6827. Cumberland Basin

Butch, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, March 2025
Butch, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, March 2025

I have to confess that I have a real soft spot for Butch’s graffiti writing. I like the name, I think it lends itself well to the art form, I like his letter shapes and I like his understated presence.

Butch, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, March 2025
Butch, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, March 2025

Butch has a fairly standard approach to arranging his letters where, going from left to right, each letter overlaps its successor. With the addition of some shadows, this method provides some depth to the piece. This looks like a bit of a quick one, with a white fill that barely does the job of filling. A couple of nice spots round the piece off nicely. More on the way from Butch.

6825. Cumberland Basin

Foksymoron, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, March 2025
Foksymoron, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, March 2025

Is it just me, or have WordPress been goofing around with default settings again? I hate it when they do this, because one has to spend time adjusting, or finding the formats that you are used to and comfortable with. Grrr. To offset this morning irritation, I bring you this lighthearted piece from Foksymoron.

Foksymoron, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, March 2025
Foksymoron, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, March 2025

This humorous piece talks about Bank Holiday Wednesday – of course there is no such thing – Foksymoron adds to this with a speech bubble ‘Day off and a pay rise’. Well, someone was in a good mood when he painted this. The cool fox, with his customary sunglasses, is wearing a camouflage hoodie and jeans. A picture of contentment.

6813. Cumberland Basin

Conrico, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, March 2025
Conrico, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, March 2025

Conrico has a lightness of touch and an ability to tell stories through his pieces that is almost unique in Bristol. If I were to pick another artist who has similar qualities, it would be Daz Cat. This is a wonderful piece was painted as part of a paint jam I think to mark the birthday of Benry – I don’t know who Benry is, but there was some great art produced in celebration.

Conrico, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, March 2025
Conrico, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, March 2025

The piece features a girl riding a white tiger (or some mythical feline beast), and why not, and the orange atmosphere around the characters indicates something magical is going on. There is movement, excitement and fantasy in this piece which is beautifully painted by Conrico. Great stuff.

6810. Cumberland Basin

Kool Hand, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, March 2025
Kool Hand, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, March 2025

Kool Hand is a bit of an unsung hero on Natural Adventures. I kind of take it for granted that he will turn out regular pieces in his unique no-nonsense cartoon style, but that smacks of complacency on my part, and I feel I need to ‘big him up’ a little, because he deserves higher recognition of his work.

Kool Hand, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, March 2025
Kool Hand, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, March 2025

This is a lovely, clean and tidy character piece featuring a cartoon duck tossing a spray can in the air. Wearing a bucket hat, the duck in a coat has a friendly demeanour about him and seems to be having a good time. The piece is set on a solid purple background, and the superb yellow border bleeds out in countless places to form bubbles. A well conceived and executed piece from the fabulous Kool Hand.

6805. Cumberland Basin

Mind 49, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, March 2025
Mind 49, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, March 2025

Ooh! How brilliant to see Mind 49 returning to the streets after a relatively quiet start to the year. Commensurate with his last piece at the Greenbank spot in January, Mind 49 has combined a photorealistic portrait with a cartoon illustration, carrying some threat and menace.

Mind 49, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, March 2025
Mind 49, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, March 2025

The portrait is superb, painted in his unique style that creates what I would term a blurred photorealism, rather than some of the perfect sharp pieces that you see from time to time. The cartoon parts begin around the main character’s neck and show him holding a pistol. In the background, a hooded character looks on. I love the way that Mind 49 brings these two very different styles together and makes them sit side by side effortlessly. Looking forward to more as the days get longer and weather warms up.

6799. Cumberland Basin

Werm, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, March 2025
Werm, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, March 2025

Werm is continuing along his journey, experimenting with bilateral symmetry in his writing. The symmetry in this one is notable, but I think that it might be the colour scheme that initially attracts the eye, with some nice contrasting reds, greens and oranges.

Werm, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, March 2025
Werm, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, March 2025

What baffles me about writers like Werm is how they manage to get everything ‘right’ if you know what I mean. For example, in this piece the green drop shadow veers off to the right, but it needs to be perfect across all the letters otherwise something would look out of kilter. I suppose the old adage, practice makes perfect, applies here, but it is still an admirable talent.

6794. Cumberland Basin

Daz Cat, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, March 2025
Daz Cat, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, March 2025

I have spoken ad nauseam about how Daz Cat’s work has become more sophisticated in recent years, so I won’t go on about it now except to say that this is a wonderful, complex piece that encapsulates the new level that he has found for himself.

Daz Cat, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, March 2025
Daz Cat, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, March 2025

A cat-human character, wearing bright yellow sunglasses, is playing host to a cat character nestled in her hair. There is a story, but I can’t fathom it out. Daz Cat has selected some calming purples and oranges for this piece, which work very nicely together. There is plenty of depth in the portrait, which the three-quarter profile helps to achieve. A really cracking piece from Daz Cat.

6790. Cumberland Basin

Werm, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, February 2025
Werm, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, February 2025

Today’s posts will have to be the quickest ever. I am staying in Godalming and running a workshop today and forgot to write the blog posts last night, so am squeezing these ones in before breakfast. This is a fine symmetrical piece by Werm on the long wall at Cumberland Basin.

Werm, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, February 2025
Werm, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, February 2025

At first glance, this doesn’t look too much different from many of his other pieces, but look a little closer and you can see that the subtle fill to the letters is contiguous throughout all the letters, which is a tried and tested technique by graffiti writers, and executed really well here by Werm.

6775. Cumberland Basin

Posh, Cumberland Basin, Bristol,February 2025
Posh, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, February 2025

Over the years, I may have photographed a handful of pieces by Posh, but I think it is only recently that I have started posting them. I think that I might be able to retrieve one or two from my archives, as and when I find them. This interesting piece was painted as part of the Space Jam film paint jam, prompted by World Wall Stylers, although, apart from some of the colours used, I don’t see much of a link between this piece and the movie.

Posh, Cumberland Basin, Bristol,February 2025
Posh, Cumberland Basin, Bristol,February 2025

I am not able to decipher the letters, but they are wonderfully painted and quite unusual in their irregular construction. It is the monocled characters that are the trademark of Posh’s work, though, complete with well groomed moustaches and top hat. I think that I could really get into Posh’s work, particularly if I found it more often. Something a little different to enjoy.

6770. Cumberland Basin

Mr Crawls, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, February 2025
Mr Crawls, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, February 2025

Mr Crawls has been having a productive and creative winter, turning out a suite of stylised cartoon character birds. This one is accompanied by some monolithic letters ‘NS’? I don’t know what the letters are all about, but he has incorporated them skilfully.

Mr Crawls, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, February 2025
Mr Crawls, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, February 2025

The skeleton bird design is one that Mr Crawls has used before and to be honest is a little bit sinister, not his usual cheery bird representation. There is a lot to like about mr crawls’ work at the moment, and his expanding repertoire keeps things interesting.