is an example of how he switches it up.
Slim Pickings (Tes), River Avon, Bristol, December 2021
The letters are the same, but aren’t presented in his usual very prescriptive form, they are more uniform and spread further horizontally, but the fills and lines are solid and clean, just as we would expect. Great to see something a little different from Slim Pickings.
Aah! The familiar shape and style of a Slim Pickings TES plastered big and bold on the Sally Army wall at Dean Lane skate park. Like several other artists in the city, Slim Pickings’ (Tes) work is a driving creative pulse, a regular heartbeat, that creates the foundations of a thriving street art culture in Bristol. Ever present and confident.
Slim Pickings, Dean Lane, Bristol, December 2021
This pink on yellow belter was painted over the rather nice portrait by Tao.create, illustrating how ephemeral the work of artists can be, especially in spots like this one. Lovely bubble-gum colours and drips, this is a great piece by Slim Pickings. Most unlike the artist, his pink fill is a little thin in places, and I can only think he was short of paint, because he is well known for his full and solid fills. Nice one.
Birthday paint jams are a bit of a thing, and recently there seem to have been a spate of them. They are a great excuse for a bunch of friends to get out and paint together, and for people like me offer another raft of fabulous work all in one location. The perennial difficulty is having the capacity tom post about them all (an impossible task).
Turoe, L Dub, Bristol, September 2021
The birthday in question belonged to DJ Perks and these three pieces are by Turoe, Slim Pickings (TES) and Bags. The old-school character given some contemporary treatment is by Turoe and just in case we were any doubt, DJ Perks was 50.
Slim Pickings, L Dub, Bristol, September 2021
Slim Pickings is metronome-like in his regularity, turning out these TES pieces time and again. Unfortunately these days, more of them end up in my archives than being posted, such is the massive turnover in Bristol at the moment. Bright bold colours and sharp lines, just what you’d expect.
Bags, L Dub, Bristol, September 2021
A rather overlooked writer in Natural Adventures is Bags, probably because he doesn’t paint quite as often as his contemporaries, but that is no excuse really. This is a fine piece of writing, neatly done and kind of fun too with the hand bursting out of the ‘B’. All in all a lovely tribute to DJ Perks, who loves painting in this spot. More from this paint jam to come.
Slim Pickings (Tes), has been painting a lot of his distinctive three-letter pieces so far this year, and I have only posted a fraction of them. I have the feeling that I might have to break from tradition and post a job-lot from the past couple of months just to keep on top of them.
Slim Pickings, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2021
This one in Dean Lane is a particularly nice big one that was painted alongside Dibz a short while ago. There was an overall alien theme to the wall and there are a couple of spaceships above the ‘Tes’ letters. The letters are painted on a cloudy blue background and are on point as usual. There is comfort in Slim Pickings’ consistency.
Aah, the familiar and comforting letters spelling TES from Slim Pickings (as I call him) in Dean Lane. When all else around us is in utter chaos and flux, it is nice to have constants like this to ground us for a while, albeit a fleeting moment.
Slim Pickings, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2021
This is a big TES and very nicely done. Just two colours with a little bit of white 3D accent work demonstrate the confidence and skill of the artist. No need to embellish the work, although embellishment is always great too, don’t get me wrong. A strong and knowing piece.
It would appear that lockdown impacts on different artists in different ways. Some will hunker-down, and they disappear from the scene for a while, others are liberated and seem to go crazy, hitting walls with refreshed vigour. Falling into the latter category is Slim Pickings (TES) who has been out and about a lot over the last month or so.
Slim Pickings, L Dub, Bristol, January 2021
We know what to expect from Slim Pickings’ pieces – sharp crisp lines, reliably solid fills and unbounded 3D shading. It is all here with the addition of a couple of little white highlights. Great stuff. Looks like he might have had a small issue with his yellow paint, especially just to the right of the ‘S’. Good to see his work at L Dub.
I think this is my favourite wall in Dean Lane and it has hosted so many outstanding pieces over the years. Some occupy the whole height and width of the wall, some just the lower or upper portions, some are solo pieces and some collaborations like this one from Slim Pickings and Biers.
Biers, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2021
On the left is some superb writing from Biers, which appears to spell out BIERY, which is a nice variant of his letters. I like the unruly nature of his writing where uniformity of letters goes out of the window. This is one of those collaborations that share a wall and colour convention.
Slim Pickings, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2021
To the right is the contribution from Slim Pickings whose TES doesn’t quite fit on the wall. The letters are big and bold and the black fill dominant. This is one of those collaborations that you cal look at and say ‘yes’!
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