Tag: Whale

6966. Brunel Way (317)

Mr Draws, Brunel Way, Bristol, May 2025
Mr Draws, Brunel Way, Bristol, May 2025

Mr Draws has been a long-standing green campaigner, and every once in a while he reminds us of that, often with the help of Whales, the symbol of the global need for conservation, alongside the polar bear and panda. Indeed, whales have been something of a success story, with populations of most species recovering since the ban on hunting for whales. The success could only be achieved through a global agreement, which had a couple of unhelpful exceptions, and cooperation, which is a lesson we need to take forward for other global issues.

Mr Draws, Brunel Way, Bristol, May 2025
Mr Draws, Brunel Way, Bristol, May 2025

This piece has a wonderful sense of peace about it, and a tone of regret and remorse. The whale is set in a nicely presented sea of blue and chrome, frames in a pink box. Keep up the good work, Mr Draws… keep reminding us.

6513. Dean Lane skate park (776)

Mr Draws, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2024
Mr Draws, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2024

Whales have been quite a common theme in Mr Draws’ artwork, both in the studio and on walls big and small. I guess that these large mammals are representative of the threats and opportunities for our planet, and something I know Mr Draws cares a lot about. This piece combines his writing with nature, a concept I wholly endorse.

Mr Draws, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2024
Mr Draws, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2024

The letters DRAWS provide a backdrop for the blue whale character and some greenery. It was painted as part of a Halloween paint jam and there is plenty of symbolism in the piece, where the underlying message is that if you meddle with nature we are walking down the path of doom. Cheery huh? Great stuff from the thoughtful Mr Draws.

5402. St Werburghs tunnel (376)

Mr Draws, St Werburghs, Bristol, July 2023
Mr Draws, St Werburghs, Bristol, July 2023

When I last met Mr Draws under Brunel Way about a month ago, he told me that he was keen to paint more pieces with an environmental or protest theme. Well with  Prime Minister who seems to be hell bent on waging war against nature and the ‘green blob’ as hard right populists tend to do, Mr Draws’ efforts have never been more timely.

Mr Draws, St Werburghs, Bristol, July 2023
Mr Draws, St Werburghs, Bristol, July 2023

This is a beautiful piece of the fluke from a whale breaking the surface before descending into the depths, helps to remind us about what is important on this Earth we call home. The atmospheric piece appears to capture the movement and grace of the whale, a sight we are familiar with through viewing wildlife films, but which we rarely glimpse first hand. Bravo Mr Draws, please keep up these genuine efforts to make the world a better place.

3908. Upfest 2021 75×75 (52)

I am generally pretty well tapped into the appearance of new pieces in Bristol through Instagram and Twitter, especially anything to do with Upfest, which made finding this piece accidentally/incidentally, by Sophie Long, extra special. Sophie Long is a Bristol artist who creates stunning colourful canvasses and murals of wild animals (and usually lots of lovely drips too), and who is an Upfest favourite.

Sophie Long, North Street, Bristol, August 2021, Upfest 21
Sophie Long, North Street, Bristol, August 2021, Upfest 21

These beautiful whale pieces, on the door shutter and wall of People Solutions on North Street, replace a pair of octopi from a previous Upfest event. Sophie Long has managed to use the vertical space brilliantly, who’d have thought you could paint blue whales in a diving pose?

Sophie Long, North Street, Bristol, August 2021, Upfest 21
Sophie Long, North Street, Bristol, August 2021, Upfest 21

There is always an emotional connection with our largest mammal cousins and Sophie Long has done a brilliant job at representing that connection. Skilfully painted in ghostly colours, these two leviathans remind us of the fragility of biodiversity on Earth. Beautiful.

2719. North Street

During last summer, when Mr Draws painted this beast, it was impossible to get any photographs of it at all because it was behind a whole bunch of large leafy shrubs. Summer has yielded to winter and the leaves on the tree have fallen and the Council gardeners have cleared the shrubs. The outcome is that this magnificent whale is now visible to the world.

