Desi and Mr Two Gram, River Avon, Bristol, August 2024
Recently I have become more organised and started writing my blog posts the day before, giving myself a buffer if things get a bit tight before I start work. So far this revised approach seems to be working really well. What it means is that I wrote this post yesterday and that any references to weather or the news might well be a little out of kilter. However, I am pleased to report that it looks like we will be having a bit of a dry spell in Bristol for the next week or so, and Donald Trump continues to be weird.
Desi, River Avon, Bristol, August 2024
I don’t think that I post nearly enough pieces by Mr Two Gram, and Desi seems to have had a slightly slower summer, so it is great to be posting this collaboration from them. Desi presents her letters in a uniform style, filling them with a patchwork of greens, blended in a ‘paintbrush’ style. A generous smattering of pink hearts finishes the piece nicely.
Mr Two Gram, River Avon, Bristol, August 2024
Mr Two Gram has painted a fair bit over the summer, but inexplicably I haven’t posted much of his work. I might need to do a trawl at some point and present a mini-gallery of his work. His letters are consistent in form and here spell 2GRAM and his fills composed of blues, purples and magenta. The piece is tight and the collaboration modest, tucked away on a wall with little footfall. Great work from the pair.
Desi and Mr Two Gram, Peel Street Green, Bristol, May 2024
Peel Street Green is a really great spot for showcasing your work, and Desi and Mr Two Gram have absolutely smashed it with this colourful and cheerful themed collaborative wall. I particularly like the inclusion of characters, which is something neither of these artists does all that often, but they should, because these are brilliant.
Desi, Peel Street Green, Bristol, May 2024
Desi has returned to writing DESI, after a spell of writing VEIL, and appears to write with such confidence and flair these days. Her work has really come on in leaps and bounds, and her finishing has improved no end. The character, with pink overtones, in keeping with the writing, looks, stylistically, like a character from the Dexter’s Laboratory cartoon series. A great combo piece.
Mr Two Gram, Peel Street Green, Bristol, May 2024
Mr Two Gram and I had a long conversation a little while ago, under the M32, during which I asked him whether he ever painted characters, and he replied that it was something he was considering… well I am glad that he did, because this combination of writing and cartoon character is superb. Mr Two Gram’s letters are so distinctive and always neatly turned out, and the colour scheme works well here too. As with Desi’s piece, the hair and eyes match the writing, ensuring the character is relevant to the piece. Great work and a wonderful collaborative extravaganza.
Desi and Mr Two Gram, M32 Spot, Bristol, January 2023
Desi (Veil) and Mr Two Gram paint together a lot, although I have posted far more of the former’s pieces than I have the latter. I think the reason, and it is a rather feeble one is that I keep forgetting Mr Two Gram’s name. I don’t think that this will happen too much more now, and I will need to draw out loads of his pieces from my archive.
Desi, M32 Spot, Bristol, January 2023
This is a lovely fresh piece from Desi, with a nice colour palette and very organised fills. She has also included the incorporation of some background pink in between letters, which is a difficult thing to do. She did miss a little bit, between the ‘V’ and the ‘e’, but I am being picky.
Mr Two Gram, M32 Spot, Bristol, January 2023
To Desi’s right is a great piece of graffiti writing from Mr Two Gram, whose letters I still struggle to read. The grey ‘O’ or is it a ‘G’? always looks like an ampersand to me. Lovely letters and some superb fills round off this very nice collaboration perfectly.
This is another piece that was painted during the RBF paint jam to celebrate Bnie’s birthday and Vozie’s new baby with a Rugrats theme. It is of course by Desi, who more often writes Veil these days.
Desi, Frome Side, Bristol, November 2023
This must be one of Desi’s best pieces to date, with every element of the work coming together nicely. I believe that the character was painted by her and if it was, it is the first time I have seen her include a character, and it is brilliant. Her lines are sharp and her fills varied and interesting and one is left with an overall great piece of writing, that sits comfortably with all her RBF friends. Fabulous stuff.
Desi, Lupa, Pekoe and Evey, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, November 2023
The Resting Bitch Face (RBF) crew have been seriously busy this year, and giving PWA a good run for their money. In this recent paint jam, the ladies have shown their support for the people of Palestine, by incorporating the colours of the Palestinian flag into the piece. There have been so many protest pieces about the war in Palestine, and as I have mentioned many times before, street art captures the mood of the moment and provides a running social commentary, which I have the privilege of photographing and recording before it disappears under ever-increasing layers of paint. This grouping of four of the artists, Desi, Lupa, Pekoe and Evey was in addition to others from RBF (posts to follow).
Desi, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, November 2023
On the left, Desi ha painted another of her VEIL pieces, and it now feels like an eternity since she last painted DESI – she appears to have well and truly moved on. Her colours are those that are adopted across the whole collaboration, namely chrome and gold, a very striking combination. This is a nice tidy piece from Desi, enhanced with some pink and purple spots and circles around the writing.
Lupa, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, November 2023
Lupa, I guess like all the RBF artists, is painting more often, and I am enjoying seeing more of her work about the place. This is a nice tidy piece incorporating her trademark ‘U’ character – her work certainly lends itself to the saying ‘less is more’, where her big fat letters with simple designs, hit home. A little bit more practice with her white boundary lines would lift the whole thing to another level.
Pekoe, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, November 2023
Pekoe has been turning out some exceptional work this autumn/winter, and this portrait is right out of the top drawer. There are minimal decorations on the face, which is a simple solid gold face with features picked out in black. The lips are painted with the Palestinian flag, and the colours are repeated as peace symbols around the portrait. The highlight of the piece for me is the bunches, studded with gold balls – it just looks brilliant and is a really memorable image.
