Florist, Upfest 2026, Merrywood Road, Bristol, May 2026
This particular spot, a bricked up window recess, has hosted some wonderful Upfest pieces over the years, and this time it is the turn of a mosaic artist from London called Florist.
Florist, Upfest 2026, Merrywood Road, Bristol, May 2026
The mosaic was installed in about five or six prepared sections and the shoes, part of the installation, were attached with adhesive to the window sill. The outcome is a beautiful scene, with a man sitting on a bench with some flowers. What is the story behind the piece? Perhaps only Florist knows. Something a little different for the festival.
Over the years the format of Upfest has evolved, in part to accommodate so many artists descending on the city, and to manage the spike in crowds that visit. The new format has spread the festival over three weekends, and a focus on new large feature walls. Each weekend, there is an opportunity for artists, many of whom are new to Upfest, to showcase their work on small 1m x 1m boards at the Tobacco Factory. I will try to include some of these in my Upfest posts, starting with these three.
Unknown artist, Upfest 2026, Tobacco Factory, Bristol, May 2026
First up is a piece by an artist whose signature I can’t read and have tried lots of variants on Instagram and Google searches, but with no positive result. This is a fabulous illustration piece with a cartoon-style girl drawing and colouring animals, examples of which are distributed about the piece. A wonderful and fun creative idea.
Ryan Gajda, Upfest 2026, Tobacco Factory, Bristol, May 2026
Next up is a vibrant portrait by Ryan Gajda, of a woman sitting in a cross-legged position, and the sun at her back. An interesting style, with a combination of presence and absence of detail.
Andy Downes, Upfest 2026, Tobacco Factory, Bristol, May 2026
Finally, a busy portrait piece by Andy Downes, celebrating Upfest and Bristol, incorporated in the glasses. The artwork is superb, with the portrait composed of flashes of light and dark colour creating light and shade and consequently depth. Some pink and black lines frame the piece nicely.
Sepr, Upfest 2026, Stillhouse Lane, Bristol, May 2026
The organisers of Upfest have been keeping busy since the last Upfest in 2024, and incorporated a host of new walls to show off local, national and international talent for this year’s festival. This wall is tucked away just south of the east end of East Street, and is in an area I’m not sure that I have ever been to before. The wall is on the side of a light industrial unit called Willway Yard, with plenty of space for multiple artists. One of the first to complete his allocated space is Bristol artist Sean Sepr.
Sepr, Upfest 2026, Stillhouse Lane, Bristol, May 2026
Sepr has an extraordinary talent for telling elaborate stories in his cartoon-style pieces. Everything is laid out with clarity and humour, and then it is up to the viewer to piece it all together into some kind of narrative. My reading of the situation is that a cyclist has had a bit of an accident, running into some wet concrete perhaps and rather than helping him, a collection of animals are taking advantage of the unfortunate protagonist and generally being unhelpful. I love the way the fox is stealing his shoes and socks. Creative and imaginative.
Bex Glover, Upfest 2026, Ashman Road, Bristol, May 2026
This piece by Bex Glover is a beauty and a treat, and one of two pieces she has painted for Upfest 2026. Her work is right up my street, nearly always featuring a natural history narrative, painted in her unique style, usually steeped in her light blues, but in this instance augmented with a stunning deep red archway.
Bex Glover, Upfest 2026, Ashman Road, Bristol, May 2026
The piece has at its centre a stunning fox, beautifully presented, standing on a patch of grass and peering through the archway to a watery scene with a town in the distance, perhaps a depiction of old Bristol itself. A stunning piece for Upfest from one of our own artists.
Well, this year’s Upfest has crept up on me a little. I have been very busy and not had much headspace to recognise Europe’s largest street art festival which began last weekend, and will continue until the end of May 2026. This time the festival has been spread over three weekends and is rather fragmented, with no single festival focal point, which is a pity. This approach has been implemented to spread the crowds over a longer period and avoid some of the festival shenanigans that have caused a few problems for the council in the past. It is funny how they continue to allow the Harbourside Festival to operate, and which has a terrible reputation for antisocial behaviour, but curtail the much friendlier Upfest. Some unconscious bias at work methinks.
#DFTE, Upfest 2026, Lime Road, Bristol, May 2026
My opener for this year’s festival is this wonderful musing by #DFTE, the master of the thoughtful slogan and repairer of souls. His message this year is short and sweet “Today will be a good day” and for most festival visitors that is probably about right. It is worth having a little look at this charming gallery of his thoughtful work.
I am very busy at the moment and haven’t had time to prepare the next set of Shrewsbury doors, so as is my custom when under time-pressure, I am repurposing some old graffiti/street art pictures that have already been published on this blog that feature doors. It means I can keep my rhythm going, quickly and easily.
These pictures were originally posted in October-December 2024 and were photographed from May 2024 onwards. I hope you enjoy them
Farrah, Eastgate Retail Park, Bristol, October 2024Hazard, Little Bishop Street, Bristol, August 2024Astrea (HNH), Muriel Alleyway, Bristol, August 2024Dave Bain and David J. McMillan, Church Road, Bristol, September 2024Zase, Newfoundland Road, Bristol, November 2024Zase, Newfoundland Road, Bristol, November 2024Sepr, Gloucester Road, Bristol, November 2024Perspicere, Hornsey Road, North London, December 2024Hazard, Gloucester Road, Bristol, September 2024Dave Bain, Upfest 2024, Bristol, May 2024Katie Scott, Upfest 24, Lime Road, Bristol, May 2024
That’s it for this week, I hope to get back on track with more doors from Shrewsbury next time. Have a great weekend.
