Happy Christmas to one and all. It is a gorgeous cold crisp and sunny morning here in Bristol, the food is all prepped and ready to go for this afternoon and I have a moment to write a couple of posts. I am full of Christmas spirit and all is well. What better way to celebrate than to post this wonderful piece by Desi, a stalwart of Natural Adventures.
Desi, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, December 2025
This upbeat piece which incorporates the winning combination of pink and blue, is a study in shades of grey, with five tones making up the fill in the letters VEIL. This is an attractive piece and the hearts have a feel-good factor about them. Wonderful.
It is crystal clear that Tera doesn’t do things by halves. New to the form of street art, he has picked it up at an alarming rate and is churning out large fantasy character pieces, making significant improvements with his technique every time he paints a wall.
Tera, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, July 2025
Tera is a tattooist by profession, which comes across in his elaborate designs, but I am amazed at how he has managed to upscale his work from a few square inches to several square feet in size. The fantasy warrior, with three swords, seems well-prepared for any eventuality. The detail in the hands is superb, although the design of the mask and headdress is lost a little (I am being uber-picky). Basically, Tera keeps smashing it, and I suspect he’ll continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
I believe that DFC1848 lives in Cheltenham, but that doesn’t seem to stop him making fairly regular visits to Bristol, and this one was to join a paint jam at L Dub a little while back. DFC 1848 started his street art journey painting one or two cartoon characters again and again, building his technique and confidence until now where he seems to paint a huge variety of pieces almost at will.
DFC 1848, L Dub, Bristol, June 2025
This is a rather brash pink-faced character – some kind of animal (I am not too sure what) wearing a baseball cap with the letters DFC emblazoned on the front. The piece has two borders, a thin black outline, a thick purple border, all set on a chrome background, which adds interest, but I am not sure that it offers the contrast he might have been looking for. Nice shout-outs to DJ Perks and Donz who frequent this spot and who joined him whilst painting this.
I will have mentioned that Zinso has been rather busy of late, and also that he appears to be relatively new to Bristol. How wrong am I? I was looking through archives and noticed that I have posted pieces by the artist way back in 2019 and 2020, but those were character pieces and not writing. I can’t believe that in the intervening years I haven’t noticed his work, so have to assume that he has found a new burst of energy and time recently
Zinso, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2025
This is a rather neat piece of bubble writing with a really deep 3D drop shadow, lifting the piece nicely off the wall. The piece is really nicely finished and greatly superior to most bubble writing that I see, that is usually associated with quick throw ups. Loads more to come soon, and below are a couple of his pieces from a few years ago.
A graffiti artist who writes, and has been writing for some time in Bristol, is Vesar, and it is something of a mystery that in ten years of blogging about Bristol street art on Natural Adventures, this is the first time I have posted a piece by him. Shame on me. I have no explanation.
Vesar, L Dub, Bristol, June 2025
I would say that I have noticed a significant uptick in the quality of his work lately, and that might account for this post and I hope some more to come. Vesar has selected the winning combination of pink and blue tones, which is always going to get noticed by me at least. The writing is neat and tidy with three horizontal blue strips interfaced with bubbles. A yellow border separates the letters from the pink cloudy background, which itself has a darker pink border. Very nice work, and welcome to Natural Adventures.
I think it is safe to say that Subtle is back, as this is the second of three recent pieces, although I have yet to locate the third. Seeing his large letters, which are anything but subtle, is like greeting an old friend, resuming the conversation where it was last cut off.
Subtle, Brunel Way, Bristol, May 2025
It is a welcome thing indeed, after so many brown shades dominating so many pieces recently, to see the good old bedfellows pink and light blue featured here. Subtle’s large blue letters, with modest decorations, are augmented perfectly with pink circles and spots surrounding. Set on a black-buffed wall, this is a splendid announcement of ‘I’m back’.
Badger Feral and Stivs, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2025
This slightly unusual collaboration from Badger Feral and Stivs has been turning a few heads, and not surprisingly, as it is rather striking. While I am very familiar with Stivs’ work, I believe this is the first piece I have come across by Badger Feral.
Badger Feral, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2025
Starting with the Badger Feral piece, we are presented with a portrait of a hooded woman, with red hair and gold earrings. Her blue eyes are matched by the hood around her head. The portrait has a slightly darker side, with an inverted cross on the woman’s forehead, and her hood is suspended by a line of little skulls. Lots to take in here, and plenty of symbolism too.
Stivs, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2025
Stivs on the other hand has painted a portrait of a jolly fellow wearing a cap. I don’t know who the character is, but there might be a clue in the ‘Jim Bitch’ that accompanies the piece. Stivs has painted the portrait in a photorealistic style, and it looks like, from subsequent pieces, that he is rather enjoying portrait work at the moment. There is so much to take in from this ever so slightly weird collaboration.
Pura Decadencia, Greenbank, Bristol, February 2025
Painted alongside a piece I featured recently by Desi, this super writing by Pura Decadencia took me several attempts to photograph on account of the wrong light conditions each time I visited. This third attempt was, as you can see, was on an unusually welcome overcast day.
Pura Decadencia, Greenbank, Bristol, February 2025
Pura has been teaming up with Desi on a couple of occasions now, and they seem to be bringing out the best in each other. Pura’s letters are clear, regular and quite large, providing plenty of scope for playing about with fills. She has nicely blended three pink tones and added in some reversed spots to jazz things up a little. The atmospheric background is in a style I am seeing more frequently on the streets at the moment, a particular favourite technique used by Sub, for example. No vampire teeth this time, but a fine example of Pura Decadencia’s work.
Face 1st, Zake and Soap, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, February 2025
It was great to see this PWA collaboration recently, something that is a little less frequent these days now that Face 1st has moved away from Bristol, but true to his word, he does still come back now and again to decorate our streets. Here he is joined by Zake and Soap.
Face 1st, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, February 2025
Face 1st has been experimenting with his letters recently, and perhaps it is a way of refining his technique and growing himself as an artist. There is a symmetry to the letters which spell out Face First, painted in a deep gold colour which contrasts with the pink background and sets the colour theme for the whole collaboration.
Zake, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, February 2025
The centrepiece is a character face painted by Zake, with all the depth we are used to seeing in his work created by the use of light and shade. Zake has cleverly picked up on the gold colour and used it as the bottom-lit element, highlighting his character’s features.
Soap, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, February 2025
Rounding off the triptych is a piece of writing from Soap, who also appears to be trying something a little different. His letters look like a halfway house towards calligraffiti, with some order and form to the letters in terms of shape and size, and some interesting details creeping in. A truly wonderful PWA collaboration from three beating hearts of the Bristol street/graffiti art scene.
I mentioned in my last post (Mr Draws chromie in the tunnel) that the colours blue and pink make perfect bed fellows. It is a bit of a cliché, but it is also true. DJ Perks has used the two colours to great effect in this recent piece in Lawrence Weston. I guess to be more accurate, this piece is pink and mauve, but the same applies.
DJ Perks, L Dub, Bristol, February 2025
DJ Perks has produced some very flat letters and by that I mean he hasn’t tried to give the letters depth with accent lines, instead preferring a straight forward drop shadow to project the letters out from the wall. The graffiti writing is accompanied by the letters ABC (Art Beat Crew). As ever top drawer stuff.
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