Cumberland Basin – Page 7 – Natural adventures

6867. Cumberland Basin

Trafficity, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, April 2025

I don’t go out drinking very often, but last night I joined some colleagues to bid farewell to one of my longest-standing work friends, who has decided to take early retirement. It was a fabulous evening reconnecting with people I haven’t seen for many years, and I will treasure the occasion. On the downside, I drank a little more than I am used to and have a sore head this morning. My posts today will be necessarily brief as a result.

This is an outstanding piece by Trafficity with a simpler fill style than many of his pieces, but sticking to the overall design with determination. Looking good on the blue background. The letters spell ZIOS in case you were wondering.

6962. Cumberland Basin

Noise, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, April 2025

Although he has had a relatively quiet winter, Noise has woken up for the Spring and is starting to make his presence felt once more. This is a wonderful big bold piece of graffiti writing and is set in a Vaughn Bode landscape.

It is customary for most graffiti writers at some point in their ‘career’ to pay tribute to the American underground cartoonist who was active in the 1960s and 70s, and Noise has done so with a fabulous Cheech Wizard on the left and a scattering of toadstools along the base of the piece. Nice work.

6854. Cumberland basin

Weas, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, March 2025

This year, I have become increasingly aware of pieces by Weas (@weaselmilk_) dotted about in most spots I visit. He tends to paint some rather wobbly characters, on columns or in tight spaces, but this piece of writing and characters demonstrates his wider capabilities.

The psychedelic swirl running through the letters WEAS has an interesting effect and draws the eye in… so much so that when I first saw the piece, I didn’t even notice the three characters subtlely sitting on top of the word. I think that there is a close association between the ‘alien’ characters and weed, with the one on the left enjoying a smoke. Expect a whole lot more from Weas.

6829. Cumberland Basin

Dirtygypo, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, March 2025

Dirtygypo has returned to the streets with a few pieces this spring, and this is a rather nice one painted in Cumberland Basin. The letters still puzzle me. There are thoughts that they could spell Pilger or Dirty, but I don’t think it is either of these.

The letter forms are consistent with his usual approach, but he has added in some great colours, and the lightening breaks in white really stand out through the piece. The characterisation of the first letter is one of several signatures that aid with identification, but to be honest, his writing is unlike anything by any other artists in Bristol and is easy to identify. It is just those damn letters that perplex me.

6827. Cumberland Basin

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 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

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.

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 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.

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 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.

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

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.

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 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.

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.

	Dan Antion on Thursday Doors – 2 April…
	wrookieschu on Thursday Doors – 2 April…
	paulh121 on Telling a tale
	M. on 7554. L Dub (81)
	hitandrun1964 on My Dog Sighs

	Dan Antion on Thursday Doors – 2 April…
	wrookieschu on Thursday Doors – 2 April…
	paulh121 on Telling a tale
	M. on 7554. L Dub (81)
	hitandrun1964 on My Dog Sighs

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