Mr Draws, North Street, Bristol, January 2020
Mr Draws, North Street, Bristol, January 2020

This whale is not the first Mr Draws has painted, indeed he sprayed one around the same time at the Cheltenham Paint Festival. It is however a bit of a departure from his graffiti writing or his mountains. I like the piece very much, it has a certain solemnity and mystery about it. Glad to have captured it at last.

2429. Upfest 2018 (151)

I felt it was probably time to pick up on a few more Upfest 2018 pieces starting with this beautiful Whale and Gannet work with a very strong environmental message from Adelle Gough. The text says “You are not a drop in the ocean, you are the entire ocean in a drop”.

Adelle Gough, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
Adelle Gough, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018

I like the style Adelle has used for this piece very much, and it has quite an illustrative feel to it, like it could be the cover of a children’s book on plastic waste or something like that. There is a narrative in the piece that is clear to see, with tin can plastic binding caught around the gannet’s neck.

Adelle Gough, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
Adelle Gough, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018

Adelle likes to call Stroud her home, but appers to do quite a lot of travelling around the country. She has a fine website Green Bow Tie Works that houses a gallery of her works and there is an interesting profile/biography of the artist which outlines her love for nature and the natural world. Whale pieces always go down well with me.

2340. Dean Lane skate park (234)

I was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time and watch Casette (@ros-fables) as he finished off this rather beautiful whale piece in Dean Lane. I haven’t come across the artist before, so it was great to meet him, albeit briefly, on his visit to Bristol from (I think) the west country.

Casette, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2019
Casette, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2019

The sperm whale (blue whale?) is set on a fat striped background, a theme that is carried into the body of the whale. I was pleased to see Casette using a bit of cardboard to mask the spray over some of the details, something I have started doing quite a lot – obviously a legit technique. Pleased to have seen this lovely one-off, until he next returns.

2278. River Frome

I love this recent piece by Haka adjacent to the M32 roundabout where the River Frome flows from a culvert that carries it under the motorway. It is a very witty pun piece which I guess might be called ‘Where’s Whaley’ after the children’s puzzle books.

Haka, River Frome, Bristol, June 2019
Haka, River Frome, Bristol, June 2019

I guess that it was painted when the river was low before the sustained period of rain we have had recently. Another feature of Haka’s work is that he usually accompanies it with a tribute to a graffiti writer friend of his, CKOne, who passed away in a motorcycle accident in December 2011. It is touching that he continues to honour his friend in this way.

1028. Upfest 2017 (56)

On the hoardings in Raleigh Road, there were some really high quality pieces, including this rather posh whale by Boaster. His Upfest profile reads:

‘Hailing from Nottingham,graffiti artist Boaster brings his own style to his quirky, gritty and sometimes macarbe characters. Part of crews The Shrunken Heads(SH) and In Living Colour(ILC), this long standing painter continues to ruin peoples walls up and down the country!!!’

Which all sounds rather fun.

Boaster, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
Boaster, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017

There is a nice story here of a rather grumpy looking, well-heeled whale, and it is difficult not to admire the pipe, top hat and monocle. I am not familiar at all with Boaster’s work, but you can see more on this Global Street Art page.

Boaster, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
Boaster, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017

 

781. Upfest 2016 (125)

A man with a proper man cave. Luke Hollingworth, AKA Stencil Shed, AKA Syd is an artist who works in his shed, and outside his shed. This is one of his ‘outside’ pieces that he did for Upfest, and what a great piece it is.

Stencil Shed, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
Stencil Shed, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

Unfortunately I only got a couple of pictures of it, but I remember thinking at the time how much I liked it. It has a story, a message. On a Tumblr feed Syd wrote:

‘My 12ft X 8 ft piece for @upfest. Two great endangered species, the sperm whale and the black rhino. Mashed up and contained in Hirst like formaldehyde. Have to say always find it challenging to come up with something decent when painting on boards (90% of artists get boards at upfest.) my usual street pieces are woven into the wall. This hits the spot I’m hoping with its inventiveness. Revisiting an old concept of mine from 2013 when I placed Damien Hirst in formaldehyde in a field of cows. This one more of a play on his shark turner prize winning conceptual art. Down super quick as my wife is 7 days overdue on the birth of our second child, gulp.’

Says it all really.