7328. St Werburghs tunnel (549)

Donz, St Werburghs, Bristol, November 2025
Donz, St Werburghs, Bristol, November 2025

The fun part of birthday paint jams is that it forces some of the participants out of their comfort zones by painting the letters of the birthday boy/girl rather than their own familiar letters. This is an exercise that appears to be easier for some than for others. Donz seems to have coped just fine with this delightful piece for Minto.

Donz, St Werburghs, Bristol, November 2025
Donz, St Werburghs, Bristol, November 2025

The letters art typically colourful and upbeat. No need for a signature here. Donz’ work is usually quite flat, without drop shadows, which is no bad thing, it is part of his style and presentation. Everything here is neat and tidy, and he has set the letters on an interesting light blue wash with a kind of cityscape silhouette along the top.

7257. St Werburghs tunnel (531)

Donz, St Werburghs, Bristol, October 2025
Donz, St Werburghs, Bristol, October 2025

It is always a rather pleasant surprise to find a Donz piece in town because he tends to enjoy painting in his ‘manor’ of L Dub (Lawrence Weston), to the north of the city. Something you can predict quite safely is that anything by Donz is going to be colourful and bright.

Donz, St Werburghs, Bristol, October 2025
Donz, St Werburghs, Bristol, October 2025

First up, the white wall works really well with his colourful design, which could get lost without it. His letters DONZ are beautifully framed within a consistent solid black border and some fine black highlights and details. The pastel colours are nicely distributed as fills throughout. All in all, a great piece from Donz.

7020. L Dub (68)

Donz, L Dub, Bristol, June 2025
Donz, L Dub, Bristol, June 2025

More from L Dub, this time by Donz, who, like Dun Sum, seems to favour this spot over any of the other Bristol graffiti haunts. Donz is notable for his colourful pieces that use strong and contrasting colours that he works well together.

Donz, L Dub, Bristol, June 2025
Donz, L Dub, Bristol, June 2025

The letters in this piece are nicely done, and I particularly like the orange star over the ‘O’ of DONZ. Donz has taken care with the presentation of the piece, starting with a nicely buffed white wall and an interesting yellow glow around the letters. I see, all of a sudden a fried egg, and once seen it can’t be unseen (sorry). The letters are finished with a deep two-tone 3D drop shadow, to help the letters pop. A colourful extravaganza.

6749. Cumberland Basin

Donz, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, February 2025
Donz, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, February 2025

Every now and again, Donz ventures beyond his L Dub ‘manor’ and visits the centre of Bristol, and this little wall is one he has painted before. With views of the Clifton Suspension Bridge, and some cover from the rain and (in summer) the sun, this is a tidy little spot, adjacent to the long wall in Cumberland Basin.

Donz, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, February 2025
Donz, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, February 2025

This graffiti writing is typically colourful, and set on a plain, neutral background, that helps to give focus on the letters. The seemingly random colour patches are semi-blended, as if they were thrown at a canvass. The piece is finished with a bunch of little circle decorations. Interesting to note, that even without a drop shadow, the writing manages to offer some depth.

6735. L Dub (63)

Donz, L Dub, Bristol, February 2025
Donz, L Dub, Bristol, February 2025

Donz is an interesting graffiti writer whose combination of letter shapes and, in particular, colour selections and fill patterns is quite unique. His work is further highlighted in this piece with the incorporation of a clean contrasting background buff.

Donz, L Dub, Bristol, February 2025
Donz, L Dub, Bristol, February 2025

The letters in this piece spell DONZ, and are beautifully contained within a clean black border. I think that what sets his work apart is his approach to his fills which are not blended, but rather, they are applied in contrasting splodges and decorated with complementary little circles. All I can say is that this is a very Donz look. We also have an introduction to the Art Beat Crew (ABC), which I haven’t noticed before.

6238. Cumberland Basin

Donz, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, July 2024
Donz, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, July 2024

A rare trip into the centre of Bristol, from his native Lawrence Weston, brought Donz to this spot in the Cumberland Basin. At first I had a little difficulty working what was going on here, because Donz has painted directly over a Mr Draws piece, without buffing the wall or masking out with a background design, in the spirit of a throwie, but this is better than your average throw up.

Donz, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, July 2024
Donz, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, July 2024

Donz has a very particular style, probably governed by his letter in part, where his letter surfaces are quite flat, without midlines or accents, and the depth is provided by the 3D drop shadow. This piece reminds me very much of one he painted about a year ago in L Dub, which used the same colour combination.

Donz, L Dub, Bristol, August 2023
Donz, L Dub, Bristol, August 2023

5817. L Dub (52)

Donz, L Dub, Bristol, January 2024
Donz, L Dub, Bristol, January 2024

I am so pleased that Donz is starting to get more of a presence on Natural Adventures, an unfortunate underrepresentation which is an artefact of the fact that I don’t visit L Dub all that often, and Donz rarely paints anywhere else in Bristol.

Donz, L Dub, Bristol, January 2024
Donz, L Dub, Bristol, January 2024

This is a fun piece in a typically wacky style from Donz made all the more fun by the inclusion of a character face replacing the ‘O’ in his letters. It is a fact of life in street art writing, that the letter ‘O’ more than any other can be fiddled around with and replaced, for example Biers and his WD40 and Boogie with his double ‘O’s. There is some nice lettering here that bleeds away at the top.

Either Donz needs to come into the centre more often, or I need to get out to L Dub, but until one or both of those things happen, Donz will most likely only make occasional appearances in these pages.

5800. L Dub (51)

Donz, L Dub, Bristol, January 2024
Donz, L Dub, Bristol, January 2024

There are three or four artists who fairly regularly paint in L Dub, and one of them is Donz. His work is always original and often showcases the artist’s good eye for great colour combinations. This piece on the wall of the water company pumping station is a cracker.

Donz, L Dub, Bristol, January 2024
Donz, L Dub, Bristol, January 2024

Although I haven’t seen a huge number of Donz’ pieces, I consider this to be the best I have photographed. The letters spell DONZ, in a style that is verging on anamorphic, with a clever use of colour and shade to produce huge depth in the letters. This is a much more than decent piece from Donz.

5599. L Dub (49)

Donz, L Dub, Bristol, August 2023
Donz, L Dub, Bristol, August 2023

Because he tends to paint most of his work in L Dub, Donz is a little bit underrepresented on Natural Adventures, which is a pity really, because he has a distinctive style and slightly different take on things. He is far from unconventional in his work, but he does things his own way, if that makes any sense at all.

Donz, L Dub, Bristol, August 2023
Donz, L Dub, Bristol, August 2023

The letters spell DONZ, although the ‘O’ is much reduced and resembles an eye, giving the writing a bit of character, a little bit like Decay’s Chuck (check out this Decay gallery to see what I mean).The colours in the letters are bright and rather striking, and whilst not naturally complementary, seem to be incredibly effective in this piece. I will try to photograph and post more Donz pieces if I can.

5519. L Dub (48)

Donz, L Dub, Bristol, August 2023
Donz, L Dub, Bristol, August 2023

I haven’t posted much work from Donz on Natural Adventures, mainly because I haven’t seen an awful lot of his work. What I have seen, I rather like. Donz tends to paint with DJ Perks, and mostly, but not exclusively, at L Dub.

Donz, L Dub, Bristol, August 2023
Donz, L Dub, Bristol, August 2023

Donz has selected some beautifully rich colours for this piece, and worked them into his fills most skilfully. His letters are well-designed, and the whole piece has come together very nicely. I fear that Donz is a bit of an unsung hero on the Bristol writing scene, probably because he is not all that visible, which is a pity.