Character – Page 18 – Natural adventures

6694. Dean Lane skate park (801)

I am Ian, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2025

I have a sense that 2025 is going to be a good one for street art in Bristol. Already January, a month that is traditionally rather slow, has been a very active period with loads of artists hitting the ground running. A signal that we could be in for a treat this year is the early appearance of Kid Crayon and I am Ian in Dean Lane.

This skull piece by I am Ian is full of joy and humour. Painted in a mischievous cartoon style, the grinning skull is accompanied by the slogan ‘Here today, gone tomorrow’, which I guess is a brief description of our existence. The character is expertly painted, with some great shading and fine lines to create features and depth. A wonderful way to start the year.

6683. Sparke Evans Park (116)

Wispa, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, January 2025

It would be great to know a little bit more about Wispa. She floats in and out of Bristol like a Willow the Wisp. Her Instagram is @willow_the_wispa, which might speak to her itinerant lifestyle. OK, news just in – I checked her Instagram that leads you to her web page, and here is an excerpt from her biography which helps to unravel the mystery somewhat:

I write Wispa, and am a female graffiti/street artist from the south of the U.K. I have been painting for 2 years. I paint all over the country, and have painted in Miami (United States) and Barcelona (Spain) as well as London, Bristol, Brighton and other U.K. spots I like to hit. Writers that really inspire are the likes of: Miss Motel (40hk), Samer, Dime, Isie Ldn, Spat, Zoegen (Miss Buns), Sterling & Skore.

In this combination piece, part of a huge paint jam celebrating the birthdays of RBF friends Desi and Even, Wispa has painted some stunning letters and a Japanese animation character from the Studio Ghibli. The letters are beautifully laid out with great colour selections and wonderful fills, and the character is so very neat and tidy. Wispa is without doubt an extraordinarily talented artist.

6680. Greenbank (148)

Mr Crawls, Greenbank, Bristol, January 2025

Slightly coincidentally, I published a gallery of Mr Crawls’ work this morning, which included this wonderful bird character as the most recent picture in the gallery. Scroll back eighteen months or so, and this piece feels like it is a modernised version of one of the first pieces I saw by Mr Crawls. Something that both he and his painting partner Mote have done exceptionally well is gently upgrade their styles, and this one may be setting the scene for Mr Crawls for the year to come.

The bird portrait is highly stylised, rather than caricature, and the boxy look creates a completely different sensation for the viewer. Even though the lines are straight, for the most part, Mr Crawls has managed to squeeze out some expression and emotion in the bird’s face. There is a lot to like about this style, and I’ll be interested to see if he takes us in a new direction.

Mr Crawls

A gallery of fabulous character birds and monster pieces from the talented Mr Crawls

Instagram: @mr.crawls

All photographs by Scooj

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

Mr Crawls, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2024

Mr Crawls, Redcliffe Way, Bristol, October 2024

Mr Crawls and Mote, Redcliffe Way, Bristol, October 2024

Mr Crawls, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2024

Mr Crawls, Purdown, Bristol, August 2024

Mote and Mr Crawls, Cumberland Basin, Bristol,July 2024

Mr Crawls, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2024

Mr Crawls, Ashton Avenue, Bristol, July 2024

Mote and Mr Crawls, Jubilee Street, Bristol, July 2024

Mote and Mr Crawls, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, June 2024

Mr Crawls, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, May 2024

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

Mr Crawls, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2024

Mr Crawls, Brunel Way, Bristol, March 2024

Mr Crawls and Mote, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, March 2024

Mr Crawls, River Avon, Bristol, February 2024

Mote and Mr Crawls, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, March 2024

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

Mr Crawls and Mote, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, January 2024

Mr Crawls, Greenbank, Bristol, January 2024

Mr Crawls and Mote, St Werburghs, Bristol, January 2024

Mr Crawls, Greenbank, Bristol, January 2023

Mr Crawls, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, January 2024

Mr Crawls and Mote, Jubilee Street, Bristol, December 2023

Mr Crawls, M32 roundabout, Bristol, December 2023

Mr Crawls and Mote, Dean Lane, Bristol, December 2023

Mr Crawls, St Werburghs, Bristol, December 2023

Mr Crawls and Mote, Peel Street Green, Bristol, November 2023

Mr Crawls, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2023

Mr Crawls and Mote, Brunel Way, Bristol, October 2023

Mr Crawls, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, October 2023

Mr Crawls, M32 Spot, Bristol, October 2023

Mr Crawls, St Werburghs, Bristol, September 2023

Mr Crawls, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, September 2023

Mr Crawls, Brunel Way, Bristol, September 2023

Mr Crawls, M32 roundabout, Bristol, Agust 2023

Mr Crawls, Brunel Way, Bristol, August 2023

Mr Crawls, St Werburghs, Bristol, May 2023

6677. Dean Lane (799)

Kid Crayon, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2025

It brings me great joy when I come across new Kid Crayon pieces. He has been reasonably quiet over the last couple of years, which in a way is a good thing, because it signals that his work is going well, and being an artist/designer having plenty of work is always a positive.

