“I’m avin this trolley”. How skilful Merny is as a storyteller… even with her back turned to us you can tell this is an elderly lady making a grab for a trolley outside a supermarket. A lady unshakable in her determination to have what she has set her eyes on – we’ve all encountered this lady at some time in our lives.
Merny, M32 roundabout, Bristol, April 2023
Merny’s naive style works perfectly for this scenario, and there is an honesty and authenticity in his work, which contributes to the storytelling. As with all his works, Merny has added a series of numbered pointers, suggesting there is a key explaining the elements of the picture, such a clever and compelling mechanism. There is always so much to enjoy about Merny’s work.
It is great to see that Hire is getting out a bit more these days. His stunning pieces have been a constant backdrop in Natural Adventures over the last few years, alongside other favourite artists. His work is always beautifully presented, and he appears to take pride in his work, albeit incredibly modestly.
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2023
This piece spells out BF, which old ‘sieve brain’ here has forgotten despite being told what it stood for, only last week. The letters are crafted in his jagged writing style, tempered with a smoothness that has crept into his work more of late. The red centre and brown shading around the outside complement the work expertly. Imagine what this would look like without the accompaniments. Classy work, and a classy shadowed signature too.
This is another debut for an artist on Natural Adventures. I have been aware of Blimma Blamma’s unusual characters in Bristol for quite a while now, but only recently found out who they were, thanks to Instagram.
Blimma Blamma, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2023
Blimma Blamma has a very distinct style and paints a character unlike anything else you might see about the place. I’m not entirely certain, but the character to me looks like a man inside a bear costume, with his face peering out of the bear’s mouth. Distinctive additions are the pink belly button and nipples, which look like those tiny ‘iced gem’ biscuits you used to get as a kid. Slightly curious and intriguing piece – more to come from the archives soon.
Not so long ago, some nasty people set fire to a car under this small subway. Now it might be my age, but I just don’t understand why people do this kind of thing – life is hard enough without mindless idiots making things more unpleasant for everyone around them. In spite of this, almost phoenix-like, Risco, known for his epic work, has crafted one of his skeletal pieces, using the sooty residue from the fire as his background.
Risco, New Stadium Road, Bristol, March 2023
The snake skeleton sits on top of a Claro_que_sssnoh piece and Haka piece, and gives them a second life after the fire. It is interesting to note that precious little tidy up has been done by Bristol City Council, apart from removal of the car, and it is the graffiti artists who have immediately moved in and brightened things up. You can be certain that a burnt out car and any damage caused in a more well-heeled area of Bristol would have been cleaned up immediately.
The paradox is that the Council are furiously buffing well known and much loved graffiti walls grey, in their war against ‘antisocial behaviour’, but they haven’t cleaned and painted the walls of this underpass which has been the site of far more serious anti-social behaviour, in my view. Double standards, appealing to the affluent and Pius communities in the City.
I feel like I have posted so many Logoe pieces over the last eighteen months or so, that I don’t really need to say too much, in fact can’t say too much that I haven’t said before – to summarise; script writing, great colour palette and horizontal strip of oval dots adding interest.
Logoe, Brunel Way, Bristol, April 2023
I suppose that what is slightly different about this chrome writing is that the letters are a bit fatter than of late, and there are a rather nice couple of underlines incorporated into the piece. Some great shout-outs to Haka, Tes (Slim Pickings), Kush and Silent Hobo, accompany the piece. More to come from Logoe’s most recent Bristol blitz.
In mid-March, I first posted a piece by Raid, saying that there was more to come. Today is the third piece from the artist to appear on Natural Adventures and there will be plenty more this year I’m sure.
Raid, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, March 2023
Raid is a graffiti writer who likes to keep a fixed general shape and design of his letters, but introduces the magic with fills, shadows, borders and backgrounds. One of the very clever techniques he uses, and which I haven’t really seen from other artists, is to use two colours in the 3D drop shadow, in this instance black augmented with green ‘slabs’ or ovals, which adds texture and depth to the edges. The silver letters are nicely patterned with a blue and pink ridge line and some spots for good measure. I am interested to see where Raid takes us on his painting journey.
