Portrait – Page 4 – Natural adventures

7080. Sparke Evans Park (137)

Pekoe, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, July 2025

This is a tribute piece, one of many to the late Paroe, on the long wall at Sparke Evans Park. Pekoe’s stylised portrait pieces are no stranger to Natural Adventures and I have observed over the years that emotions underpin her pieces and that is for sure the case here.

The woman has a sorrowful expression, somewhat amplified by the tear of sadness. Tears used to be a common feature of Pekoe’s pieces, but of late they have been less common, perhaps reflecting her own happier disposition.

This piece is archetypal Pekoe, and that is a wonderful thing. A beautiful portrait with strong features, especially eyes and lips, and some great shading. The wonderful hair is a trademark element of Pekoe’s work which is nicely coloured with green and yellow bands. Another fine portrait piece from Pekoe.

7070. Knowle West (2)

Mind 49 and Wxttsart, Knowle West, Bristol, July 2025

I believe that it was Mind 49 who was responsible for organising this paint jam in a sleepy close in Knowle West, and he certainly managed to assemble some great talent to decorate these suburban walls. In this amazing portrait piece he has collaborated with Wxttsart (Milk), although it is difficult to know which bits the latter contributed to, perhaps the sign of a true collaboration.

Mind 49, Knowle West, Bristol, July 2025 — Mind 49 and Wxttsart, Knowle West, Bristol, July 2025

The portrait itself is clearly the work of Mind 49, whose subjects are often in natural poses, as if caught off-guard, and their faces often partially obscured, in this case with a hat and sunglasses. Pure class is how I would describe the piece. I believe that Wxttsart’s contribution is to the right-hand side, with the abstract designs and ‘rips’ through the piece. Certainly the end result is a winning combination, and a stunning addition to the house.

7065. Knowle West (1)

Pekoe and SPZero76, Knowle West, Bristol, July 2025

I knew that there has been a paint jam somewhere in South Bristol recently, but I had no idea where. Then along came John Bennett who occasionally reads this blog and sent me the location. Even then, it took me a while to find this treasure trove, but it was well worth persevering to locate the quiet little side street.

This collaboration from Pekoe and SPZero76 is the first of several posts from this little backwater. Pekoe’s portrait is notable for the cat perched on the woman’s head and the inclusion of shoulders and upper torso, which is so often missing in Pekoe’s work. SPZero76 has painted one of his crazy raccoons, which includes a little cat sitting on a cloud of spray paint. I love the contrast in their comments too. Pekoe’s earnest ‘fund art not war’ contrasting with SPZero76’s rather hilarious ‘read more comics’. Such is the diversity of the street art community.

7038. St Werburghs tunnel (503)

J Archer, St Werburghs, Bristol, June 2025

There were a lot of ‘out-of-town’ artists who converged on St Werburghs tunnel for Wispa’s birthday paint jam, many of whose work I haven’t seen before, including J Archer. I know little of the artist and haven’t been able to find out very much either, so I will stick to what I can see.

This is a beautiful portrait of a woman in blue and purple tones. The proportions of the face are all good, and the features nicely picked out with light and dark shading. Although the portrait doesn’t look very big, It is probably about 7-8 foot square, which is actually a decent size. The squiggles through the face break up the piece and add to what might be a straightforward portrait. A fine tribute to Wispa – there were so many on the day.

7032. River Avon (86)

I am writing this post (last night) in a lonely hotel room in Warrington. Tomorrow, I am attending the launch of a new National Nature Reserve just outside the town, something I have been working on for a few months. It will be great to see the partnership project come to life.

This piece by Zake is a superb example of his work, and he has really managed to keep the whole thing very neat and tidy. Although it doesn’t look like it, the piece is quite large, and on a wall he decorated back in August

As with all of his portrait pieces, he has created great depth using light and shade to lift the face from the wall, deceiving the eye. Big teeth and a lack of pupils in the eye, give the character a sinister appearance, which is a bit of a Zake trademark. Below is his previous piece in this spot.

7024. M32 Cycle path (291)

Conrico, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, June 2025

Conrico always brings something slightly different to the party. His brush-stroke style contrasts with much of the ‘solid fill’ or ‘blended’ style that most street artists work with.

In this interesting piece, which appears to be telling a story, a woman, smoking, is holding a burning piece of paper. At the base of the piece, a newspaper headline read “Bristol City Plagued by Grad…”. This must be a story that I missed, but it looks like Conrico has tried to capture it. I am none the wiser, but it is a great piece of commentary art.

7016. Dean Lane skate park (844)

It is difficult to know how he does it, but Stivs keeps on turning out masterful pieces, whether it is his calligraffiti, portraits or robots, they just keep on coming and with such high quality. This is a stunning portrait o the swimming pool wall at Dean Lane.

Stivs uses the technique of painting patterns on the wall, taking a picture of the patterns, overlaying his sketch onto the picture and then using the patterns as a kind of template reference. The result is utterly beguiling and beautiful. If it is at all possible, Stivs is just getting better and better.

7012. St Werburghs tunnel (511)

There is never a time when I am not utterly made up when finding a portrait piece by Pekoe. This is a modest piece in the tunnel, which was painted as part of the Wispa birthday celebration paint jam in June.

Pekoe’s subject and style has been a consistent landmark in the Bristol street art scene for years, and her corralling of the RBF crew is admirable. This portrait has some great colour contrasts – I love those glossy green lips, and green eyes. Pekoe has had a relatively quiet year so far, but I live forever in hope to find more of her work.

7009. M32 roundabout J3 (693)

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.

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.

7002. Purdown (91)

Jest Soubriquet, Purdown, Bristol, June 2025

The concrete slabs at Purdown can be quite challenging to say the least, the stand-alone edifices limit the scope and dimensions of the piece, and don’t lend themselves to writers. There is also the matter of a small herd of goats that tend to enjoy ‘scrambling’ around all the concrete structures. Jest Soubriquet (@likes_wan_tu) has absolutely made the most of this slab, showcasing his superb work.

Jest Soubriquet has absolutely smashed it with this colourful portrait piece, which really stands out as something special. It is great that dog-walkers, runners, families and so on, who enjoy Purdown, get to see great art like this for free, in an interesting context of WWII history, nature and street art. A supreme piece from the master of colour.

	Bill Bisgood on Champions
	Sheree on Thursday Doors – 21 May…
	Suzette Benjamin on Thursday Doors – 21 May…
	scooj on 7658. Tobacco Factory –…
	scooj on Champions

	Bill Bisgood on Champions
	Sheree on Thursday Doors – 21 May…
	Suzette Benjamin on Thursday Doors – 21 May…
	scooj on 7658. Tobacco Factory –…
	scooj on Champions

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