Cumberland Basin – Natural adventures

7441. Cumberland Basin

Ulow, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, January 2026

It is always good when an artist who is the beneficiary of a birthday paint jam manages to conjure up something a little special to mark the occasion, and that is exactly what Ulow has managed to do here.

Ulow has painted a street artist character dressed well for the winter and with a spray can in his hand. What makes Ulow’s work extra special is that he paints in tones, in this case blues and pinks, rather than with a full colour palette, and the outcome is always captivating. A lovely birthday piece from Ulow.

7431. Cumberland Basin

Turoe, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, January 2026

Turoe is one of the most reliable and consistent writers in Bristol, and it is a shame that he doesn’t write nearly as much these days as he has done in the past.

This is a fine price celebrating Shade One’s birthday, and spelling out SHADE. Some great letter shapes picked out with fine black lines are surrounded by pink and purple bubbly decorations. This birthday paint jam turned out some real gems, as is often the case with this group of artists.

7426. Cumberland Basin

Solar, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, August 2025

First day skiing in the alps today, so really not much time to write today’s posts. This is a wonderful piece by Solar that got left behind in my archives.

The colours are absolutely magnificent and the piece delivered in Solar’s inimitable semi-antistyle fashion. Great work.

7420. Cumberland Basin

Soker, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, January 2026

The turnout for Shade One’s birthday paint jam might have been relatively small in numbers, but was of the highest calibre. You know that you are well respected as an artist when Soker turns up and paints you a birthday celebration piece.

Soker is simply one of the best graffiti writers around, and although this looks like a relatively ‘quick one’ it still oozes class. The letters spell out shade with beautifully blended fills. The black outline picks out the letters beautifully and the cloudy pink, purple and green bursts around the edge of the letters rounds the piece off perfectly.

7416. Cumberland Basin

Shade One, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, January 2026

There are a few artists in Bristol who specialise in portrait pieces, and at the top of the tree are Shade One, Mind49 and Stivs. Shade One celebrated his own birthday paint jam with this magnificent portrait of a young woman on the long wall at Cumberland Basin.

What makes this piece super-special is that it has been painted using greyscale colours, but somehow that is not the first thought one has when first seeing it. The cartoon style is more forgiving than photorealism, but nonetheless equally effective. The blue background complements the detail in the portrait. Superb work.

7414. Cumberland Basin

Slim Pickings (Tes), Cumberland Basin, Bristol, January 2026

I call this artist Slim Pickings, because that was his Instagram name when I first started writing about his work. Several changes to his Instagram account have followed since then, but I have stuck to the first. Most people refer to him (obviously) as TES.

There was a time when pretty much all of his pieces followed the same precise shape, with only a variation in colour and accessories. Now it feels like each new piece he paints is different from the last. These TES letters were painted for Shade One’s birthday, I think. While the composition is really nicely worked, the paint looks thin in places, giving it the impression of being a throw-up, but it is much more than that. Nice on from the No Frills writer.

7406. Cumberland Basin

Dibz, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, January 2026

Most artists in Bristol have good days and bad days and everything in between, when it comes to their artwork. One artist whose work is consistently near-perfect is Dibz. I can’t think of a time when he has turned out a piece of writing and thought to myself ‘that’s a bit shoddy’.

This is a beautifully finished piece painted for Shade One’s birthday, hence the letters SHADE. It would be easy to describe the piece as simple, but that isn’t necessarily the case. The white letters are decorated sparingly with green accents. The pink drop shadow is immaculate, and there is a tight thin blue border around the letters. To add some extra interest, Dibz has painted some glowing cubes around the piece, rounding it all off perfectly. Flawless.

7404. Cumberland Basin

Ware, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, January 2026

One of the nice things about birthday paint jams is that they tend to encourage artists who don’t paint all that often to come out of the woodwork. One of those artists is Ware from the RAW crew. I have only ever seen his work a few times in Bristol, and it is possible that he lives and paints elsewhere, which may be why I don’t see his stuff all that often.

This is a wonderful and technical piece of wildstyle writing. Each of the letters is assigned a colour, from green to light grey to dark grey and pink. The design of the letters is verging on a kind of Gothic or calligraphy font, but not quite. This is very nice writing, beautifully presented, and a great way to celebrate Shade One’s birthday.

7395. Cumberland Basin

Even, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, December 2025

There was a dearth of Christmas street art this year, perhaps we live in a time when there is not too much to be cheerful about, or maybe it is a bit of a cliché that artists steer clear of. It was good, therefore, to stumble across this Christmas paint jam from the RBF crew. Doubly satisfying as the crew have been very quiet in 2025.

Even has been painting these cheeky buttocks for a little while now, but she has added a fabulous festive tone in this piece. Her wit comes through with the words ‘X-mas rated’ and ‘Hoe Hoe Hoe…’. I hope that this late collaboration indicates an appetite for RBF to have a more active 2026… please.

7386. Cumberland Basin

Peggy, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, December 2025

There was a conspicuous absence of Christmas celebration street art in Bristol this year, or at least in any of the spots I visited over the holiday period. This might reflect Christmas fatigue, or perhaps a feeling that after a difficult year the mood was slightly downbeat. There was one small Christmas highlight, however, on the long wall at Cumberland Basin.

Peggy teamed up with some RBF friends, and painted this lovely floral piece in Christmas colours. I can only think that Peggy has been very busy with her work this year, because her street pieces have been few and far between, so finding this one was a bit of a treat. I’m not too sure what the AIZA letters refer to… I might need to investigate.

	skat on Thursday doors – 5 Febru…
	Dan Antion on Thursday doors – 5 Febru…
	Laura Newhampshire on 7449. Greenbank (180)
	Suzette Benjamin on Thursday doors – 5 Febru…
	Sheree on 7449. Greenbank (180)

	skat on Thursday doors – 5 Febru…
	Dan Antion on Thursday doors – 5 Febru…
	Laura Newhampshire on 7449. Greenbank (180)
	Suzette Benjamin on Thursday doors – 5 Febru…
	Sheree on 7449. Greenbank (180)

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