Character – Page 14 – Natural adventures

6938. M32 roundabout J3 (682)

Microsoft

Mr Crawls and Kool Hand, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2025

Mr Crawls and Kool Hand have been painting together more regularly of late, and it is good to see. Their character styles, although quite different do complement one another rather well.

Mr Crawls, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2025

Mr Crawls has painted one of his ‘skeleton’ bird characters, which look slightly creepy if I am honest, but are very much part of his repertoire. He has shown another side to his talent here though, with some very nicely presented writing, spelling out JIM. I expect that this is a shout out to a friend/family member.

Kool Hand, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2025

Kool Hand presents his orangutan character, who over the years has developed and become ever so slightly more sophisticated. The solid fills haven’t changed much, but the clean lines have improved and the overall shape of the head has softened. Some nice white flashes add to the 3D appearance of the character. A rather nice collaboration.

6932. Greenbank (158)

Normally, when Haka paints one of his graffiti writing/character combination pieces, I recognise the character from a children’s picture book. This time Haka has stumped me – I am not familiar with any books containing a lizard, and can’t tell you too much more about it.

Some classic HAKA letters sandwich the lizard, although I note that only the right-hand side has been decorated with stars. I wonder if that is an omission, or whether it is the lizard that has emitted the stars from its claw. The lovely piece was difficult to photograph on such a sunny afternoon, something that has been a constant problem during our glorious spring.

6931. Purdown (89)

Only a few days ago I posted a piece by Mr Penfold, a collaboration with Mul that was at least a year old, and now I present a contemporary piece by the artist containing the same endearing character, that has a passing resemblance to Disney’s Pluto.

I love it when artists who make a living from their commissions and studio designs and illustrations, take a little bit of time out and decorate our streets. It feels like they are doing it for love and joy rather than for money, and there is something about that that is a refreshing break from the avaricious world that we live in. Thank you Mr Penfold for brightening up my day.

6926. Peel Street Green (41)

3Dom, Peel Street Green, Bristol, May 2025

Ordinarily, I would expect a 3Dom piece to stick around for a month or two at least, but this wonderful piece only lasted a couple of weeks, which is a shame, but at least it was painted over with a decent piece, and it wasn’t tagged or bombed.

There is always a great deal of symbolism in 3Dom’s work, and here is a large eye character bearing the heavy weight of a skull. There is so much more going on here than simply the idea. The colour selections, light cast, shadows and perspectives are all impeccably presented and sets a bar for character artists across the land. You might spot a yellow Mr Bloopy in the background too.

6924. Greenbank (157)

Scrapyardspec, Greenbank, Bristol, May 2025

There are a number of artists who have a signature piece or style that through repetition become recognised, and lean towards iconic. Examples in Bristol would include Full Time Ghoul, Mr Underbite and perhaps most famously, Slim Pickings, who writes TES. The visiting Scrapyardspec is one of these artists.

This is a fine double character piece from Scrapyardspec, looking a little golden in the late afternoon sun. His endearing, wibbly/goofy characters haven’t deviated much from the archetypal form and are beautifully filled with green and yellow colours that match the parched grass verge perfectly. His regular visits to Bristol are more than welcome.

6919. East Street

Mr Penfold and Mul, East Street, Bristol, April 2025

This is a recent picture of a piece that I think was painted during Upfest last year, when Mul was visiting and dropped a few pieces about town. Here he has teamed up with Mr Penfold to create a fun and colourful collaboration.

Mul is known for his heart characters with legs and an eye. I’m not sure where Mul calls home, but occasional visits to Bristol are always very welcome. Mr Penfold is perhaps more commonly associated with his abstract commissions on shopfronts, but he intermittently produces these wonderful cartoon characters, presumably for fun. A tidy collaboration.

6897. St Werburghs tunnel (491)

Mr Klue, St Werburghs, Bristol, April 2025

I am writing this from a tired Travelodge in Warrington, having watched Arsenal lose to PSG in the second leg of the Champions League Semi Final in an equally tired and slightly empty Irish Pub. I have had a long day, and still have this blog post to write. At least I am writing about this fabulous Mad Hatter piece in the tunnel by Mr Klue.

I think Mr Klue painted this as a bit of an extra, after he has finished another piece that I watched him complete. He is on a roll this year and has been churning out some great pieces. I particularly like these little characters that he paints and I have seen several of them over the years. This character is a little more solid than his ephemeral abstract writing and manages to convey a certain amount of mystery and intrigue.

I am always reminded when I see this character, of a wonderful double LP that me and my sister had as children, which was a musical version of Alice in Wonderland, and thanks to the Interweb, here is a picture of it. Try and find an online version to listen to, you won’t regret it.

Alice in Wonderland album cover. A brilliant musical version with a star-studded cast.

6892. M32 roundabout J3 (676)

Slakarts, M32 roundabout, Bristol, April 2025

It is a pity that Slakarts doesn’t appear to have much time for painting his stylised character pieces these days, but on the upside it probably means that he has a busy work and social life that is keeping him occupied. It is a bittersweet problem that real life can get in the way of the things we love to do with our ‘free’ time.

This is a welcome return of the Slakarts face that is so familiar, as you can see in this updated gallery of his work. The character face has two tongues, a duplication device often used by Slakarts, is bordered with a strong, thick red line and filled with nicely worked patterns in yellow and white. A welcome return from Slakarts.

6891. St Werburghs tunnel (490)

DFC1848, St Werburghs, Bristol, April 2025

It is always a pleasure when DFC1848 comes to visit, and sometimes I even manage to catch up with him, but unfortunately not on his most recent visit, during which he dropped a few pieces about the place, including these ones.

He has become an accomplished character painter, coming up with a raft of different cartoon-style creatures for us to enjoy. I’m not sure what this little fellow is, a beaver? A meerkat? It doesn’t really matter. The animal is holding up a placard which simply reads ‘smile’. Unfortunately, yellow text on a white background is a real ‘no no’ in the world of communications, as for many people it is difficult to pick out the writing.

Not content with his first creature, DFC1848 also painted a ‘sticker’ character a few yards away, for good measure. Decent fun stuff.

6890. Cumberland Basin

Minto, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, April 2025

Minto has a very distinctive style, and his writing tends to be a vehicle for combining a collage of characters and icons, bringing together an eclectic selection of thoughts and ideas into a single piece.

In this piece, Minto has gone for some solid fills, a different colour for each letter, and has used the parallel horizontal lines on the wall to proportion everything. His character looks a little sinister to me, as if he is up to no good. This is a well-presented piece from a very accomplished graffiti writer.

	paulh121 on 7503. Stapleton Road
	Sheree on 7508. Sparke Evans Park (…
	paulh121 on 7502. M32 roundabout J3 (…
	Sheree on 7506. Purdown (102)
	hitandrun1964 on Amnesty

	paulh121 on 7503. Stapleton Road
	Sheree on 7508. Sparke Evans Park (…
	paulh121 on 7502. M32 roundabout J3 (…
	Sheree on 7506. Purdown (102)
	hitandrun1964 on Amnesty

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