El Ruby Tattoo and Umbrelle, M32 roundabout, Bristol, April 2025
Because Bristol is well known for its street art and graffiti scene, we tend to see a lot of visiting artists passing through and dropping a piece or two. I don’t actually know where these two artists, El Ruby Tattoo and Umbrelle, are from, but they have combined well to create this double-header on the M32 roundabout.
El Ruby Tattoo and Umbrelle, M32 roundabout, Bristol, April 2025
Both artists are tattoo artists, and they were painting with Kid Crayon and Tera (I think), so there was a strong tattoo connection. The two character portraits are very different, but both are rather good, and they work well side by side. It is a bit of a shame that the bright sunshine has cast a few shadows on the uneven surface, but that is the price you pay for nice weather.
Such is Wispa’s popularity that when she celebrated her birthday with a paint jam in St Werburghs tunnel, it drew several artists from out of town, who might not have otherwise painted here. One of those artists, who is, in my view, one of the best combination (writing/character) artists I have seen, is The Last One.
The Last One, St Werburghs, Bristol, June 2025
The Last One has painted a few times in Bristol, but it is a rarity, so to have this magnificent piece taking pride of place in the tunnel is a privilege. Usually The Last One’s letters spell ZFG, but in this instance I think they might spell WISP – although I might be imagining things. The character is exceptional, painted with exaggerated features and incredible detail. The whole thing is as sharp as you’ll ever see, demonstrating great skill and complete mastery of the can. Bravo! A brilliant piece.
Pelmo, Cheltenham Paint Festival, Cheltenham, July 2022Pelmo, Dean Lane, Bristol, August 2022Pelmo, New Stadium Road, Bristol, June 2022Pelmo, New Stadium Road, Bristol, June 2022Pelmo, New Stadium Road, Bristol, June 2022Pelmo, Lucky Lane, Bristol, April 2022Pelmo, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2022Pelmo, Lucky Lane, Bristol, August 2019Pelmo, Tobacco Factory, Bristol, June 2019Pelmo, Tobacco Factory, Bristol, May 2019Pelmo, Upfest shop yard, Bristol, July 2018Pelmo, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018Pelmo, West Street, Bristol, April 2018Pelmo, West Street, Bristol, April 2018Pelmo, West Street, Bristol, April 2018Pelmo, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017Pelmo, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
A little bit of a landmark this morning, with my seven thousandth street art blog post, which is quite a few really. When I set out on this adventure in 2015, the blog was set up to share my diary and log from a life-changing experience I had, working with the fisheries department in the Falkland Islands.
In the early days, I simultaneously started to notice the street art and graffiti around me in my adopted home, Bristol. I started posting the odd piece, mainly because nobody else was at that time, and I wanted to share what I saw and found out with others, and to lay down an archive of this ephemeral art form. And here we are, still going strong and with a bigger street art scene than ever before.
Kid Crayon, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2025
It is fitting that this milestone piece is by Kid Crayon, because it was his unusual and surreal wheatpaste portraits that originally captured my imagination and motivated me to blog about this stuff. I was lucky enough to catch up with Kid Crayon and Tera while they were painting this wall, but alas, Tera’s piece was painted over by the time I returned to get clean photographs. Kid Crayon has produced a fabulous piece with some great colour fills discrete to each letter and a wonderful one-eyed character making up the ‘o’. The floating crayon in front of the character’s mouth is a signature motif used by Kid Crayon for at least a decade. Splendid stuff.
Kool Hand, Mr Crawls and Bean, Brunel Way, Bristol, May 2025
Well this is an unusual trio, but nonetheless a very welcome collaboration from Kool Hand, Mr Crawls and Bean. On closer inspection, I am guessing that it is actually two distinct pieces, a collaboration from Kool Hand and Mr Crawls and an independent piece by Bean, which is perhaps why it looks like an unusual coming together.
Kool Hand, Brunel Way, Bristol, May 2025
Kool Hand has been painting a lot this year, spreading his time between writing and characters. This piece is a profile of his famous orangutan character, which is synonymous with the artist. Constantly improving, Kool Hand has added more detail with shading and complexion.
Mr Crawls, Brunel Way, Bristol, May 2025
Mr Crawls just keeps on going with his gulls, and I just keep on going with photographing them when I see them. This is a nice one painted in his stylised cartoon format – nice and sharp. Difficult to read the expression on this one.
Bean, Brunel Way, Bristol, May 2025
Finally, Bean, who has made a quiet comeback in recent weeks, has painted this exquisite piece with two characters in blue tones spraying the wall. The larger character looks like he is ‘high’ floating on the fumes from the paint can. They have been busy painting the letters BEAN. This is beautifully presented, and it is a great pity that some wally has plastered mud on the piece – what is wrong with some people? A refreshing wall, that didn’t last to long.
It speaks volumes to the popularity of Wispa that there was such an enormous turnout for her birthday paint jam in St Werburghs tunnel, especially as she isn’t even a resident of the city. I know that she is admired by her RBF friends and that she is super-talented.
Wispa, St Werburghs, Bristol, June 2025
This is a wonderful birthday piece, spelling out her name. The letter fills are spectacular and so full of ideas, neatly enclosed in as light blue border and accompanied by a black and red drop shadow. I believe the clock character is by Wispa too, as it contains the same lilac paint that surrounds her letters. This is yet another very nice piece of work by Wispa.
