6784. Cumberland Basin

Face 1st, Zake and Soap, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, February 2025
Face 1st, Zake and Soap, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, February 2025

It was great to see this PWA collaboration recently, something that is a little less frequent these days now that Face 1st has moved away from Bristol, but true to his word, he does still come back now and again to decorate our streets. Here he is joined by Zake and Soap.

Face 1st, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, February 2025
Face 1st, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, February 2025

Face 1st has been experimenting with his letters recently, and perhaps it is a way of refining his technique and growing himself as an artist. There is a symmetry to the letters which spell out Face First, painted in a deep gold colour which contrasts with the pink background and sets the colour theme for the whole collaboration.

Zake, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, February 2025
Zake, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, February 2025

The centrepiece is a character face painted by Zake, with all the depth we are used to seeing in his work created by the use of light and shade. Zake has cleverly picked up on the gold colour and used it as the bottom-lit element, highlighting his character’s features.

Soap, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, February 2025
Soap, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, February 2025

Rounding off the triptych is a piece of writing from Soap, who also appears to be trying something a little different. His letters look like a halfway house towards calligraffiti, with some order and form to the letters in terms of shape and size, and some interesting details creeping in. A truly wonderful PWA collaboration from three beating hearts of the Bristol street/graffiti art scene.

6783. St Werburghs tunnel (480)

Bloem, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2025
Bloem, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2025

I have said it many times, but Bloem is one of the most improved and gifted new artists painting the streets of Bristol, whose outstanding talent and creativity is put to good use for all to enjoy. It took me a long wait to finally get a decent picture of this piece, as there was a large black van parked in front of it for what seemed like an eternity. Patience is a virtue, and it was well worth waiting to get a shot from the front.

Bloem, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2025
Bloem, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2025

Once more, Bloem includes some of her favourite elements, including the hand with pointy fingernails, a chain and a beautiful flower. These elements bind together nicely, and I daresay that there is a fair amount of conscious or unconscious symbolism going on here. I think that the grey plants are orchids and if we are talking of symbolism, they are associated with love, beauty and refinement.

Bloem, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2025
Bloem, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2025

The big orange centrepiece flower looks like a chrysanthemum and acts as a fabulous focal point of the piece. Not only is the composition original and beautiful, but it is really well executed too. Great work from Bloem.

6782. Stapleton Road

Nice One, Stapleton Road, Bristol, February 2025
Nice One, Stapleton Road, Bristol, February 2025

Nice One has been my favourite discovery of 2024. His unique brand of combination pieces incorporating his beautiful font writing and colourful sketches of characters or scenes has been both refreshing and intriguing in equal measure. I genuinely look forward to finding his work and have that satisfied glow when it happens.

Nice One, Stapleton Road, Bristol, February 2025
Nice One, Stapleton Road, Bristol, February 2025

This piece was painted over another of his, in fact, you can just see the remnants of the word NICE below it, and it is a very respectful way of keeping things fresh. The letters are a little bolder than in some of his pieces and remain impactful. His bear is painted as if it were a sketch in a sketchbook, this style of spray-painting is in stark contrast to the solid fill, black border approach that we see so much of. The bear looks pretty fearsome, and looks better and better the further away you stand from the piece. Lovely work from Nice One.

Nice One, Stapleton Road, Bristol, January 2025
Nice One, Stapleton Road, Bristol, January 2025

6781. M32 roundabout J3 (661)

Minto, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2025
Minto, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2025

There was a period last year when Minto was in full flow, and barely a week passed by without a new piece from the graffiti artist, but over the winter months his activity in Bristol slowed. It was great to see this piece on the roundabout recently, and I hope that it signifies a return to more frequent pieces from him.

Minto, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2025
Minto, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2025

The piece combines graffiti writing with a wizard character reaching out, and some fabulous perspective as the hands grab out towards the letters. Although difficult to see, the word MINTO will be concealed in there somewhere, but it is all rather more cryptic than in many of his other pieces, and just for good measure he has written his name to the left. A cool piece.

6780. Greenbank (152)

Desi, Greenbank, Bristol, February 2025
Desi, Greenbank, Bristol, February 2025

It took me three attempts to photograph this wonderful piece of writing by Desi, the first two were ruined with the shadows of trees cast across it, rendering the pictures useless. I should know better, this spot should only be visited on an overcast day, a bit like Sparke Evans Park, if you are after decent pictures.

Desi, Greenbank, Bristol, February 2025
Desi, Greenbank, Bristol, February 2025

Desi is a constant and talented member of the RBF crew whose work has been steadily improving over the years. Recently she has stepped up a level, and this VEIL piece is beautifully painted, and decorated with a couple of flowers, cheering up a dull day. The letters are well presented, and the fills nicely worked to run through all the letters in a coherent way. There is a nice shout-out to Mr Two Gram too in this fine piece.

