Dean Lane – Page 26 – Natural adventures

5737. Dean Lane skate park (673)

Mr Crawls and Mote, Dean Lane, Bristol, December 2023

Well, they’ve been at it again, and I love it. Mote and Mr Crawls seem to be enjoying their collaborative outings, and not content with picking a single spot, they have been painting together all over the city. This piece in Dean Lane is tucked away between the railings and the swimming pool, and not the easiest to photograph.

The collaboration has a slightly gory story to it, with an axe embedded in each of the characters and blood spurting from the wounds. Mr Crawls’ bird character has a slightly sinister look to it, I think it might be the eyes, and has a beak that looks like it might belong to a seabird like an albatross or something. Mote has reverted to one of his happy-go-lucky monster characters, although the axe would looks particularly nasty piercing one of his eyes. All a little bit weird. Plenty more from these two to come.

5722. Dean Lane skate park (672)

Chill, Face 1st and Zake, Dean Lane, Bristol, December 2023

This might be the last time I post about the PWA crew this year, and what a productive year it has been from this fabulous group of artists who have kept us entertained and enthralled during 2023. This collaboration, tucked behind the fence of the swimming pool, is by Chill, Face 1st and Zake.

Chill, Dean Lane, Bristol, December 2023

To the left, chill says it all next to his character piece with the words ‘last one or not, 2023 was hot’. Chill’s cartoon character takes on something of a surreal appearance with lots of eyes, everywhere, and an extra mouth in the ear. Interesting and fun stuff from Chill.

Face 1st, Dean Lane, Bristol, December 2023

In the middle is a little girl character by Face 1st, and guess what… she is having a lot of fun with a couple of spray cans, one in each hand. A small nod to the vampire genre, with fangs and blood dripping from her mouth, this girl is perhaps not as happy as most that Face 1st paints.

On the right, Zake, who I think has run Klashwhensober pretty close as Bristol’s most productive artist of 2023, has painted a rather grotesque laughing face. Lots of mouth and teeth to deal with in this one, and the rather haunting eyes with no pupils that Zake often paints, adding mystery and some edge to the character. All good stuff from the PWA folks. I can’t wait to see what they create in the new year.

5718. Dean Lane skate park (671)

Dibz, Fade and Jody, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2023

Good morning and happy Christmas Eve. A busy day for most, I expect, and definitely for me. One of my tasks today is to make a ‘Sussex Pond’ pudding, which is our alternative to Christmas pudding, which the kids and I don’t much care for. I’ll keep this short.

Wonderful work from Dibz, Fade and Jody, who have teamed up several times this year to produce some outstanding collaborations. This is a true collaboration where all the contributions are in the one piece. Jody painted the wolf, and Dibz the letters, so I expect that Fade painted the wonderful background.

Jody steals thee show a little with his magnificent wolf portrait in the centre of the piece. It is so good to see so many street pieces from him this year, and I hope he continues into next year.

5706. Dean Lane skate park (670)

Fade and Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2023

Dibz and Fade have been a tour de force this year and I have featured a lot of their work on Natural Adventures along the way. I think that this collaborative piece might be the last this side of Christmas, and it is yet another cracker from the duo, a Christmas cracker if you like.

Adopting their usual format for long walls of a piece of graffiti writing from each artist, positioned either side of a central feature piece by either of them or a ‘guest’ artist like Jody or Sikoh. To the left, Fade has written a lovely sharp FADER FUA in pink and green letters, either side of which are cartoon characters, although I have utterly failed to identify what film/series they come from.

On the right, Dibz has written his name in glorious gold with a sumptuous purple drop shadow and pink border, all as crisp as you’d expect from him. The character in this piece is, I think, Count Duckula, and some green gloop oozes from the piece in an evil way on the sides.

The feature in the middle portrays a full moon with the letters FUA KREW, which is their From Up Above crew name. I don’t know which artist painted the letters, but they are 100 percent on point, in quite a challenging arrangement. Some great work from two of the tidiest artists around.

5697. Dean Lane skate park (668)

Dibz and Fade, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2023

This year has seen the emergence of a powerhouse of collaborative graffiti writing and scenes from Dibz and Fade putting together some epic walls. Their drive and commitment has been unrelenting, and 2023 has been a special year in Bristol because of it. In this collaboration, they have been joined by Sikoh.

