Tag: wildlife

315. Leake Street tunnel, London (1)

Serendipity.

Fortune favours those who go in pursuit of dreams (or something like that). My new role took me to London Earlier this week, and I spent a night in an hotel in Vauxhall. I don’t know much about the street art scene in London, other than that there is a lot in Shoreditch and in Camden Town. I keep a close eye on the London Calling blog to keep pace with the astonishing stuff that hits the streets of London.

I had heard about a tunnel in Waterloo that had loads of street art in it, so I went off in search of it. It took a while to find, because I didn’t really know what I was looking for, but find it I did, and I was staggered. Here were dozens of works on the walls and ceilings along the entire length of the tunnel. Aladdin’s Cave, no messing.

I was in for even more luck – my trip coincided with a very recent festival that had been held (at the weekend?) in support of raising funds for the #do1cancer graffiti jam. The walls were festooned with fresh pieces with a cancer theme. This is the first of my posts from Monday 4 July. Please read the link above, as it puts this festival into context.

Gnasher, Leake Street, London, 4 July 2016
Gnasher, Leake Street, London, 4 July 2016

This extraordinary piece is by Gnasher (David Nash), who uses spray cans to produce hyper-real art – just amazing. This piece looks like an enormous blow up of a photograph. Big respect indeed.

Gnasher, Leake Street, London, 4 July 2016
Gnasher, Leake Street, London, 4 July 2016

You can find out more about this incredible artist from his excellent website. Together, the #do1cancer campaign has raised awareness of how cancer can impact on our lives, and is actively raising money through the support of graffiti artists and graffiti enthusiasts. Admirable stuff.

Gnasher, Leake Street, London, 4 July 2016
Gnasher, Leake Street, London, 4 July 2016

314, North Street, Standard (2)

A little while ago, Jody created this beautiful detailed piece, which was very quickly adopted as the Upfest Twitter icon, only recently replaced by Cheo’s design. Jody’s work has an incredible realism and then tosses the realism into a surreal setting.

Jody, North Street, Bristol, April 2016
Jody, North Street, Bristol, April 2016

At last year’s Upfest he produced an incredible work of fingers dripping with oil, and here we have this delicate image of two hands making a heart shape, and encompassing a moth. Full of symbolism? Maybe.

Jody, North Street, Bristol, April 2016
Jody, North Street, Bristol, April 2016

This work is very memorable and located at the heart of North Street, where its predecessor was this Christmas piece by Cheo. I guess the wall will be repainted at this year’s festival, but as I discovered recently with the Inkie piece (Best thing since sliced bread), not all the street art in the area will be over-painted.

312. North Street Upfest shop

Upfest have chosen Gemma Compton as their promotional ‘face’ of upfest 2016, and what a very fine choice indeed. Her work is used on their twitter account profile and on the main website homepage. On an altogether larger scale, she painted the outside of the Upfest shop on North Street. The work was completed on about 11 June, and really brightens up the shopfront.

Gemma Compton, North Street, Bristol, June 2016
Gemma Compton, North Street, Bristol, June 2016

All of the work she has done for Upfest 2016 uses these wonderful ‘Spode’ colours and contain her signature motifs of birds, butterflies and flowers. It says in her Upfest artist profile that her inspirations have come from an upbringing in the Cotswold’s and her love of nature.

Gemma Compton, North Street, Bristol, June 2016
Gemma Compton, North Street, Bristol, June 2016

I love all the work she has done for the Upfest ‘brand’ this year, and am really looking forward to seeing her working at this year’s festival.

300. Armada Place (4)

This is a lovely light-hearted piece by 45RPM in Armada Place, just west of Stokes Croft. There is much to admire and observe in all of his works, which usually have a story unfolding around a wildstyle lettering of RPM.

45RPM, Armada Place, Bristol, May 2016
45RPM, Armada Place, Bristol, May 2016

In this particular piece, which I guess is called ‘tongue tied’, an anteater’s tongue morphs into a ball of wool which is then threaded into the RPM rather like a child’s toy. Some great imagery. I have only recently begun to appreciate properly some of his work, so expect a whole bunch more of it coming this way soon.

You might notice some lads in hoods at the edge of the picture. One is holding a spray can which he was using to spray BUZZ on and over pieces in the area. It happens.

Here be dragons

 

The mystery of

form and function stimulates

the thinkers to think.

 

by Scooj

Old sly

 

Planting out on the

allotment being watched; I

turn, he slinks away.

 

by Scooj

264. The Bearpit (20)

This is a beautiful triptych photographed in the West tunnel of the Bearpit back in January 2016. At the time I didn’t know very much about Mr Draws, the artist, and the images disappeared in my ever expanding archive.

Mr Draws, The Bearpit, Bristol, January 2016
Mr Draws, The Bearpit, Bristol, January 2016

Mr Draws appears to be getting more active on the street art side of things and his work is popping up all over the place. The last of his works I featured was in Dean Lane skate park, and you can see his style pulsing through this creature.

Mr Draws, The Bearpit, Bristol, January 2016
Mr Draws, The Bearpit, Bristol, January 2016

This piece is absolutely wonderful, I like to think of it as a fox, but on closer inspection, I’m not too sure what animal it is. Top marks for this lovely work, sadly long since gone.

The frog and the princess

 

There’s always room for

two, when one of them is you

and the other’s me.

 

by Scooj

Ambition

 

I can jump so high

to the moon and stars above

believe me I can.

 

by Scooj

Groundhog day

 

Saw my first today

only a fleeting glimpse; I

saw my first today.

 

by Scooj

 

My recent trip to the United States offered so many new experiences, and wildlife encounters…expect more to crop up in this blog.