Urban – Page 74 – Natural adventures

Thursday Doors – 19 June 2025 – Doors of Leicester

Doors 312 – Leicester, Leicestershire (part II) – May 2024

This is a second selection of doors from Leicester, a city I visited for the first time in May 2024. I was there for work, but made the most of my overnight stay to explore the city and naturally take some door photographs.

Leicester is not a ‘honey pot’ city that you would necessarily choose as a holiday destination, but it has its own distinctive history, heritage and charm, and is surrounded by some beautiful Leicestershire countryside.

These doors are the middle selection of three, I hope you enjoy them:

You have to love doors within doors like this one, Leicester, May 2024

Grey door with interesting panelling, Leicester, May 2024

Two fine black doors, Leicester, May 2024

Ornate door and large lamp, Leicester, May 2024

Sumptuous deep red doors, Leicester, May 2024

Entrance to Royal Arcade, with doors aplenty, Leicester, May 2024

Haymarket memorial clock tower with gated arches, Leicester, May 2024

So that’s it for this week, with one more selection from Leicester, although that isn’t quite true, because I returned to the city a couple of months later, with my team in to visit the new Bradgate Park and Swithland Wood National Nature Reserve which had just been declared and was the purpose of my visit on this occasion, so expect a second set of doors from Leicester in due course.

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.

6979. Cumberland Basin

Zake, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, May 2025

This piece by Zake is something a little different, a variation on a theme from the artist. It is rare to see Zake paint anything approximating to letters, but here we are with an unusual combination piece.

Two letters and two faces, making up the vowels, are nicely designed and set on a grey background with watery bubbles. For once, I will forgive the use of brown paint, because it is subtle and in keeping with the ‘slatey’, earthy, feel of the whole composition. It is always a pleasure to see artists try something new.

6978. M32 roundabout (690)

Dun Sum, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2025

There is something rather special and unique about Dun Sum’s incredible creations. He doesn’t come into the centre of Bristol often, but when he does, his work always makes an impact. Often, Dun Sum will paint approximations of real creatures, but there is usually a bit of a twist, and sometimes complete fantasy. This chameleon, however, is identifiable as such, with only a little artistic cartoon licence.

Having had a household chameleon pet ‘George’ a few years back, I am rather partial to any piece representing the charming little lizards. There is plenty of charm and humour in this piece, something Dun Sum excels at, and great to see him paint on the roundabout for Hypo’s birthday paint jam.

6977. St Werburghs tunnel (505)

Neddy Ned Neddy, St Werburghs, Bristol, May 2025

I feel like I ought to have posted far more pieces by Neddy Ned Neddy than I actually have, and I can’t really be too sure why that is. Anyhow, this is a superb piece painted in his unique style as part of the very well-attended birthday paint jam for Wispa.

Rather confusingly, Neddy Ned Neddy writes WISKA, which is coincidental to it being a celebration for Wispa, some of the other artists involved in the paint jam have altered their letters to read Wispa, but not the most obvious candidate, and I think he probably missed a trick here. This is a wonderfully worked piece with a sumptuous blended fill, looking like a kind of swirly marbling. A distinctive and really cool piece of graffiti writing.

6976. M32 roundabout J3 (689)

It barely needs repeating, but Hypo has been smashing it for at least a year now, and each of his pieces brings to the fore another aspect of his technical ability and creativity. This rhapsody in blue was one of a couple of recent pieces painted on this wall by Hypo.

To manage to get a piece to ‘pop’ when it is painted in the same colour as the background is a skilful thing to do and Hypo has managed to do it well here with a clever use of a deep 3D grey drop shadow and some deft white highlights and starbursts. The tones are really lovely and his fills intricate with blue stars and yellow spots. A very fine piece of graffiti writing.

6974. St Werburghs tunnel (504)

Scrapyardspec, St Werburghs, Bristol, May 2025

Scrapyardspec has been back in town with a raft of new wacky faces, including this long piece just outside St Werburghs tunnel. Over the last week or two, I have been finding more and more of these goofy monsters, which has been rather fun, and you can expect to see more here soon.

This piece fits the size and shape of the wall perfectly, being squashed and elongated, affording space for three eyes, and a very long toothy smile. I love the way that Scrapyardspec manages to maintain an incredibly consistent style with all different shapes and sizes of characters. A creative idea/theme nicely executed.

6973. Dean Lane skate park (839)

I have recently met Mesk (@lazureness) a couple of times recently, and he is a lovely chatty bloke. I am sure I have seen his work before, and feel like I have posted it, but it looks like this is the first piece of his that has appeared on Natural Adventures. Furthermore, I am hoping to photograph another oner today, if it is still there and I can park nearby.

I watched as Mesk started this piece off. It is a small spot, but I think he has done a brilliant job with it. Such tidy presentation is assisted by buffing out the wall first with a neutral grey. Great letters, straightforward colours (three horizontal yellows) and a nice deep red and black 3D drop shadow. What’s not to like?

6972. M32 roundabout J3 (688)

There was a fabulous turnout for Hypo’s birthday paint jam a little way back, and one of the highlights for me was this small piece by occasional artist Posh. By occasional, I mean that he doesn’t paint the streets all that often, which is a real pity, because his work is refreshingly different.

Posh has painted a collection of curious characters who seem to be having a fun time. I think the monocles and top hats are part of the whole posh thing. Is that a cake the girl is holding? And who is the dude in the aeroplane? There is lots happening in this busy sketch piece. Looking forward to seeing more from Posh.

6971. Cumberland Basin

Kush, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, May 2025

Although I see a little bit of his work around the place, this is only the third piece by Kush that I have posted on Natural Adventures. His selection of ‘fruit salad’ colours gives his writing an uplifting presence. The letters KUSH are nicely designed and uniform with nicely graded fills.

Some nice depth is achieved with his orange 3D drop shadow, but the piece is probably most notable for the message ‘Free Palestine’ which is a common theme in street art in Bristol. Kush has also filled his letters with loads of shout-outs, and a smaller message in case you didn’t get it first time, ‘stop arming Israel’. While the world disintegrates and wars dominate the headlines, these guys modestly protest and document the world around them.

6970. Greenbank (161)

Conrico and Werm, Greenbank, Bristol, May 2025

This is a fine collaboration from two artists who never seem to stop, both totally dedicated to their art and sharing it with us. This is the kind of collaboration which is more about artists painting together rather than any kind of fusion between their styles, colours or design.

On the left, Conrico presents a portrait of a woman in the foreground, who looks like she is taking a selfie in front of an island paradise – probably a Japanese island in the East China Sea. Conrico’s portraits are improving all the time and becoming more of a feature of his work. Of course, he has enough paint to add in his letters, with a feint reflection in the inviting sea.

To the right, Werm’s letters are beautifully presented, with the middle two letters a little smaller and ‘sitting on top’ of the rest of the piece. Lots of depth and intricate design work in this graffiti writing. Both artists have very different technical styles, but this collaboration works incredibly well.

	skat on Champions
	Wes Vinglun (aka) Ni… on 7665. Greenbank (187)
	hitandrun1964 on Champions
	hitandrun1964 on Thursday Doors – 21 May…
	hitandrun1964 on 7661. River Avon (120)

	skat on Champions
	Wes Vinglun (aka) Ni… on 7665. Greenbank (187)
	hitandrun1964 on Champions
	hitandrun1964 on Thursday Doors – 21 May…
	hitandrun1964 on 7661. River Avon (120)

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