Thursday doors – 13 March 2025 – Doors from Buxton, Derbyshire

Doors 300 – Doors of Buxton (part III), April 2024

Coming home from a holiday can be a tricky period, especially returning to work immediately afterwards. I still haven’t cleared the accumulated emails from last week and feel like I am very much on the back foot. I don’t think that there is any quick solution to this situation, other than to take early retirement (not a financially viable option) or to not take any leave (well, that’s not happening). So I simply take the heat, keep calm and carry on.

The point of the story is that I have limited time to do justice to Thursday Doors, a valuable constant landmark in my routine that offers me a weekly mindful moment.

I visited Buxton back in April last year as part of a team meeting which we combined with a tree planting opportunity, supporting a project called LIFE in the Ravines. Derbyshire is a fair schlep from Bristol, so I stayed the night in the spa town of Buxton and spent an early hour the next morning wandering round a town I had never visited before – an opportunity to capture a few doors. This week’s doors highlight the dark stone buildings and feature a water fountain, the source of the famous Buxton spring water company.

The faded grandeur of the Buxton town hall with several doors, Buxton, Derbyshire, April 2024
The faded grandeur of the Buxton town hall with several doors, Buxton, Derbyshire, April 2024
A worn out door on Buxton Town Hall, Buxton, Derbyshire, April 2024
A worn out door on Buxton Town Hall, Buxton, Derbyshire, April 2024
Fancy front door of Buxton town hall, Buxton, Derbyshire, April 2024
Fancy front door of Buxton town hall, Buxton, Derbyshire, April 2024
Black door at number 10, Buxton, Derbyshire, April 2024
Black door at number 10, Buxton, Derbyshire, April 2024
Unusual archeway and green door (just the three letterboxes!), Buxton, Derbyshire, April 2024
Unusual archway and green door (just the three letterboxes!), Buxton, Derbyshire, April 2024
White doors of the Buxton pump room, Buxton, Derbyshire, April 2024
White doors of the Buxton pump room, Buxton, Derbyshire, April 2024
St Ann's Well, Buxton, Derbyshire, April 2024
St Ann’s Well, Buxton, Derbyshire, April 2024

Something that bothers me about so many doors that I have photographed is the tendency to use them as noticeboards. Is this a UK thing, or does this happen world-wide? Health and safety notices, ‘please use other door’ type notices, adverts and so on, ruin the overall appearance of a door, and while sometimes interesting, show a deep-seated lack of respect or indifference towards doors. Enough said.

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.

Thursday Doors

6779. Raleigh Road (10)

Mote, Raleigh Road, Bristol, February 2025
Mote, Raleigh Road, Bristol, February 2025

Although he hasn’t been painting too much this year, Mote has certainly been cherry-picking his spots, seeming to prefer rather nice, clean virgin spots, which makes him a bit of a pioneer for others to follow. This is a nice new hoarding on Raleigh Road and the perfect spot for a bit of ‘Motism’.

Mote, Raleigh Road, Bristol, February 2025
Mote, Raleigh Road, Bristol, February 2025

Mote is a master of creating unthreatening imaginary monster characters, and this cat monster falls perfectly into his specialism. The cat isn’t quite cute, and there is some pathos about the piece, maybe it is the stitching that has parallels with Frankenstein’s monster. As ever, it is always great to find new Mote pieces.

6778. M32 roundabout J3 (660)

Nigel, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2025
Nigel, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2025

I was lucky enough to be admiring this piece when, by chance, Stivs ambled by. He wasn’t painting, but had come along to look at a few new pieces that had recently been painted. As it turns out, he used to paint with this artist, Nigel, when he lived in the Reading area, or at least I think that is what he said.

Nigel, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2025
Nigel, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2025

Looking at Nigel’s Instagram, it looks like that he is a bit of a bomber, with a penchant for quick ones, so this piece is perhaps one of his more considered ‘high end’ pieces of graffiti writing. Loads of colour and movement set on a contrasting orange background, bring a little bit of M4 corridor joy to the roundabout.

Manhood Peninsula

Manhood Peninsula, West Sussex, March 2025
Manhood Peninsula, West Sussex, March 2025

.

Southwest West Sussex

once named Hundred of Manwood

water glistening

.

by Scooj

  • My mother’s home is somewhere in this picture, on the coast.
Map of the Manhood Peninsula, West Sussex, England
Map of the Manhood Peninsula, West Sussex, England

6777. River Avon (80)

Bloem, River Avon, Bristol, February 2025
Bloem, River Avon, Bristol, February 2025

Bloem has started 2025, where she left off in 2024, in fine form, producing both tremendous graffiti writing and street art pieces in equal measure. In this combination piece, Bloem has managed to bring together some stunning line calligraffiti writing and some artwork that is heavy on some of her favourite themes.

Bloem, River Avon, Bristol, February 2025
Bloem, River Avon, Bristol, February 2025

The writing spells out BLOEM, and is quite distinct from the rest of the piece, appearing and disappearing, playing tricks with your eyes. The centrepiece is a blue hand with long fingernails (why is this not a surprise?), and the clever bit is the creeping grey flowers running through the hand and breaking out of it at different points. Bloem is one of the most creative people I have met and is a natural talent, whether on the street, or making jewellery. This is a fabulous piece that underpins her status as a rising star.