3rdeye – Natural adventures

7126. M32 roundabout J3 (701)

Sait Bare, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2025

In Bristol we have so many different styles of graffiti writing, and a lot of these fit into certain defined categories such as wildstyle, anamorphic, calligraffiti, anti-style, script, bubble writing and so on, but with some artists, it is really difficult to stick them in a particular pigeonhole, and I think Sait bare is one of those,

This is a nice piece painted alongside Hire, a pairing that seems to be increasingly common. There is a bilateral symmetry emerging in this piece, which is perhaps the key focal point, as the fills are quite plain. The drop shadow converging on a central vanishing point and the glowing green border highlights provide plenty of depth. Also, the eyes, which are common to both this piece and the adjacent one by Hire, definitely add interest.

6205. Cheltenham 2023 (17)

This is the second small gallery of Cheltenham art photographed at the Cheltenham Paint Festival 2023. I am posting this as the 2024 festival begins at the end of this week, and I felt it would be good to share some of last year’s pieces as a bit of a warm up.

Not all the pieces were painted last year – the Alex Lucas mural (feature image) was painted a few years ago, but I only got round to photographing it last year. I hope to be visiting Cheltenham for this year’s festival alongside Paul H, and am getting pretty excited about it all. Enjoy the gallery:

Alex Lucas, Cheltenham Paint Festival, Cheltenham, July 2023

This piece was actually painted in 2020 for the Cheltenham Paint Festival. Still looking magnificent.

Ajax Piper, Cheltenham Paint Festival, Cheltenham, July 2023

I don’t know an awful lot about Ajax Piper, but I believe he is a British artist who hasn’t been painting for too long, or so his website might suggest.

Wispa, Cheltenham Paint Festival, Cheltenham, July 2023

A wonderfully colourful and vibrant piece by RBF artist Wispa (featured reasonably regularly on Natural Adventures).

3rdeye, Cheltenham Paint Festival, Cheltenham, July 2023

3rdeye has produced this typically mysterious piece with one of his creature characters and plenty of eyes.

Curtis Hylton, Cheltenham Paint Festival, Cheltenham, July 2023

One of the featured artists at the CPF 2023 was Curtis Hylton, who smashed it with this outstanding large mural on the side wall of the Holiday Inn Express hotel in the centre of town.

I will need to do a few more posts from the CPF 2023, and some more unposted pieces from Upfests passim. So much to do and so little time to do it.

6106. Upfest 2024 (22)

3rdeye, Raleigh Road, Upfest 24, Bristol, May 2024

A little bit out of the way, but well worth the extra walk is this wonderful piece by 3rdeye, a Bristol artist whose work crops up from time to time around the city. The fact that this is a new wall for Upfest 2024, gives us an element of certainty that it will remain intact for some while, unlike some of his street pieces that exist for all too short a time.

This is a beautifully clean and well designed piece featuring one of his monster characters, set in a woodland landscape (a tree and a toadstool) with a blazing sun beating down (if only). There are lots of eyes (I guess the artist’s name betrays his obsession with eyes) surrounding the character, and a couple of abstract triangle things, of which the one on the left looks a little bit like a traffic sign, which once seen in that way can’t be unseen (sorry). This is a lovely piece, typical of 3rdeye’s quirky ideas.

5287. M32 Spot (166)

I don’t quite understand why, but I have posted very few pieces by 3rdeye on this blog, perhaps because he only paints occasionally, but I’m sure I have more in my archives somewhere. 3rdeye pieces are a rare thing, especially outside of festivals, so it was a considerable surprise and delight when I stumbled across this piece a little while back.

Painted on a utility box and wall at the top end of the M32 Spot, underneath the motorway, 3rdeye has split the piece into two parts. On the utility box is one of his imaginary characters, perched on top of an eye with a thought cloud saying “sexual chocolate”. I have no idea what this means and won’t be asking.

On the adjacent wall, there are several cleverly concealed characters, painted in 3rdeye’s distinctive style, together with some letters, but I can’t quite make out what they are… it looks like E A E, but that doesn’t seem right. The piece is nicely signed at the top and demonstrates the strength in depth of talent in Bristol.

1825. North Street

I can’t think for the life of me why it has taken me so long to post this piece. Not only is it a really great piece, it is also signed by the artist so no excuses. It is by 3rdeye, a Bristol based artist whose Upfest 2018 piece I recently posted.

3rdeye, North Street, Bristol, January 2016

This is a different take on his monsters than I am used to, being quite structured and symmetrical, where normally they are quite organic. I think the symmetry works perfectly on this set of doors. A lovely old one (January 2016) sees the light of day.

1757. Upfest 2018 (51)

Another fabulous new wall for Upfest 2018 – they have done very well this year with opening up these new walls – by Bristol artist 3rdeye. This is an impressive wall but may not have had the foot-fall of other Upfest venues as it was a little off the beaten track.

3rdeye is an artist who cut his teeth on the streets as a graffiti artist in the eighties, but has since developed this further into studio work of paintings and illustrations as well as offering workshops. His rather nice website shows the full range of his work and activities.

This wall plays host to a hoard of friendly monsters set on a vibrant orange background. It is a colourful and child-like piece, and all the better for it, and I am particularly drawn to the little monster launching itself off a column which is actually a real feature of the wall of the house.

This piece amply demonstrates that street art does not have to be edgy or threatening to be great and that bright child-like ideas have great appeal. Great piece, great wall.

886. Upfest 2016 (153)

I have said it in a previous post, but the children at Ashton Gate Primary School are the luckiest in Bristol. so many pieces decking the walls of their playground. I believe that it was a one-off though, and they’ll not be using the school again for Upfest. The reason for this is that it is a bit off the beaten track, and the artists reported that not many people came to see them working, and they felt a little isolated.

This is a wonderful piece by 3rdeye, an established artist who has been involved in the graffiti scene since the 1980s.

His characters are simple and bold but have some emotional depth and feeling. I really like this work. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to photograph it properly, so the composition is slightly out of context. A great colourful piece.

	hitandrun1964 on Sentencing
	Sheree on 7358. M32 Spot (211)
	M. on Sentencing
	wrookieschu on Sentencing
	scooj on Revel Puck Circus

	hitandrun1964 on Sentencing
	Sheree on 7358. M32 Spot (211)
	M. on Sentencing
	wrookieschu on Sentencing
	scooj on Revel Puck Circus

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