Tag: Colour

6960. Dean Lane spate park (819)

Mr Sensae, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2025

This wall is usually occupied by Dibz or Fade or combination of the two, so it can be refreshing to find something a little different from time to time. I don’t know an awful lot about Mr Sensae, and don’t think I have photographed any of his work before.

Mr Sensae, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2025

This writing, spelling out SENSAE certainly catches the eye with its bright colours, which the artist even acknowledges with the words ‘nice colours’ in the bottom left. Starting with a pink background and decorative spots that provide a great backdrop, the letters are filled with horizontal stripes of colour ranging from orange to blue, and decorated with loads of reversed spots and stars. A striped 3D drop shadow veers off to the right. This is a banging piece of graffiti writing.

6840. Sparke Evans Park (128)

Lezaxer, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, March 2025
Lezaxer, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, March 2025

I posted a piece by Lezaxer not so long ago, and said at the time that it was one of at least two painted by the artist on a trip to Bristol. It looks like he teamed up with Grimes on this wall, and the pair painted a colour explosion for all to enjoy.

Lezaxer, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, March 2025
Lezaxer, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, March 2025

I can’t be sure, but it looks like the intricate letters spell LAXER. The fills are exquisite, beautifully decorated in reds and purples. Contrasting with the letters is the deep green spotty 3D drop shadow, which gives enormous depth to the piece. The graffiti writing is beautifully finished with some stylised flame pockets dotted about the place. A banger of a piece.

6839. M32 roundabout J3 (670)

Sub, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2025
Sub, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2025

This is something a little different from Sub, who usually likes to go large and tends to be quite conservative with his use of colour. I am guessing that it might have been a bit of a dregs piece, I also think he is rather fond of newly buffed walls, and this one proved irresistible.

Sub, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2025
Sub, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2025

He has stuck to his simple three letter formula, with a deep, in this case unfilled drop shadow, but the obvious part of the piece is the splatter of colour throughout, keeping it lively and joyful. Sub continues to paint a lot and is gradually expanding his technique and scope.

6832. New Bird Street, Liverpool

Molly Mural, New Bird Street, Liverpool, March 2025
Molly Mural, New Bird Street, Liverpool, March 2025

As you will know from yesterday’s post, I recently spent a weekend in Liverpool, and the old ‘graff radar’, which I thought I had turned off, swung into active duty. Not being familiar with the street/graffiti artists in Liverpool, it was comforting to come across this rather nice mural by Molly Mural, who has painted many times in Bristol, where she is based.

Molly Mural, New Bird Street, Liverpool, March 2025
Molly Mural, New Bird Street, Liverpool, March 2025

I’m not sure how long the mural has been there, but I guess a while, as some of the paint was chipping. The piece appears to be full of symbolism and stories and is centred around the numbers 1 and 3. The abstract piece is characteristically colourful, and after doing a little Interweb search, it turns out it was inspired by Taylor Swift’s ‘second era’ and her lucky number 13. You live and learn.

6826. Sparke Evans Park (127)

Grimes, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, March 2025
Grimes, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, March 2025

Grimes has pretty much made it to the top of my list of Bristol graffiti writers at the moment, taking into account the frequency of his pieces and the outstanding quality of them. Unlike some graffiti writers, his style remains broadly the same, but he manages to squeeze out every square inch of space on the walls he paints and create the most amazing burst of energy and movement.

Grimes, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, March 2025
Grimes, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, March 2025

Colour and quality are two words I would use to open my description of this piece. Every element is in its place and finished perfectly. I particularly like the plasma ribbon running through the whole thing. This piece continues Grimes’ run of good form, which shown no signs of letting up.

6808. St Werburghs tunnel (483)

Nips, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2025
Nips, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2025

Aha! There is a certain consistency and reliability with Nips’ pieces that I am really attracted to. Her letters tend to be similar in shape from piece to piece, but it is in her fills where she really excels and shows off what she can do.

Nips, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2025
Nips, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2025

Set on a fairly elementary yellow backdrop, the letters NIPS are filled with a stunning patterned mix of pinks and blues, with some great designs and reversed out spots. The eye is drawn to the female symbol in the dot of the ‘i’, which is assertive and proud. Nips has included a couple of nice shout-outs to Basik and Roma too. I hope we see plenty more of Nips in 2025.

6801. M32 roundabout J3 (665)

Hypo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2025
Hypo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2025

This piece by Hypo, who is on a roll right now, symbolises for me a party. If you wanted to paint the word without spelling the word, this is what it could look like. The fierce is full of energy, colour and joy.

Hypo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2025
Hypo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2025

The letters spell out Hypo and are full of classical graffiti writing references, such as arrows, drips, starbursts and spots. There is lots here to enjoy, and the overall sense of wellbeing that the piece transmits is palpable. This is another in a series of wonderful pieces from the artist, who has had a great couple of years.

6757. Cowmead Walk

Hemper, Cowmead Walk, Bristol, February 2025
Hemper, Cowmead Walk, Bristol, February 2025

There is no question about it, Hemper has found a new level of energy, the likes of which I haven’t seen since around Covid lockdown, when he was pretty busy also. Barely a day goes by when there isn’t a new piece by this exceptionally gifted artist. One of the most notable things about Hemper is that every piece he paints is new and creative, he rarely, if ever, revisits old designs and copies them, each one is utterly unique.

Hemper, Cowmead Walk, Bristol, February 2025
Hemper, Cowmead Walk, Bristol, February 2025

This outstanding piece is like a ‘sampler’ where each letter shows off his astonishing technique and gift for colour, shapes, patterns, design and can control. Spelling out HEMS, the H, E and S all have white accents which provide depth and a 3D effect, whereas the E is much flatter and hugs the wall. There is so much to enjoy in this piece, that it is probably wiser not to describe it, but to let you enjoy it at your leisure. I rarely use the word genius, because it is in my view overused – in this case, however, I believe it to be appropriate.

6722. Cumberland Basin

Sait Bare, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, January 2025
Sait Bare, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, January 2025

Sait Bare is a wonderful graffiti writer who paints just often enough to get himself notices, and has a style of writing all of his own. He tends to present irregular letters that have an organic feel about them, as there were a live being in there somewhere.

Sait Bare, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, January 2025
Sait Bare, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, January 2025

This writing, which was painted alongside some Hire piece, has a wonderful deep, rich colour palette. The letters, spelling SAIT, merge with one another and it is the fills that drift through the piece that pick out the individual letters, but in an ephemeral way. Sait Bare’s work is really unusual and quite unlike anything else we see in Bristol.

6711. Frome Side (52)

Jest Soubirquet, Frome Side, Bristol, January 2025
Jest Soubirquet, Frome Side, Bristol, January 2025

When I see pieces like this one from Jest Soubriquet (@likes12_art), I wonder how incredible our brains are at normalising and making sense of a patchwork of colour (all the wrong colours) to build an image of a tiger. Our capacity to ‘fill in the blanks’ is awesome.

Jest Soubirquet, Frome Side, Bristol, January 2025
Jest Soubirquet, Frome Side, Bristol, January 2025

Equally awesome is Jest Soubriquet’s ability to paint a tiger portrait in a multitude of colours, and he has done a superb job in this challenging spot underneath the M32. I always find it interesting that artists come here to paint, because footfall is practically zero, and these pieces won’t be seen by many people. Perhaps this simply emphasises the point that many street artists paint for the pure joy of it.