Although the style and composition are familiar from Mr Draws in this piece in Dean Lane, the words are rather refreshing and different. Italian, the language of love, is just so good to listen to, and who can say the phrase ‘Bella Ciao’ or more commonly ‘Ciao Bella’ without doing so in a charming Italian accent?
Mr Draws, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2025
The colour scheme is a curious one, especially as the top horizontal slice matches the background dark tone. Typically unpretentious and unfussy, this is a a nice piece from Mr Draws that occupies this long space rather well.
I am used to seeing Zake character pieces that tend to be head-on round faces in a cartoon style with lots of light and shade creating depth, so this is something a little different.
Zake, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2025
The profile portrait of an androgenous person draws more on a realistic version of a character than the cartoon style I am used to from Zake. The hair, in particular (most of his characters are bald), is great to see, demonstrating that Zake is far more than simply a one-trick pony. Definitely an unusual piece from one of the most prolific artists painting in Bristol at the moment. I have updated my gallery of Zake’s work so you can see what I mean.
This combination piece from Fade and Dibz is outstanding, and really ticks all my boxes. I watched them as they started painting this and knew, even when it was in draft that it was going to be an absolute blinder.
Dibz and Fade, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2025
This is straight out of the black book, a sketch come to life with a clever twist and superb early Disney character. I love seeing works in progress as it shows just how unbelievably talented these artists are, and how they build the picture up into something quite magnificent.
Dibz and Fade, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2025
The writing is by Dibz, and has a beautiful, deep 3D drop shadow, with additional shading to create perfect depth and lift. The fox character, by Fade, looks like he is reading Dibz’ black book, maybe at this actual picture, which would be a clever twist. The whole thing is set on a piece of lined paper, which adds another whole dimension to the collaboration. Bravo! Gentlemen.
Really quick ones today. I have to drive up to Leeds to pick my daughter up and bring her home, with loads of her stuff. Before that, we have a recycling centre (tip) trip lined up.
By now you will know I am very fond of Tian’s wheatpastes, and this is another one from his latest visit to Bristol.
Tian, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2025
The Japanese Geisha girl is a theme he returns to often, and it is at such odds with the urban environment that surrounds it. The placement of this piece on a heavily tagged wall is near perfect.
It was a genuine pleasure to catch up with Jee See just as he was finishing off this piece in Dean Lane. Jee See was the second street artist I made contact with, back in 2017, after meeting Decay in the Bearpit, and I have been enjoying his work ever since.
Jee See, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2025
This is a SEISMIC/Mr Nobody combination piece, which includes the phrase “H is for…”, and according to what Jee See told me, H is for Heterosexual who Hates Homophobia, and for cisHet ally.
Jee See blends his trademark seismic writing with the cartoon face and the Gothic ‘H’, bringing all the elements together successfully in quite a small space. It was great to catch up with the artist, as he doesn’t get out to paint much these days – a serendipitous moment.
Andy Council has painted this exact spot a number of times, and I can only think that the shape and size of the wall suits his pieces really well. I had to make a return visit, because I arrived only moments after he had completed the piece, but there was a dirty great big shadow running right through the middle of the piece. Obviously, I managed to get some better pictures the second time.
Andy Council, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2025
The creature looks like a cross between a dinosaur and the Alien creature from the film series. It is, as you’d expect, beautifully crafted from a load of component parts that come together beautifully to make the whole. The writing to the left ‘Rising Trichomes’ I think might be a reference to cannabis buds, and not, as I first thought, the dinosaur species name, haha. A fine piece from Andy Council.
It is a little disappointing that I have missed a couple of pieces by Hire this year, which is a real pity. You have to be quick off the mark in this game, and if you snooze, you lose. However, it does feel like Hire’s pieces, a bit like Kid Crayon’s pieces, tend to get painted over rather quickly. I am not sure if this is deliberate targeting or simply bad luck, I would like to think it is the latter, but whatever the reason, it makes their work feel even more precious.
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2025
This is a slightly strange piece by Hire, which I think is meant to represent a pile of poo, with some excited insects making the most of it. Certainly it is an unusual composition in brown (why is everyone painting with brown this spring?), spelling out ODIAH, letters which Hire likes to use from time to time. How much better the piece looks with the subtle green glow on the edge of the letters, without which it would all look a little flat. Unusual and interesting work from Hire.
There are a couple of things that are slightly unusual about this piece by Fade. The first is that it is a solo piece and not a collaboration with Dibz and second, it has unfamiliar letters, as it is a tribute to ‘the Mrs’ to use Fade’s words, although I can’t remember her name, and I am struggling to decipher the letters.
Fade, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2025
The graffiti writing is flawless, as you would expect, and stands out on the large wall with a black background. There is a little too much brown for my own personal taste, but I have spoken enough about that in recent posts. Really stand out work from Fade
Painted on one of Bristol’s most iconic walls, the curved wall in Dean Lane skate park, this is a birthday tribute piece to Soker by Dibz. Pieces like this have the capacity to confuse, because the letters do not spell the artist’s name, and I have in the past misidentified pieces because of it.
Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2025
Dibz really is a master of graffiti writing and is at the top of his game, something he has maintained for such a long time now, without any dip in form. The letters are filled with a solid black fill, and finely written ’50s’ indicating it was Soker’s 50th birthday. Great to see one of Dibz’ small signature tags in red at the top right too. Excellent work, and a fine birthday tribute.
I have always struggled with artist naming conventions on Natural Adventures. Most artists have a name and retain it as their brand, especially old school artists like Inkie, Nick Walker, Mr Penfold, Banksy, Cheba and so on. Their Instagram accounts reflect their name – easy-peasy.
However, an awful lot of artists, graffiti writers in particular, may write a word, or sign a piece that is totally different from their Instagram name, for example: Jee See (who writes Seismic and whose Instagram is @jee.see_t.daemonic_luke.solo) or Biers (who currently writes WD40 and whose Instagram is @nofrills40). So you can see that naming artists can be a tricky thing – I blame the hacking of social media accounts, which means people are frequently changing their digital account names.
I say all of this because when I first came across Bbygwya (and it took me ages to master the name), this was her then Instagram account, however, she writes variants of the word Flux, and her current Instagram is @livelaugh_luxe. What is a man to do? The name of an artist is important for me, because it forms part of the tagging and sorting on WordPress which allows me to find past posts and images. So generally I use the first name that I came across and stick with it, even if it seems to be the wrong name now. Did any of that make sense?
Bbygwya (Flux), Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2025
This is a real beauty by Bbygwya (Flux or Luxe – see the problem?) in Dean Lane, with plain white letters and a little bit of black detail sitting on top of a fabulous Conrico piece, featured here previously. Somehow, Bbygwya has skilfully blended her piece with Conrico’s, intentionally or otherwise, but the final look is a good one.
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