Tag: St Werburghs

2855. St Werburghs tunnel (164)

This is the second piece recently painted by Rapt in St Werburghs tunnel of at least three I know about from March. The Newport artist paits alongside Elvs and his style is characterised by the upside down T and the very clear lettering.

Rapt, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2020
Rapt, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2020

All the basic elements of a developing writer are here, a nice design, imaginative background, nice fills with some creativity. I look forward to seeing the artist develop all of these skills. I believe alcohol might have been involved in the general concept of the piece.

2848. St Werburghs tunnel (163)

This epic piece probably signals the last for a while from Bristol-based artist Fiva. Clearly Covid-19 related, the two breakout pieces of text spell out:

“Stay safe” and “look after your gran”

There has been a lot of this kind of language spoken and written in recent weeks and this I think captures the state of national compassion exhibited by the vast majoity of people with dissenting arseholes remaining silent or out of sight.

Fiva, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2020
Fiva, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2020

As with the previous post, less is definitely more although this less is also more, making it more less is more. This is the second epic piece by Fiva in recent months and I have a feeling that this one might last rather longer than the last one.

Fiva, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2020
Fiva, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2020

There is little that Fiva can do wrong in my eyes and I find this a thrilling and brave piece. A nice touch is the grey shadows just to the right of each letter giving the whole thing a bit of a lift. This piece oozes class and I love it.

Fiva, St Werburghs, Bristol, November 2019
Fiva, St Werburghs, Bristol, November 2019

2847. St Werburghs tunnel (162)

Sweet and simple, this is a classy piece of writing in the tunnel from Nightwayss. His recent awakening with the start of sprinng has been put on hold, just like all the other artists by the Covid-19 outbreak and lock down rules. I think it would be hard to justify spraying a wall as essential exercise. Some artists have taken to painting on boards in their gardens/yards and I will get my board out of the greenhouse, just as soon as the robins that have taken up residence in there have hatched and fledged

Nightwayss, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2020
Nightwayss, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2020

Sometimes less is more and I think that is the case with this piece from Nightwayss. There is something about this that is very easy on the eye, its simplicity, the font style perhaps. Just because it is simple doesn’t mean it is easy. Great care has been taken with the piece and it is not a simple throw up, just look at the background for evidence of that. A nice one from Nightwayss.

2843. St Werburghs tunnel (161)

I don’t get to see too much work from Object… these days, but I seem to have a fair amount in my archives and this wonderful piece in St Werburghs tunnel was painted back in October 2018.

Object..., St Werburghs, Bristol, October 2018
Object…, St Werburghs, Bristol, October 2018

Object… specialises in these political commentary pieces in which contorted figures agonise and tentacles are often involved. I have a feeling that this might have been a collaboration with another artist contributing the colourful flower on the left hand side – it looks altogether too upbeat to be Object…’s work. I like his work a lot, Nd it feels good to release this one from the archive.

2833. St Werburghs tunnel (161)

Although I have seen a few pieces by Rapt recently, this is my first post featuring the artist from Newport across the Severn Estuary. He seems to favour St Werburghs tunnel and I think he probably lift-shares with Elvs, as they are often to be found painting side by side.

Rapt, St werburghs, Bristol, March 2020
Rapt, St werburghs, Bristol, March 2020

Rapt has a strong and bold writing style and tends to stick to his basic font which includes an upside down ‘T’ at the end of it. In this example he has some nice cracks in the lettering, some great shading and bullet holes and blood for good measure. Look out for more from this artist.

2827. St Werburghs tunnel (160)

Elvs has spend a lot of productive time in St Werburghs tunnel this winter and created a crop of stunning pieces. I’m not sure about the significance of the bunch of grapes, but the leaves are more like those of an olive tree rather than a grape vine (#onlysaying).

Elvs, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2020
Elvs, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2020

Set on a yellow background, and sticking to his tried and tested formula of letter font and shapes, Elvs has a horizontal grading through the piece from pink to dark pink to brown. He has cleverly incorporated black 3D shading on the top half of the piece and yellow outlines at the bottom. This is another fine piece, but I have to say that I don’t think the yellow background does the whole thing any favours.

2823. St Werburghs tunnel (159)

There are an increasing number of topical pieces appearing on the streets at the moment, and if nothing else, street artists are fantastic chroniclers of the social, political and economic landscape. There is plenty of material out there to inspire their work at the moment, although it is unclear whether they will be able to physically paint. I suspect that some will continue.

Face 1st, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2020
Face 1st, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2020

This piece by Face 1st in the tunnel perhaps epitomises and encapsulates our fears in graphic form of the terrible Coronavirus. Britain is in shock this morning when all that we hold sacred, our ability and desire to socialise, has been taken away. We are not yet commanded to remain in out homes, but it is only a matter of time. The death rate in the UK is disturbingly high and the next three months or so are goinng to be very testing.

Throughout, this blog will continue come what may…I have so much archive material that I can at last share with you all.

2813. Stoney Lane

I have known about this piece behind St Werburghs City Farm for quite some time, but because the wall is in a narrow lane it is virtually impossible to photograph, and the wall, hedge and trees behind it make long-distance shots pretty tricky too. Winter does have some upsides and I managed to take these pictures through the leafless trees while perching on a wall (a difficult task as I am not as young as I like to think I am).

Rowdy, Stoney Lane, Bristol, March 2020
Rowdy, Stoney Lane, Bristol, March 2020

This large piece is by Rowdy and might be a collaboration although I am not sure about that. It features some toothy animal-like characters typical of the artist, looking pretty busy, and some mischievous laundry clips. It is a bright and colourful piece which I think might have been here for some time and which probably doesn’t get the exposure and appreciation it deserves.

2812. St Werburghs tunnel (158)

Castles and spired towers decorate the letters of this medieval piece from Fiva, complete with a cartoon character knight. Thie last pece from Fiva in St Werburghs tunnel was an epic piece with massive letters, this is altogether much more the typical kind of piece we get from this brilliant Bristol artist.

Fiva, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2020
Fiva, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2020

In spraying my own letters last year, the artist I studied the most was Fiva and on one occasion I tried to copy one of his letters, but without much success. I am definitely inspired by Fiva and really enjoy finding his pieces.

Scooj, H in the style of Fiva, Bristol, June 2019
Scooj, H in the style of Fiva, Bristol, June 2019

2809. St Werburghs tunnel (157)

After a reasonably quiet winter, Sirens is out and about again which is good to see. I managed to catch up with him just as he was finishing off this piece and he seems to be enjoying himself having been through a fairly dynamic period recently.

Sirens, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2020
Sirens, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2020

I asked why he had chosen this spot for his SIRENS writing, because it had been the site of an interesting Tom Miller piece that had not been there long, and he said it was because it had been covered with a throw up (a rough and ready quick piece of writing) and so he painted over that. It’s a jungle out there. I have noticed that Sirens’ work often looks rather different from most pieces you see and this is down to the absence of hard outlines and his work is closer to fine art than street art. Looking forward to seeing more over the coming months.