Greenbank – Page 8 – Natural adventures

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Mind 49, Greenbank, Bristol, February 2024

Mind 49 is establishing himself as something of a new force in Bristol street art and graffiti writing, expanding his range and pushing boundaries with every new piece he creates. He is perhaps better known for his portrait pieces, that seem to capture the subject in an unconventional pose, but he has been working on his writing too recently.

This recent piece, on the ever-diminishing hoarding which borders the Chocolate Factory development, demonstrates perfectly Mind 49’s writing style. Spelling out MInD, the letters are beautifully filled with a beautifully selected set of soft colours, which abut with one another with lines, stars and circles. Great drop-shadows, borders and decorations finish the job off nicely. We are lucky to have Mind 49 hitting a bit of a purple patch… long may it last.

5874. Greenbank (108)

Laic217, Greenbank, Bristol, February 2024

Laic217 seems to have a plethora of ways to surprise me. Often his pieces appear unannounced, and so discovering them definitely feels special, but what surprised me with this piece is that it immediately took me back to some of the very earliest pieces of his that I started photographing a few years back.

The character, for once, not a skull, is wearing a bucket hat with a satanic protection mask strapped to it. To the right of the portrait is a letter ‘L’ for Laic which has been hollowed out and blocked with a deep 3D drop shadow.

The face, with its harsh features, could only be by Laic217. I don’t know what it is about his style, but it is quite unique. Looking at the close up, it almost looks like it has been painted on a canvas with brushes, and maybe that is what gives Laic217 his uniqueness. This is yet another awesome piece from one of Bristol’s very best street artists.

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Knife, Greenbank, Bristol, February 2024

I have a very busy week ahead, so apologise in advance for any disruption to my usual rhythm. I start with a trip to Nottingham today and tomorrow and am in London on Thursday, delivering workshops, which is both time-intensive and exhausting. Managing expectations.

A graffiti writer, who has emerged over the last year or so is Knife, I don’t yet know they are or if they use social media, so for the time being I shall use their writing moniker.

I have seen Knife’s work in quite a few of the spots I visit, and felt it was about time I posted a piece. I think that Knife paints solo, at least I haven’t yet noticed any patterns of painting with anyone else, which makes me think that the artist is fairly new to Bristol. This is a really nicely executed piece, clean and tidy letters with a straightforward three colour fill, nothing too fancy or pretentious. Even though the wall hasn’t been buffed, the graffiti writing is eye-catching, and this is a solid debut piece (on Natural Adventures) from Knife. Expect more to follow.

5843. Greenbank (106)

Sub and Bloem, Greenbank, Bristol, February 2024

I mentioned in a previous post what a pleasure it had been to meet Sub and Bloem painting together under the M32 a few weeks back. The pleasure continued on finding this pair of pieces on the long hoarding at Greenbank. While the two artists collaborate, in so much as they paint together, their work is separate and distinct.

Sub writes his bold oversized letters, with deep drop-shadows, and I guess that a challenge for him is to fill a space with only three letters. There aren’t too many writers who only use three letters, I suppose that Slim Pickings, who writes TES would be one. The fill is augmented with his trademark wisp of smoke running over it, and he incorporates some interesting drip work along the top.

Bloem, Greenbank, Bristol, February 2024

Alongside Sub is this quirky piece by Bloem. It would seem that she ha a bit of a thing for old ‘brick’ style mobile phones, and hands with pointy nails. What I like is that she varies these motifs from piece to piece, keeping both the theme running and keeping things interesting. Bloem is one of those artists whose work I always love finding, like Pekoe, Face 1st, Kid Crayon, Fiva, to name a few. This is a fine couple of pieces and I look forward to many more from the pair to come.

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Mr Crawls, Greenbank, Bristol, January 2024

Mr Crawls continues on his quest to delight Bristolians with his birds and monster birds all over the city. This smaller piece is on one of two that were presumably painted around the same time on the long hoarding at Greenbank.

The gull-like cartoon character looks rather charming with his sleepy eyes. I am guessing this was a quick one, as the white fill is a little on the thin side. The thick pink border does just enough to separate the bird from the busy background, without the need for buffing the wall. If Mr Crawls continues with his high volume of pieces, I might have to start grouping them into posts.

