Art / Street Art
Andy Council returns to primary school to paint refreshed mural
When Andy Council painted his first crocodile on the wall overlooking the green at Hotwells Primary School in 2010, it was one of his first major mural commissions.
Fast forward 16 years and much has changed including the mural having been touched up by another artist.
But now Andy is back, once again painting a crocodile made up of landmarks from this corner of Bristol including the Cumberland Basin, Rownham Mead and the colourful houses of Cliftonwood.
“It’s a privilege to be invited back to paint a mural like this,” Andy told Bristol24/7 when he had almost completed the artwork facing South Green Street.
“With this artwork, I was able to completely restart it afresh; keeping the main creature but done in my current painting style and on a bigger scale.
“I felt like I could do a better job this time around.”
The mural in 2012, two years’ after it was first painted, including its controversial orange background – photo: Google Street View
A retouched version of the mural in 2023 – photo: Google Street View
Andy painted the first mural with the help of fellow street artist Felix Braun but is doing this one on his own, talking to the Hotwells pupils at breaktimes including telling them how the static created by the artificial grass of the green even caused a small flame for a few microseconds when he pressed down his spray can while up a ladder.
“This wall is part of my personal history,” Andy added.
“I remember the kids at the time coming up with the ideas and enjoying it, and it’s interesting seeing the kids who are here now also enjoying it and asking questions.”
Main photo: Martin Booth
Read next:
Our newsletters emailed directly to you
