The Cat Came Back, St Werburghs, Bristol, August 2026
Oh how good is it to see this third recent piece by The Cat Came Back? Sadly though, I haven’t seen any more from the artist since I photographed this last month. In this fine combination piece, the artist shows off his considerable writing skills alongside a beautiful cat girl portrait.
The Cat Came Back, St Werburghs, Bristol, August 2026
Where has The Cat Came Back been all this time I wonder, and are these pieces a flash in the pan or something to look forward to seeing regularly? The letters spell out Jones, which I am guessing is the artist’s surname. Great letters shapes and fills. The portrait is really well painted and perfectly proportioned. The piece is bold too, set on a black background. Lots to like here.
Another wonderful framed piece in the Elton Street gallery, this time from Jody. What is so fascinating about this piece is not so much what Jody has painted, but what is absent beyond the confines of the frame – we are getting a peek into something much bigger.
Jody, Elton Street, Bristol, August 2026
Jody has painted part of a portrait, which looks very much in the futuristic comic style, with the eyes and nose clearly in view. The rich colours hint at a dark and shady scene, probably nighttime. There is some great detailing reflecting the way of graffiti writing, with lots of splats and drips, that appear to be so at home in this piece and don’t in any way disrupt the portrait. Skillful and intriguing work from Jody.
Another classic piece from Nice One, who, it has to be said has generally had quite a quiet few months painting on the streets. It can be hard to know sometimes what impacts on the peaks and troughs in activity from different artists, and one can only hope it is for good reasons.
Nice One, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, August 2026
This combnination piece cleanly separates a superb portrait sketch from the beautifully picked out and typical letters ‘Nice One’. The portrait piece resembles a bust or statue and the sketch-like quality of the lined feels like this piece has been directly lifted out of an artist’s workbook. To create that greyscale pencil drawing look at this scale using spray paints is fantastically skillful and perfectly executed by Nice One. Outstanding.
It would seem that Conrico rather likes this particular spot, as the previous piece here was his fabulous two-panel cats work, featured here a few weeks back. Unfortunately the cats piece got tagged and didn’t last very long and he replaced it with this eye-catching portrait piece.
Conrico, Greenbank, Bristol, June 2026
The portrait is more stylised than many of his pieces, both in terms of the rich flesh tones and the bold use of those tones to build depth through light and shadow. I like the proportions that Conrico has presented in this piece, with two thirds of the space occupied by a seascape, bringing more focus on the subject to the right. As ever, nicer work.
Afonsoul, Upfest 2026, West Street, Bristol, August 2026
At this year’s Upfest, there was a good balance between large feature walls and hoardings, to suit the needs of artists and their styles. Remarkably, the organisers managed to find a whole set of new walls around South Bristol, of which this is one.
Afonsoul, Upfest 2026, West Street, Bristol, August 2026
I watched for a while as Afonsoul painted this piece, high up on the scaffolding, but could only admire the piece when I went back to visit in August when the scaffolding was down. It is a wonderful portrait piece and one in which you lose yourself in the artwork and forget that there are windows all the way through. A superb Upfest mural by the visiting Afonsoul.
One of the most memorable moments of my wanderings over the three weeeks of Upfest was catching up with Bristol artist Conrico while he was painting this piece. He is a kind man and always up for a chat. It was a very hot day when I stopped by his piece, and he could see I was uncomfortable. He offered me his fine water spray and fan to cool myself down – a true gent. We also experienced a magnificent natural moment as one of the adjacent trees was shedding its fine and fluffy seeds, turning a hot spring day into a winter snowstorm, quite incredible.
Conrico, Upfest 2026, Greville Smyth Park, Bristol, May 2026
The colourful portrait piece features a woman clasping something bright in her hands with plasma bolts emanating from them and a cheeky moth. I’m not too sure what the story is here. I love the way Conrico has capured the pattern on the woman’s jumper – brilliant. An interesting selection for an Upfest piece, but one that shows off his ‘paint brush’ style perfectly.
Around a month or so before Upfest, the organisers of the festiival curated a wall in the heart of the shopping district of Bristol, which played host to a number of well-known artists and provided a bit of a teaser for the main festival, as well as brightening up this little corner of an otherwise dull and grey space.
Hazard, Quakers Art Lane, Bristol, June 2026
The timing of this mini-event roughly coincided with the 100th birthday of Sir David Attenborough, and this portrait piece of our national treasure by Hazard, while not particularly flattering captures the age and intensity of the great man. I cannot think of anyone living who has done more to raise the wonder of nature and bring it into our homes, but also quietly and diplomatically raise some of the more challenging issues of our time such as biodiversity loss, climate change and most contraversially spiralling global population.
Hazard, Quakers Art Lane, Bristol, June 2026
Hazard, who has close associations with Bristol having lived here for a number of years, is much loved in the city. This piece showcases her ability to capture images, Sir David and the owl in this case, and bring them to life with a lively colour palette, and breaking up that which we know and are accustomed to with geometric shapes and interventions. This is a brilliant piece by Hazard, depicting a personal hero. Bravo!
Jazz, Langton Park, Upfest 2026, Bristol, May 2026
It is always good to discover new artists, especially when they live and work in Bristol. This is a rather nice Upfest portrait piece (sorry about the shadows) by Jasmine Shanice Art, who goes by the name Jazz. This is a rather nice little spot just off North Street, which gets a whole lot of footfall, so her piece will have been seen by thousands of residents and visitors alike.
Jazz, Langton Park, Upfest 2026, Bristol, May 2026
The portrait, painted in greyscale, depicts a woman with her hands in an interesting pose, great hair and a pair of large hoop earrings. She is standing in front of a bright sun and blue sky, which seems to sum up the spring and summer we have had pretty well. Although this is the first time I have seen Jazz’ work, I very much hope to discover more.
Daz Cat has had a comparatively quiet year this year, and I am hoping that this is for good reasons like work coming in for him. Although I am posting this piece now, you can see from the state of it that it is pretty old, with quite a lot of flaking throughout the piece.
Daz Cat, Goodneston Road, Bristol, July 2026
The piece features three characters, a blue human-like figure sandwiched between two cats. Daz Cat has conjured up a range of emotional expressions, one for each of the characters. Great use of colours, tone and touch has brought about a fine triple portrait piece from Daz Cat. I’ll be looking out for more, but my expectations of finding anything currently are quite low.
Another interesting piece from Mind 49 in his series of hooded portraits in which get only a small window into the subject’s face and are left to imagine the missing features. The ‘hood’ is decorated with naive artwork and contrasts with the fine detail of the eyes.
Mind 49, L Dub, Bristol, June 2026
Mind 49 is teasing the viewer, but I suspect that there is more going on in his own psyche. For some years now he has been painting portraits from which features are missing. Nothing is distorted or ugly, simply hidden from view. A complete portrait from Mind 49 is a rare thing indeed. This is my favourite of his pieces in this deception series.
Natural adventures 