6618. Cattle Market Road (19)

Mote and Mr Crawls, Cattle Market Road, Bristol, December 2024
Mote and Mr Crawls, Cattle Market Road, Bristol, December 2024

I guess it only feels right that a special Christmas Day post should fall to Mote and Mr Crawls, who have been Bristol’s most productive partnership this year. Although they have been quite quiet over the past month or two, I am expecting a resumption of their characters brightening up our streets in the New Year. I think I was a little late to the party with this piece, but I don’t visit this area of Bristol too often.

Mote and Mr Crawls, Cattle Market Road, Bristol, December 2024
Mote and Mr Crawls, Cattle Market Road, Bristol, December 2024

The multi-eyed monster to the right is by Mote, whose presence and development has been a pleasure to witness in recent years, and all the time he is tweaking and adding ideas and techniques. Mr Crawls, too, has been developing his style and characters, and the two appear to bounce ideas off one another. Mr Crawls has had two bites of the cherry here, painting one piece on the hoarding and the other on the utility box. By having two pieces together you can see his identity and style running through, even though the characters are quite different, save the hats. More next year I hope.

6063. Cattle Market Road (18)

Mr Crawls and Mote, Cattle Market Road, Bristol April 2024
Mr Crawls and Mote, Cattle Market Road, Bristol April 2024


The productive partnership between Mr Crawls and Mote continues without interruption. What is comforting bout their work is that both artists are continually evolving, and their influences on one another converge and then diverge, so in this collaboration, we see that slight divergence of styles.

Mr Crawls and Mote, Cattle Market Road, Bristol April 2024
Mr Crawls and Mote, Cattle Market Road, Bristol April 2024

Mr Crawls has recently been experimenting with monochrome pieces and developed more of an angular approach to his stylised bird characters, quite a shift from his early pieces. Mote, meanwhile, is creating ever more sophisticated monsters, and working hard on particular features such as the eyelids. I continue to derive so much pleasure from these two character artists.

6004. Cattle Market Road (17)

Mote, Cattle Market Road, Bristol, April 2024
Mote, Cattle Market Road, Bristol, April 2024

Mote is an artist who emerged as a Bristol-based artist in the spring of 2022 and has been developing his craft steadily since then. His early pieces were relatively simple constructions with solid primary colours and thick solid lines, but he has quickly developed his style which is altogether more sophisticated while sticking to his monster characters.

Mote, Cattle Market Road, Bristol, April 2024
Mote, Cattle Market Road, Bristol, April 2024

This monster at the back of the Temple Meads development site is carrying a theme that Mote recently appears to be playing with which is to have the eyes appearing quite differently, one wide open, the other heavily lidded. this asymmetry certainly lends itself to the monster-like appearance of the character. There are just so many good pieces by Mote out there. 

5875. Cattle Market Road (16)

Mr Crawls and Mote, Cattle Market Road, Bristol, February 2024
Mr Crawls and Mote, Cattle Market Road, Bristol, February 2024

The ‘dynamic duo’ continue to entertain us with their increasingly frequent monster/character collaborations. Since Mr Crawls and Mote teamed up, they have been creating some fabulous monster pieces spread around the city and they don’t appear to have a favourite spot, so finding them seems to be a bit of a random process.

Mr Crawls and Mote, Cattle Market Road, Bristol, February 2024
Mr Crawls and Mote, Cattle Market Road, Bristol, February 2024

This one, on the ever-shrinking hoardings behind Temple Meads station, features a bird from Mr Crawls and a monster from Mote, set perfectly on a chrome background, something they seem to enjoy adopting in their work. As they continue to work together, they are learning from one another, and here they have gone with a black border that matches in thickness, and draws the collaboration together. I have plenty more pieces in the can waiting for posting.

5128. Cattle Market Road (15)

Mote, Cattle Market Road, Bristol, March 2023
Mote, Cattle Market Road, Bristol, March 2023

An endearing bird monster thing painted by Mote on the hoarding behind Temple Meads Station. Mote is tireless and his imagination limitless, which is a good thing for those of us who like to find his work dotted around the City.

Mote, Cattle Market Road, Bristol, March 2023
Mote, Cattle Market Road, Bristol, March 2023

This rather forlorn creature is nicely composed, and the soft tones work well together. I am guessing that this might have been here a while because it proceeds his wobbly monsters, which started appearing in February this year. Another one for the collection.

