Turoe is one of the most reliable and consistent writers in Bristol, and it is a shame that he doesn’t write nearly as much these days as he has done in the past.
This is a fine price celebrating Shade One’s birthday, and spelling out SHADE. Some great letter shapes picked out with fine black lines are surrounded by pink and purple bubbly decorations. This birthday paint jam turned out some real gems, as is often the case with this group of artists.
It was Minto’s birthday paint jam in the tunnel a little while back, and this was the second of two pieces that he painted during the celebrations. I know it was the second, because when I first photographed it, it was unfinished, and I had to return, as did Minto a few days later.
The piece features a portrait of a man wearing a hard hat with the words ‘Dylan, Floris and Minto’, in front of which is a rather worse for wear looking rabbit. I am not sure what any of this is all about, but it must mean something to the birthday boy.
The paint jam was probably the best attended in 2025 and a great gesture from all the artists who turned up to celebrate. It was also a great source of material for Natural Adventures, for which I thank each and every participant. Looking forward to something equally impressive in November 2026
The turnout for Shade One’s birthday paint jam might have been relatively small in numbers, but was of the highest calibre. You know that you are well respected as an artist when Soker turns up and paints you a birthday celebration piece.
Soker is simply one of the best graffiti writers around, and although this looks like a relatively ‘quick one’ it still oozes class. The letters spell out shade with beautifully blended fills. The black outline picks out the letters beautifully and the cloudy pink, purple and green bursts around the edge of the letters rounds the piece off perfectly.
There are a few artists in Bristol who specialise in portrait pieces, and at the top of the tree are Shade One, Mind49 and Stivs. Shade One celebrated his own birthday paint jam with this magnificent portrait of a young woman on the long wall at Cumberland Basin.
What makes this piece super-special is that it has been painted using greyscale colours, but somehow that is not the first thought one has when first seeing it. The cartoon style is more forgiving than photorealism, but nonetheless equally effective. The blue background complements the detail in the portrait. Superb work.
Most artists in Bristol have good days and bad days and everything in between, when it comes to their artwork. One artist whose work is consistently near-perfect is Dibz. I can’t think of a time when he has turned out a piece of writing and thought to myself ‘that’s a bit shoddy’.
This is a beautifully finished piece painted for Shade One’s birthday, hence the letters SHADE. It would be easy to describe the piece as simple, but that isn’t necessarily the case. The white letters are decorated sparingly with green accents. The pink drop shadow is immaculate, and there is a tight thin blue border around the letters. To add some extra interest, Dibz has painted some glowing cubes around the piece, rounding it all off perfectly. Flawless.
One of the nice things about birthday paint jams is that they tend to encourage artists who don’t paint all that often to come out of the woodwork. One of those artists is Ware from the RAW crew. I have only ever seen his work a few times in Bristol, and it is possible that he lives and paints elsewhere, which may be why I don’t see his stuff all that often.
This is a wonderful and technical piece of wildstyle writing. Each of the letters is assigned a colour, from green to light grey to dark grey and pink. The design of the letters is verging on a kind of Gothic or calligraphy font, but not quite. This is very nice writing, beautifully presented, and a great way to celebrate Shade One’s birthday.
.
Just another day
and another year older
inevitable
.
by Scooj
Arguably, the most eye-catching piece from the Minto birthday paint jam was this extraordinary portrait by Jenks. The session coincided with Halloween, and this menacing horror piece certainly dined out on the spooky festival.
The technique used to generate the reflections in the mask is of the highest quality, incorporating loads of colour tones to create the effect. Furthermore, the distortions in the screaming girl figure and the scene around her create the illusion of a world we can’t see from this side of the mask.
It takes a great deal of skill and experience to produce a piece like this one, but the effort is worth it because of the impression it leaves behind. This is a wonderful piece from the visiting artist Jenks.
More from the Minto birthday paint jam, this time from Noise, and what very classy piece of writing it is too. I think I can safely say that this is the best attended birthday paint jam I have seen in Bristol, with both walls of the tunnel occupied.
Noise has used the tried and tested combination of gold (yellow) and red, and fancied up his letters a bit, and slimmed them down fractionally too. I like the ‘wire fence’ effect around the outside of the piece, not something I have seen before – most original.
There is still plenty more to share with you from Minto’s birthday paint jam in the tunnel, which was so incredibly well attended. This is a fine contribution from Hire, which was near the entrance to the tunnel.
Hire has written MINTO, which, although difficult to see, becomes more obvious each time you look at it. His distinctive spiky letters appear to emanate from a bright light, like a golden sun, with a central vanishing point above the piece. The piece is nicely finished with a some softer curls of green decoration. A great piece from Hire.
