Tag: Dinosaur

7007. Cumberland Basin

Andy Council and Acer One, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, June 2025
Andy Council and Acer One, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, June 2025

Andy Council and Acer One are a classic painting duo, with utterly different styles and subject, but their work, counterintuitively, seems to be wonderfully complementary. There is no jarring of styles, or competition for space or the limelight – the two artists seem to be comfortable with themselves and each other.

Andy Council, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, June 2025
Andy Council, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, June 2025

Andy Council has painted one of his gorgeous dinosaurs, selecting some beautiful colours and stitching the whole creature together with small components, like a Lego model. The little dots of green add so much to the piece. The collaboration was painted as a tribute to Tickz, who will be very much missed by the graffiti community in Bristol.

Acer One, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, June 2025
Acer One, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, June 2025

Acer One, who has been relatively quiet this year, has painted one of his iconic peace and love stamps in yellow and white or gold and silver, depending on your interpretation. This is a difficult wall to paint, especially with a designed graphic like this one, and the recesses in the walls present a challenge that Acer One has risen to. A fine collaboration and fitting tribute.

6927. Dean Lane skate park (832)

Andy Council, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2025
Andy Council, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2025

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
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.

6704. Cumberland Basin

Andy Council and Acer One, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, January 2025
Andy Council and Acer One, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, January 2025

There is never a time when it isn’t a genuine pleasure to come across an Acer One/Andy Council collaboration. These two have been painting together for a long time, and although their styles couldn’t be more different, there is a harmony in their work that is probably supported by their familiarity with one another.

Andy Council, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, January 2025
Andy Council, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, January 2025

This wonderful composite creature piece by Andy Council is stitched together in his unique style. Andy has said that he is aiming to paint one dinosaur piece each month to celebrate 20 years since he painted his first. If this feathered velociraptor is anything to go by, we are in for a treat in 2025. I like the way that the cloudy puffs span across to Acer One’s piece.

Acer One, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, January 2025
Acer One, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, January 2025

Acer One is constantly inventing ways to dazzle us with his graphic lettering and design. Always executed to perfection, his pieces are quite different to anything else we see in Bristol. In this piece he has combined peace and heart symbols to come up with a single entity. It is beautiful and meaningful, and I expect we’ll see more of this icon from Acer One. A fine collaboration.

6405. Dean Lane skate park (759)

T-Rex, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2024
T-Rex, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2024

This is the second piece I have posted from the paint jam marking Andy Council’s 50th birthday, although I’m not sure how much he would thank me for repeating this milestone with every post. The piece is a lovely trio of dinosaurs on the rampage by T-Rex.

T-Rex, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2024
T-Rex, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2024

T-Rex has a way of brightening up even the worst of days. Her mischievous dinosaurs could and perhaps should adorn any children’s picture book, and the crossover between the actual animals and cartoon characters is handled brilliantly. She concludes the piece with a nice ‘RAWrrrr!’, which is a play on the Read and Weep crew name, and a shout-out to Mena, who we all hope is making a recovery.

6241. Greenbank (129)

Haka, Greenbank, Bristol, July 2024
Haka, Greenbank, Bristol, July 2024

Just when I think that Haka has gone all quiet, he pops up with another piece, and so it was with this one on the long hoarding at Greenbank. The piece is a rather nice writing character combination, where the letters HAKA occupy most of the body space, behind which is a rather cheerful-looking stegosaurus.

Haka, Greenbank, Bristol, July 2024
Haka, Greenbank, Bristol, July 2024

I have tried to find out who the dinosaur is, as most of Haka’s characters tend to be from children’s picture books, but there are an awful lot of them and my Google search was fruitless. The whole thing is a really nicely composed conflation of graffiti writing and children’s illustration. Charming really.

5632. Cumberland Basin

T-Rex, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, October 2023
T-Rex, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, October 2023

It is always a huge and genuine pleasure to see work by T-Rex, and to know that she manages to find time to paint occasionally, which is probably very good for her own contentment, and definitely makes me and other admirers of her work happy.

T-Rex, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, October 2023
T-Rex, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, October 2023

This piece which appeared about a month after her last one in this spot follows the same format of the letters TREX and the end of the ‘X’ incorporating a dinosaur character. The piece as a whole is very nicely finished, and the colours and fills full of vibrancy and energy. Fun, joy and humour come across very strongly in this piece, and are characteristic of much of T-Rex’s wonderful work.

5509. Cumberland Basin

T-Rex, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, September 2023
T-Rex, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, September 2023

I am sure that it can be a challenge getting out to paint sometimes for most artists, as real life can change the dynamics and available time and space… things like jobs, family, mental health, other commitments, friendships and so on can slow or even curtail activity. It is great to see that T-Rex and Ryder are still able to hit the occasional wall in spite of having started a family, and are managing to embrace all that they hold dear in balance. I guess that what I am saying is that there are great reasons why we don’t see T-Rex pieces all that often, but it is wonderful when we do.

