Character – Page 19 – Natural adventures

7037. L Dub (71)

There are a few artists who are synonymous with the Lawrence Weston (L Dub) spot, including DJ Perks, Hypo and of course Dun Sum. This is one of his fictional creatures, a monkey -type character conjured up by his fertile imagination.

There is a lot of expression and movement in the piece, with the monkey appearing to be yelling or screeching, in the way that chimpanzees do. The shaded tones in the animal’s fur and on the teeth and tongue are expertly done, creating loads of texture and depth. This is a brilliant wildlife character piece from Dun Sum.

7032. River Avon (86)

I am writing this post (last night) in a lonely hotel room in Warrington. Tomorrow, I am attending the launch of a new National Nature Reserve just outside the town, something I have been working on for a few months. It will be great to see the partnership project come to life.

This piece by Zake is a superb example of his work, and he has really managed to keep the whole thing very neat and tidy. Although it doesn’t look like it, the piece is quite large, and on a wall he decorated back in August

As with all of his portrait pieces, he has created great depth using light and shade to lift the face from the wall, deceiving the eye. Big teeth and a lack of pupils in the eye, give the character a sinister appearance, which is a bit of a Zake trademark. Below is his previous piece in this spot.

7026. M32 Spot (203)

Desi and Mr Two Gram, M32 Spot, Bristol, June 2025

Unfortunately, I don’t get to post every piece by every artist, and even the artists I am more partial to don’t get fully represented here. There is so much artwork out there that only a fraction ever makes it onto these pages. Although I have posted a lot of Desi pieces, the same cannot be said for her partner, Mr Two Gram. Here they combine well on one of my favourite walls.

On the left Desi has painted a combination piece with her VEIL letters and a Chinese lucky waving cat (why are these such a thing? I never saw them when I was a kid). The piece is really nicely finished, and such a marked improvement on her early works, there is so much more sophistication and technique in her work these days.

Mr Two Gram, M32 Spot, Bristol, June 2025

Mr Two Gram tends to paint pieces that are reasonably consistent from one to the next, perhaps with a colour change or letter change from time to time. He likes to stick with his 2GRAM lettering (or TWOGRAM) often in Chrome, but not always. I would class Mr Two Gram as a graffiti writer’s graffiti writer, if that makes sense – one for the purists. This is a cool collaboration.

7024. M32 Cycle path (291)

Conrico, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, June 2025

Conrico always brings something slightly different to the party. His brush-stroke style contrasts with much of the ‘solid fill’ or ‘blended’ style that most street artists work with.

In this interesting piece, which appears to be telling a story, a woman, smoking, is holding a burning piece of paper. At the base of the piece, a newspaper headline read “Bristol City Plagued by Grad…”. This must be a story that I missed, but it looks like Conrico has tried to capture it. I am none the wiser, but it is a great piece of commentary art.

7019. L Dub (67)

I have to keep reminding myself what ABC stands for, and it is, of course, Art Beat Crew, which is a collection of friends and artists who operate mostly out of Lawrence Weston. This is a really funky cartoon-style portrait piece by the fabulous character artist Dun Sum.

Although he occasionally makes the journey into Bristol centre, Dun Sum paints most of his pieces on the subway walls in Lawrence Weston. It is a quiet backwater, with plenty of wall space and little disturbance. It also has a very small footfall, mainly graffiti artists and dog-walkers, so few get to see his talent. This is a beautifully presented character with big hair and beard, although cleverly Dun Sum has painted the moustache and eyebrows in a slightly different tone and style. Reflections in the goggles add a nice touch. A bit of fun from Dun Sum at L Dub.

7009. M32 roundabout J3 (693)

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.

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.

7006. St Werburghs tunnel (510)

The Last One, St Werburghs, Bristol, June 2025

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 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

A gallery of outstanding oversized character pieces by Bristol artist Pelmo.

Instagram: @pelmos_world

All photographs by Scooj

Pelmo, Cheltenham Paint Festival, Cheltenham, July 2022

Pelmo, New Stadium Road, Bristol, June 2022

Pelmo, Tobacco Factory, Bristol, June 2019

Pelmo, Tobacco Factory, Bristol, May 2019

Pelmo, Upfest shop yard, Bristol, July 2018

7000. M32 roundabout J3 (692)

Kid Crayon, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2025

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.

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.

6991. Brunel Way (318)

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.

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.

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