6054. Greenbank (119)

Misery, Greenbank, Bristol, February 2024
Misery, Greenbank, Bristol, February 2024

You might be able to tell that I have been doing a little digging through my archive, which I do from time to time, to pull out some pieces that deserve to be posted, but were squeezed out because of the sheer volume of new work appearing on the streets of Bristol every day. This beauty from Misery is a good example of what I mean.

Misery, Greenbank, Bristol, February 2024
Misery, Greenbank, Bristol, February 2024

I am more used to seeing tags from Misery, and because of that, this is the first piece I have featured on Natural Adventures, not because I don’t like tags, but because they have to compete with all the other street and graffiti art. This piece looks like an aggregation of tags on a simple white background, along with the word misery repeated, and it appears that there is a bit of a story board going on, but I am not too sure what it is telling us. I hope that this will free me up to start posting aggregations of his tags at some point, We’ll have to wait and see. A nice debut on this blog.

5389. M32 roundabout J3 (497)

SkyHigh, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2023
SkyHigh, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2023

A rather nice bit of bubble writing, but what’s so special about that you might ask. The first thing that you might notice is that it is beautifully finished and much less crude than most throw ups painted in this kind of style. In short the piece has class.

SkyHigh, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2023
SkyHigh, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2023

Perhaps the reason it stands out is that it is by the superb SkyHigh, and if you look carefully the letters, with the tiger print pattern, read SKY! with the word ‘high’ written in black script in the middle. I guess that the artist was passing through, as he often visits Bristol with Roo to visit friends/relatives. Often we are treated to a large SkyHigh wall with his unique style of high-end block lettering, but not this time. Great to see all the same.

5363. Dean Lane skate park (619)

Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2023
Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2023

Back in old Blighty, but what a disappointment – it has been windy and raining almost constantly since we landed at Heathrow yesterday. I knew we should have gone away for two weeks. The only thing I have missed is the dog, and a ready supply of street/graffiti art to keep me sane.

Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2023
Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2023

This is a remarkable and clever piece from Dibz which has been painted to look like a tag drawn with a marker pen, and just to illustrate the point he has included a character hand with a pen to the right of the writing. The tag-style writing spells out Dibz One, and, as if we needed further evidence, demonstrates the depth of Dibz’ supreme skill.

5236. Elton Street (23)

Wispa, Elton Street, Bristol, April 2023
Wispa, Elton Street, Bristol, April 2023

I don’t know where Wispa (@willow_the_wispa) lives, but she seems to pop up all over the country and indeed in other countries, which gives me the impression that she is constantly on the move. On the upside, it means that she comes to visit her Bristol RBF friends reasonably regularly and leaves something for us all to enjoy.

Wispa, Elton Street, Bristol, April 2023
Wispa, Elton Street, Bristol, April 2023

This is a wonderful mash-up of stylised throw-ups and tagging finished in a neat, tidy and deliberate way. Sanitising this kind of artwork isn’t easy, and Wispa has done it brilliantly. At first glance it might look like a mess, but it is in fact a really classy piece from a great writer. I already look forward to her next visit.

Quinoa

Quinoa, Greenbank, Bristol, May 2023
Quinoa, Greenbank, Bristol, May 2023

.

Bohemian larks

rebellious battle cry

shout-out for quinoa

.

by Scooj

4875. Dean Lane skate park (548)

Mote, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2022
Mote, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2022

What a fine and colourful monster character from Mote on the swimming pool wall at Dean Lane. Once again we see Mote spreading his wings both in terms of location and design of his work.

Mote, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2022
Mote, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2022

This is arguably Mote’s most colourful piece yet, which is some achievement for an artist who is fond of his colours. Unfortunately the piece has been a little tagged, although not too much to the detriment of the overall impact it has. Although I fully understand where tagging sits in the overall spectrum of street/graffiti art, I do sometimes question what sort of empty minds get kicks out of it. Probably showing my age there. A nice vibrant piece from Mote.

3907. M32 roundabout (345)

On environmental grounds I am not totally on-board with the trend of spray painting onto cling film suspended between two posts. The effect is a good one and it does create ‘walls’ where none exist, but the plastic waste and disposability doesn’t work for me. I have to be careful though, because spray paint isn’t particularly environmentally friendly and I could end up tying myself in knots.

Ryder and T-Rex, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2021
Ryder and T-Rex, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2021

All of that said, I do like the creativity of these mega-tag pieces by Ryder and T-Rex. These tags can be found all over Bristol, but these ones are temporary and ephemeral, and not in any danger of being over-painted. The ‘R’ character is by Ryder and the dinosaur head by T-Rex and the two fuse in the form of a true collaboration.

Ryder, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2021
Ryder, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2021

The second piece is by Ryder and typical of his ‘R’ tags. I don’t know if it is more difficult to paint onto cling film, but I expect it is not as forgiving of mistakes, but then again these artists don’t make many of those. An interesting addition to the array of street art possibilities.

3702. Dean Lane skate park (417)

I fully expect that these foxes by Nebeldac will become a reasonably regular feature of Natural Adventures, although some of the ‘rougher’ ones might get swept up into a compilation.

Nebeldac, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2021
Nebeldac, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2021

This chrome fox appeared in Dean Lane a couple of weeks back and is really rather cool, making the most of a rare day of sunshine in what has been a very wet and miserable Ma. Nice to see the foxes appearing all over the place.

3681. Cumberland Basin

Over the last six months or so, these foxes have been appearing pretty much all over the city, but with a concentration down by the river on both sides. Some of these foxes are a bit quick and dirty, but others, like this one, have been painted beautifully by yet another artist new to Natural Adventures, Nebeldac.

Nebeldac, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, April 2021
Nebeldac, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, April 2021

This was painted of a large paint jam on the long wall at Cumberland Basin, most of which I still haven’t posted (a wealth of riches). The fox is a creature synonymous with Bristol which is famed for its urban fox population. I mentioned it once before, but when I first moved to this fine city, I was lucky enough to get an allotment and at that time the population density of foxes there was the highest recorded anywhere in the country. Sadly the introduction of wheely bins and an outbreak of mange all but decimated the population. We now have a healthy population of healthy foxes.

Expect to see more of these foxes from Nebeldac, I have dozens in my archive.

3602. Purdown HAA Battery (26)

There are dozens of these mega-tags all over Bristol and it took me quite a long time before I realised that they were by Sage. This one at the Purdown battery has an outstanding view of North Bristol behind it… such a great location.

Sage, Purdown, Bristol, March 2021
Sage, Purdown, Bristol, March 2021

Most of these mega-tags are monochrome quick ones, but it seems that Sage has taken a wee bit more time with this one, giving his capped character  little bit of extra decoration. Often, the location can be as important as the art, and I think this is a good example of that.