Tag: Slim Pickings

2911. Dean Lane skate park (306)

There is no order or plan with which I am going through my archive (during lock down) I am simply skipping from monthly folder to folder, spotting something and thinking, ‘ah yes, this needs posting’. This exact process has happened several times with Slim Pickings (TES) and each time I put the moment back to be returned to another time. Well, enough is enough. Here is a rather lovely TES from March last year, that didn’t get posted first time round.

Slim Pickings, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2019
Slim Pickings, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2019

As I would always expect from Slim Pickings, this is a really tight and clean piece, painted in pillar box red set on a dull bronze background with some green gunge and drips for good measure. The white highlight lines are just enough to give the letters a 3D feel. Clever and consistent. Note to self… high time I did a gallery.

2734.Dean Lane skate park (277)

It is such an obvious thing to say, but I can’t stop myself… this is a two for the price of one wall from Slim Pickings (TES). It is not often that you get to see two pieces by the same artist side-by-side, especially painted around the same time. What is nice about these it that you can compare the subtle differences between the two designs, both of which are beautifully clean by the way.

Slim Pickings, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2020
Slim Pickings, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2020

I don’t know the derivation of his TES pieces, but I suspect they began as a tag and have evolved over time into these elaborate and aesthetically pleasing works. The one on the left has some excellent colour choices with a wavy separation and some nice drips on the T. Woz Yer = was here, possibly one of the oldest mottos used in graffiti.

Slim Pickings, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2020
Slim Pickings, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2020

On the right is a slightly older form of his TES with little accent marks to the bottom left and right of the letter sequence. There is a single solid fill, but in this one the whole thing is finished off with a red boundary line. Spotting the difference between the two is rather fun, perhaps he should do this more often.

2685. Dean Lane skate park (271)

This is just sublime. Although the form of Slim Pickings’ (TES) work is relatively simple and repeated, the way he sets about the colours, fills and attention to detail is masterful. In this piece I absolutely love the complementary colours of the fill and the bubbly shapes. As always the outline and shadow are clean and crisp.

Slim Pickings, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2020
Slim Pickings, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2020

The letters TES are set on a floaty cloud of green and red and the letters are adorned with some little light blue drippy bits and whight highlights. The whole thing is set off perfectly with a grey buffed wall, completely worth the effort if you ask me. Really nice piece.

2608. Dean Lane skate park (265)

Well, so long as Slim Pickings keeps churning out his magnificent TES pieces, I’ll continue to post them. As always his work is clean, sharp and he has some decent colour selections although I fear there might be just a little bit too much contrast between the letter colours and the green and yellow background.

Slim Pickings (Tes), Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2019
Slim Pickings (Tes), Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2019

I have a great many pieces by Slim Pickings in my archive and I’m just waiting for a lean period to publish them (the chance would be a fine thing). More to come in due course – maybe I feel a gallery coming on…

 

 

2542. Dean Lane skate park (260)

Slim Pickings (a name for this artist I got from I know not where) or Tes has consistently turned out pieces (most of them in Dean Lane) this year each to a really high standard as one would expect from this perfectionist. Over the year there have been subtle changes to his general design that keep his work interesting and alive.

Slim Pickings, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2019
Slim Pickings, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2019

These letters have been painted over another piece which sadly I missed, as it looks rather unusual with Mc Scrooge or whatever his name is sitting in an arm chair. Slim Pickings’ piece once again demonstrates his great talent for finding the right colour combinations to bring out the best in his work. I’ll be interested to see how much he changes his standard letters over time.

 

 

2492. Dean Lane skate park (253)

Slim pickings has been very busy during the late summer and early Autumn, and it seems that there is barely a week that goes by without a new TES at Dean Lane. This clean and tidy one in grey shades is really rather smart looking, and the curved line between the E and the S is there, a point of discussion on my last post on Slim Pickings’ work.

Slim Pickings, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2019
Slim Pickings, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2019

I used to think that his pieces were all identical, but that is not the case, and he is constantly evolving the form of TES, perfecting it and then making subtle adjustments. Always good to see these beauties.

 

 

2461. Dean Lane skate park (249)

I don’t think these two have stopped all summer, one collaboration after another keeping the walls at Dean Lane skate park lively. The No Frills duo are Slim Pickings on the left and Biers on the right.

Slim Pickings, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2019
Slim Pickings, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2019

Slim Pickings usually paints the letters TES in pretty much exactly the same format every time he hits a wall, but this one is ever so slightly on a slant, like a little touch of italics has been incorporated. Also, I don’t think that the line through the E and S is Slim Pickings’ work, it just feels a little incongruous. Tidy work as usual.

Biers, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2019
Biers, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2019

On the right, Biers, who I call Biers because he used to write Biers, has written OYeah, which is what he writes these days, so I suppose I should call him OYeah, but I’m not going to because I call him Biers. No character this time, but it matters not, his writing is so full of character and movement that it is like a character in itself. These two work so well together. I wonder if they share the cost of the paint…

2385. Dean Lane skate park (239)

The No Frills crew have been pretty busy this summer, and this is the latest of several recent collaborations in Dean Lane. The common contributor with all the collaborations appears to be Biers (AKA Jimothy Kool Aid), who writes ‘Oh Yeah’ and combines the letters with a characer.

Biers, Dean Lane, Bristol, August 2019
Biers, Dean Lane, Bristol, August 2019

The left hand side is by Biers and the character is a rather fun and young-looking Mick Jagger. The writing is tight and just what you’d expect from Biers, nicely thought out and the colours are great.

Slim Pickings, Dean Lane, Bristol, August 2019
Slim Pickings, Dean Lane, Bristol, August 2019

On the right there is a ‘TES’ from Slim Pickings with a magnificent fill that transitions between orange with red spots to red with orange spots, a technique I have seen him use before to great effect. Another nice collaboration from this pair.

2346. Dean Lane skate park (235)

Oainted directly over a Hire piece, Slim Pickings has produced another outstanding TES piece in Dean Lane. By now, everyone should be familiar with ‘stock’ shape of Slim Pickings’ work so it is the fills and detail that is of real interest.

Slim Pickings, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2019
Slim Pickings, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2019

His work is always sharp and clean and in this piece his colour contrasts work really well. I like also how the colours used are reversed out on the ‘S’, and by that I mean, reading left to right, he has sprayed orange letters with red spots which becomes a red letter with orange spots. Nice tidy work, from the master of TES.

2302. Dean Lane skate park (227)

Recently on the long wall at Dean Lane skate park was this No Frills extravaganza from Biers, Slim Pickings and Bags. It seems that these guys, and they are not alone, are well and truly out of hibernation and painting furiously at every opportunity.

Biers, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2019
Biers, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2019

On the left is a wonderful ‘creature from the wack (sic) lagoon’ by Biers set in his ‘O Yeah’ writing. I do like his character-writing work and the shapes of his letter style is pretty unique, and I know how hard he works on drafting these pieces because he shares his sketches regularly on Instagram. It is great to see them come to fruition.

Slim Pickings, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2019
Slim Pickings, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2019

In the middle of this collaboration is the distinctive ‘Tes’ of Slim Pickings forever reaching out for perfection in this form of writing. I don’t think I have ever knowingly seen anything by him that isn’t a version of this. A master of consistency and colour combinations.

Bags, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2019
Bags, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2019

Finally on the right is a piece by an artist I still know nothing about other than that he is in the No Frills crew/movement, Bags. His letters are large, clean and bold. You can see how he has used the brick-line to fade between the two shades of filling, a great technique for getting straight lines. Looking forward to seeing more from Bags and maybe if I get lucky coming across this lot when they are out painting.