Tag: Writer

5324. Greenbank (84)

Werm, Greenbank, Bristol, June 2023
Werm, Greenbank, Bristol, June 2023

I have been making a little bit more space in Natural Adventures to accommodate the prolific writings of Werm, I am also rather enjoying his recent stylistic direction of travel in which he writes rather small WERM letters at the centre of the piece with embellishment extending out in all directions.

Werm, Greenbank, Bristol, June 2023
Werm, Greenbank, Bristol, June 2023

This is a nice piece painted in darker tones and in keeping with the background decoration supplied courtesy of Conrico. The starry sky is picked up with the accent stars on the letters, and the whole thing feels calm and portrays night time so well. Another great piece in something of a purple patch from Werm.

5323. St Werburghs tunnel (370)

Stivs, St Werburghs, Bristol, June 2023
Stivs, St Werburghs, Bristol, June 2023

I have missed several recent Stivs pieces (wrong place, wrong time), so it was good to find and photograph this one . The artist has returned to his calligraffiti, having spent some weeks painting portrait pieces, although this one is a little more stylised and mainstream than his typical calligraffiti style.

Stivs, St Werburghs, Bristol, June 2023
Stivs, St Werburghs, Bristol, June 2023

The strange orange and green colour combination  works surprisingly well, but why wouldn’t it? I guess they are colours often seen together in nature. Instead of writing STIVS, he is playing with us and has written STYVZ. This is a nice quick one from Stivs.

5321. Upfest 2022 (79)

Elvs and Smak, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022
Elvs and Smak, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022

I don’t think that I would have predicted that Smak and Elvs would have teamed up to paint an  Upfest collaboration, and yet that is exactly what they did. What I really like about the piece is that it is an integrated collaboration, with elements from each artist woven into the whole.

Elvs and Smak, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022
Elvs and Smak, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022

I had a little chat with Elvs, just as he was finishing packing up, and rather irritatingly (for him) I pointed out a little mistake, which he then felt obliged to correct. It was only a small thing, but once seen, it couldn’t be unseen. In the picture above, the mistake is that the yellow body of the character didn’t quite align behind the blue triangle. The image below shows Elvs making the necessary alteration.

Elvs and Smak, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022
Elvs and Smak, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022

The whole piece is brilliantly painted, with some fine blue and pink letters (the perfect colour combo) by Smak and a dog/cat character playing around behind the writing. This is a fun piece that really captured the atmosphere and vibe of the festival.

5317. Upfest 2022 (75)

Giulio Rosk, Upfest 22, Bristol, Upfest 2022
Giulio Rosk, Upfest 22, Bristol, Upfest 2022

As with any street art festival, there will always be a ‘wow factor’ and one of the artists who brought this to Upfest was Giulio Rosk with this magnificent writing and portrait combination piece just off North Street.

Giulio Rosk, Upfest 22, Bristol, Upfest 2022
Giulio Rosk, Upfest 22, Bristol, Upfest 2022

What is great about festivals is that there is a good chance that you will get to meet and chat with thee artists, when they have a little downtime. I managed to grab a few minutes with the artist and his agent/friend, and discovered that as soon as Giulio Rosk finished this piece they were jetting off to Italy for another festival, so we were lucky to have them here in Bristol.

Giulio Rosk, Upfest 22, Bristol, Upfest 2022
Giulio Rosk, Upfest 22, Bristol, Upfest 2022

The piece is a clever one where the subject – I think it is a self-portrait – is penning the name ROSK as if on a pane of glass. The photorealistic artwork is exceptional and the whole thing, one of the highlights of Upfest. Unlike the temporary boards, this piece is still there for all to see, and is likely to remain until Upfest 2024 next year.

5311. St Werburghs tunnel (369)

Chill and Face 1st, St Werburghs, Bristol, June 2023
Chill and Face 1st, St Werburghs, Bristol, June 2023

I have a moment on the train to draft up this post, but it is an arduous task, with zero space to type due to the chronic overcrowding and dreadful telephone signal, and I have just lost my first draft of this post going through a tunnel and had to start over.

Chill, St Werburghs, Bristol, June 2023
Chill, St Werburghs, Bristol, June 2023

I was only thinking recently that I hadn’t seen a new Chill piece in a while and then bang! I got slapped in the face with this beauty alongside Pirate Wall Art pall Face 1st. I have seen Chill cartoon triplets before, but this is the first one I have seen where each of the faces are replicas. I am guessing it is probably a difficult thing to do, but Chill has done a great job of it.

