3625. M32 Cycle path (120)

Footloose, Lewse or Esooltoof (Footloose – geddit?) to use her Instagram handle, is so utterly underrepresented on Natural Adventures, something I must remedy at the earliest opportunity. I have a whole ton of her work in my archives from months and years gone by, but just haven’t posted anything until now.

Footloose, M32 cycle path, Bristol, April 2021
Footloose, M32 cycle path, Bristol, April 2021

This is a lovely example of her style, which is usually a uniform set of letters spelling LEWSE with an associated character, often drawn from popular cartoons. The lettering is painted in the colours of a Fruit Salad chew (sweets that you could buy 8 of for a penny when I was a boy), with really nice transitions between the yellows and pinks.

Footloose, M32 cycle path, Bristol, April 2021
Footloose, M32 cycle path, Bristol, April 2021

The character, Disney’s goofy, is expertly painted and clearly demonstrates Footloose’s talents as an artist. Let’s view this post as a beginning and not an end, where I can showcase more of her work past and future.

3613. M32 Cycle path (119)

I don’t know if I am imagining things, but since this whole pandemic malarkey began it seems like there have been more collaborative walls than one would normally expect, and I wonder if it is a way for artists to legitimately socialise, whilst keeping a distance, with people they care about. Maybe it is just a perception, but I feel there has been a collaborative explosion.

Benjimagnetic, M32 cycle path, Bristol, April 2021
Benjimagnetic, M32 cycle path, Bristol, April 2021

This wonderful piece from the magnificent Benjimagnetic was painted alongside Hemper, Turoe and Veks and demonstrates a slight change of direction he has been on lately in which he has moved away from his busy and frenetic style, but managed to retain the abstract nature of his letters. This piece most likely spells out BEN, but it is nicely disguised. A very nice piece indeed with some fabulous colour transitions.

3611. M32 Cycle path (118)

Hemper is painting like a fiend at the moment. Hardly a day goes by without another new piece from him, and each one is a special gem. His range is exceptional and that he does it all off-the-cuff makes it all the more impressive.

Hemper, M32 cycle path, Bristol, March 2021
Hemper, M32 cycle path, Bristol, March 2021

This recent piece of graffiti writing is in a beautifully curvy script with plenty of highlights and accents to create a nicely rounded 3D feel to the letters. The green fills are in several shades with a whole bunch of different patterns to enjoy. This is an artist who appears to be thoroughly enjoying his craft at the moment. Plenty more to come.

3605. M32 Cycle path (117)

This is a pairing that has been very productive in recent weeks and one that involves two artists with very different temperaments, Hemper and Turoe. What is clear is that both of these artists are uber-talented and capable of turning out writing in a plethora of different styles.

Hemper, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, April 2021
Hemper, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, April 2021

This collaboration is actually only one half of a slightly larger effort that included Veks and Benjimagnetic but somehow these two needed to be posted as one. The Hemper ‘HEMS’ is utterly outstanding and those shades from brown at the bottom to blue at the top are sensational. The letter style is nice and organic and has a kind of woodland/outdoorsy feel to it. So very good.

Turoe, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, April 2021
Turoe, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, April 2021

The Turoe piece in a richly scripted style, spelling out, unsurprisingly, SHYTE, is beautifully done in a yellow gold colour. There is something funny about the juxtaposition between the fancy script and crude word. A fine piece from Turoe. Together, these artists with contrasting efforts have absolutely smashed this wall.

Hemper and Turoe, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, April 2021
Hemper and Turoe, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, April 2021

3592. M32 Cycle path (116)

I can’t work out whether Lee Roy has been hiding from me for the last few years or whether I just haven’t noticed him before, but over the last few weeks his writing has appeared absolutely all over the place and I simply can’t keep up with it.

Lee Roy, M32 cycle path, Bristol, March 2021
Lee Roy, M32 cycle path, Bristol, March 2021

This one on the cycle path is presented in a nice selection of blues and spells out LEEROY with his characteristic letter style. Some of the decorative work is a little untidy, but it sort of works with Lee Roy’s way I think. This is not the kind of perfection you might get with Rusk or Soker or Smak for example, but I don’t think it is striving for that. This piece is fun and that is enough.