This wall used to have three alcoves in it, and in fairness, was quite difficult to paint. For whatever reason, the council decided to fill the alcoves with breeze blocks, and I have to say that the unintended consequence was this new long wall, which artists have been enjoying ever since. Kid Crayon has used the full length of the wall to paint his letters in hi favoured pink. Each letter is in a distinct style, where the ‘O’ is a masked character incorporating a floating crayon. A nice tidy piece and great way to start the year.

6671. Stapleton Road

Jevoissoul and Omie, Stapleton Road, Bristol, January 2025

The new hoarding at the very top end of Stapleton Road has been colonised pretty quickly, and I can see it becoming a popular spot over the coming months. Omie and Jevoissoul have teamed up to paint one section of the virgin hoarding, and started off with a rather fetching pink background.

Jevoissoul, Stapleton Road, Bristol, January 2025

Jevoissoul is fast becoming one of the most active street artists in Bristol, with his stylised character faces and ‘SLOW’ writing appearing pretty much all over the city. Hardly a day passes without stumbling on another new piece. Since I first became aware of his work, his pieces have become much tighter, with strong, tidy black lines and solid fills. This is a good example of his improvement.

Omie, Stapleton Road, Bristol, January 2025

Having met Omie over the Christmas break, it is so nice now to visualise the face and person behind the great writing. What I particularly like about Omie’s work is that every piece is utterly unique and different from anything else I have seen by him before. His creativity is admirable. I like the colours and the brush-stroke effect he has achieved with this piece. I wonder how long this collaboration will remain before others get to test out this new spot.

6666. Louisa Street (3)

Mote, Louisa Street, Bristol, December 2024

Sometimes the simplest of pieces can be as pleasing as the most complex, and this is definitely a case of less is more. I find it quite difficult to date this piece by Mote, because it is the kind of piece he was turning out a year or two back, but it looks reasonably fresh and I don’t recall seeing it before.

The monster character is about as basic as you can get. Some features, a double border and minimal fill patterns. There is a charm and clarity in the piece that warrants its inclusion in Natural Adventures, that, and the fact that I am a fan of his work and will always try to include it if I can. Nice, clean, fun piece.

6650. Dean Lane skate park (798)

I think it would be fair to say that Kush is massively underrepresented in Natural Adventures, and although I have pictures of his work dating back years, I have only ever published two of them here, this being the second. I will try to make improvements in this area this year, because Kush’s pieces deserve to be seen more.

This piece was painted on the swimming pool wall which is only accessible by climbing up onto the lower roof of the pool, and can only be photographed from distance, unless climbing is your thing (it is no longer mine). I love this combination piece. The writing is beautifully filled with red and white in a tablecloth design running through the letters. The mischievous character is a girl with boggle eyes and a beret, spraying out the letters. It is a well-conceived and executed piece and deserving of praise. I will try harder to post pieces by Kush in 2025.

6637. Sussex Street

Haka, Sussex Street, Bristol, December 2024

I rather like my occasional trips to the recycling centre. My most recent, last week, consisting mostly of cardboard boxes, afforded me the opportunity to visit a few spots that I don’t get to see all that often, and I was chuffed to find a clutch of pieces in Sussex Street that I hadn’t been aware of, including this piece by Haka, which looks like it was painted in October 2024.

This is a classic Haka combination piece, with his letters split either side of a character. You’ll have to forgive me for not knowing who the character is, but now that my kids are grown up I have lost touch a little with youth culture. The whole piece hangs together really well, and the writing has a lovely 3d drop shadow drifting to the right. A lively piece that probably looks a lot livelier on a sunny day.

6635. River Avon (73)

Klashwhensober, River Avon, Bristol, December 2024

This is a curious piece by Klashwhensober, painted alongside Sworm on a low wall that supports one of the bridges over the River Avon – a bridge that doesn’t actually lead to anywhere. It looks like this might have been a bit of a dregs piece, because there are a few colours involved, that don’t necessarily complement one another, and the light blue and yellow look rather thin, and perhaps were running out.

Klashwhensober has been painting a lot of character/writing combination pieces over the last year, and as a general rule of thumb, the more time he spends on a piece, the better the outcome. While all the design elements are present in this piece, it feels a little rushed and rough around the edges. The character on the left is a bit strange, and slightly divorced in style and colour from the writing. Overall, this is an interesting piece, but not one of Klashwhensober’s finest.

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