Bristol – Natural adventures

7713. Exeter Road – Upfest 2026 (20)

Ajax Piper, Upfest 2026, Exeter Road, Bristol, May 2026

This is one of my favourite pieces from this year’s Upfest. There is something about the classical style with a contemporary twist that really appeals to me, and the artwork in soft colours is perfectly executed. This could hang with pride in any gallery in the land.

Ajax Piper is an artist I have only come across once before, and that was at the Cheltenham paint festival in 2023. The two ladies are relaxing in a woodland setting with toadstools at their feet. The piece is arresting as one of the ladies is looking straight out at the viewer, and the other glancing downwards. Another element of interest is the abstract nature of the trees, particularly the one on the right. A superb piece by Ajax Piper for Upfest. Bravo!

Ajax Piper, Cheltenham Paint Festival, Cheltenham, July 2023

7712. North Street Standard – Upfest 2026 (19)

Merny, Upfest 2026, North Street Standard, Bristol, May 2026

I am pleased that a great many artists at this year’s Upfest are local artists that managed to secure some important walls, and this piece by Merny on the wall outside the Bristol Standard is a good example of one of these.

Merny has a fairly provocative sense of humour that comes across in his work, and sometimes/often he is political too. In this piece, he picks up on a right wing slogan “stop the boats”, part of the illegal immigration cant, and applies it to the wealthy elites and their luxury yachts and, presumably, their tax avoidance/evasion. A clever twist, painted in his naïve art style. Cracking piece.

Banded Damoiselle

joins a merry courtship dance

settles a moment

by Scooj

It took me an eternity to find the female symbol (♀) but I got there in the end.

7711. Greenway Bush Lane – Upfest 2026 (18)

Cheba, Upfest 2026, Greenway Bush Lane, Bristol, May 2026

Cheba has been painting his cosmic pieces as long as I have been blogging, and probably considerably longer than that. This one at the back of Aldi, is a beauty and quite one of his best in my opinion.

Undaunted by a window and a couple of air vents, Chiba has created an incredible cosmic scene which lets our imaginations run wild. It is the reflection in the window that abruptly brings us back down to earth. An incredibly beautiful piece from Chiba.

7710. Stillhouse Lane – Upfest 2026 (17)

Snub 23, Upfest 26, Stillhouse Lane, Bristol, May 2026

Having just found out about this magnificent wall through Upfest, I have heard that the building is due to be demolished at some point. I don’t know whether that is true or not, but what a pity if it is, because it is a perfect wall for large high-end murals, and would lend itself very well to collaborative productions and paint jams.

This is a magnificent piece by Snub 23, who is no stranger to Upfest, and has painted in Bristol a number of times. The picture above shows the artist rounding off the character basics, but there is still so much work to do on the detailing and finishing, which you can see from looking at the final work.

The two robot characters dressed in human clothes appear to be blasting one another with sound waves coming from their “speaker” heads. Beautifully worked action piece, with plenty of movement, and some brilliant fabric folds and creases. A fine Upfest piece.

7709. Greville Smith Park – Upfest 2026 (16)

DFC1848, Upfest 2026, Greville Smyth Park, Bristol, May 2026

It was good to catch up with DFC1848 at this year’s Upfest, and before he painted this fun character piece, we had a long chat while admiring Jimmer Wilmot’s skilful alphabetti spaghetti piece.

With so much practice over the years, DFC1848 has built up a portfolio of animal characters which he is constantly adding to. When he first started, he would paint the same two characters pretty much all of the time, a bear and a spray can with wings. Now his menagerie swells and is bursting at the seams, with the addition of this rather unhinged elephant. Great work, beautifully executed.

7708. M32 roundabout J2 (27)

John D'oh, M32 roundabout J2, Bristol, May 2026 — John D’oh, M32 roundabout J2, Bristol, May 2026

This is another wonderful stencil piece from John D’oh in what has become his personal gallery. The poignant message is so relevant at the moment when global politics are so unstable and the threat of wars heightened.

The words “war does not determine who is right, only who is left”, are doing a lot of heavy lifting, leaving the reader in no doubt about the futility of war. The introduction of colourful flowers is perhaps an earnest attempt to offer some hope, some light that we can cling on to. This is a poignant and powerful piece by John D’oh.

7707. Cumberland Basin

Zake and Hire, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, May 2026

I would describe this collaboration by Zake and Hire as unusual, for two key reasons. Zake has painted a character, rather than one of his face caricatures, and Hire, who tends to be a graffiti writer, with the occasional rabbit thrown in, has painted a character, which, without the signature and a conversation with Zake as he was tidying up, I would never have guessed was painted by him.

Zake, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, May 2026

These two seem to have paired up quite a lot of late, especially since the PWA crew has become a little diluted, with both Face 1st and Chill leaving town. Zake has painted a humanoid robot, looking a little sinister, set on an urban landscape. Is this a dystopian future piece?

Hire, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, May 2026

Hire, meanwhile, has painted a comic-book style villain (or that is how I see it). The thick-set character with large, brilliantly crafted hands, is holding an old CRT television. Given that I don’t see many characters by Hire, I think this is superb, and hope to see more such pieces in the future. A fine and surprising collaboration.

7706. M32 roundabout J3 (777)

Stivs, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2026

Stivs has been turning out some sensational portrait pieces lately, and this combination piece on the roundabout is really rather special. Perhaps the most surprising thing about it is that the letters D and S look rather amateurish alongside the portrait.

Although the letters look at odds in this piece, it must have been deliberate, because Stivs is capable of truly great writing, and also, the shadows are perfect, which gives away a talented hand at the helm.

The star of the combination is the portrait of the woman. Stivs has developed this style of near-photorealism with a touch of cartoon to perfection and this is one in a series of stunning portraits. There is some beautiful shading and great use of highlights and tones in this piece. Outstanding work by Stivs.

7705. Cumberland Basin

ARSA, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, May 2026

Just a quick one this afternoon – the day has somewhat run away from me and I have a very busy schedule. Painted as part of a paint jam, this is a bold and colourful piece by ARSA.

The chunky, regular letters that give the word a bilaterally symmetrical appearance are filled with blocks of colour that follow a pattern through the piece. I wonder to myself whether the pink is a bit too much, but I guess that without it there would be a risk of it being a bit flat. ARSA is becoming a bit of a regular this year, stepping up both the quality and quantity of his graffiti writing pieces.

	paulh121 on Banded Damoiselle
	hitandrun1964 on 7710. Stillhouse Lane –…
	Laura Newhampshire on 7711. Greenway Bush Lane…
	Wes Vinglun (aka) Ni… on 7710. Stillhouse Lane –…
	scooj on 7708. M32 roundabout J2 (…

	paulh121 on Banded Damoiselle
	hitandrun1964 on 7710. Stillhouse Lane –…
	Laura Newhampshire on 7711. Greenway Bush Lane…
	Wes Vinglun (aka) Ni… on 7710. Stillhouse Lane –…
	scooj on 7708. M32 roundabout J2 (…

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: