7987. Dean Lane skate park (949)

Kool Hand, Werm, Zake and Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2026
Kool Hand, Werm, Zake and Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2026

I’m glad I caught this bright and cheerful collaboration, because it didn’t last very long, indeed nothing much lasts too long on this particular wall in Dean Lane. It is great to see Kool Hand, Werm and Zake teaming up, with a guest appearance from Hire as a bonus.

Kool Hand, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2026
Kool Hand, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2026

To the left of the collaborative wall, Kool Hand has painted a very crisp, neat and tidy leopard holding a spray can. This fellow has a great tail and even a well painted pair of wings. The cherub theme is central to this collaboration.

Werm, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2026
Werm, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2026

Next up is a superb piece of symmetrical writing by werm, although the colours are not quite symmetrical, with two different shades of red used in the drop shadow. a green spotty background decorates the margins, and the white buffed wall helps all the components of the collaboration stand out.

Zake and Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2026
Zake and Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2026

The cherubim theme comes into full force with a grotesque cherub on the left, and a rather more conventional one on the right. Both are floating in ther heavenly scene, and are joined by a signature rabbit, also with wings, by Hire. An uplifting and fun collaboration.

7978. Purdown (108)

Kool Hand, Purdown, Bristol, October 2026
Kool Hand, Purdown, Bristol, October 2026

I think it would be fair to say that I have slightly neglected Kool Hand’s excellent work this year, and I still have several of his pieces in my archive to post at some point by way of remedying the situation. This is a recent one from up at Purdown which was painted alongside the Daz Cat piece that I posted yesterday.

Kool Hand, Purdown, Bristol, October 2026
Kool Hand, Purdown, Bristol, October 2026

I don’t think that I’ll ever tire of Kool Hand’s animals, in particular his orangutans and leopards, which are painted in a style that incorporates strong black outlines and solid fills. Simplicity that delivers, like the work of Roo. This leopard, I imagine is wearing a red bucket hat, but the top is cut off, so I’ll never know for sure. I like the way he has incorporated the Purdown telecommunications tower in the piece. More to come when I get my act together.

7472. Surbiton Station, London

Layla's Murals, Surbiton Station, London, February 2026
Layla’s Murals, Surbiton Station, London, February 2026

This wall at Surbiton Station was the gift that keeps on giving. Although this piece by Layla’s Murals is several years old – it took me a while to find it on her Instagram page – it is still looking rather good, and hasn’t been tagged at all.

Layla's Murals, Surbiton Station, London, February 2026
Layla’s Murals, Surbiton Station, London, February 2026

The stunning portrait of the leopard stands out alongside a large and dramatic sky. Ordinarily such a large space would be filled with bits and bobs, but Layla’s Murals clearly has the confidence and belief in her composition, and it works really well.

As a slight aside, I am learning Shakespeare’s wonderful ‘seven ages of man’ monologue, because I want to, and this picture reminds me of one of the lines…

‘Then a soldier, full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard’

The ‘pard’ is a leopard, and here you can see why a soldier might be bearded like one. Great stuff.

6684. Greenbank (149)

Kool Hand, Greenbank, Bristol, January 2025
Kool Hand, Greenbank, Bristol, January 2025

Kool Hand always brings his own very distinctive character style to the party, and has been doing so for some years now. His pieces usually feature animals, in particular, orangutans, leopards and crocodiles. His preferred approach is to have bold black outlines and string colour fills.

Kool Hand, Greenbank, Bristol, January 2025
Kool Hand, Greenbank, Bristol, January 2025

This piece, painted as part of a collaboration, features a green leopard wearing a bucket hat, a pretty cool character. The colours are nice and strong, and Kool Hand has used two-tone green shading to emphasise light and shade, offering a little depth to the character. It is always a pleasure to find Kool Hand pieces, and observe how he is constantly improving and evolving.

4164. Elton Street (3)

Many of you will be familiar with the phrase ‘you snooze, you lose’, and so it was with my rather late discovery of this wonderful wall in Elton Street. Most of the pieces are is good shape, but unfortunately this beauty by The Hass had been somewhat tagged by the time I got to photograph it.

