Fishing calls. Very quick one.
Mr Crawls and Mote have been at it again with these tunnel-end pieces on each side of the archway. The pigeon by Mr Crawls is his latest character favourite, and is getting better with each rendition.
On the other side, Mote has painted this unusual moustachioed character. I haven’t seen too many people portrait pieces by Mote, and it is interesting to see how his style comes through. Looking forward to seeing more of these sophisticated pieces from him.
This piece, by Short, is really easy to miss. It is in one of the tunnels under the M32 roundabout where the lighting is poor, and one’s mind is focussed on not being run down by a bicycle or e-scooter rather than stopping to look at the graffiti writing. If photographing such pieces is hazardous, I can’t imagine what it is like to try and paint in such a confined space.
The black, joined-up letters, spelling SHORT are somewhat augmented, deliberately or otherwise, by the background created by a previous artist’s large chrome letters, which creates the perfect backdrop. I am enjoying the way that Short is popping up in different places around the city, and offering us a type of graffiti writing that is a step up from throw ups, and developing all the time.
Quick ones this morning – a bit of Christmas ‘ground rush’ with way too much to do in a short weekend. This is a lively piece from Daz Cat in one of the tunnels under the M32 roundabout, which have had rather a low turnover in recent months.
Daz Cat’s work has grown over the last year or two and each piece adds a new layer of sophistication to his central cat characters. He has also created pieces which tells stories, and I wonder if this one is about heartbreak and sadness. Great colours and some real passion and emotion in this one. Poor cat.
Another Logoe piece from his recent blitz of Bristol, this time at the entrance to the St Werburghs tunnel. I don’t know how long Logoe was in Bristol on his latest visit, but he managed to paint at least five or six pieces, and must have been churning them out at a staggering rate.
One of the clever things about Logoe’s work is his colour schemes, where his selections are carefully thought out. Here he gives us a palette of yellows, greens and turquoise which work beautifully together. There are still more pieces to come from this trip.
Anything by DJ Perks is always welcome on Natural Adventures and this slightly different piece of writing from DJ Perks was a nice surprise in the tunnel a couple of weeks ago.
It took a few moments to register what the letters said (tunnel) and who it was by, as I am more used to seeing The letters PERKS. This is more than decent writing, nicely filled and presented with a neat and tidy border. Good to see DJ Perks painting in the tunnel.
One of the most consistent Bristol graffiti writers (plus characters) of 2020 was Taboo, whose imaginative and unconventional creations brightened up walls all over the city. Although not to everyone’s taste, his unique style and obvious (underplayed) talent brought us a succession of notable and humorous pieces.
This one in St Werburghs tunnel takes us deep into his root style of oddly shaped letters (spelling TABOO), his favourite pink and black colours and a sense of anarchy that I really like. I had to auto-fix the colours on Photoshop for this one, without which the whole thing looked yellow from the horrible lighting in the tunnel.
The year is yet young, but already I have seen a feast of outstanding individual works and collaborations in Bristol – I am beginning to think this might be a great year for street art switching up a level. This amazing collaboration between Dasco and Oseque is a great example of the quality of work on display.
On the left, the writing from Dasco is simply sublime. I can’t believe that I have only recently registered his work, and must go through my archives to see if I can unearth some of his older stuff. Everything here is sheer perfection from the rectangular frame to the design, carefully considered shades and tones to the sensational execution. This is as good a piece of writing that I have seen so far this year, and probably a lot longer.
I am not familiar with the work of Oseque, and I am not sure, but I think he might be visiting. I know that there is a new collaboration from these two in Dean Lane, but I just haven’t had time to go and take a gander. Maybe tomorrow. In the meantime just feast your eyes on this beauty – it is amazinng how a piece like this on a grubby wall in St Werburghs tunnel can look like the very best of canvasses in a studio or gallery. Even the graffiti beneath the protrait seeping through seems to add to the quality of the piece overall. Magnificent work.
Wow, I love it when Sled One just pitches up unannounced and then modestly produces his magic like he did in this most recent example in St Werburghs tunnel. The piece features an octopus (what is it about street art and octopi?) sporting a bucket hat and fondly embracing an umbrella, possibly a little too fondly.
There is a lot of perspective and movement in the piece, something that Sled One does so well, and he is a master at creating textures and depth with the use of shading. This is yet another crazy (in a good way) piece from the artist, and made all the more remarkable by the fact that he had a fractured wrist and ankle at the time of painting this, a week or so ago. Just brilliant.
Tireless is the way I would describe the efforts of Face 1st. He seems to paint year-round, regular as clockwork, mainly in the north Bristol spots. Her we have a recent piece of graffiti writing in the St Werburghs tunnel, which has been something of a refuge for artists in the diabolical weather we have experienced since October.
This piece reverts to the old-school style from Face 1st which shows a girl’s face with a FACE hairdo. It has been truly wonderful watching Face 1st switch it up this year, with a really broad range of pieces and some great experimentation. Looking forward to what 2020 will bring from him… no pressure there then.
Another orange piece in the orange setting of St Werburghs tunnel, this time from ‘Mr consistency’ Rusk. As I would expect from the artist this is a beautifully worked and tight piece that probably disguises the effort put in, as I know that Rusk is something of a perfectionist.
I particularly like the way the wavy fill in the bottom half of the letters is continuous despite the breaks, demonstrating some great ‘cutting in’ technique. In recent weeks Rusk seems to have favoured the tunnel – perhaps something to do with the dismal wet weather we have been having.
Natural adventures 