7121. M32 roundabout J3 (700)

Hemper, Dun Sum and Hypo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2025
Hemper, Dun Sum and Hypo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2025

What a wonderful collaboration from Hemper, Dun Sum and Hypo, one that slipped a little under the radar and didn’t perhaps receive quite the fanfare it merited. Three rather different pieces, each making an individual visual impact.

Hemper, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2025
Hemper, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2025

To the left is one of Hemper’s shortened ‘HEMS’ pieces, where the overlapping letters are compressed laterally. This is a pattern he has been following for the last month or so, perhaps marking a quieter phase after his expansive work earlier in the summer. As ever, the piece, which has some lovely fill patterns and expert white highlights, is oozing with class.

Dun Sum, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2025
Dun Sum, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2025

It is impossible not to be drawn to the cat character by Dun Sum. Although I have (and love) a dog, I have always been a cat person at heart. I have to say that there is something that creeps me out a little bit about this cat, perhaps it is the smile or maybe the eyes, but the overall effect bis a little intimidating, but isn’t that cats all over? It is really nicely painted and a great focal point for the graffiti writing either side of it.

Hypo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2025
Hypo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2025

To the right is another fine piece from Hypo – I say another, because he has been turning out so many great works with alarming regularity this summer. The aquamarine colours used for the fills of this piece have a tranquility about them, and with all the bubbles and spots has a distinctly aquatic feel. As I said before, three distinct individual styles coming together in this great collaboration.

7107. M32 roundabout J3 (699)

Tera, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2025
Tera, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2025

It has been quite difficult trying to keep up with Tera’s incredible output this summer, and I have had to do a little trawl through my summer archive to find some of his pieces that I haven’t yet posted, including this one painted alongside Kid Crayon, back in May this year.

Tera, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2025
Tera, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2025

This is one of Tera’s earliest pieces (he touched the ground running), and demonstrates a certain amount of experimentation. It is an interesting piece of writing spelling out his name, but definitely feels like something that hasn’t yet formed an identity. The technique is good throughout, with some nicely graded fills and some good interlocking letters. Given some of his more recent large character pieces, this one looks like a stepping stone towards improvement.

7104. M32 roundabout J3 (698)

Kid Crayon and Tera, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2025
Kid Crayon and Tera, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2025

This is a wonderful character collaboration from Kid Crayon and Tera, otherwise known as the Doordie crew (do or die). What is extra special about this is that it has lasted a couple of weeks, which is quite rare for a Kid Crayon piece these days, and should be celebrated.

Kid Crayon, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2025
Kid Crayon, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2025

The character on the left is by Kid Crayon and on the right by Tera, between the battling zombies we see a collection of bones spelling UZI (Undead Zombie Infection). The green zombie looks very much like the characters from Plants vs Zombies, a game that my kids very much enjoyed a few years ago. There is so much detail and expression in this zombie, brilliantly crafted by Kid Crayon.

Tera, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2025
Tera, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2025

Tera, continues to amaze with his rapid progress this summer with this fantasy style zombie, a little more menacing and scary than his counterpart. There is, once again, plenty of detail in the piece, with the bony fingers taking a prominent role. Altogether a fine and fun collaboration. It is so good to see Kid Crayon out so often this summer, with a regular painting partner.

7078. M32 roundabout J3 (698)

Sub, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2025
Sub, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2025

Sub had a busy month in July and appears to be pushing the boundaries with his work. This piece tucked away on the M32 roundabout seems to be a practice for a combination piece he followed up with in Peel Street Green (to follow soon).

Sub, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2025
Sub, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2025

Sub’s chunky letters and deep drop shadows in icy blues, together with a couple of decorative cracks, are accompanied by a Mario character which I would describe, perhaps a little harshly, as a good first effort. It doesn’t help that the eyes are a bit untidy. What you might notice, when I post the next version of the character in a few days the vast improvement. The learning journey with Sub continues.

7066. M32 roundabout J3 (697)

Sub, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2025
Sub, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2025

I am rather liking it that Sub is starting to switch things up a little and push his boundaries. Because he has only three letters to play with, his pieces tend to be quite large and impactful, perhaps at the expense of subtlety or detail, but this piece is quite different from his usual fare.

Sub, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2025
Sub, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2025

Sub has offered up a scorching scene of burning letters, that meld into one block, set in a nighttime landscape. This is a great creative advance, and probably took him some distance from his comfort zone. One small detail that I’m sure he will have learned is to do the border last, so that it retains the crispness between the letters and the background. All good stuff, and plenty more to come soon.

7047. M32 roundabout J3 (696)

Subtle, Ulow and Minto, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2025
Subtle, Ulow and Minto, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2025

This fine trio of pieces was painted as part of Hypo’s birthday celebrations, and brings together Subtle, Ulow and Minto – quite a line-up. There is a whole lot of colour and talent on display, marking out this section of wall as being a bit special.