3554. M32 Cycle path (115)

Here we have another absolute scorcher from the fantastically productive Hemper. This artist’s trademark is his extraordinary creativity; how many different ways can he present the letters HEMS? Combined with his enormous skill and talent.

Hemper, M32 cycle path, Bristol, March 2021
Hemper, M32 cycle path, Bristol, March 2021

In this piece, Hemper has created a snakes and ladders board decked out in the garish colour squares that are so familiar to many of us from our childhoods. What an amazing thing to be able to do from a few old tins of spray paint. This is a magnificent, bright, happy piece. Thank you Hemper.

“Work to live, don’t live to work” – can’t argue with that.

3544. M32 Cycle path (114)

Readers of Natural Adventures will be familiar with cat pieces by Daz Cat, but I think this is the first Time I have posted anything by Sage. I actually got lucky because I met the pair for the first time when they were painting this rather nice collaboration. Such nice people… and like policemen and doctors and teachers, so young.

Daz Cat, M32 cycle path, Bristol, March 2021
Daz Cat, M32 cycle path, Bristol, March 2021

Daz Cat told me that he was using up dregs for this piece, not that you’d know it. This cat is full of colour and detail and the three-quarter profile has given Daz Cat some different perspectives to play with.

Sage, M32 cycle path, Bristol, March 2021
Sage, M32 cycle path, Bristol, March 2021

Sage, I think is responsible for some interesting mega tags that I have seen about the place without knowing who they were by. This, of course, is a bit of writing and I think he likes to do writing and characters in equal measure. I need to find and write about more pieces from Sage.

3537. M32 Cycle path (113)

Another Bristol artist who seems to paint walls in pulses with long breaks in between is Subtle. This is one of two lovely pieces of graffiti writing from the artist a week or two back both using a similar colour palette.

Subtle, M32 cycle path, Bristol, March 2021
Subtle, M32 cycle path, Bristol, March 2021

This particular hoarding is notoriously difficult to photograph because of the bright sky behind it and I would guess is best photographed at dusk. These turned out ok, but everything behind the piece is bleached. Subtle presents us with his super-size letters and a some really neat bubble decorations in pink and white. The borders and shadows are very nicely done and this piece is everything one would expect from Subtle… big, bold and beautiful.

3520. M32 Cycle path (112)

And here we have yet another first appearance by an artist on Natural Adventures in 2021, this time from Melosh, with this intriguing piece along the M32 cycle path. I have seen plenty of small pieces/tags/characters dotted about the place by Melosh, but this is the largest and most coherent piece I have seen to date.

Melosh, M32 cycle path, Bristol, February 2021
Melosh, M32 cycle path, Bristol, February 2021

What’s not to love about a frog on the grog, and one in such a fancy blue shirt? When I saw this piece I liked it instantly. It is nicely finished, slightly zany and brought a smile to my face. I will be including some of his smaller pieces soon, so watch this space. Welcome Melosh.

3511. M32 Cycle path (111)

These boys have been really enjoying themselves this Winter. Barely a week passes without a new collaboration – I genuinely don’t know how they afford the paint, but this passion conquers all obstacles. Face 1st and Soap have been painting together for longer than I have been writing this blog, which is about six years, and have developed an almost telepathic partnership that comes across in their collaborations.

Face, M32 cycle path Bristol, February 2021
Face, M32 cycle path Bristol, February 2021

They have selected a pink and yellow combination for this wall – not a pairing that I would naturally choose, but with the modest use of the yellow for highlights it works really well. Of course from Face 1st we have a smiling girl with big hair spelling FACE and liberally sprinkled with little hearts. Wass this a Valentine’s Day piece?

Soap, M32 cycle path Bristol, February 2021
Soap, M32 cycle path Bristol, February 2021

Soap, sticking to the colour brief has spelled out his name, but for the first time in a long time hasn’t incorporated his toothy motif other than by way of his tag at the bottom of the letter ‘O’. This is a lovely collaboration from a couple of artists really enjoying themselves. Keeping us all sane in these insane times.