Face 1st and Zake, Peel Street Green, Bristol, November 2025
I am really impressed that Face 1st has kept up with his intention to visit Bristol from time to time after his move to Herefordshire last year. I guess he knows he can paint freely in Bristol, and he probably has plenty of friends here to visit.
Face 1st and Zake, Peel Street Green, Bristol, November 2025
This is a rather unusual combination piece from Face 1st and Zake, featuring some fancy ‘gold’ letters by Face 1st with an incredibly deep drop shadow, and a (satanic) portrait piece in the middle by Zake. Set on a fiery background, there is a hint that this might have been a Halloween piece, but I am not too sure. Some nice shout-outs to Soap and Chill from the PWA crew.
It was an absolute delight to catch up with Face 1st while he was painting this piece at Kool Hand’s birthday celebration paint jam. We chatted for a long while about our shared common interests in nature and nature-friendly farming practices, such as regenerative farming, something he is keen to practice in his new home of Herefordshire.
Face 1st, St Werburghs, Bristol, October 2025
These photographs are a little blurry… something went wrong with my iPhone camera in the darkness of the tunnel, but I wanted to share the piece nonetheless. Face 1st has been enjoying playing with his letter style and here he has crafted a script font with a deep drop shadow. Alongside is a small character laughing girl, and above it a motif by Soap. There was a good turnout for Kool Hand’s.
At around the time Face 1st left Bristol about a year or so ago, he had been doing quite a lot of experimentation around his writing and different font ideas. On his visits back to Bristol, he has switched between his writing and his character combination pieces. This one is writing only.
Face 1st, M32 roundabout, Bristol, September 2025
The letters spell out FACE 1ST in a rather unusual typeface that looks like a first step towards calligraffiti, but has too many soft edges and freedom to be considered as that. I am a huge fan of Face 1st’s work and would like to see him painting more of his character pieces, and concentrating less on his writing, but I think that he might feel differently. A nice collaboration with PWA fellow Soap.
Well this piece by Face 1st is as unusual as it was unexpected. Face 1st moved to Herefordshire earlier this year and only visits occasionally (to scratch that itch), so it is always a bonus to find one of his pieces. This looks like it was painted in a bit of a hurry, but has some interesting deviations from his typical work.
Face 1st, M32 cycle path, Bristol, August 2025
The stacked letters spell ‘Face’, with the word ‘First’ in the bottom right, so there is no mistaking the artist, with a PWA (Pirate Wall Art crew) just for confirmation. The script letters with some diagonal hatching have an extremely deep drop shadow in turquoise and is quite different from his usual writing style. The colours and lines make the whole thing look a little bit like an illustration, and has a bit of a look of Alex Lucas about it. An unusual addition to his portfolio.
I don’t think there will ever be a time when I am not happy to see a piece by Face 1st. Of course, since he moved away from Bristol, that sense of joy is heightened, because his pieces appear less frequently and have become a little bit of a rarity.
Face 1st, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, June 2025
This is a classic laughing girl with big hair piece from Face 1st. The big hair spells out FACE, in script-like letters, with a very deep drop shadow. The blue tones with the white face work well, and although not the tidiest piece I have seen from the artist it is nonetheless distinctive and very, very Bristol.
Face 1st, Zake and Soak, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2025
I cannot think of a time when I haven’t been utterly delighted to come across a PWA collaboration, and this beauty filled me with good cheer a couple of weeks back. There is a good chance that the collaboration will; remain intact for a while, as this stretch of wall tends to have quite a slow turnover.
Face 1st, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2025
The three artists contributing to the collaboration are Face 1st, Zake and Soap. Face 1st needs no introduction and is probably the artist who has appeared most on Natural Adventures, and deservedly so. This is a classic theme for the artist, with a laughing girl’s face and big hair spelling out FACE, with some diamonds chucked in for good measure.
Zake, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2025
In the middle is this wonderful cartoon character piece from Zake which also fits into his archetypal style, with so much depth, the face seems like it could roll off the wall and into the pathway. Zake seems to be painting at least once a week at the moment and is smashing it.
Soap, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2025
The triptych is completed with a lovely piece of writing from soap, who doesn’t get out as much as he used to, but still manages to collaborate reasonably often with his PWA chums. His letters and fills are sublime and, as is usually the way with his work in recent years, has an Adventure Time influence with the incorporation of the Ice King. Superb collaboration with a shared inclusion of a colour scheme throughout.
Now that Face 1st isn’t living in Bristol, and he paints less frequently, he appears to be a little more judicious in what he paints, and seems to be experimenting a lot more with his writing and his fonts.
Face 1st, M32 roundabout, Bristol, April 2025
This is a wonderful chrome combination piece with Face 1st’s trademark laughing girl character and hair made up of the word FACE. This time though the letters have more of a calligraffiti style to them, and are nicely finished. Somehow, Face 1st is, for me at least, emblematic of the Bristol scene, and I am so pleased that he comes back reasonably regularly to remind us of his talent and style.
Since moving out of Bristol, Face 1st has lived up to his reassurance that he would be back reasonably regularly to carry on painting walls. I have noticed, however, that he has selected spots that are a little bit off the beaten track. This piece is on the junction 2 roundabout of the M32, where turnover is a little slower than other spots.
Face 1st, M32 roundabout J2, Bristol, March 2025
Face 1st has been concentrating a little on his letter styles of late, playing with new fonts and presentations. He has also taken to painting with gold paint (perhaps he put in a big order of the stuff). These lower-case letters, in pink, have nice fills and shout-outs to his PWA crew Soap, Zake and Chill. Face 1st is a firm favourite on Natural Adventures.
Face 1st, Zake and Soap, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, February 2025
It was great to see this PWA collaboration recently, something that is a little less frequent these days now that Face 1st has moved away from Bristol, but true to his word, he does still come back now and again to decorate our streets. Here he is joined by Zake and Soap.
Face 1st, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, February 2025
Face 1st has been experimenting with his letters recently, and perhaps it is a way of refining his technique and growing himself as an artist. There is a symmetry to the letters which spell out Face First, painted in a deep gold colour which contrasts with the pink background and sets the colour theme for the whole collaboration.
Zake, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, February 2025
The centrepiece is a character face painted by Zake, with all the depth we are used to seeing in his work created by the use of light and shade. Zake has cleverly picked up on the gold colour and used it as the bottom-lit element, highlighting his character’s features.
Soap, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, February 2025
Rounding off the triptych is a piece of writing from Soap, who also appears to be trying something a little different. His letters look like a halfway house towards calligraffiti, with some order and form to the letters in terms of shape and size, and some interesting details creeping in. A truly wonderful PWA collaboration from three beating hearts of the Bristol street/graffiti art scene.
Face 1st, M32 roundabout J2, Bristol, January 2025
I don’t tend to venture to the Junction 2 roundabout on the M32, because there isn’t often much to see there, but my most recent trip was rewarded by finding this nice Face 1st piece in one of the multitude of tunnels. This was more special than usual, because as I have said here before, Face 1st has moved out of town, and his pieces appear less frequently.
Face 1st, M32 roundabout J2, Bristol, January 2025
The piece itself is a classic combination from the artist, with a Girl’s face (somewhat mucky around the mouth), and big hair, with the word FACE in glorious gold, wrapped around. The letters are painted in a chunky block style that Face 1st rather likes to paint, and the whole thing is a bit of a blast from the past. It is great to see that Face 1st is living up to his word of returning to Bristol reasonably regularly to paint a little.
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