Face 1st, St Werburghs, Bristol, June 2023
Face 1st, St Werburghs, Bristol, June 2023

Next to Chill is a classic trademark piece from Face 1st in which a smiling girl is sporting a FACE haircut. The addition of green leaves by way of decoration I am guessing is influenced by Chill, who often adorns his work with flowers and leaves. this is a fine collaborative wall from the PWA duo.

5310. Dean Lane skate park (610)

Raid, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2023
Raid, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2023

I am under a bit of pressure today, lots to do before heading off for York this afternoon for a conference tomorrow, so I’m afraid this is going to be a short one. I met Raid a week or two back while he was painting his new writing style on the M32 roundabout, a piece that was overpainted before I got to see it completed. He told me that he was really enjoying his new letter style and was drawn to the symmetrical elements in it.

Raid, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2023
Raid, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2023

This one behind the railings at Dean Lane. The symmetry is a rotational one, where the R and the D are similar and the A and I are too. If you spin the piece around a central point, it would look the same upside down. I love to see artists experimenting and growing. Expect to see more from Raid this summer.

5308. Brunel Way (210)

Mr Draws, Brunel Way, Bristol, June 2023
Mr Draws, Brunel Way, Bristol, June 2023

I had a nice chat with Mr Draws over the weekend in this exact spot while he was buffing over this piece in preparation for a new one. At least he was going over his own work – how often does that happen?

Mr Draws, Brunel Way, Bristol, June 2023
Mr Draws, Brunel Way, Bristol, June 2023

The bright colours in the letters and background have a hint of confection about them, almost good enough to eat. The whole thing calls out jelly to me, but I think that that might just be me. I know that Mr Draws wasn’t too happy with the neon pink colour, as it seemed to strip away the paint beneath. My advice is to steer clear from the neon colours, they are tricky and in the sunlight they decompose really quickly.

5307. Greenbank (83)

Claro_que_sssnoh, Greenbank, Bristol, June 2023
Claro_que_sssnoh, Greenbank, Bristol, June 2023

There is a very strong international component to the Bristol street/graffiti art scene in Bristol. We have artists from all over Europe, but in particular a host of Polish and Spanish artists, without whom the vast spectrum of artistic styles would be greatly impoverished. Claro_que_sssnoh belongs to the Spanish group of artists, although I’d like to think that he also belongs to Bristol.

Claro_que_sssnoh, Greenbank, Bristol, June 2023
Claro_que_sssnoh, Greenbank, Bristol, June 2023

This piece on the ever-shrinking Greenbank hoarding is painted in unusually dark colours, which I have to say I struggle with a little bit. I don’t think the colour selection here brings out the best in Claro_qhe_sssnoh’s work, and although as technically intricate as his other pieces, it doesn’t quite do it for me on this occasion. I do, however, like the addition of the skull wearing a fancy headdress on the right, with his laser stare.

5306. Peel Street Green (13)

Phour, Peel Street Green, Bristol, June 2023
Phour, Peel Street Green, Bristol, June 2023

It can be easy, when chasing down pieces, to forget some of the bedrock work that goes on day in day out from some of the unsung heroes of Bristol street art and graffiti writing. One such hero, who hasn’t made an appearance on Natural Adventures for some while, is Phour.

Phour, Peel Street Green, Bristol, June 2023
Phour, Peel Street Green, Bristol, June 2023

Phour has chosen some great letters to work with, and manages to present them with a consistent style and confidence. The whole piece looks great, with white letters on a blue background, giving the impression of being chrome – it is funny how your eyes can play tricks. The black 3D border provides depth and the letters are nicely bordered with a tidy light blue line. Phour has introduces some nice marbling cutting through some of the letters, to finish it all off with a bit of class. A great piece from Phour.

5304. Weston-super-Mare

#DFTE, Weston Wallz,Weston-super-Mare, May 2023
#DFTE, Weston Wallz,Weston-super-Mare, May 2023

Continuing with the Weston Wallz theme this morning, is this fabulous piece from the enigmatic #DFTE, who after something of a hiatus has come alive over the last year or so, upgrading his small pictures dotted around Bristol to full-size murals with his witty and sometimes wise one-liners.

#DFTE, Weston Wallz,Weston-super-Mare, May 2023
#DFTE, Weston Wallz,Weston-super-Mare, May 2023

#DFTE comes from the ‘signwriting’ school of street art, but with his own idiosyncratic twist. In this piece from Weston Walls 2022, the drippy letters, in his own ‘house font’ says “Don’t think too much, just do what makes you happy”. If only it were that easy, but I love the sentiment. #DFTE is another artist who I am lining up for a gallery – watch this space.