Hypo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, October 2025Hypo, St Werburghs, Bristol, October 2025Hypo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, September 2025Hypo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2025Hypo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2025Hypo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2025Hypo and Minto, St Werburghs, Bristol, August 2025Hypo, L Dub, Bristol, June 2025Hypo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2025Hypo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2025Hypo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2025Hypo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2025Hypo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2025Hypo, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2025Hemper and Hypo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2025Hypo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2025Hypo, St Werburghs, Bristol, December 2024Hypo, St Werburghs, Bristol, November 2024Hypo, St Werburghs, Bristol, October 2024
Hypo, M32 roundbout, Bristol, October 2024
Hypo, L Dub, Bristol, October, 2024
Hypo, St Werburghs, Bristol, September 2024
Hypo, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2024
Hypo, L Dub, Bristol, August 2024
Hypo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2024
Hypo and Ulow, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2024
Hypo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2024
Hypo, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, June 2024
Hypo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, April 2024
Hypo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2024
Hypo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, December 2023
Hypo, St Werburghs, Bristol, January 2024
Hypo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, November 2023Hypo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, November 2023Hypo, L Dub, Bristol, August 2023Hypo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2023Hypo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2023Hypo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2023Hypo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, April 2023Hypo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, April 2023Hypo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2023Hypo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, December 2022Hypo, St Werburghs, Bristol, November 2022Hypo, St Werburghs, Bristol, October 2022Hypo, St Werburghs, Bristol, September 2022Hypo, St Werburghs, Bristol, August 2022Hypo, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018Hypo, M32 cycle path, Bristol, October 2019Hypo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, September 2019Hypo, St Werburghs, Bristol, August 2019Hypo, M32 cycle path, Bristol, June 2019Hypo, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016Hypo, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017Hypo, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
I have been photographing Kush pieces for a few years, but I think that this might be the first that I have published. I think that this horrendous under-representation on Natural Adventures has simply been down to not knowing who Kush is or even which artists he associates with. Anyhow, I feel it is time to start publishing his work, so expect to see some archive Kush pieces over the coming weeks and months.
Kush, Brunel Way, Bristol, March 2023
Kush is an artist who pretty much always writes the same letters but always in a different form or design, demonstrating his skill, experience and technique on every outing. This piece, under Brunel Way, has rather nice curvy, cartoonish letters which are filled with a wonderful splash of colours – this is a classy piece. It might be my imagination, but it feels like Kush is painting more frequently these days, which means I am sure to be featuring his work more often.
When I first encountered Face 1st’s work, his pieces were more commonly painted solo, with occasional PWA paint jams, particularly with Soap, but more recently he has rarely painted without some of his buddies, this piece on the M32 roundabout being an exception. Maybe all his PWA mates were busy that day.
Face 1st, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2023
I love the way that Face 1st constantly plays with new ideas and themes, and then adds them to his repertoire. This is a traditional Face 1st idea, a face with hair spelling FACE, but the letters are deep 3D block letters which he has been including more often recently, and there is a lot of gloopy dripping going on, something he started to include in his work about two years ago. This is a fun and eye-catching piece from the prolific Face 1st.
Green door behind a security gate, Lone Rambler, Bristol, May 2022
A quick trawl through my archives this week has thrown up some interesting doors from around the city of Bristol. These pictures were taken a little while back, and I can’t actually remember where most of them are from.
The selection is a real mixed bag of styles and periods, which rather fairly represents the eclectic architecture in Bristol. Before the blitz, there was a much more uniform transition of architectural periods, but the bomb damage has fragmented the styles, and some of the modern replacement buildings certainly favoured function over form.
I hope you enjoy this small selection:
Green door and unusual windows, Greenbank, Bristol, January 2023
Seen-better-days door, Bristol, May 2022
Boring modern door and fine doorway, Bristol, May 2022
Three doors, Bristol, May 2022
Black door and very grand portico, Bristol, May 2022
That’s it for another week – I need to go on a couple of doorscursions soon, because my supply is drying up a little. May I wish you a happy 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 Thursday Doors post.