Werm, St Werburghs, Bristol, June 2025Werm, Greenbank, Bristol, May 2025Werm, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, April 2025Werm, St Werburghs, Bristol, April 2025Werm, Peel Street Green, Bristol, April 2025Werm and Zake, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2025Werm, River Avon, Bristol, March 2025Werm, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, March 2025Werm, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, February 2025Werm, River Avon, Bristol, January 2025Werm, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, January 2025Werm, Peel Street Green, Bristol, December 2024Werm, River Avon, Bristol, December 2024Werm, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, November 2024Werm, M32 roundabout, Bristol, November 2024Werm, River Avon, Bristol, September 2024Zake and Werm, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2024Werm, Brunel Way, Bristol, September 2024Werm, St Werburghs, Bristol, August 2024Werm, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, August 2024Werm, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2024Werm, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2024Werm, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, March 2024Werm, Greenbank, Bristol, February 2024Werm, St Werburghs, Bristol, January 2024Werm, M32 roundabout, Bristol, January 2024Werm, Dean Lane, Bristol, December 2023Werm, The Paintworks, Bristol, October 2023Werm, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2023Werm, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, October 2023Werm, New Stadium Road, Bristol, September 2023Werm, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, August 2023Werm, St John’s Lane, Bristol, June 2023Daz Cat, Werm and Kool Hand, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, June 2023Werm, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, June 2023Werm, Greenbank, Bristol, June 2023Werm, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, May 2023Werm, M32 Spot, Bristol, May 2023Werm, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2023Werm, River Avon, Brtistol, May 2023Werm, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2023Werm. River Avon, Bristol, March 2023Werm, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, February 2023Werm, St Werburghs, Bristol, January 2023Werm, River Avon, Bristol, December 2022Werm, River Avon, Bristol, December 2022Werm, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2022Werm and 3F Fino, Chatterton Square, BristolWerm, Brunel Way, Bristol, July 2022Werm, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2022Werm, River Avon, Bristol, March 2022Werm, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2022Werm, Greenbank, Bristol, January 20223F fino and Werm, Devon Road, Bristol, January 20223F fino and Werm (Eman), Cumberland Basin, Bristol, December 2021Werm (Eman), Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2021Eman, River Avon, Bristol, October 2021Eman, River Avon, Bristol, September 2021Eman, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, September 2021Eman, Greenbank, Bristol, August 2021Eman, River Avon, Bristol, June 2021Eman, River Avon, Bristol, June 2021Eman, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, June 2021Eman, M32 cycle path, Bristol, June 2021Evey and Eman, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2021Eman, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, May 2021Eman, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, May 2021Eman, New Stadium Road, Bristol, May 2021Eman, New Stadium Road, Bristol, May 2021Eman, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, May 2021Eman, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, May 2021Eman, Brunel Way, Bristol, April 2021Eman, M32 cycle path, Bristol, December 2020Eman, M32 cycle path, Bristol, December 2020Eman, M32 cycle path, Bristol, December 2020Eman, M32 cycle path, Bristol, November 2020
This piece by Zake is something a little different, a variation on a theme from the artist. It is rare to see Zake paint anything approximating to letters, but here we are with an unusual combination piece.
Zake, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, May 2025
Two letters and two faces, making up the vowels, are nicely designed and set on a grey background with watery bubbles. For once, I will forgive the use of brown paint, because it is subtle and in keeping with the ‘slatey’, earthy, feel of the whole composition. It is always a pleasure to see artists try something new.
There is something rather special and unique about Dun Sum’s incredible creations. He doesn’t come into the centre of Bristol often, but when he does, his work always makes an impact. Often, Dun Sum will paint approximations of real creatures, but there is usually a bit of a twist, and sometimes complete fantasy. This chameleon, however, is identifiable as such, with only a little artistic cartoon licence.
Dun Sum, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2025
Having had a household chameleon pet ‘George’ a few years back, I am rather partial to any piece representing the charming little lizards. There is plenty of charm and humour in this piece, something Dun Sum excels at, and great to see him paint on the roundabout for Hypo’s birthday paint jam.
Fade, Acid Face with a Brace and Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2025
One of the best pieces of the year so far (in my view), this is an outstanding production triptych by Fade, Acid Face with a Brace and Dibz. What is difficult to convey is the scale of the collaboration, because not only is it wide, but it is also tall as well.
Fade, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2025
There is so much happening here, and it starts off with a superb piece of writing from Fade. The letters are complex and multilayered, with great fills, deep 3D drop shadows that appear to be translucent and some ‘tape’ wrapped around the ends of the word. The purple bubbly background is present through the whole piece.
Acid Face with a Brace, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2025
Arguably the most eye-catching part of this collaboration is the central character by Acid Face with a Brace, a writer from Birmingham. The scary, hooded mummy-type character is superbly painted, with tons of movement, and brilliant folds in the fabric and bandages. The blue face and big red eyes are superbly crafted. This is simply awesome.
Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2025
Rounding off the collaboration is a mirroring of Fade’s writing to a large extent, but with enough signature elements to be different and ‘Dibzy’ enough. The way these three have combined their talents to create this amazing production is a testament to their individual and combined skills. A little bird tells me that wall may get a facelift while retaining the character – you heard it here first.
Natural adventures 