.
Garlic bulbs purchased
ready to plant tomorrow;
thinking of summer.
.
by Scooj
.
Garlic bulbs purchased
ready to plant tomorrow;
thinking of summer.
.
by Scooj
Right up at the north end of Moon Street you will still find this nice writing from Whysayit. Unfirtunately, every time I pass it, which tends to be in the mornings…these days I get the bus home…it is in shadow, so these pictures don’t really bring out the full colour Whysayit has used.

His choice of colours is unusual, especially the lilac background. Maybe he buys his paint from the same place as Face F1st. The writing spells out YSAE, which I guess stands for ‘Why Say’. Always nice to find work by this modest graffiti artist.
October records
due to be broken as the
warm weather moves in.
by Scooj.
These are two really beautiful pieces that I wish I’d spent more time looking at during my walk around North Street Green at Upfest. Each of them is calming and serene, and they make a fine pair. I am not sure if the co-location was by accident or by design, but it works very well.

The left hand side is by Paintily, a Bristol-based artist originally from Brighton. There is something about this stencil that I like a lot, and the stripes on the face of the girl finish the piece off beautifully. I have not seen any of her work before, but would love to see her take her work to the streets.

The right hand side is by Taina, and has the feel of a children’s book illustration. Such a simple idea and so beautifully painted, there is a whole story unfolding here, and one I want to know more about. Taina is a Swiss-Finnish artist based in Zurich whose work I think I could very well fall in love with. A quick look at this website might give you an insight as to why I like her work so much. I definitely want her to return next year.

This stunning work was the official piece from Oze Arv this year, although he left behind several other pieces in Bristol before he departed. I had not seen his work before Upfest, but everything I have seen I like a lot.

There is something about black and white check in street art that I really like, and here it blends beautifully with the softer abstract shapes. There is a story being told here, and the two orange circles contain elements central to this story. I like pretty much everything about this piece, and look forward to posting more from this Portuguese artist before too long.

More mischief from Jake the Dog and his master costume designer Losthills at Upfest this year. In the first picture we see Jake as a late 1970s punk, complete with colourful mohican haircut, chain and earring, holding an anarchy badge.

In the second picture, which was taken in the back yard of The Steamcrane pub, Jake is dressed as some kind of robot with a heart. This is probably influenced by a film or something, but I am not too sure. All good fun though. Plenty more to come.

My first Thursday door.

North Street, Bedminster, Bristol.
by Scooj
Spot the Badger has an interesting story to tell about how badgers became the ‘thing’, and the Upfest programme biography reads:
Why Badgers? I’ve always been drawing and making things but lacked direction in my output. I needed a focus, and ‘Spot The Badger’ is where I found it. A weekly competition in my local paper to ‘spot’ a tic-tac sized Badger hidden in one of the paid-for ads, I created a stencil of this little Badger and began to draw him in different styles, leading me to where I am today.
For a self-taught artist, there are some really nice design features in this piece, but of course the badger is king.

Spot the Badger is a Bristol-based artist and this piece for Upfest contains that most iconic of Bristol landmarks, the Clifton suspension bridge. I do love these reference points that Bristol artists add to their works. (Yet another note to self…post a special suspension bridge collection).
Smile of a stranger
distracts me from the humdrum;
recalibration.
by Scooj
There is a lot of fun in this piece by Mas972, and I enjoyed watching it progress over the Upfest weekend. I managed to grab a little time chatting with the artist and told him I remembered his piece from last year. What I didn’t say to him though was that I thought this piece was much better, but that is just a personal opinion.

I was interested to see how Mas972 went about this piece and by the time I first visited he had already completed the background and begun work on the characters.

I have huge admiration for these artists and the way the approach their work. They have vision, talent and experience which they apply adeptly to create these marvels.

The characters in this piece are beautifully crafted and so full of mischief. I like the way the yellow eyes and teeth really stand out, bringing them alive.

A nice touch is that these cheerleading characters are wearing bibs which carry the letters M A S. I do very much hope Mas972 returns next year.