Every now and then I like to delve into my archives and unearth pieces that for one reason or another never made it into the pages of Natural Adventures first time round. I have thousands of pictures of such pieces, and it always saddens me that they don’t all make the cut. This is a piece from a year ago by Mr B, an artist who hovers just at the edge of my radar.
Mr B, Monarch’s Way, Bristol, October 2025
There are a lot of hoardings in this area, but not too many non-commission pieces painted on them. This combination features a bird, I think a crow, and some rather good writing spelling MrB. A good piece and one that alerted me to the artist’s presence. I’ll be keeping an eye out for his work and indeed have another one lined up in a week or two.
Jevoissoul (slow), River Avon, Bristol, September 2025Jevoissoul, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2025Jevoissoul and Omie, Stapleton Road, Bristol, January 2025Jevoissoul, Stapleton Road, Bristol, January 2025Jevoissoul, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, December 2024Jevoissoul, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2024Jevoissoul, River Avon, Bristol, November 2024Jevoissoul, Dean Lane, Bristol, August 2024Jevoissoul, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2024Jevoissoul, Purdown, Bristol, January 2024Jevoissoul, Brunel Way, Bristol, December 2023Jevoissoul, M32 Cycle path, Brisol, December 2023Jevoissoul, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2023Jevoissoul, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2023Jevoissoul, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2023Jevoissoul, Brunel Way, Bristol, October 2023Jevoissoul, Brunel Way, Bristol, September 2023
Totosoapcity, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, July 2024
Every once in a while I take a trip through my archives and spot pieces that I failed to post first time round, and give them a second chance. This is a piece by Totosoapcity from a year ago, July 2024, before I knew his name, which is why I probably didn’t post it then.
Totosoapcity, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, July 2024
All of Totosoapcity’s pieces are instantly recognisable, because of the shape of his letters, which is quite unique, and doesn’t seem to deviate too much from piece to piece. I think the letters spell ARSA, with the ‘S’ reversed. In this piece he has gone form the trusty pink and blue combination with a cream and red striped drop shadow and red border with decorations. Decent, unusual and distinctive writing. Watch this space for more of his work from my archives.
It is always a little sad when street/graffiti artists move away from Bristol, but some consolation that new artists are emerging or moving to the city, generally at a faster rate, growing the incredible pool of talent. PWA (Pirate Wall Art) took a double hit at the end of 2024, with both Face 1st and Chill leaving town and leaving behind a significant void. Face 1st, it should be registered, has returned several times to paint, just as he said he would. This piece by Chill, however, I think was painted before he left, which made it all the sweeter to find.
Chill, M32 roundabout J2, Bristol, January 2025
Chill has managed to squeeze one of his stylish cartoon characters onto a column with great skill and without making it look too distorted or contrived. I will miss his urban street-wise people with their caps and ear discs. If you miss them too, here is an updated gallery of his outstanding work.
This is the last archive round up for the time being, and a few wonderful pieces of graffiti writing that missed the boat back in March 2020, just around the time of the first Covid lockdown in England – what strange times those were. First up is this fabulous STICK piece by Corupt, complete with ‘panels’ and ‘rivets’.
Corupt, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2020
Another piece by the same artist, this time using his KORUPT letters. In this chrome lettering, there is more than immediately meets the eye, with some patterning in the fills, with two very subtle colour variants. Nicely done.
Trafficity, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2020
It is always great to find Trafficity pieces, but to find an unpublished picture in my archive is extra rewarding. The letters ZIOM are filled with chrome, but unlike Corupt’s piece above, the patterning in this one is created by the piece beneath coming through (I think). Unusually, Trafficity has gone with a single tone, when I am more accustomed to seeing two or three horizontal colours through the piece.
Rusk, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2020
It is very unlike me not to post Rusk pieces as and when I find them, so this one from the archive is a rare gem. Great graded fill, nice orange border and green drop shadow… what’s not to like?
Phour, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2020
Rounding off this selection of ‘lost’ pieces from March 2020 is this bright and cheerful piece by Phour, whose writing is consistently neat and tidy. He has gone with some interesting colour choices in the fill, which work really well and feel quite joyful.
That’s it from the archive for a while. Back to normal with my next post.
