Face 1st and Zake, Peel Street Green, Bristol, November 2025
I am really impressed that Face 1st has kept up with his intention to visit Bristol from time to time after his move to Herefordshire last year. I guess he knows he can paint freely in Bristol, and he probably has plenty of friends here to visit.
Face 1st and Zake, Peel Street Green, Bristol, November 2025
This is a rather unusual combination piece from Face 1st and Zake, featuring some fancy ‘gold’ letters by Face 1st with an incredibly deep drop shadow, and a (satanic) portrait piece in the middle by Zake. Set on a fiery background, there is a hint that this might have been a Halloween piece, but I am not too sure. Some nice shout-outs to Soap and Chill from the PWA crew.
It was an absolute delight to catch up with Face 1st while he was painting this piece at Kool Hand’s birthday celebration paint jam. We chatted for a long while about our shared common interests in nature and nature-friendly farming practices, such as regenerative farming, something he is keen to practice in his new home of Herefordshire.
Face 1st, St Werburghs, Bristol, October 2025
These photographs are a little blurry… something went wrong with my iPhone camera in the darkness of the tunnel, but I wanted to share the piece nonetheless. Face 1st has been enjoying playing with his letter style and here he has crafted a script font with a deep drop shadow. Alongside is a small character laughing girl, and above it a motif by Soap. There was a good turnout for Kool Hand’s.
At around the time Face 1st left Bristol about a year or so ago, he had been doing quite a lot of experimentation around his writing and different font ideas. On his visits back to Bristol, he has switched between his writing and his character combination pieces. This one is writing only.
Face 1st, M32 roundabout, Bristol, September 2025
The letters spell out FACE 1ST in a rather unusual typeface that looks like a first step towards calligraffiti, but has too many soft edges and freedom to be considered as that. I am a huge fan of Face 1st’s work and would like to see him painting more of his character pieces, and concentrating less on his writing, but I think that he might feel differently. A nice collaboration with PWA fellow Soap.
Soap doesn’t seem to paint all that often these days, especially since his PWA collaborator has moved to Herefordshire. It was therefore a wonderful surprise to come across this absolute belter from him a couple of weeks ago.
Soap, M32 roundabout, Bristol, September 2025
I cannot really express how much I like this piece of graffiti writing. The letters are in a fancy thin script style, which, once you get your eye in, you can see spells SOAP. What makes the piece special is how the letters in green interact with the stunning pink background and all its decorations. Brilliant work from Soap.
Well this piece by Face 1st is as unusual as it was unexpected. Face 1st moved to Herefordshire earlier this year and only visits occasionally (to scratch that itch), so it is always a bonus to find one of his pieces. This looks like it was painted in a bit of a hurry, but has some interesting deviations from his typical work.
Face 1st, M32 cycle path, Bristol, August 2025
The stacked letters spell ‘Face’, with the word ‘First’ in the bottom right, so there is no mistaking the artist, with a PWA (Pirate Wall Art crew) just for confirmation. The script letters with some diagonal hatching have an extremely deep drop shadow in turquoise and is quite different from his usual writing style. The colours and lines make the whole thing look a little bit like an illustration, and has a bit of a look of Alex Lucas about it. An unusual addition to his portfolio.
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
Zake, River Avon, Bristol, June 2025
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.
Face 1st, Zake and Soak, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2025
I cannot think of a time when I haven’t been utterly delighted to come across a PWA collaboration, and this beauty filled me with good cheer a couple of weeks back. There is a good chance that the collaboration will; remain intact for a while, as this stretch of wall tends to have quite a slow turnover.
Face 1st, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2025
The three artists contributing to the collaboration are Face 1st, Zake and Soap. Face 1st needs no introduction and is probably the artist who has appeared most on Natural Adventures, and deservedly so. This is a classic theme for the artist, with a laughing girl’s face and big hair spelling out FACE, with some diamonds chucked in for good measure.
Zake, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2025
In the middle is this wonderful cartoon character piece from Zake which also fits into his archetypal style, with so much depth, the face seems like it could roll off the wall and into the pathway. Zake seems to be painting at least once a week at the moment and is smashing it.
Soap, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2025
The triptych is completed with a lovely piece of writing from soap, who doesn’t get out as much as he used to, but still manages to collaborate reasonably often with his PWA chums. His letters and fills are sublime and, as is usually the way with his work in recent years, has an Adventure Time influence with the incorporation of the Ice King. Superb collaboration with a shared inclusion of a colour scheme throughout.
One of the earliest pieces I ever wrote about was a PWA collaboration in Wilder Street that I think Sikoh had been a part of, although his name might have been mentioned in dispatches. Sikoh might not be the most productive artist in Bristol, but he is certainly one of the most talented, able to create characters, scenes and superb anamorphic writing.
Sikoh, St Werburghs, Bristol, May 2025
I would like to think that this extraordinary piece spells SIKOH, but I can’t quite make it out myself. The way that he has managed to create such enormous depth in these letters is remarkable, and the steel blue colours give the illusion of the piece being made out of hard metal or rock. The red highlight boxes elevate the piece to the next level. Bravo Sikoh!
Tucked away behind the iron fence of the swimming pool at Dean Lane is this fabulous collaboration combination piece from Werm and Zake. Werm, more than adequately providing the symmetrical letters, and Zake offering a couple of different cheeky characters peering over the top of them.
Werm and Zake, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2025
The horizontal band colour scheme, painted on an off-white background, works really well, and Zake has cleverly incorporated the band of colour into his characters. I’m not quite sure what it is about it, but this feels like a really classy piece to me, and I really like it.
Since moving out of Bristol, Face 1st has lived up to his reassurance that he would be back reasonably regularly to carry on painting walls. I have noticed, however, that he has selected spots that are a little bit off the beaten track. This piece is on the junction 2 roundabout of the M32, where turnover is a little slower than other spots.
Face 1st, M32 roundabout J2, Bristol, March 2025
Face 1st has been concentrating a little on his letter styles of late, playing with new fonts and presentations. He has also taken to painting with gold paint (perhaps he put in a big order of the stuff). These lower-case letters, in pink, have nice fills and shout-outs to his PWA crew Soap, Zake and Chill. Face 1st is a firm favourite on Natural Adventures.
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