PWA – Page 3 – Natural adventures

6225. Dean Lane skate park (736)

Zake and Face 1st, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2024

I’ll let you into a small and rather unimportant secret… I wrote this post yesterday because today I am going to visit Cheltenham tomorrow for the Cheltenham Paint Festival, which this year has an extraordinary line up, so expect some rather nice posts in about 2-3 weeks time. I am so pleased for Dice67, AKA Andy Davies, who has been running the festival since its inception, which is just becoming bigger and bigger with each year.

This is a rather nice collaboration from PWA duo Zake and Face 1st in the narrow bit between a building and a skate ramp, hence the rather odd angle in the top photograph. Zake has painted a character yelling, painted with as much relief and texture as it is possible to get.

Face 1st has painted his name in rather fetching reds and pinks with some interesting cross-hatching in the ‘c’ and in the hair of the laughing girl. I like the way that Face 1st has been experimenting with his writing a lot lately, although I miss his full body character pieces – I guess you can’t have it all!

6188. M32 roundabout J3 (599)

Face 1st and Zake, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2024

It looks like Face 1st and Zake have an insatiable appetite for painting at the moment, and they are teaming up, with or without the rest of PWA friends to get out there and decorate our walls. This time the pair have chosen the M32 roundabout to express themselves.

Face 1st, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2024

Face 1st continues to work on his 3D blocky letters, which in fairness he has been tinkering with for a few years, but seems to be really concentrating on them at the moment. This is a familiar format, where he spells out FACE with the letter ‘A’ being replaced with a laughing girl.

Zake, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2024

Zake has been creating some rather zany and at times mildly disturbing cartoon portrait pieces lately, and this one fits that description quite neatly. Whenever I see a heart in street art, I read it as meaning one of two things – love, or heart break. It is possible in this instance that it is neither and might be illustrating the tussle between heart and mind. The character has been cleaved in two, which makes for not the most attractive sight. All in all a nice collaboration from the busy pair.

6179. Coach and Horses.

Soap, Zake, Face 1st and Chill, Coach and Horses, Bristol, April 2024

This production collaboration from the PWA crew was photographed in April this year, and nearly got left behind, had I not carried out one of my occasional archive ‘sweep ups’. Soap, Zake, Face 1st and Chill have combined to create this zany and energetic piece.

Soap, Coach and Horses, Bristol, April 2024

Starting off with Soap, who has been a little quiet of late, and this writing/character combination. I have spent way too long trying to find out who the character and cat are and what cartoon series they belong to (possibly Adventure Time?). Some beautiful blue letters here spelling SOAP set on a green and pleasant background that Chill has enhanced with his silhouetted plants along the ground.

Zake, Coach and Horses, Bristol, April 2024

Next up is a very curious character piece by Zake, which unusually has the whole character and not just the head. The character’s body is brilliantly drafted, with some lovely detail around the knuckles, stitching on the trousers and shoes, but then you get to the head… What has happened here. Expressive it might be, but I find it slightly grotesque, but that is the joy of cartoon characters, you can make them do unreal things.

Face 1st, Coach and Horses, Bristol, April 2024

Face 1st gives us a classic laughing girl piece with the letters FACE staked up in her hair. The letters follow the recent interest that Face 1st has shown in creating 3D blocks, and works very well in this piece. It is so good to observe Face 1st pushing his boundaries and expanding his repertoire.

Chill, Coach and Horses, Bristol, April 2024

Chill, I feel, is an underrated and underrepresented artist on the Bristol scene. I rarely see his pieces shared on social media, and I feel he doesn’t get the recognition he deserves. His characters are always on point, full of fine detail and comic expressions, and he combines his urban ‘geezers’ so well with his beautiful and fragile nature silhouettes that accompany this entire production and others. This is a fine collaboration from the PWA boys.

6174. M32 roundabout J3 (594)

Face 1st and Zake, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2024

Although it didn’t last a very long time, this is a nice collaboration from PWA’s Face 1st and Zake. I think that I would be the first to say that it is an unusual collaboration, but in the same breath a really interesting one too.

Face 1st, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2024

Face 1st has been experimenting a lot lately, especially with his 3D block writing, and this piece demonstrated perfectly the kind of writing he is producing at the moment. The writing appears to be cut in to a long block of machinery or a device, indicated by the numerous red filament bulbs along the length. The letters spell out FACE, of course, and although a little rough at the edges, the concept is a great one. I love the light bulbs.

Zake, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2024

Zake has painted one of his cartoon character faces, full of depth and relief. I don’t feel that the two pieces work terribly well together, but they don’t need to, because each stands alone perfectly well. I do enjoy the constant creativity and unrelenting effort from the PWA crew – and ever-present heart-beat of the Bristol scene.

6163. M32 Cycle path (270)

Face 1st, M32 cycle path, Bristol, June 2024

What a surprise this piece by Face 1st is. I don’t think I have ever seen anything like it from him before, and had he not signed it, I might have struggled to guess it was one of his, although once you know, there are some signs you can read with hindsight.

There is something very beautiful and homely about this piece and I assume it is a portrait of Ella, one of his children maybe. I find the whole piece very touching and full of love. I particularly like the wooden table, and the girl’s freckles. I love it when artists do something unexpected like this, demonstrating their range and versatility. This is brilliant from Face 1st.