5117. Cattle Market Road (14)

SPZero76 and Kid Crayon, Cattle Market Road, Bristol, March 2023
SPZero76 and Kid Crayon, Cattle Market Road, Bristol, March 2023

Sometimes I am so far behind the curve I actually surprise myself. I think I was aware of this wonderful winter wonderland piece by SPZero76 and Kid Crayon, otherwise known as the EAT crew, from last Christmas, but I simply haven’t visited the hoarding in such a long time.

SPZero76, Cattle Market Road, Bristol, March 2023
SPZero76, Cattle Market Road, Bristol, March 2023

The whole piece is a continuous story and a great collaboration, with the left-hand side painted by SPZero76 and the right-hand side by Kid Crayon. Inevitably, SPZero76 has included a robot snowball-launcher alongside a woman throwing a snowman’s head.

Kid Crayon, Cattle Market Road, Bristol, March 2023
Kid Crayon, Cattle Market Road, Bristol, March 2023

Kid Crayon has painted a couple of young lads throwing and launching their own snowballs back. Beautifully sprayed by both artists, this is a fun, cartoon-style piece that really captures the spirit of winter, and snow that most Bristolians can only dream of (even though we had a little bit of the white stuff this year). We just don’t get to see enough by the EAT crew these days. Perhaps they will get busy on the streets this year.

4673. Cattle Market Road (13)

Dog Bless the Band, Cattle Market Road, Bristol, August 2022
Dog Bless the Band, Cattle Market Road, Bristol, August 2022

The writing says MOTEL, don’t ask me why, but it is an interesting word to choose – perhaps it gives options for some good letter shapes. The artist has one of the best names on the scene – Dog Bless the Band – again don’t ask me where that comes from, sometimes it is better not to know these things as it takes away the mystery.

Dog Bless the Band, Cattle Market Road, Bristol, August 2022
Dog Bless the Band, Cattle Market Road, Bristol, August 2022

One of the things that is consistent with all the Dog Bless the Band pieces that I have seen is the complex fills in muted tones. These subtle patterns are a refreshing change from the often brash shapes and colours that most fills are made of. I like to think of these fills by Dog Bless the Band as ‘muddy’ but in a good way, if that makes sense. I always love finding his special and unique work.

4551. Cattle Market Road (12)

On my tours of different spots around Bristol, I have bumped into Mote several times now, and each time it has been a genuine pleasure to converse with him. I am really enjoying his solid fill monsters, each quite different from the last. It is always good to see an artist turn out variations of an idea instead of perfecting an idea, although both approaches are completely ok.

Mote, Cattle Market Road, Bristol, June 2022

These two monsters are lurking behind a scooter stop, which I actually feel adds to the overall composition. It is as if they are looking after the scooters, and almost feels like a deliberate coming together, and the red colours match so well. I like the cartoon style that Mote uses that has the faintest touch of Gerald Scarfe about it – probably those swirly lines.

4496. Cattle Market Road (11)

The Bristol Womxn Mural Collective are a wonderful group of femxle (to use their convention) artists who come together several times a year to get out of their studios and try their hand at painting on the street. The outcome is invariable something rather special and different from the more conventional work we are used to seeing.

Nina Raines, Cattle Market Road, Bristol, May 2022
Nina Raines, Cattle Market Road, Bristol, May 2022

This is a superb study of a toadstool by Nina Raines, whose works are so incredibly diverse and don’t conform to a style, on account of her ‘proper’ profession as a theatrical scenic artist. This piece definitely works for me, with its different layers and textures. Great work… more to come from this paint jam.

4343. Cattle Market Road (10)

A mural artist who is rapidly developing a name for herself in Bristol is Farrah, and some recent additions to her portfolio include this wonderful piece in Cattle Market Road.

Farrah, Cattle Market Road, Bristol, March 2022
Farrah, Cattle Market Road, Bristol, March 2022

Farrah, with her abstract pieces, seems to be as comfortable with a commission as she does with a roadside hoarding like this one, and there seems to be something of a civic appetite for her work, for example I have noticed a number of planters around the city that have been decorated with her work.

Farrah, Cattle Market Road, Bristol, March 2022
Farrah, Cattle Market Road, Bristol, March 2022

This particular piece has a rather summery feel to it, reminiscent of sunflowers. The brush strokes have a movement to them and the blending of colours is so skilfully done. Farrah is an artist on the up and up.