Because I have been following and writing about Bristol street art for ten years, I have been able to watch so many artists start their adventures and develop their skills over time, and it gives me immense pleasure to witness this. One such artist is Astra, hi first come into my vision last year, when she painted a garage shutter during a mini paint festival in Muriel alleyway.
Astrea, Peel Street Green, Bristol, April 2025
This combination piece contains a dominant female character with a gun pointing out and the letters ASTRA in a bubble graffiti style. This is an interesting development phase and it is great to see her growing in confidence. I look forward to seeing more of her work this year.
Stivs has been painting some extraordinary portrait pieces recently, demonstrating that his talents extend far beyond his outstanding calligraffiti for which he is best known. This is a gritty and authentic portrait of his friend and fellow artist Badger Feral.
Stivs, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, March 2025
The piece is representative and beautifully painted, without the need to be photorealistic, which is the temptation for many portrait artists. I am full of admiration for the range and quality of work that Stivs achieves, and am always pleasantly surprised when I find new pieces by him. Long-live Dog Supremacy Crew (DSC).
This year, I have become increasingly aware of pieces by Weas (@weaselmilk_) dotted about in most spots I visit. He tends to paint some rather wobbly characters, on columns or in tight spaces, but this piece of writing and characters demonstrates his wider capabilities.
Weas, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, March 2025
The psychedelic swirl running through the letters WEAS has an interesting effect and draws the eye in… so much so that when I first saw the piece, I didn’t even notice the three characters subtlely sitting on top of the word. I think that there is a close association between the ‘alien’ characters and weed, with the one on the left enjoying a smoke. Expect a whole lot more from Weas.
Since moving out of Bristol, Face 1st has lived up to his reassurance that he would be back reasonably regularly to carry on painting walls. I have noticed, however, that he has selected spots that are a little bit off the beaten track. This piece is on the junction 2 roundabout of the M32, where turnover is a little slower than other spots.
Face 1st, M32 roundabout J2, Bristol, March 2025
Face 1st has been concentrating a little on his letter styles of late, playing with new fonts and presentations. He has also taken to painting with gold paint (perhaps he put in a big order of the stuff). These lower-case letters, in pink, have nice fills and shout-outs to his PWA crew Soap, Zake and Chill. Face 1st is a firm favourite on Natural Adventures.
Doors 303 – Copenhagen, Denmark (part III), September 2024
This week’s doors are a continuation of the Copenhagen series, and this week come from the 17th century district of New Haven (Nyhavn), where some of the most iconic views of the city are found. Try finding any brochure or website about Copenhagen that doesn’t include this famous waterfront. One of the houses, I don’t recall which, was home to arguably Denmark’s most celebrated Citizen, Hans Christian Andersen.
Iconic view and many doors of the waterside, Nyhavn, Copenhagen, Denmark, September 2024
These pictures were taken on two separate visits to the area. I mention this because the eagle-eyed among you might spot that there are some clouds in one or two of the pictures and not in others. I hope you enjoy this week’d selection:
Iconic view and many doors of the waterside, Nyhavn, Copenhagen, Denmark, September 2024Balcony door, Nyhavn, Copenhagen, Denmark, September 2024Large double door and fanlight, Nyhavn, Copenhagen, Denmark, September 2024Large double door and archway, Nyhavn, Copenhagen, Denmark, September 2024Large arched door, Nyhavn, Copenhagen, Denmark, September 2024Beautiful old door and wonky doorway complete with irritating notices, Nyhavn, Copenhagen, Denmark, September 2024Small boat door, Nyhavn, Copenhagen, Denmark, September 2024Doors on the deck, Nyhavn, Copenhagen, Denmark, September 2024Double doors to below decks, Nyhavn, Copenhagen, Denmark, September 2024
More to come from Denmark’s beautiful capital city next time.
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 Thursday Doors post.
It took me longer than it should have done to figure out who painted this wonderful piece of graffiti writing. There are plenty of clues to pick up on, such as the letter shapes and the fill designs, but I was thrown by the absence of a word that I recognised. It is by Corupt, who usually writes CORUPT or STICK, so I think I can be forgiven for being confused for a while.
Corupt, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2025
There are a lot of letters and numbers in this piece, and I am inclined to think that it might be a tribute piece, perhaps a birthday or anniversary. The letters could spell out NICK. The number 40 could represent a birthday, and the numbers ’85 and 25′ might confirm this. Whatever the backstory, this is great graffiti writing from Corupt.
Mote and Mr Crawls, BB Gallery, Bristol, March 2025
I rarely venture along the Bristol to Bath cycle path to the BB Gallery, because turnover tends to be very slow there, but I was pleased to find this collaboration from Mote and Mr Crawls on my last visit there.
Mote and Mr Crawls, BB Gallery, Bristol, March 2025
It would seem that the collaborative pair are spending some time focussing on their own pieces at the moment, and that the joint pieces have dropped off over the winter. On the left is a fine monster character with all the trademark doodles and markings we would expect from Mote. To the right, Mr Crawls has painted one of his monster characters wearing a hat, the style of which first appeared on the streets about a year ago now. Nice work from the pair.
It is always a great pleasure to be able to share a new 3Dom piece, as he is without doubt one of Bristol’s most gifted street artists. I also like the way that his pieces appear without any fanfare and are painted on ‘ordinary’ walls as well as some of the high-end walls.
3Dom, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, March 2025
This is a wonderful piece, not entirely a million miles away in concept from his recent piece in the St George skate park. The skull is made up of a bunch of ‘floating’ components, which come together and present as a coherent skull. Take any element in isolation and it could be anything. In the dome of the skull, there is some classic 3Dom patterning and the inclusion of an atomic illustration, which appears in a lot of his work. This is a wonderful, high quality piece.
This is simply brilliant. There really isn’t much more I can say about it. Haka has painted a superb rendition of Dr Seuss’ ‘Cat in the Hat’, driving a crazy vehicle with four ‘arms’ holding up each of the letters H A K A.
Haka, Greenway Bush Lane, Bristol, March 2025
Haka has been incredibly faithful to the original artwork by Dr Seuss and captures everything that is so compelling about our childhood, it is a piece full of nostalgia for me and for many others I would expect. Haka’s series of children’s book characters continues to delight and upscale these wonderful images for all to enjoy. Bravo!
Natural adventures 