T-Rex, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, September 2023
T-Rex, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, September 2023

This one in Cumberland Basin is a classic piece of T-Rexery, in which she spells out T-REX and adds the head of our friendly dinosaur character to the ‘X’. There is a lightness of touch about her work and her fills are simply superb. I know that T-Rex has done another piece recently, so watch this space, for more dinosaur writing fun.

5467. East Street

Andy Council, East Street, Bristol, August 2023
Andy Council, East Street, Bristol, August 2023

A rare foray into a part of Bedminster last week, looking for something that wasn’t there, led me to East Street, long after the shops had shut, which meant only one thing, a glimpse at closed shutter artwork that I hadn’t even been aware of before and which might have been there for some time. Among the discoveries was this gem from Andy Council.

Andy Council, East Street, Bristol, August 2023
Andy Council, East Street, Bristol, August 2023

From the signature, it looks like Andy Council painted this composite dinosaur piece in 2022, so it is possible that it was painted as an extra piece for Upfest, but more likely it might have been a permitted or commissioned piece from the shop store owners. As with much of Andy Council’s work, the whole monster character is made up of different components, including buildings and mechanical joints. He has thrown in a few toadstools for good measure too. I was most happy to come across this, especially as the things I was looking for didn’t even seem to exist.

T-Rex

A gallery of fabulous dinosaurs and writing from Bristol’s very own T-Rex

Instagram: @rawtrex

All photographs by Scooj

T-Rex, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022
T-Rex, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022
T-Rex, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022
T-Rex, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022
Ryder, T-Rex, Conrico and Kool hand, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2022
Ryder, T-Rex, Conrico and Kool hand, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2022
T-Rex, Elton Street, Bristol, April 2022
T-Rex, Elton Street, Bristol, April 2022
T-Rex, St Werburghs, Bristol, January 2022
T-Rex, St Werburghs, Bristol, January 2022
T-Rex, Alfred Street, Bristol, September 2021
T-Rex, Alfred Street, Bristol, September 2021
Ryder and T-Rex, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2021
Ryder and T-Rex, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2021
T-Rex, Brunel Way, Bristol, June 2021
T-Rex, Brunel Way, Bristol, June 2021
Ryder and T-Rex, Brunel Way, Bristol, June 2021
Ryder and T-Rex, Brunel Way, Bristol, June 2021
T-Rex, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2021
T-Rex, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2021
T-Rex, M32 Spot, Bristol, January 2021
T-Rex, M32 Spot, Bristol, January 2021
T-Rex, John Street, Bristol, September 2020
T-Rex, John Street, Bristol, September 2020
T-Rex, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019
T-Rex, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019
T-Rex, Alfred Street, Bristol, March 2020
T-Rex, Alfred Street, Bristol, March 2020
T-Rex, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2019
T-Rex, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2019
T-Rex, New Stadium Road, Bristol, August 2019
T-Rex, New Stadium Road, Bristol, August 2019
Ryder and T-Rex, Moon Street, Bristol, June 2019
Ryder and T-Rex, Moon Street, Bristol, June 2019
T-Rex, St Werburghs, Bristol, May 2019
T-Rex, St Werburghs, Bristol, May 2019
T-Rex, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
T-Rex, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
Ryder and T-Rex, Armada Place, Bristol, September 2018
Ryder and T-Rex, Armada Place, Bristol, September 2018
Ryder and T-Rex, M32, Bristol, May 2018
Ryder and T-Rex, M32, Bristol, May 2018
T-Rex, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
T-Rex, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
Ryder and T-Rex, Bedminster, Bristol, September 2017
Ryder and T-Rex, Bedminster, Bristol, September 2017
Ryder and T-Rex, Stokes Croft, Bristol, July 2017
Ryder and T-Rex, Stokes Croft, Bristol, July 2017
Ryder and T-Rex, Stokes Croft, Bristol, July 2017
T-Rex, Wilder Street, Bristol, May 2016
T-Rex, Wilder Street, Bristol, May 2016

4627. Dean Lane skate park (517)

Andy Council, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2022
Andy Council, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2022

I can’t think of a time when Andy Council was busier painting murals on our streets, although he might well have been more active before I started writing about street art in 2015. I’m not complaining, moind, I am always super-happy to see his work.

Andy Council, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2022
Andy Council, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2022

This is a wonderful rendition in his customary style of an archaeopteryx, I would guess from memory of dinosaur books I used to read as a kid. Andy Council has captured all the elements of the beast with a collection of shapes, which when viewed as a whole create this amazing precursor to birds. So good to see and beautifully painted.