I hate to labour the point, but I am going to anyway. I don’t much care for brown paint, unless it is being used in context, for example to depict a chocolate bar or a tree trunk, but decorating graffiti writing using brown colours is, to my mind, such a waste of a good design.
Logoe, Greenbank, Bristol, May 2025
I am going to suspend my prejudice in this instance though, because Logoe has somehow made the brown colours of this piece rather attractive. His script graffiti writing is filled with layer upon layer of brown shades, set on a dark brown background. The piece is a symphony of brown, and probably because it is Logoe, I rather like it. Three Hail Marys for me.
I think that I must have delved back into my archives a little with this one from Dirtygypo. I also recall that it was my second attempt to capture the piece, because the light conditions here make photography challenging to say the least. Even here there are shadows of tree branches!
Dirtygypo, Greenbank, Bristol, March 2025
This is a really classy one from Dirtygypo, with lightening strikes flashing through the lettering. I am still no clearer to working out the letters, but feel that I can see the word DIRTY there somewhere. The whole piece is clean, the colour palette subtle, and the drop shadow very nicely executed. It is always a pleasure to find Dirtygypo’s work.
Normally, when Haka paints one of his graffiti writing/character combination pieces, I recognise the character from a children’s picture book. This time Haka has stumped me – I am not familiar with any books containing a lizard, and can’t tell you too much more about it.
Some classic HAKA letters sandwich the lizard, although I note that only the right-hand side has been decorated with stars. I wonder if that is an omission, or whether it is the lizard that has emitted the stars from its claw. The lovely piece was difficult to photograph on such a sunny afternoon, something that has been a constant problem during our glorious spring.
There are a number of artists who have a signature piece or style that through repetition become recognised, and lean towards iconic. Examples in Bristol would include Full Time Ghoul, Mr Underbite and perhaps most famously, Slim Pickings, who writes TES. The visiting Scrapyardspec is one of these artists.
Scrapyardspec, Greenbank, Bristol, May 2025
This is a fine double character piece from Scrapyardspec, looking a little golden in the late afternoon sun. His endearing, wibbly/goofy characters haven’t deviated much from the archetypal form and are beautifully filled with green and yellow colours that match the parched grass verge perfectly. His regular visits to Bristol are more than welcome.
I have only one big regret about the Greenbank spot, and that is that I was very late joining the party, and missed hundreds of fabulous pieces, simply because I didn’t know where the spot was. The hoarding is now entering its final age, as the developments accelerate towards their completion. In the twinkling of an eye, this spot and all the great art it has hosted will be gone forever and largely forgotten.
Lis, Greenbank, Bristol, April 2025
I don’t know how old this little piece of installation art from LIS is, but I don’t recall seeing it before. It is a wonderful scene painted onto a wooden disc and stuck high up on the Greenbank hoarding. This feels like a bit of a throwback to the kind of work I first saw by the artist, before she discovered spray cans. The delightful scene looks like the corner of a room or studio filled with lovely plant and fungus pictures on the wall. A beautiful little miniature, that I was sorely tempted to purloin, but I am not like that.
I’m not sure why, but I am always surprised (and thrilled) when I see collaborations between Pekoe and Sepr. Somehow in my head I don’t see them as natural collaborators, but how wrong I am. This delightfully witty piece on the long hoarding at Greenbank took me several attempts to get decent pictures. The fine weather we have been experiencing has a downside which is that full sun causes shadows to be cast everywhere. Eventually I took advantage of an overcast day and made my way to the spot.
Sepr, Greenbank, Bristol, April 2025
The combination tells a story of a headless chicken, and in the left hand side, Sepr has created one of his superb cartoon characters, in this case a ‘one chicken band’. Obviously the festive bird wasn’t to everyone’s taste and the decapitated body marches on as the head complete with party hat watches on.
Pekoe, Greenbank, Bristol, April 2025
The perpetrator of the violent crime is a rather charming young woman wielding an axe, which makes one feel a little uncomfortable. Pekoe has done a great job here and unusually has painted more of a full character than her more usual head portrait. I have noticed that recently she has also been painting traffic cones in her pieces, like a little signature. The collaboration is witty, gruesome and really well painted. It would be great to see more of these story pieces from these great artists.
Oh dear! Mr Crawls’ gull is looking a bit glum in this piece on the long hoarding at Greenbank. Painted on a favoured chrome background, the usually happy or cheeky gull looks like he is down in the dumps. It is clever that Mr Crawls can portray different emotions with tweaks to his ‘archetypal’ bird.
Mr Crawls, Greenbank, Bristol, March 2025
The stylised cartoon character has a downturned (mouth) bill and heavy-lidded eyes, dripping with sadness. The piece is really well presented and clean and tidy, and another in a wonderful series of character pieces by Mr Crawls.
Pura Decadencia, Greenbank, Bristol, February 2025
Painted alongside a piece I featured recently by Desi, this super writing by Pura Decadencia took me several attempts to photograph on account of the wrong light conditions each time I visited. This third attempt was, as you can see, was on an unusually welcome overcast day.
Pura Decadencia, Greenbank, Bristol, February 2025
Pura has been teaming up with Desi on a couple of occasions now, and they seem to be bringing out the best in each other. Pura’s letters are clear, regular and quite large, providing plenty of scope for playing about with fills. She has nicely blended three pink tones and added in some reversed spots to jazz things up a little. The atmospheric background is in a style I am seeing more frequently on the streets at the moment, a particular favourite technique used by Sub, for example. No vampire teeth this time, but a fine example of Pura Decadencia’s work.
It took me three attempts to photograph this wonderful piece of writing by Desi, the first two were ruined with the shadows of trees cast across it, rendering the pictures useless. I should know better, this spot should only be visited on an overcast day, a bit like Sparke Evans Park, if you are after decent pictures.
Desi, Greenbank, Bristol, February 2025
Desi is a constant and talented member of the RBF crew whose work has been steadily improving over the years. Recently she has stepped up a level, and this VEIL piece is beautifully painted, and decorated with a couple of flowers, cheering up a dull day. The letters are well presented, and the fills nicely worked to run through all the letters in a coherent way. There is a nice shout-out to Mr Two Gram too in this fine piece.
Lis (Le Imposter Design), Greenbank, Bristol, January 2025
We long for those sunny winter days, they offer us a taste of a spring to come and provide a break from the monotony of overcast and wet weather that is typical of an English winter. The only drawback in my mind is that sunny winter days spell trouble for photographing art on walls, and that explains the long shadows on this piece by Lis (Le Imposter Designs).
Lis (Le Imposter Design), Greenbank, Bristol, January 2025
Recently, Lis made the switch from her usual brushes and paint materials to spray paint, and has started ‘going large’ with her street art. It is a fascinating transformation, and what she has lost in the fine detail of her work, she has gained with ‘in your face’ impact. This portrait of a cat appears to be full of symbolism, with the character sitting in front of a crystal ball and wrapped in a stellar coat. Her spray paint work at this stage is a little one dimensional at this stage, but that is to be expected. I am full of admiration for her perseverance, and I am hoping to see much more of her work this year – she certainly appears to have the bug.
Natural adventures 