Feek rarely paints our streets these days, so seeing this piece in the tunnel for Minto’s birthday was a particular joy. His zany cartoon style lends itself so well to the street scene, offering mini stories and curiosities for those lucky enough to see his work.
Feek, St Werburghs, Bristol, November 2025
In this humorous character piece, a rather fed-up brain is taking leave of the skull it belongs to, declaring ‘that’s it, I’m off’ while the hapless skull utters the word ‘wuh?’. An amusing story perfectly portrayed with clarity and detail. This is a lovely piece by Feek and a reminder of what we are missing.
The Art of Sok, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, October 2025
Last year I managed to catch up with The Art of Sok several times, and it seems that the artist crossed the border several times to paint in Bristol. This year his visits have been less frequent, but he has definitely left his mark, not least with this stunner for Dibz’ birthday.
The Art of Sok, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, October 2025
I wasn’t expecting too many Halloween pieces this year, but as it turned out, there were quite a few. (Note to self – do a Halloween gallery). The Art of Sok has created the perfect pumpkin character painted in his outstanding cartoon style. Everything is superbly balanced and the fills and borders immaculate. This is cartoon character street art at its very best. Bravo!
This wonderful character by Veeez, or VZA, is another one I have pulled out of my archive from earlier this year, because it is simply too good not to post. There was a time when VZA first hit the walls of Bristol that it was difficult to not stumble across one of his characters of toadstools, however, of late his pieces have become a bit of a rarity.
VZA, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2025
This is a wonderful, bold and bright alien bug painted with strong fills in two shades and an incredibly precise thin black outline. Obviously the work of a very skilled artist and a superbly creative subject too. It is a pity he doesn’t paint all that often, although it is always worth waiting for.
Sled One, Oust and Stivs Brunel Way, Bristol, October 2025
I came across this outstanding collaboration, intending to photograph its predecessor by Dibz and Fade who I had watched painting their collaboration, but as I have said, you snooze, you lose in this game and when I returned it had been painted over by this masterpiece. I think that this is probably my favourite collaboration of the year so far, oozing with talent.
Sled One, Brunel Way, Bristol, October 2025
To the left, Sled One has painted one of his magnificent cartoon-style creations, heavily loaded with political commentary. The piece is reflecting the rather unsettling rise of the appropriation of the St George Cross to represent anti-immigration (and for some, racist) sentiments, purporting to be patriotism. This is another division stoked up by the right wing parties, Reform and the Conservatives, as a wedge issue from which they expect to benefit.
Anti-immigration and racist sentiments are not particularly well-supported in Bristol, and Sled One has illustrated a large shoe squashing a gammon (“gammon” is a derogatory slang term for middle-aged, often ruddy-faced, white men who are perceived as being nationalistic, anti-immigrant, and particularly supportive of Brexit) attempting to paint a St George cross on the sole of the shoe. He is being squished. If only it was that simple to moderate this rise in anti-foreigner narrative masquerading as patriotism.
Oust, Brunel Way, Bristol, October 2025
The middle section of this triptych is a superbly colourful piece of graffiti writing by Oust, spelling out OUSTER. Beautiful letters, beautiful fill colours, some nice flame bursts and bubbly background. A first-class piece of writing.
Stivs, Brunel Way, Bristol, October 2025
On the right is an outstanding cartoon portrait piece by Stivs, which I think is one of his best, and that is a high bar indeed. The stylised portrait draws on the Japanese anime genre and has so much movement and attitude about it. The piece is beautifully executed and looks like it could be a still from a film.
Stivs, Brunel Way, Bristol, October 2025
As I said before, an outstanding collaboration. Bravo! Sled One, Oust and Stivs.
Sam Brentnall, Lucky Lane, Bristol, September 2025
Although he doesn’t paint all that often, Sam Brentnall pretty much always brings a smile to my face with his quirky illustrations of familiar animals and their amusing personalities. This beauty was painted in Lucky Lane as part of the most recent Bristol Mural Collective paint jam.
Sam Brentnall, Lucky Lane, Bristol, September 2025
The piece, painted on a back yard wall with door and garage, takes the form of a reconstructed cow. Of course no real cow looks like this, but the caricature illustration immediately appears as a cow, even though it is mixed up and has green spots instead of black. I love the udders on the door on the left, and the cow’s head cropping a four leaf clover – tapping into the lucky theme of the paint jam. This is a truly charming piece from Sam Brentnall.
Asre has a new Instagram handle, @azre_returns which is a great description of his status as a street artist in Bristol. He was pretty busy a couple of years back and then abruptly stopped. Good things come to those who wait, and at last Asre has rewarded us with one of his trademark character portraits.
Asre, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2025
The character is wearing a baseball cap with the letters AEK which might relate to the Greek football club AEK Athens. Google searches didn’t give me an answer to the word ‘Trelenomai’, so the theme to the piece remains a bit of a mystery. The character itself is grimacing a little and has crosses for pupils, a tell-tale sign the piece is by Asre. Great to see him back.
This superb little character piece by Cheo was painted in celebration of Ulow’s recent birthday. Although the piece is unsigned, it looks like it is by Sled Onebut is actually one of two by Cheo. It piece depicts a cheeky spray can eating a taco. Quite why I do not know, but it doesn’t matter.
Cheo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2025
Cheo has had a busier than usual year, and it was great to see this piece, celebrating Ulow’s recent birthday. One of a number of superb pieces from a gathering of some of the best and most established artists in Bristol. Top work.
Minto, Cheo, Hypo, Ulow, Dibz, Soker, Rusk, Shade One and Turoe, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2025
A few of the pieces that were painted as part of Werm’s birthday celebration didn’t last more than 24 hours, including a rather striking piece by Zake and some writing by 3F Fino. Fortunately, however, this character piece by DFC 1848 remained untouched.
DFC1848, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, August 2025
Spot the difference
There are two differences between the two photographs, taken about three minutes apart. Can you see them? Clue, one is on the elephant, the other is not. DFC1848 continues to expand his repertoire, and this elephant is quite a beauty.
DFC1848, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, August 2025
There is something about the style of this piece that reminds me of 1960s and 1970s TV cartoon shows. It is really nicely painted, with good solid fills, some great three colour shading and a superb thick border. It was really good too to be able to catch up with the artist, just as he was finishing up.
I like character artists who create new ideas and scenes, and DFC 1848 has been spending much of the summer introducing us to a raft of fun cartoon animals to enjoy. This humorous piece demonstrates his willingness to look at new things and constantly evolve.
DFC 1848, L Dub, Bristol, July 2025
Two dogs need to ‘water’ the fire hydrant. One is freely relieving himself, while the other crosses his legs, waiting for his turn. As a dog owner, this piece appeals to me, although my dog never seems to cross his legs, he’ll just pee on twenty different tufts or objects every time we go on a walk – even if he’s run out, he’ll still squeeze out another drop. Some nice DFC letters and DFC on the hydrant leave us in no doubt about the artist.
I have only ever found a handful of pieces by Sam Brentnall, but it doesn’t take many to make a really strong impression. There is something very endearing about this simple naïve style, so clean and crisp. I think it must have been quite recently finished when I found it, because there are no mud splashes, goat damage or tagging to be seen.
Sam Brentnall, Purdown, Bristol, July 2005
The beautiful illustration is of a man with a hat playing a guitar, and to use up the space of the concrete slab, Sam Brentnall has playfully bent the neck of the guitar back on itself, in a way that only cartoon illustrations can. Refreshing and fun.
Natural adventures 