6832. New Bird Street, Liverpool

Molly Mural, New Bird Street, Liverpool, March 2025
Molly Mural, New Bird Street, Liverpool, March 2025

As you will know from yesterday’s post, I recently spent a weekend in Liverpool, and the old ‘graff radar’, which I thought I had turned off, swung into active duty. Not being familiar with the street/graffiti artists in Liverpool, it was comforting to come across this rather nice mural by Molly Mural, who has painted many times in Bristol, where she is based.

Molly Mural, New Bird Street, Liverpool, March 2025
Molly Mural, New Bird Street, Liverpool, March 2025

I’m not sure how long the mural has been there, but I guess a while, as some of the paint was chipping. The piece appears to be full of symbolism and stories and is centred around the numbers 1 and 3. The abstract piece is characteristically colourful, and after doing a little Interweb search, it turns out it was inspired by Taylor Swift’s ‘second era’ and her lucky number 13. You live and learn.

6831. Jordan Street, Liverpool

Aske, Jordan Street, Liverpool, March 2025
Aske, Jordan Street, Liverpool, March 2025

A couple of weeks ago I visited Liverpool with my wife and daughter to cheer on my wife and our nephew-in-law who were running the half-marathon. After finding a strategic place to stop and wave them on at the mile marker, we had an hour or two to kill before being at the finishing line at the end of their admirable adventure. Our rather less energetic walk took us to a café, which happened to be in a street art district.

This discovery had been completely unplanned by me, I have only once before been to Liverpool, long before I was interested in street art, and didn’t do any research before our trip. I got lucky once again. While my daughter and niece, caught up and had a coffee, I ran around the area, like a mad thing, taking as many pictures as I could. This was one of the first.

Aske, Jordan Street, Liverpool, March 2025
Aske, Jordan Street, Liverpool, March 2025

As a football fan, I can appreciate that this is a fine piece on two levels. One, the quality of the portrait of Jurgen Klopp, former manager of Liverpool Football Club, and two, the love for football and how the local team touches lives. The artist is Aske, not known to me, and this is a fine tribute to a local hero. More from this Liverpool adventure to come.

6830. M32 roundabout J3 (668)

Kid Krishna, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2025
Kid Krishna, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2025

The council, for whatever reason, seem to like buffing the walls of the M32 roundabout with a neutral grey paint. I am not too sure what the purpose is, other than to give people doing community service a civic activity. That the exercise is costly and futile doesn’t really come into the equation. Once buffed, the wall becomes an inviting canvass for street/graffiti artists.

Kid Krishna, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2025
Kid Krishna, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2025

Kid Krishna didn’t waste too much time creating this CRIE piece in blue lettering with some yellow splashes. The piece carries a couple of messages: ‘drugs don’t work’ and ‘fight the power’, which suggests the artist is working through a few things, as are we all, at the moment. A nice ‘virgin wall’ piece.

6829. Cumberland Basin

Dirtygypo, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, March 2025
Dirtygypo, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, March 2025

Dirtygypo has returned to the streets with a few pieces this spring, and this is a rather nice one painted in Cumberland Basin. The letters still puzzle me. There are thoughts that they could spell Pilger or Dirty, but I don’t think it is either of these.

Dirtygypo, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, March 2025
Dirtygypo, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, March 2025

The letter forms are consistent with his usual approach, but he has added in some great colours, and the lightening breaks in white really stand out through the piece. The characterisation of the first letter is one of several signatures that aid with identification, but to be honest, his writing is unlike anything by any other artists in Bristol and is easy to identify. It is just those damn letters that perplex me.

6828. Purdown (86)

Lis, Purdown, Bristol, March 2025
Lis, Purdown, Bristol, March 2025

There is something very exciting happening at the moment with Liz (Le Imposter Designs). Having dabbled for a while with her line and paint drawings/illustrations in selected spots, she moved on to working with spray cans, and it seems to have lifted her into a new world of possibilities, and her excitement is obvious to see through the frequency of her new pieces and her creativity.

Lis, Purdown, Bristol, March 2025
Lis, Purdown, Bristol, March 2025

Obviously, the central theme to Lis’ artwork is the representation of mushrooms and toadstools, and this piece on a concrete slab in Purdown is a great example. It is a pity that some twit has felt the need to tag the piece, but fortunately it doesn’t detract too much from the mushroom and rather cure hedgehog. While the main body of her work is achieved using spray paint, I think that some of the detail is achieved using pens, which doesn’t devalue it one jot. I am loving the emergence of Lis and can see a very bright future ahead.

6827. Cumberland Basin

Butch, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, March 2025
Butch, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, March 2025

I have to confess that I have a real soft spot for Butch’s graffiti writing. I like the name, I think it lends itself well to the art form, I like his letter shapes and I like his understated presence.

Butch, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, March 2025
Butch, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, March 2025

Butch has a fairly standard approach to arranging his letters where, going from left to right, each letter overlaps its successor. With the addition of some shadows, this method provides some depth to the piece. This looks like a bit of a quick one, with a white fill that barely does the job of filling. A couple of nice spots round the piece off nicely. More on the way from Butch.

6826. Sparke Evans Park (127)

Grimes, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, March 2025
Grimes, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, March 2025

Grimes has pretty much made it to the top of my list of Bristol graffiti writers at the moment, taking into account the frequency of his pieces and the outstanding quality of them. Unlike some graffiti writers, his style remains broadly the same, but he manages to squeeze out every square inch of space on the walls he paints and create the most amazing burst of energy and movement.

Grimes, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, March 2025
Grimes, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, March 2025

Colour and quality are two words I would use to open my description of this piece. Every element is in its place and finished perfectly. I particularly like the plasma ribbon running through the whole thing. This piece continues Grimes’ run of good form, which shown no signs of letting up.

6825. Cumberland Basin

Foksymoron, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, March 2025
Foksymoron, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, March 2025

Is it just me, or have WordPress been goofing around with default settings again? I hate it when they do this, because one has to spend time adjusting, or finding the formats that you are used to and comfortable with. Grrr. To offset this morning irritation, I bring you this lighthearted piece from Foksymoron.

Foksymoron, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, March 2025
Foksymoron, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, March 2025

This humorous piece talks about Bank Holiday Wednesday – of course there is no such thing – Foksymoron adds to this with a speech bubble ‘Day off and a pay rise’. Well, someone was in a good mood when he painted this. The cool fox, with his customary sunglasses, is wearing a camouflage hoodie and jeans. A picture of contentment.

6824. St Werburghs tunnel (487)

Mr Klue, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2025
Mr Klue, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2025

I would say that Mr Klue is the (undisputed) king of St Werburghs tunnel, on a measure of number of pieces painted there. It seems to be the place he enjoys painting most, and it is rare to not be able to find something of his at any one time.

Mr Klue, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2025
Mr Klue, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2025

This is a colourful one, as ever spelling out KLUE, which is notable perhaps for the way the wispy tops of the letters bleed into a cloudy mass, which might have been there from a previous piece. The central colours are green and orange, which often work well together, but there are also injections of purple and white. The use of these colours combines to create depth to the piece which is on the cusp of being anamorphic. We can be certain that there will be more to come.

6823. Dean Lane skate park (816)

Stivs, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2025
Stivs, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2025

There is no question about it, Stivs is an extremely talented artist. Whether it is his extraordinarily tight calligraffiti, his cartoon characters or his portrait pieces, his natural ability shines through in all of his work. Recently he painted this stunning portrait piece in Dean Lane, bringing enjoyment to many.

Stivs, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2025
Stivs, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2025

I don’t know whether it is easier or more difficult to paint portrait pieces in single tones or in full colour, but either way, I am in awe of anyone who carries it off. This is a beautiful cartoon portrait piece, that feels like it has a Japanese film influence, but I am only guessing. The different tones and shades in the face create wonderful depth, and the subtle streaks in the hair hint at the shape and style of it. An outstanding and quite unexpected piece.