I am Stephen. I live in Bristol, UK. I decided to shorten my profile...to this: Wildlife, haiku, travel, streetart, psychogeography and my family. Not necessarily in that order.
Stivs is an incredibly talented artist who is as comfortable painting his character pieces as he is with his calligraffiti. His has been producing pieces at a steady pace over the past few months, but I haven’t bumped into him for a long while… maybe our clocks are on a different plane.
Stivs, M32 Spot, Bristol, March 2026
Tucked away in a corner of the DIY skate park underneath the M32, this piece is a classic bit of Stivs Calligraffiti writing. The letters are beautifully presented with a perfect midline providing depth to the letters. There are four shades of pink in the letters for the top, bottom, left and right elevations, which leaves us with a 3D effect, as if the letters are standing out from the hoarding. Skilful work.
As pieces go, this one by Creamylines, is on the small side. It is painted on a column under Brunel Way, but even at this size it packs quite a punch. 2026 has definitely been a bumper year so far from Creamylines, who appears to have come out of his shell a bit, and is painting new character pieces as well as his ‘stained-glass’ effect pieces like this one in more places around the city.
Creamylines, Brunel Way, Bristol, March 2026
Everything that is fun about Creamylines’ work is crammed into this small space; the sun, the birds, figures, hills, trees and eyes. It is all here squished together into a coherent landscape. Such wonderful and uplifting work.
I was lucky enough to meet RBN One while he was painting this piece alongside Corupt. I couldn’t recall seeing his work before, but it turns out on closer inspection of my archives that I have seen his work, but never posted it because I didn’t know who he was. RBN One hails from the Chippenham area if I remember correctly, and comes to Bristol every once in a while.
RBN One, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2026
The letters spell ‘ARBIEN’ – spoken phonetically as RBN… clever stuff. The whole thing is quite beautiful. His letters are clean and clear, filled with a variety of spots, shapes and lines. His drop shadow is flawless, and serves to lift the piece from the wall. All in all a feast for the eyes. Expect to see more here soon.
I have a feeling that this piece by Veks, spelling ‘MUM’, might have been painted on or around St Patrick’s Day, although I can’t be sure. I rather like these personal tribute pieces to family and friends, they show a certain amount of love and respect which is a very good thing indeed.
Veks, L Dub, Bristol, March 2026
The letters are beautifully presented and filled with the colours of the Irish tricolour. A superb drop shadow, subtly striped, is bounded by a light orange border. Some finishing touches of shamrocks around the outside of the piece are accompanied by a couple of butterflies. Great stuff from Veks.
Doors 350 – Doors of Shrewsbury (part I) – April 2025
You may have gathered from previous Thursday Doors posts, that my job takes me round the country from time to time, and I end up staying in towns and cities in England for a night and make the most of my limited ‘free time’, basically the evening of arrival and the morning before work, to photograph the doors, and in those places where it is present, the street art too.
The next few Thursday Doors posts will be from Shrewsbury last April. I was working with a partnership on celebrating the creation of an expanded National Nature Reserve in Stiperstones, Shropshire, and the nearest practical accommodation was in Shrewsbury.
The architecture of this town is quite extraordinary, with some stunning Tudor buildings alongside a mishmash of other periods and on the outer rims some rather less than attractive modern additions, including the hotel I stayed in.
Shrewsbury is door heaven, so please bear with this series, which might last a few weeks. I hope you enjoy this first selection:
Timber framed building and central door, Mardol, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England, April 2025
Street view of shops and different architectural periods, Mardol, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England, April 2025
Unusual black and white door, Mardol, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England, April 2025
Three doors, Hill’s Lane, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England, April 2025
White door without door furniture, perhaps it isn’t used any more, Hill’s Lane, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England, April 2025
Stunning stone doorway, Hill’s Lane, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England, April 2025
Blue and yellow doors in the evening sun, Hill’s Lane, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England, April 2025
Shrewsbury visitor information centre, Barker Street, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England, April 2025
Old door to the Shrewsbury visitor information centre, Barker Street, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England, April 2025
Fancy door to Albert’s Shed, Barker Street, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England, April 2025
A pair of neat and tidy doors, Claremont Bank, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England, April 2025
So that’s it for this week… a gentle introduction to Shrewsbury, a town that really ought to be on any visitor’s itinerary. Until next time, have a great weekend.
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 weekly Thursday Doors post and his Sunday recap.
I love the crossover that one gets to see between the professional muralist/artist that gets paid for commissions, and the same artist painting the streets for pleasure. Esme Lower is one of those artists who seems to span these worlds with ease, and this 9is one of her commissions in the heart of Easton.
Esme Lower, Henrietta Street, Bristol, March 2026
This mural is at the entrance of the Bristol Sweet Mart, the largest supplier of ethnic foods in the southwest of England. Esme Lower’s piece features some of the herbs and spices that the outlet is well-known for, and somehow captures the south Asian vibe really well. It was an unexpected pleasure coming across this piece on a recent stroll in Easton.
It feels like Werm has stepped up a level recently. His work has always been technically sound, and he has always been up for adjusting his style from time to time, but there is something about his presentation and confidence that has gone up a level.
Werm, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, March 2026
This is a super piece, which looks on the surface to be a ‘simple’ piece, probably because of it’s clean and tidy appearance. It takes a huge amount of talent and experience to create a piece like this. The symmetry of the letters is very well worked, and the seamless wavy pattern of fills, appears effortless, but is really tricky. There is a nice stripy drop shadow, and a touch of green decoration around the outside. The piece looks extra excellent because it is painted on a cleanly buffed wall. Really great stuff here from Werm.
Another column piece from the John D’oh gallery of stencils underneath the M32. The artist has certainly made himself at home here, and I note from his Instagram account that he has been busy down there again recently.
John D’oh, M32 roundabout J2, Bristol, March 2026
This simple piece features a rather stereotyped curvaceous woman holding a book and tilting her glasses. The caption says ‘love is like street art, sometimes it doesn’t last long’, which I guess can be true, there is also an additional view that might take the position ‘love is like street art, sometimes it lasts forever’. Yet more to come from this rich seam of John D’oh gold.
Zeks has been quite visible recently, which has to be good news. His unusual style is rather refreshing and very particular to the artist. This piece was painted as part of a broader paint jam a few weeks back.
Zeks, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2026
The zig-zaggy letters in white and blue, decorated with simple reversed out crosses, carry a deep black and yellow drop shadow, to the left. The letters sit on a nicely buffed wall and are immediately surrounded by some pink and purple spots. The tree to the left is by Conrico – more on this in a following post.
Natural adventures 