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.

6758. Cumberland Basin

Noise, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, February 2025
Noise, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, February 2025

It is always great to see the familiar chunky letters painted by Noise. I wonder whether Noise might be a bit of a ‘fair-weather’ artist, as he hasn’t been out painting much over the winter period, or maybe he has had other commitments that have kept him busy elsewhere.

Noise, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, February 2025
Noise, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, February 2025

Noise has compressed the letters a little to fit into the space, which makes them look even more chunky than usual. The rather dour colour and disposition of the letters is uplifted by the rather crude pink crosses, without which I think the graffiti writing could be a bit lost. A nice end result.

6755. Cumberland Basin

Hire, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, February 2025
Hire, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, February 2025

This post has been written in advance, because I will be making an early start today departing for our skiing holiday to the French Alps. I will try to post every day while I am on holiday, but it all rather depends on how things go. Meanwhile, I’d like you to enjoy this beauty from Hire.

Hire, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, February 2025
Hire, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, February 2025

Although Hire’s work has been difficult to decipher from to time, the letters are always there, however, I have noticed that there he is drifting into a kind of abstract presentation, and this piece isn’t unlike some of Ments’ pieces, which I used to describe as organic/abstract. I love the colour selections, the shapes of the letters and the neon glow of the border green in this writing. First class stuff from Hire.