The turnout for Minto’s 50th birthday paint jam was outstanding, and a tribute to his obvious popularity. This is his own piece from the day and reasonably modest… I expect he had rather a lot of mingling to do.
Minto, St Werburghs, Bristol, November 2025
The small character piece is a portrait of a man wearing a hard-hat which contains the letters Minto. The bearded character is smoking and has a rather shifty look about him. There is some great depth in the features of the face, in particular the cheeks. A decent piece from the birthday boy.
This is yet another classy piece from the Minto birthday paint jam in St Werburghs tunnel, and I am not even half way through posting these yet. The artist this time is 3Dom with some signature graffiti writing. The photographs are rather poor and the colour quality rather different from the two angles. I think I have a setting wrong on my phone. Maybe it is time for an upgrade…
3Dom, St Werburghs, Bristol, November 2025
The letters spell out his name, but what makes this so recognisable as a piece by him is the way the letters are filled with ‘organic’ shapes and patterns and the rows of spots and dots. 3Dom is equally talented at graffiti writing and his extraordinary surreal character pieces, an all round superstar really.
What a gorgeous, gorgeous piece of anamorphic graffiti writing from Lokey in the tunnel. It is of course another birthday tribute to Minto, and an absolute stunner at that. This particular paint jam certainly brought out the best in several artists.
Lokey, St Werburghs, Bristol, November 2025
Lokey doesn’t paint all that often which is rather a pity, because there is something aesthetically pleasing about his letter shapes, and his technique of crafting depth through light and shade. It is all very clever stuff and he is a master of his craft. A lovely piece.
For reasons that are too complicated to explain here, I don’t have my glasses with me this morning, which is making writing this post super-difficult and I am squinting, with a face like a bulldog chewing a wasp, while typing these words. Forgive any typos.
This is a superb combination piece by Biers painted to celebrate Minto’s birthday in the tunnel.
Biers, St Werburghs, Bristol, November 2025
The turnout for this paint jam was exceptional, covering most of the length of both walls of the tunnel with new celebratory pieces. The letters, WD40, are superbly filled with a cartoony design of lines and bubbles, and bordered with a fine black line. I feel like I should know who the character is, but I don’t. The whole thing is set on a brick wall, a common device used by graffiti artists. A really lovely piece by Biers, who might have just got his mojo back.
Slim Pickings (Tes), St Werburghs, Bristol, November 2025
A super-quick post this morning. I am visiting my mother, and have been catching up leaving little time to write today’s posts. This is a lovely piece from Slim Pickings (Tes) in the tunnel for Minto’s birthday paint jam.
Slim Pickings (Tes), St Werburghs, Bristol, November 2025
Over the last year or two, Slim Pickings has been switching up his style, and breaking away from his familiar rounded letter style. This is a wonderful example of his variation, although, the cloudy background is more consistent with his typical style. So good to watch him evolve.
It has been rather good to see Minto maintaining a regular drumbeat of pieces going this year, continuing on from a strong 2024. This piece has quite a heavy feel to it, probably exacerbated by the dark blue buff background, which I fear slightly dominates the overall presentation.
Minto, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, September 2025
In my mind, Minto’s work feels like it has been deconstructed and then reconstructed, like an apple crumble on Masterchef. There is a lot of busy work and colour throughout the writing, which spells a well disguised MINTO. There are lots of shapes and design elements which appear to have been carefully thought out, and which come together nicely to create the whole. I thought this would be a good time to share an updated gallery of his work.
Without doubt, the paint jam celebrating Ulow’s birthday was the best I have seen this year, fending off some very stiff competition. The whole wall on the western side of the roundabout was colour themed and coherent and each contributing artist absolutely nailed it.
Minto, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2025
Starting at the right hand side of the wall, the collaboration begins with this superb car piece by Minto. The old Citroen vehicle has been brought to life as an animation full of character. The van is one of those converted for street food, selling Mexican food… I love the sombrero on the roof. The words read ‘Ulow, Me, High, Tacos’, which obviously makes some kind of sense to Minto.
Minto, Sled One, Cheo, Hypo, Ulow, Dibz, Soker, Rusk, Shade One and Turoe, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2025
I managed to get a wide-angle shot of the whole wall, which I will share at the end of each post from this paint jam. A real humdinger.
Hypo and Minto, St Werburghs, Bristol, August 2025
This is another fabulous collaboration from Hypo and Minto, who seem to team up reasonably regularly and clearly enjoy painting together. The little tag – ‘Hypo Minto combo’ captures the friendship really well.
Hypo and Minto, St Werburghs, Bristol, August 2025
Hypo has smashed it with his writing. The colours are magnificent and transition through the piece with grace and style. The shading, and in particular the white highlights, help the piece to pop and create a superb 3D effect. Truly outstanding. Alongside the letters, Minto has painted a contrasting greyscale character portrait, and a tribute to Dave I guess. The combination piece just works – a classy collaboration.
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
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
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
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!
Minto has a very distinctive style, and his writing tends to be a vehicle for combining a collage of characters and icons, bringing together an eclectic selection of thoughts and ideas into a single piece.
Minto, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, April 2025
In this piece, Minto has gone for some solid fills, a different colour for each letter, and has used the parallel horizontal lines on the wall to proportion everything. His character looks a little sinister to me, as if he is up to no good. This is a well-presented piece from a very accomplished graffiti writer.
Natural adventures 