Evey, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, November 2023
Finally, Evey, whose work has stepped up a level this year, has painted a clean and crisp piece with some fabulous features. Evey has chosen to write all her letters in chrome and to accompany them with some golden touches to bring them to life, including a crown and an exclamation mark, the dot of which has the colours of Palestine. A nice red, white and green RBF rounds off the right-hand end of this impressive wall. Bravo RBF!
Desi, Peggy and Evey, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, October 2023
I don’t know how old this lovely triptych by RBF bedfellows Desi, Peggy and Evey is, but I think it slightly predates the much larger RBF Halloween collaboration just to the left. A rather pleasant appetiser to its immediate neighbour. Desi has adopted her joined up writing for this piece which is neatly and tidily presented.
Desi, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, October 2023
Desi leads off on the left with another Veil piece using the light blue and yellow colour palette adopted for the collaboration. I have to say that I don’t think the colour combination is an especially good one, looking a little anaemic against the autumn leaf litter in front of it. Desi has some nice horizontal fills and subtle dot details and the 3D drop shadow helps it to pop out from the wall.
Peggy, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, October 2023
Peggy has made an oblique reference to the colour scheme with the incorporation of a yellow colour in some of her details. The floral display, complete with an eye at the centre of the flower is exactly what you’d expect from Peggy, containing some nice detail in the levels and petals. I don’t know what the letters AIZH stand for, but you can make them out at the base of the piece. Peggy’s work lends itself very well to being the decorative filling between two pieces of graffiti writing.
Evey, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, October 2023
To the right, the effervescent Evey has knocked it out of the park once again. Her letters are nicely thought out and she has reflected the horizontal fill regime in Desi’s work on the other side, and has come up with some decorations in the letters that make them feel substantial without being too busy. More great work from these three who appear to enjoy painting together.
Lupa and Desi, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, October 2023
It is not so long since Halloween, and this year I seem to have quite a lot of festive pieces to share, and not at the end of November or December. The reason for these more timely posts is that the artists were out a little earlier this year with many painting their Halloween pieces in mid-October. This pair of pieces by Lupa and Desi were painted as part of a large gathering of the RBF crew who were joined on the day by a Birmingham all-female crew called FKB (Full Kulla Burners).
Lupa, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, October 2023
On the left of this pair is a great piece from Lupa, whose carefree approach makes for easy viewing. With her work, I always get the feeling that she is relaxed, and painting within her limits for the sheer joy of it, and I really like that about her work. As usual, Lupa has had a bit of fun with the ‘U’ in her name and has presented her letters in her customary style while adopting the paint jam colours of the day.
Desi, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, October 2023
To the right, Desi has painted a lovely VEIL piece which seems to be her preference these days – I haven’t seen a DESI for a while. I particularly like the screaming ghost face in the second heart. Great letters and some interesting fills. It is weird that the gold colour has picked out the markings on the wall, almost looking like Desi has painted the markings deliberately, a mechanism that many artists use to give the impression they are painting on a wall instead of on a flat surface. Great work from these two.
Ooh! I love this recent piece from Desi, whose work just gets better and better. This time she is writing VEIL, one of her two variants, but with joined up script writing, which is a new and exciting development that works rather well.
Desi, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, August 2023
I have often been quite critical of artists who don’t buff walls before they paint, because the underlying graffiti can often be distracting, but Desi, whether by design or luck, has managed to pull it off with this piece. The background somehow complements her writing and helps it to stand out. Beautiful curvy letter shapes are accompanied by great blue and pink fills (that B/P combo again), perfectly blended. I think that this might just be my favourite piece from Desi yet.
When I accidentally discovered the hoardings around Louisa Street recently, it was a great surprise, and I guess I was a little annoyed that I hadn’t found it sooner. I don’t think that the hoardings can have been there for too long, or at least if they have, they have only recently been painted. I say this because as far as I can see there hasn’t been too much overpainting, and there is a lot of the blue board still visible.
Veil, Louisa Street, Bristol, May 2023
Desi has produced this wonderful VEIL piece in pinks and blues and is showing great progress particularly in the complexity and design of her fills. The 3D drop shadow and border are nice and tight, and overall this piece demonstrates the strides she is making. I am looking forward to a summer of Veils and Desis.
Desi, M32 roundabout, Bristol, September 2025Desi, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, December 2025Desi, M32 Spot, Bristol, June 2025Desi, Greenway Bush Lane, Bristol, February 2025Desi, Greenbank, Bristol, February 2025Desi, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, January 2025Desi and Lupa, M32 roundabout, Bristol, January 2025Desi, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2024Desi, River Avon, Bristol, August 2024Desi, Peel Street Green, Bristol, May 2024Desi, M32 Spot, Bristol, January 2023Desi, Frome Side, Bristol, November 2023Desi, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, November 2023Desi, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, October 2023Desi, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, October 2023Desi, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, August 2023Desi, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, March 2023Desi, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2023Desi, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2023Desi, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, January 2023Desi, Greenbank, Bristol, November 2022Desi, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, November 2022Desi, Peel Street Green, Bristol, October 2022Desi, M32 roundabout, Bristol, September 2022Desi, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, August 2022Desi, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, August 2022Desi, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2022Desi, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, March 2022Desi, New Stadium Road, Bristol, March 2022Desi, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, January 2022Desi, River Avon, Bristol, November 2021Desi, River Avon, Bristol, September 2021
Natural adventures 