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Bnie, Pekoe and Evey, Greenbank, Bristol, January 2024

It is always a great pleasure to see any combination of RBF artists collaborating, and this is an early year beauty from Bnie, Pekoe and Evey. Unfortunately the photographs are a bit rubbish on account of tree shadows cast on the wall by a low winter sun. Fortunately, the girls declare that ‘2024 is going to be sexy AF’.

Bnie starts the triptych, writing her letters with a certain amount of expression, and looking wonderfully free. The clever drop shadow appears to surround the letters as well as giving them depth. Bnie has used a three shade fill which is topped off with some darker bubbly shapes. A very nice piece of writing indeed.

There is something very different from Pekoe in the middle of the collaboration, which features a smartly dressed woman with a fancy green and yellow scarf wrapped around her neck. It is quite unusual for Pekoe to paint full (or even half) body characters, and it will be interesting to see if this is something she continues with this year.

Rounding off on the right is some tidy bubble writing from Evey, with a rather saucy ‘V’. Her fills are very nicely worked and the flow of colours through the letters are most enjoyable. I am not too sure about the drop shadow, which doesn’t quite hit the mark for me. Certainly a great start to the year though. I am looking forward to a whole lot more from RBF in 2024.

5793. Greenbank (103)

Mr Crawls, Greenbank, Bristol, January 2023

It’s that wonderful Mr Crawls again, treating us to another of his cartoon birds, this one on what’s left of the hoardings along the Bristol to Bath cycle path at Greenbank. This rather jolly bird character is a reminder of the wide range of birds that Mr Crawls has in his armoury.

The blue colour of the plumage decorated with darker dots gives the bird an almost comical appearance. More nice work from Mr Crawls.

5689. Greenbank (101)

I did a double take when I first set eyes on this piece, because the first thought that came into my head was that this was a piece by Subtle (what has happened to him?), and although there is plenty here to support that thought it quickly became obvious that this was another chunky Cobo piece.

The richly coloured letters spell out COBER, and are big and bold, almost like rocks. The little character looks a bit like a seal or a dog, but they can both look alike, so I am not going to fixate about it. Overall this is a strong piece from Cobo who seems to be getting into a bit of a rhythm with a series of great pieces recently.

5615. Greenbank (100)

My one hundredth post from Greenbank and what better way to celebrate such a landmark than with this stunning face piece by Zake. Over the last few years, Zake has been one of the most regular artists in Bristol, either painting solo or with his PWA friends.

In this piece Zake has gone large, and to give you some idea of scale, this portrait stands at about 7-8 feet tall. As always with Zake’s work, the contours and texture of the face are created by a wonderful contrasting of light and shade, giving the appearance of deep furrows and folds in the subject’s skin. Zake pretty much always paints in this cartoon style and I think it would be really interesting to see if he could paint something a little more realistic in terms of proportion and features, just as a one-off… I think he would smash it.

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Olek McBolek, Greenbank, Bristol, October 2023

I am happy this year that I have done Halloween justice, which is not always the case. This piece on the not-so-long-anymore hoarding at Greenbank is by occasional visiting artist Olek McBolek, who has painted on this stretch once or twice before, which is impressive given that his locations listed on Instagram are Glasgow and Berlin. I imagine he has friends in Bristol.

This is a really good Halloween piece combining the emblematic and obligatory pumpkin sitting above a mass of skeleton remains, which have been very well painted and represented. There is a strong and confident style here that reflects an artist in full control. The letters spell S8E, commonly adopted in his work, although I don’t know what they mean. A pleasant surprise find.

	Bill Bisgood on Eager beaver
	paulh121 on 7479. Cumberland Basin
	Chuckster on Thursday doors – 19 Febr…
	China Dream on Thursday doors – 12 Febr…
	bushboy on Thursday doors – 19 Febr…

	Bill Bisgood on Eager beaver
	paulh121 on 7479. Cumberland Basin
	Chuckster on Thursday doors – 19 Febr…
	China Dream on Thursday doors – 12 Febr…
	bushboy on Thursday doors – 19 Febr…

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