If you have made it this far, you probably like doors, and you really ought to take a look at the No Facilities blog by Dan Anton who has taken over the hosting of Thursday Doors from Norm 2.0 blog. Links to more doorscursions can be found in the comments section of Dan Anton’s weekly Thursday Doors post and his Sunday recap.
Whenever I run a street art doors post, it tends to signal that I am busy or under pressure and haven’t had time to sort out a ‘regular’ post. I have just returned from holiday and simply haven’t been able to prepare for the continuation of Marrakesh Doors that I was expecting to post today.
The reason it is quicker to post about street art doors is that all the pictures have previously appeared on Natural Adventures in my street art/graffiti posts, and are ready to go, which means the only bit I have to sort out is this writing bit.
These pictures were mostly taken in May last year, many of them painted during the Upfest 24 paint festival (the largest street art festival in Europe). I hope you enjoy them.
M. Oldhues, Ashton Road, Upfest 24, Bristol, May 2024
Abraham.O, North Street, Upfest 24, Bristol, May 2024
Zoe Power, Wilder Street, Bristol, May 2024
Yoliws, North Street, Bristol, January 2024
Jagung, Upfest 24, West Street, Bristol, May 2024
Emotional Waterfall Art, Upfest 24, Exeter Road, Bristol, May 2024
Bex Glover, Upfest 24, Stackpool Road, Bristol, May 2024
Sepr, Upfest 24, The Nursery, Bristol, May 2024
Shane O’Malley, Upfest 24, Bedminster Down Road, Bristol, May 2024
Stewy, Grevile Smyth Park, Bristol, May 2024
I sincerely hope that normal service will return next time as I continue with some more wonderful doors from Marrakesh. Have a great end of week and weekend.
If you have made it this far, you probably like doors, and you really ought to take a look at the No Facilities blog by Dan Anton who has taken over the hosting of Thursday Doors from Norm 2.0 blog. Links to more doorscursions can be found in the comments section of Dan Anton’s weekly Thursday Doors post.
Jack Lack, Upfest 24, Greville Street, Bristol, May 2024
Jack Lack is an artist from Stuttgart, Germany, who is a muralist who uses cans and rollers in his work, influenced by the graffiti scene. When I first saw this impressive and moving piece, I assumed the animal was a fox, but it was nagging me that the proportions of the snout, and markings were all wrong. It turns out that it is a red panda, and this is what the artist wrote about the piece:
Sometimes things are easier to comprehend if they are fluffy, so here is an endangered red panda dealing with a pointy nest. Hopefully soon we can steer the world to an increase in safe homes for everyone.
Jack Lack, Upfest 24, Greville Street, Bristol, May 2024
So it would seem that the red panda nestled in amongst some arrows is a metaphor for safe homes for everyone, and I guess that means domestically and those suffering in war zones or other disaster areas around the world. It is a powerful piece, but more than that it is superbly painted, and a stand out piece from the 2024 Upfest festival.
Dave Bain is a reasonably well known muralist in Bristol, and I have featured a few of his pieces before in Natural Adventures. This was his Upfest 2024 piece, which as you can see took up the whole front of a terraced house, giving it that something special compared to its neighbours.
Dave Bain, Upfest 2024, Bristol, May 2024
Dave Bain’s imagination and creativity have run wild in this floral piece which combined familiar shapes and figures with abstract ones. There may be a little symbolism in the piece too, with a spaceman-like figure holding up a polyhedral shape on a starry background. I feel that sometimes Dave Bain could be a little bit more adventurous with his colours, because this colour palette is quite subtle, and perhaps doesn’t do the artwork justice (my view only). An interesting festival piece.
Katie Scott, Upfest 24, Lime Road, Bristol, May 2024
Peeping over a wall in Lime Road, is this extraordinary toy Troll piece by Katie Scott, who has been smashing it with her amazing toy work, including Barbies, over the last couple of years. Definitely this is one of the most memorable pieces of 2024 and unfortunately one of the most difficult to photograph. I think it is now time to yield to drone envy and ask for one for my birthday.
Katie Scott, Upfest 24, Lime Road, Bristol, May 2024
The whole piece, includes a woman’s hand holding the Troll, but that part of her work is hidden in an inaccessible and rather narrow lane. Although difficult to capture, the piece itself is perfectly painted, and one of the trademarks of Katie Scott’s work is the animation photorealism she manages to achieve, as if the image were from a Disney Pixar still or something like that.
Katie Scott, Upfest 24, Lime Road, Bristol, May 2024
Katie Scott painted an unbelievable Barbie doll at the Cheltenham Paint Festival in 2023, but I never got to see and photograph the completed piece. She is definitely a rising star, and her talent is out there for everyone to see. As for the Troll, I rather hope that it isn’t overpainted, because it looks so right where it is.
Natural adventures 