I can’t really praise Raid’s work highly enough, and his level of consistency is admirable. I recently posted a gallery of his work and have updated it just now, because I wanted to include the link in this post just to demonstrate how good his work is.
Raid, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, April 2024
Raid is a neat and tidy writer whose edges and borders are always on point, but it is in his creative and interesting fills where he excels, as this piece demonstrates. His skill is in not overcomplicating things or being too fussy, but doing enough and creating new ideas to keep the fill exciting. Pinks and blues always work well together, and in my book, this is an outstanding piece of its type.
By the time this post is published I will be half way through a team away day in Derbyshire, planting trees. I have to leave right now so that I am not late for my lift.
Bean, M32 Cycle path, Bristol April 2024
This is another magnificent piece by Bean whose Easter break return to Bristol has been both productive and seen some real improvements in his work. I love the character’s hair in this piece. Norma’s service resumes tomorrow I hope.
This is a special piece for me, because I was present while Tao Create was painting it (for a short while, at least) and met her for the first time. I have been wanting to meet her for a while to be able to tell her how much I admire her work and how much she has improved in recent months. I think that meeting the artists is the bit I love most about photographing their art, as it gives you glimpses of insight into their personality and sometimes their inspirations and ideas.
Tao Create, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, April 2024
This piece was painted to promote a Femme Fatale event on 6 April. Now, I am a little bit old and never been all that well-connected with the music scene since the 1980s, so I had to find out a little bit about what this was all about. This is what I came up with:
Femme Fatale Heartek MicroCabaRave
An event held at 395 on Saturday 6th April. Doors are at 17:00 with entertainment starting at 18:00. The event finishes at 01:00. The event has been tagged in the techno, jungle, dub, reggae and industrial categories.
I don’t much like posting promotional pieces, because I am a bit funny about that, it feels akin to advertising, but of course I make exceptions.
Tao Create, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, April 2024
Tao Create’s portrait is copied from an image, not of anyone in particular, to represent the Femme Fatale idea. Given that Tao Create hasn’t painted all that many pieces in the photorealistic style, this is absolutely remarkable. I very much hope to see more of her work during 2024 and beyond, she is a real talent.
Inkie is arguably the second most well known street artist in Bristol, but unlike his contemporary (Banksy) still visits and paints in the city frequently. I was in the right place at the right time when he, Sepr and Haka were painting this wall together and although I have met Inkie on a few occasions, we actually had quite a long chat this time, whereas usually it is a ‘hi’ and ‘bye’ kind of thing.
Inkie, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, March 2024
This is a classic piece of Inkie writing, almost archetypal, which oozes confidence, capability and class. Green and orange work really well together, and we discussed the merits or otherwise of orange paint, which in this case was really thin, and he wasn’t overjoyed about it. There are some paints that just seem to be partially transparent and require more coats, and this was one of them. Unless you knew about the thin paint, you probably wouldn’t notice. Classy work.
It was a great pleasure to meet Haka, alongside Inkie and Sepr, when he was painting this piece as part of a collaborative wall last month. Although Haka had pretty much finished when I caught up with him, he did subsequently add another character to the right of the piece.
Haka, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, March 2024
Those familiar with Haka’s work will recall that he tends to paint combination pieces with his customary letters accompanied by characters from children’s books, shows or comics. When I was a kid, there were three popular children’s comic, Beano, Dandy and Beezer, and these characters come from one or other – I think that they are from the series Bash Street Kids, although the modern revised version, not the one I grew up with. The two characters here are Wilfred and Danny.
Haka, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, March 2024
There is mischief in this piece, with a bright and vibrant HAKA and the cheerful duo. I cannot think of a more appropriate place to paint these characters than in this spot, which is often frequented by real-life Bash Street Kids. Great stuff.
I haven’t managed to catch up with Sepr for an eternity, so it was so good to be in the right place at the right time and find not only Sepr but also Inkie and Haka painting this spot together a week or two back. I was surprised to see them painting on this wall behind the Black Swan because, Haka aside, this is not a spot that you’d expect to find their work.
Sepr, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, March 2024
I asked Sepr if he works to a drawing or comes up with his designs in his head and freestyles them. He immediately pulled out a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket and showed me his design for this piece – he said he keeps all his designs, which is amazing. I guess he may use some of them for tattoos. In this piece a fox or cat is juggling batons with his tongue while a from looks on from the safety of his trilby. A crazy scene perfectly presented with incredible sharpness and style. This piece is sheer class from my favourite character artist. Wonderful.
What a wonderfully playful and cheeky piece by Evey alongside the M32. This is the second time I have seen her use this device of replacing the ‘V’ in EVEN with a saucy bottom, and I have to say I rather like it. If anything, I would say that the Bristol street art scene is quite earnest (and sometimes up its own backside), so it is great to see a bit of seaside postcard humour being injected from time to time.
Evey, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, March 2024
The letters are nicely presented in what looks a bit like a neon display sign – one could almost imagine this piece hanging over the door of a seedy nightclub in a red-light district. It is refreshing and imaginative, and yet another great piece in a string of excellent work from thee prolific Evey.
There is something visually poetic about great calligraffiti, and whilst not always the easiest on the eye, it somehow feels like it is at the ‘high-brow’ end of graffiti writing. Whatever one’s opinion on the final product, there is a lot of control, discipline and skill required to create a stand-out piece of calligraffiti.
Todoaciem, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2024
Todoaciem is one of two top-class calligraffiti artists in Bristol, and this piece on the M32 Cycle path amply demonstrates his quality. Painting in blue and yellow, a combination he has used to good effect before, Todoaciem has letters that stand out, because of their contrast, the yellow providing a drop shadow for the blue letters. A tidy piece from a skilled writer.
Soap, Zake and Face 1st, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2024
Although street art and graffiti can be and is painted at any time of day and on any day, there is definitely a strong pulse of activity on weekends. At times, it can be more difficult for me to get out at the weekend than during he week, which might seem counterintuitive, but there is no rhythm to the weekends, and there is always so much to do. This fabulous PWA collaboration was painted at a weekend, but I didn’t get to see it until the following week on my rounds.
Soap, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2024
This one is a triptych with Soap on the left, Zake in the middle and Face 1st on the right, in the letters – character – letters format so commonly used in collaborations. Soap has painted a beauty, with big letters spelling out his name and a character from the cartoon series Adventure Time (I think) replacing the letter ‘O’. I m not too sure about the the bleeding heart, but I guess there is a story there, conscious or unconscious, somewhere.
Zake, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2024
In the middle is something rather different from Zake. We are used to seeing cartoon-style portraits, full of depth, so this bullet comes as a bit of a surprise. I am guessing that it is the bullet that is causing such carnage running through the whole collaboration.
Face 1st, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2024
On the right, Face 1st has painted one of his blocky FACE pieces of graffiti writing, with very deep drop shadows and a rather distressed face peering through the ‘A’. There is an indication of trauma here too, continuing the collaboration theme. The crew are carrying on in 2024, where they left off in 2023, and that can only be good news.
Laic217 has been smashing it for years now, and I continue to enjoy the ride he is taking us on. His improvement and development continues from piece to piece, always getting better and more interesting to look at.
Laic217, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2024
This piece is full of sharp detail, in the flames, and the folds of the fabric but most noticeably in the reflections of the skeleton’s glasses. There is a lot of precision in this piece, and the mask being worn is amazing. An L on the hat for LAIC rounds the piece off nicely. There is always a home for every piece I find by the artist on Natural Adventures.
Natural adventures 