The Hass, Elton Street, Bristol, December 2021
The Hass, Elton Street, Bristol, December 2021

The piece, in the themed pink and blues used by all the artists on this wall, is a stunning portrait of a leopard., and a really classy piece of street art at that. I think I might have enough pieces by The Hass to pull together a gallery fairly soon, one to look out for.

3994. M32 roudabout J3 (351)

Just lately there have been several new pieces by Kool Hand painted alongside Daz Cat, and I am guessing that he is back from London, at least for a little while. I am assuming that it is London where he has been because he has posted some pieces from there. These two have painted a lot together in the past, so it is great to see them teaming up once again.

Daz Cat and Kool Hand, M32 roundabout, Bristol, September 2021
Daz Cat and Kool Hand, M32 roundabout, Bristol, September 2021

This is a rather nice little wall on the entrance to one of the little tunnels on the M32 roundabout and the quick collaboration features a fairly typical Daz Cat cat alongside  a bucket hat wearing leopard. Just another normal day in St Paul’s.

3472. St Werburghs tunnel (223)

This is a really nice example of two artists who like to paint together switching things up a little. Kool Hand and Daz Cat have painted a lot together, but not so much over the last six months or so. When they collaborate, Daz Cat normally paints a character and Kool Hand provides the writing.

Kool Hand and Daz Cat, St Werburghs, Bristol January 2021
Kool Hand and Daz Cat, St Werburghs, Bristol January 2021

In this recent piece in the tunnel, the leopard on the left is by Kool Hand and is superbly done, I think it might be one of his best characters yet and Daz Cat has thrown up the letters DKAT. It must be fun painting with friends and playing with styles and methods and it certainly keeps things interesting for the likes of me.

2873. Upper York Street (21)

I have been to this hoarding three times and each time the light has been overpowering (whatever happened to those overcast days?). The sun reflects off the windows of buildings behind the camera which reflect dappled sunlight all over this wall, ruining any chance of a decent shot. To take these pictures I waited 20 minutes for the slowest-moving solitary cloud to pass over the sun (I guess I was lucky), and then had to act fast.

Hazard and Smak, Upper York Street, Bristol, April 2020
Hazard and Smak, Upper York Street, Bristol, April 2020

The beautiful collaboration is from Hazard and Smak and I think was one of the very last pre-lock down pieces in town. The hoarding surrounds a whole block that has been demolished, bar one single house, which you can see  in this photograph. It is like a scene from the Disney Pixar movie Up.

Hazard, Upper York Street, Bristol, April 2020
Hazard, Upper York Street, Bristol, April 2020

On the left is a stunning leopard by Hazard (Harriet Wood) which speaks for itself really. The whiskers are particularly good, and I like the way the whole thing bleeds into the Smak writing next to it.

Smak, Upper York Street, Bristol, April 2020
Smak, Upper York Street, Bristol, April 2020

Smak consistently produces graffiti writing of the highest order and this is another one to enjoy. Book-ended by leopard spots the mixture of angular and rounded letters is beautifully presented and filled thoughtfully with blues and yellows. Altogether a lovely collaboration.

1808. St Werburghs tunnel (48)

Well this was a nice surprise. You don’t get to see much of this kind of street art in Bristol, so it is great when visiting artists come and switch it up a bit.

As an aside, the expression ‘switch it up’ is new to me…in all my life I had never heard it until my fourteen year old daughter said it a few weeks ago and I told her it wasn’t a phrase. She just laughed at me. I had to go and look it up. Of course since then I have heard it quite a lot, and now am using it for the first time ever in writing. You saw it here first folks.

Spray Saint, St Werburghs, Bristol, October 2018
Spray Saint, St Werburghs, Bristol, October 2018

Jordan Lauder, A.K.A. Spray Saint is from Hemel Hempstead and has an awesome story to tell. I am not a follower of any faith, but I do believe in goodness and people having the chance to turn their lives around, and for Spray Saint finding God has helped him to find some peace. I really recommend that you take a look at a video he made about his journey.

His leopard piece in St Werburghs tunnel is beautifully worked in blue tones and has a real sense of movement about it. As I said at the start, we just don’t get to see much work like this in Bristol and I really hope he comes to visit again, and wish him well on his continuing journey.