Subtle, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2025
Subtle, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2025

To the left, Subtle has created a masterclass of colour and design, with some wicked letters spelling HYPO, set on a fabulous red background with pink spots, looking like wrapping paper around the writing. Outstanding stuff.

Ulow, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2025
Ulow, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2025

We don’t get to see Ulow’s work all that often, so it is always a great pleasure to come across one of his characters. The superb presentation of different tones and shades create a wonderful 3-dimensional effect as if the character is walking straight out of the wall. A combination of simplicity and complexity all in one character piece.

Minto, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2025
Minto, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2025

Rounding off the trio is this busy piece of writing from Minto. The style here has as much to do with what is absent as it does with what is present, a little bit like Benjimagnetic’s writing. Lots of colourful splashes and unfilled spaces combine to spell out MINTO, in a complex arrangement. Altogether an outstanding collaboration. Bravo!

7015. M32 roundabout J3 (695)

Mr Draws, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2025
Mr Draws, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2025

It has to be said that Mr Draws, in his own quiet and modest way, has had a banging year so far. He has been painting as frequently as I can remember and turning out some great pieces, large and small, all over the city. As well as his distinctive writing, he has also painted some of his nature and wildlife pieces recently too. Looking through his updated gallery, reminds me of just what a brilliant artist he is.

Mr Draws, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2025
Mr Draws, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2025

This is a wonderfully colourful splash, looking great in the summer sunshine (shame about the tree shadow). The playful letters DR3WS are surrounded with some wibbly smiley acid faces, a common stamp used in street art. The words ‘good vibrations’ kind of sum up the whole piece, which exudes an uplifting summer feel. Great work from Mr Draws.

7013. M32 roundabout J3 (694)

Dobz, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2025
Dobz, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2025

Some more mushroom art from Dobz, this time on the M32 roundabout. I don’t think that Dobz is local to Bristol, but managed to paint a few walls on a visit in June. There is some chance for confusion when it comes to mushroom street art, because Lis and Neoliberalizard both feature mushrooms heavily in their artwork.

Dobz, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2025
Dobz, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2025

These mushroom-coloured mushrooms, set on a pink background, are really nicely filled, with blended colours from dark to light providing depth and structure.  The gills are really difficult to paint accurately due to their slim and numerous form, so Dobz has provided an approximation to them to ensure we know that this is a toadstool/mushroom. Keep looking out for that fungi.

7009. M32 roundabout J3 (693)

El Ruby Tattoo and Umbrelle, M32 roundabout, Bristol, April 2025
El Ruby Tattoo and Umbrelle, M32 roundabout, Bristol, April 2025

Because Bristol is well known for its street art and graffiti scene, we tend to see a lot of visiting artists passing through and dropping a piece or two. I don’t actually know where these two artists, El Ruby Tattoo and Umbrelle, are from, but they have combined well to create this double-header on the M32 roundabout.

El Ruby Tattoo and Umbrelle, M32 roundabout, Bristol, April 2025
El Ruby Tattoo and Umbrelle, M32 roundabout, Bristol, April 2025

Both artists are tattoo artists, and they were painting with Kid Crayon and Tera (I think), so there was a strong tattoo connection. The two character portraits are very different, but both are rather good, and they work well side by side. It is a bit of a shame that the bright sunshine has cast a few shadows on the uneven surface, but that is the price you pay for nice weather.

7000. M32 roundabout J3 (692)

Kid Crayon, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2025
Kid Crayon, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2025

A little bit of a landmark this morning, with my seven thousandth street art blog post, which is quite a few really. When I set out on this adventure in 2015, the blog was set up to share my diary and log from a life-changing experience I had, working with the fisheries department in the Falkland Islands.

In the early days, I simultaneously started to notice the street art and graffiti around me in my adopted home, Bristol. I started posting the odd piece, mainly because nobody else was at that time, and I wanted to share what I saw and found out with others, and to lay down an archive of this ephemeral art form. And here we are, still going strong and with a bigger street art scene than ever before.

Kid Crayon, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2025
Kid Crayon, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2025

It is fitting that this milestone piece is by Kid Crayon, because it was his unusual and surreal wheatpaste portraits that originally captured my imagination and motivated me to blog about this stuff. I was lucky enough to catch up with Kid Crayon and Tera while they were painting this wall, but alas, Tera’s piece was painted over by the time I returned to get clean photographs. Kid Crayon has produced a fabulous piece with some great colour fills discrete to each letter and a wonderful one-eyed character making up the ‘o’. The floating crayon in front of the character’s mouth is a signature motif used by Kid Crayon for at least a decade. Splendid stuff.