6096. Dean Lane skate park (722)

Chill and Zake, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2024

You don’t often see the PWA crew paint this particular wall in Dean Lane, I guess because there are usually three or more of them painting together, but this time it is only Chill and Zake, so there is room here for both of them. The two portraits, in very different styles, are interacting really well together and integrated using a common background.

Chill’s portrait is both colourful and full of fine detail, and has that accuracy that is common in artists who are also tattooists. He is also responsible for the wonderful silhouette plants and signature song bird. Zake’s portrait, is a little softer and full of depth, with a slightly odd scene of fish and water flying out of the character’s mouth. While I am not too sure what is going on, it makes for entertaining viewing. The pairing is great to see, and this is certainly a memorable collaboration from them. I’m not too sure it lasted very long though, which is a pity.

6047. Hepburn Road (23)

This curious portrait piece from Zake is part of a PWA collaboration, but because of parked cars in Hepburn Road (formerly known as crack alley), I was unable to capture the whole collaboration. That kind of thing happens sometimes.

As I have said in previous posts, Zake seems to be pushing his boundaries all the time with his portraits, and although they all retain his clever use of light and shade to create depth, the characters and their expressions are constantly evolving. This rather dapper and shady fellow looks perfect for this dark narrow alleyway.

5978. Dean Lane skate park (710)

Chill, Face 1st and Zake, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2024

One of the strong themes of Bristol street art in 2023 was the continuing presence of the PWA crew as a major force in the city’s graffiti scene. That presence has seamlessly continued into 2024. This February triptych from Chill, Face 1st and Zake in Dean Lane is part of that contiuity.

Chill, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2024

I feel that I rather take Chill for granted a little, simply expecting every piece he paints to be as brilliant as the last, and in this respect he never disappoints. He has been introducing more colour into his pieces and adding more points of interest in beautiful doodle formats around his characters, such as the flower and little bird here. I feel that Chill has or desires to have a strong connection with nature, which I applaud.

Face 1st, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2024

Face 1st is a hero of Bristol street art, and an ever-present throughout the nine years I have been writing about it. In this piece, a girl with big FACE hair, Face 1st has chosen some bright and striking colours that scream out very loudly from the wall behind the fence. There is some revisiting his brain theme and lots of splodges and drippy bits. Lots of fun here, although this girl doesn’t seem to be too happy.

Rounding off the triptych is an unusual piece by Zake, who has incorporated a couple of ideas I haven’t seen from him before. I love it that artists often choose to push the boundaries of their craft. The orange lenses of the glasses the character is wearing work very nicely, the challenge here being to keep the face intact and seamless behind the orange colour. The other weirdness is the eye in the mouth, for which I have no explanation, it is just a bit odd and unsettling. The three PWA boys have smashed it once again.

5971. Dean Lane skate park (709)

Zake and Face 1st, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2024

I don’t do this too often, but I forgot about today’s posts until just now (8.42am). I have a lot on my mind. I am in Buxton in Derbyshire with work. Today’s posts are going to be super-short.

A brilliant pairing of Face 1st and Zake from the PWA crew. Zake smashes it with this gorgeous cartoon portrait full of texture and depth.

Face 1st, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2024

The writing from Face 1st is a little unusual but nonetheless captivating. Spelling out FACE and no smiling girls this time.

5869. M32 cycle path (254)

Soap, Zake and Face 1st, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2024

Although street art and graffiti can be and is painted at any time of day and on any day, there is definitely a strong pulse of activity on weekends. At times, it can be more difficult for me to get out at the weekend than during he week, which might seem counterintuitive, but there is no rhythm to the weekends, and there is always so much to do. This fabulous PWA collaboration was painted at a weekend, but I didn’t get to see it until the following week on my rounds.

Soap, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2024

This one is a triptych with Soap on the left, Zake in the middle and Face 1st on the right, in the letters – character – letters format so commonly used in collaborations. Soap has painted a beauty, with big letters spelling out his name and a character from the cartoon series Adventure Time (I think) replacing the letter ‘O’. I m not too sure about the the bleeding heart, but I guess there is a story there, conscious or unconscious, somewhere.

Zake, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2024

In the middle is something rather different from Zake. We are used to seeing cartoon-style portraits, full of depth, so this bullet comes as a bit of a surprise. I am guessing that it is the bullet that is causing such carnage running through the whole collaboration.

Face 1st, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2024

On the right, Face 1st has painted one of his blocky FACE pieces of graffiti writing, with very deep drop shadows and a rather distressed face peering through the ‘A’. There is an indication of trauma here too, continuing the collaboration theme. The crew are carrying on in 2024, where they left off in 2023, and that can only be good news.

	scooj on Revel Puck Circus
	M. on Revel Puck Circus
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	Sheree on 7352. Cumberland Basin
	paulh121 on 7350. Hillgrove Street (9…

	scooj on Revel Puck Circus
	M. on Revel Puck Circus
	paulh121 on 7352. Cumberland Basin
	Sheree on 7352. Cumberland Basin
	paulh121 on 7350. Hillgrove Street (9…

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