Soker never disappoints. His graffiti writing is always of the highest possible quality and he sets a very high bar for other writers in Bristol to aspire to. This is a super little piece alongside Inkie in Dean Lane from a week or two back.
Soker, Dean Lane, Bristol, August 2020
The letters are filled with three slightly different shades of blue with some nice bubbles running through the middle. There is some partial 3D shading in yellow with a vanishing point behind the piece and the whole thing is set off perfectly with some red decorations around the perimeter. Clean and crisp, a great example of great writing.
I really like this recent piece by Nightwayss in Dean Lane. The only downside is that it is painted on the wall that is tricky to photograph, which is why these pictures are on an angle. There is more to this piece, but I have treated them as two separate pieces and the other side will follow.
Nightwayss, Dean Lane, Bristol, August 2020
So here we have a giant blue monkey riding on an orange bus, and why not. The monkey in many of Nightwayss’ pieces isn’t always quite so obvious, but here it is the star of the show. I love the style of the piece and the bus in particular is notable for its wheels and the white reflections on the windows. This is a really wonderful piece from a talented artist.
I said that I would be posting more from CD.TC and I am true to my word. This is a recent piece from the farm end of St Werburghs tunnel. I can’t be sure how prolific the artist normally is, but during the latter part of this summer he has certainly managed to get out and paint walls a few times.
CD.TC, St Werburghs, Bristol, August 2020
This is a rather fun blue character in a kind of cartoon style. I am not sure what it represents, if anything, but the white streak of smoke/condensation from his hand to form a cloud seems to be symbolic of something. Nice tidy, clean lines and some great decorative fills make this a worthy addition to the free gallery of art in the tunnel. Still more to come from the artist.
This is a real statement piece of graffiti writing from Smak down at Dean Lane and amply demonstrates why he is one of the very best writers in Bristol and probably the country. His pieces are elaborate with so many interlocking parts all seamlessly brought together with clean crisp lines.
Smak, Dean Lane, Bristol, August 2020
The colour palette is similar to one I have seen him use before and works well on the dark background. There are to many elements in this piece to be able to describe them all, but consistent with several pieces by the artist you get more for your money, with two SMAKs visible in places, most obviously with the A.
Smak, Dean Lane, Bristol, August 2020
On his Instagram feed, Smak mentioned that a little kid told him he could paint jellyfish, so Smak decided to add one for good measure – that is why it is there. Another monster piece from Smak.
One of the busiest artists over the summer has been Taboo with his rather unconventional style of writing. Why is it unconventional I hear you ask… tumbleweed… well I’ll give you my perspective. His letters look like they are made of rubber. They have no consistent form or size and don’t seem to follow any formula or rules. Letters may be stretched or condensed and some are replaced with motifs or characters. His pieces are quite anarchic in a graffiti writing world that is surprisingly conventional.
Taboo, Brunel Way, Bristol, August 2020
This one under Brunel Way by the riverside spells out TABOO with a wobbly skull between the T and A. An Ionic column makes a random appearance in the first O. Unusal and interesting ans as I said at the start unconventional.
Ooh, I am really enjoying the work of Pl8o at the moment. The letters he uses lend themselves very well to graffiti writing and provide a lot of scope to do great things, like Boogie for example. There are some letters And numbers that just seem to work well together.
Pl8o, St Werburghs, Bristol, August 2020
This one was at the farm end of the tunnel and in daylight that makes it so much easier to photograph. All the elements of this piece come together. The gold letters and grey shadow, the stars and spots and white letter stars. This piece is so very easy on the eye.
One of the constants of the Bristol street/graffiti art scene, the beating heart, has to be the ever-present work of Face 1st. He appears to be tireless, and there is rarely a week goes by without a new piece from this happy-go-lucky artist.
Face 1st, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, August 2020
This cheery piece on the M32 cycle path is not dissimilar in style and colour regime to the one he recently painted on a caravan nearby. Of all the artists in Bristol, if Face 1st were to stop painting, I think I might miss home the most.
An artist who hasn’t featured very much on Natural Adventures is CD.TC, but I am about to put that right over the next week or two.I don’t think he paints too much, but recently there has been a little rash of work, often alongside DazCat and Kool Hand.
CD.TC, Purdown, Bristol, July 2020
This is a nice piece up at Purdown of a colourful character catching a little butterfly in a tin labelled CD.TC. I really don’t know where these artists get their ideas from, but maybe Purdown with its urban wildlife offers some inspiration. This is a tidy and beautifully sprayed piece from this rather under-represented artist.
Mr Penfold is well known in Bristol for his abstract murals and commissions dotted about the city, and also for his studio work. He is a fine designer with a very distinct style. Every now and again he lets his hair down with a fun cartoon piece like this one in Dean Lane.
Mr Penfold, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2020
This dog Is a happy dog and is brilliantly clean. All the lines are perfect and all the fills solid. Sometimes less is more and this is a perfect example of that. The splashes of white on the nose and tongue are rather special. I love this piece and others like it by Mr Penfold.
When I get the time, which isn’t often, I like to wander away from the ‘sure thing’ spots where I know I will find street art and take a punt on places where I might get lucky. I got very lucky in Belmont Street with this wonderful piece from Silent Hobo, which was adjacent to another much larger piece by him (to come). The whole wall dates back to March 2017, and yes, it has taken me this long to find it.
Silent Hobo, Belmont Street, Bristol, July 2020
The girl on the left is, I think, a portrait of the artist’s daughter and on his Instagram feed he called her his ‘little Bee’, and she is finely dressed in a bee costume. I haven’t often seen portrait work like this frrom Silent Hobo, as it tends usually to be more cartoony in style, I think that this is magnificent.
Silent Hobo, Belmont Street, Bristol, July 2020
To the right of little Bee is a girl sitting with a cat in an altogether more recognisable style. Silent Hobo has such a talent for portraying young people, their clothes, their postures andd their emotions via expressions. There is nearly always a sense of calm in his work that rubs off on the viewer. This section of wall is masterful and was well worth waiting for. It looks so fresh, it is hard to believe it is over three years old.
Natural adventures 