Dibz and Sikoh, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2023

This watery piece is yet another perfect example of their collaborative style. Dibz’ letters are submerged under the waves, with just a little bit of pink breaking the surface, which is really cleverly done. there is a strong sense of swell and movement from the waves.

Sikoh, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2023

In the centre is a character, which according to Sikoh’s Instagram is a water bear pig, whatever one of those is. Naturally, the water creature is holding a spray can which is squirting bubbles. The bubbles are exquisitely painted. This is something of a rare appearance by Sikoh, whose work is always superb.

Rounding off the triptych is some great writing from Fade, which, like Dibz’, is largely submerged, with a little bit of pink breaking the surface. Fade has incorporated lots of arrows, perhaps indicating the fluidity of the underwater scene. A fine collaboration.

5693. Dean Lane skate park (667)

Even when he paints a smaller, simpler piece, Hire puts in admirable effort, and I am not too sure that the words ‘quick one’ come into his vocabulary or thinking. In case it wasn’t obvious enough from the letters, Hire belongs to the BF crew, and occasionally substitutes his HIRE lettering for BF.

Starting with the background, Hire pretty much always paints on a prepped wall, to help his letters stand out from the surrounding graffiti ‘noise’. His chrome letters are lifted by the clever use of the green and purple patterning that sits behind them, and the fine white lines bring a little bit of definition to the piece. Fantastic, thoughtful work from Hire and a great shout out to BF.

5685. Dean Lane skate park (666)

Minto, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2023

Minto’s recent appearances in Bristol are very much appreciated, and although he has had a long association with the city, it looks like he might be painting here more regularly. There are a few artists like Minto who are graffiti writers, that incorporate artwork and a story into the letters to create a kind of fusion. In this piece, Minto has written his name, or parts of it, into the side of a camper van.

This is not the first camper van piece I have seen by Minto, and I think it might be a kind of ‘thing’ for him at the moment. The piece is nicely painted, and I particularly like the ‘happy’ wheels, reflecting a mountainous wilderness at sunrise. Great stuff from Minto and I look forward to seeing a lot more.

5683. Dean Lane skate park (665)

Mr Crawls, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2023

I love this door in Dean Lane, it creates a nice frame for character pieces and is definitely a candidate for the occasional feature on this blog, One Wall Many Faces. This time around it is the turn of Mr Crawls to occupy this space, and he has done a very nice job of it indeed.

As the year has progressed, Mr Crawls has become more productive, his pieces appearing all over the place, and more recently in collaborative form with Mote. I am not entirely sure what kind of bird this is. The hooked beak would suggest it is a raptor, but the colouring and characterful expression has gull written all over it. Of course, it is fictional and not a bird we recognise, mostly on account of a fine pair of horns. Great fun from the effervescent Mr Crawls.

5674. Dean Lane skate park (663)

Awkward, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2023

Awkward is an artist who pops up from time to time, pretty much always in the Dean Lane area. Most, if not all, of his work appears to contain a rather stressed looking character, the face only, often with a speech bubble with the word Awkward in it.

This piece comes with a further two messages, the first is ‘Free Palestine’ and the second might be an observation of the weather when he was painting, ‘Then came the rain’. Awkward seems to be well acquainted with a few of the established writers in Bristol, but just doesn’t seem to paint as often, which is a bit of a shame.

5662. Dean Lane skate park (661)

Biers, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2023

Ha ha, this is a fabulous and tight piece by Biers (WD40) in the skate park. Adopting his customary writing and character combination, Biers has introduced the TV cartoon character Dexter, from the Cartoon Network series Dexter’s Laboratory. I fear I missed out on this animation extravaganza, but I seem to recall my children watching it.

The writing, spelling WD40, is really nicely painted with nice crisp and sharp lines nd outlines. The bubble fill works well with the bubbles flowing from the test tube being held by Dexter, providing read-across between the character and letters. Biers is turning out some great work lately which is great to see.

	Wes Vinglun (aka) Ni… on Champions
	beth on Champions
	paulh121 on 7658. Tobacco Factory –…
	paulh121 on Champions
	Bill Bisgood on Champions

	Wes Vinglun (aka) Ni… on Champions
	beth on Champions
	paulh121 on 7658. Tobacco Factory –…
	paulh121 on Champions
	Bill Bisgood on Champions

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