In this last look back at 2019 (for the time being), I am posting five pieces from the wall on the M32 Cycle path, which never made it onto Natural Adventures at the time. There is some poignancy to this post and the feature piece by Mena (Menas), because I have recently heard that Mena is currently recovering from a bad accident she had while travelling in Thailand. She is back in the UK, but quite unwell. This is my small way of wishing her a full recovery, and I dedicate this retrospective post to her. I expect you’ll see a few pieces, from various artists, in the coming days and weeks that will be wishing her well.
This is a particularly fine example of her work, and although she doesn’t paint all that regularly, her pieces are always welcome. I am not certain that all of the following pieces were painted as part of a paint jam, but I suspect they were.
Ryder, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, June 2019
Ryder is most definitely a graffiti writer’s writer, if you know what I mean, he is highly respected in the community and turns out some of the best graffiti writing in the city which he has done for quite some while. This piece is rather more subtle than most of his work, and perhaps doesn’t quite have the impact we would normally expect. I’m not sure these light shades quite work (for me).
T-Rex, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, June 2019
Finding anything by T-Rex is always a treat, and this is a classy example of her great work. the writing/character combination always works a treat. The dinosaur always adds a touch of light-heartedness to the edgy nature of graffiti writing.
Hemper, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, June 2019
Hemper has used a similar colour palette to Ryder, and for me it all just looks a little washed out. There is no doubting the superb skills of the artists, but on this day, I think they chose a weak colour palette, and perhaps that is why I never posted these pieces back in June 2019.
Soker, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, June 2019
Finally, and very possibly not part of the paint jam, is this bright and colourful piece from Soker, displaying his graffiti writing credentials to the max. Superb letter shapes and fills mark this piece out, I only wish my photographic skills could do it justice.
This post is a quick nostalgic trip down memory lane comprising three wonderful pieces painted in Dean Lane, photographed way back in May 2019, that inexplicably weren’t posted at the time. The first is by Dasco, whose short time in Bristol saw the production of several outstanding pieces, you can see his gallery here.
Taboo, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2019
Taboo has long been a favourite on the pages of Natural Adventures, and here is an old one in monochrome, complete with skull and right ball. Nice stuff.
Biers, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2019
Somehow this fabulous Biers piece missed the boat back in 2019, and I guess it was in a sense it was a prediction of things to come. ‘Nigel Farage – snake oil’ it says, and it isn’t wrong. The Clacton MP still hasn’t set up office in his constituency since the election and hasn’t held a single surgery, but then I don’t think anyone in their right mind would have expected that from the uber-opportunist.
Doors 148 – Another plunge into some archive street/graffiti art doors
Still swamped with work, and although I did actually go on a doorscursion last weekend, I haven’t had time to upload the photographs yet. What this means is that I have had to have a very rapid rummage in my archives for some street art or graffiti doors from last year. Here they are:
Varo, Leonard Lane, Bristol, September 2020 Nathan Bowen, Jamaica Street, Bristol, September 2020 Nathan Bowen, Hepburn Road, Bristol, September 2020
DazCat, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, September 2020 Hazard, Jamaica Street, Bristol, September 2020 Getting Up To Stuff, Jacob’s Wells Road, Bristol, September 2020 Inkie, M32 Spot, Bristol, September 2020
I had to do a bit of a trawl through my Thursday doors folder to dig these forgotten doors out, and am rather pleased that I did, because I have overlooked them for far too long. Hoping to get some fresh doors soon, but until then we will have to make do with this rather random selection of photographs from Bristol taken in 2018 and 2019.
Wingman barbers door with doorfie, Christmas Steps, Bristol, June 2019
Bristol South Baths, Entrance doors, Bristol, May 2019
This is where my son trained to become a lifeguard.
Haberfield House gate, Hotwells, Bristol, March 2019
Those steps could do with a sweep.
Beautifully carved triple door, the Centre, Bristol, March 2019
Heavy iron door, Bedminster, Bristol July 2018
Animated post box door, Bristol, May 2018
With a fair wind and a bit of time I hope to go on a few doorscursions soon, but at least I am working through my back-catalogue which has needed a bit of tidying up.
Have a great weekend, wherever you are.
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.