Sketch – Natural adventures

7353. Frome Side (63)

Sketch, Frome Side, Bristol, December 2025

I managed to sneak another trip underneath the M32 recently and picked up a couple more pictures of work by Sketch, which I might have missed last time. I haven’t seen his work anywhere else in Bristol. We really need to get this boy out and about so that more people can admire his modernist work.

The bright and vibrant piece owes a lot to the inspiring surrealist and cubist movements, with features being spread around the face in an abstract fashion. I love these creative pieces that combine spray-painting with art movements in a brave and exciting way. More please.

7314. Frome Side (62)

Sketch, Frome Side, Bristol, September 2025

During a little flick through my September folder, I like to go back from time to time to see if I have left pieces worth posting behind, I found this interesting piece by Sketch. The unusual portrait was on the opposite side of the river, so these pictures are slightly zoomed in and not of the best quality.

I haven’t seen any work by Sketch outside this spot, and I think he is very much in his ‘discovery’ phase. The portrait of a man, wearing big yellow spectacles, is all rather fluid, and slightly in the cubist style. Smoke is flowing out of the character’s nostrils and swirling around his face… perhaps he is vaping. There is loads to like about this piece, including its originality. I am curious to seeing where Sketch’s art takes us next.

7255. Frome Side (61)

I am really enjoying the art of Sketch. His modern pieces appear to draw so much inspiration from twentieth century styles, incorporating bright colours and abstract shapes and ideas. In this piece, Sketch seems to be experimenting on a rather busy concrete column under the M32.

The abstract shape seems to resemble a human form, but not quite, and it has been embellished with four nicely presented spheres and four purple ‘drips’. There is a simplicity of form that conjures up lots of ideas in the mind of the viewer. I am looking forward to Sketch breaking out of this safe space under the M32 and venturing to some of the more public spots… hoping it happens.

7244. Frome Side (59)

Finding my way back down to the Frome Side spot after it had been gated off for a while was a bit of a treat, because there were plenty of new pieces and a handful of new artists waiting for me. Ont of the new artists is Sketch, who has been fairly busy underneath the M32.

This Picassoesque column piece really appeals to me. Of course the style is wholly derivative, but there is no shame in that at all, because the same could be said of most art. The features of the character are painted in black and white, set on a background of colours in the broad shape of a head. I think I met sketch a while back, and he told me he was learning and practicing, which is great to hear. As he develops, he will get bolder with his black lines, and stronger definition. I love this and celebrate this relative newcomer.

7221. Frome Side (57)

I am thrilled to introduce you to an artist who is gently emerging from the bowels under the M32. I believe he signs his work ‘Sketch’ and although I have met him one time, holding a discussion over a fence, he said he didn’t really have a name as such as he was building up his profile and his work.

This is a really strong column piece that has overtones of the work of Picasso, and both the cubist and surrealist art movements. There is a portrait here with lots of eyes and a strong presence of colours beautifully worked together. There is a ‘black book’ quality to the work, like a sketch (for example the cross-hatches and white space), which I guess is how his name has come about. Lots more to come from this talented young artist.

7132. Greenbank (167)

Nice One has been producing some outstanding sketch-style portraits recently, and this is an absolute belter on the long hoarding at Greenbank. Incidentally, it looks like this hoarding might be around for a little longer, as the building work on one of the developments appears to have halted for a few months now – perhaps they ran out of money. It is a bizarre sight, almost as if time is standing still, with supplies and equipment simply left in situ and not a worker anywhere to be seen.

Back to the portrait piece. Nice One creates these sketches using spray cans, almost as if they are pencils on a piece of paper, scaling up his drawings in a unique and effective way. Nice One brings something thoughtful and different to the Bristol scene, which has such a wide spectrum of styles and talent. We are privileged.

7095. Brunel Way (328)

Nice One, Brunel Way, Bristol, July 2025

I get the feeling that Nice One likes to use the streets as a bit of a test bed for some of his ideas, something that I have noticed quite a few artists like to do. In this case, Nice One has sketched out some ideas on columns and utility boxes at Curbside, underneath Brunel Way. This skull sketch is probably the pick of the bunch.

Much of Nice One’s work looks to me like he has had a training in art, and he creates some wonderful scenes with the minimum of fuss, like this boat surrounded by gulls. The yellow streaks hint at a dusk or nighttime as if lights on the boat are reflected on the water.

The third piece in this small collection is less easy to interpret. Maybe it is a beach landscape with some rocks and a hut and a calm sea that seamlessly meets the sky. Even though it is unclear, there is something serene about the sketch. Nice One is an enigmatic artist who enriches the street art scene in Bristol with his unusual take.

6998. Cumberland Basin

Endz, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, June 2025

Unsigned pieces are always difficult to identify, but I have hit upon a bit of reverse engineering in my thinking; as well as looking for clues in the lettering or style of the piece, I also think about which artists I know that never sign their work, and this often leads me to a small pool of artists to investigate. Endz is one of those artists, and closer scrutiny of the style (which varies considerably) helps to draw conclusions.

Endz also paints under another name in Bristol, but likes to keep the two identities separate. The sketchy style, which some might interpret as untidy, is deliberate and feels like it might have dropped out of a scrap book or something. The grey tones of the letters are interspersed with small blocks of orange that jazz the whole piece up a bit along with an orange border. Interesting work from Endz, and certainly a little different from the mainstream.

6983. Jamaica Street (30)

Bethcub, Jamaica Street, Bristol, June 2025

It looks like wheatpastes are having a mini-surge in popularity in Bristol, and these are a couple of little cut-out sketches in Jamaica Street by Bethcub. What I particularly like about these is that they look like original pencil sketches, which somehow gives them a high One-off value (in my eyes).

Bethcub is an artist who is known for her studies, particularly of the human body, but occasionally ventures out onto the streets to paint, and now, it seems, to leave some wheatpaste gifts for us to enjoy. I am no art critic, so I don’t really know what I am talking about, but these line sketches are so beautiful, and capture the poise of the subject perfectly.

To find these little paste ups absolutely made my day, and I was sorely tempted to try and peel one off to keep as a piece of original artwork, but that would be against everything I stand for – public art for all. I’ll be looking out for more from Bethcub in future, and have at least one other of her recent pieces to share… watch this space.

6893. Montpelier Park

Nice One, Montpelier Park, Bristol, April 2025

Oof. This is a beauty from Nice One, probably the most original and exciting artist to have come onto my radar in the last year or so. Before I started recording his work, I suspect I missed a whole ton of his pieces, which is deeply regrettable.

This is a superb skull piece painted in his sketchy style and accompanied by a hint of his NICE letters at the bottom of the piece. There is so much depth and texture in this piece, and the hatching gives it that sketchbook quality. I need to catch up with the artist again, it has been a while, as I have a whole load of questions to ask him about his work. Great stuff.

	paulh121 on 7352. Cumberland Basin
	Sheree on 7352. Cumberland Basin
	paulh121 on 7350. Hillgrove Street (9…
	Bill Bisgood on Thursday doors – 11 Dece…
	scooj on Thursday doors – 11 Dece…

	paulh121 on 7352. Cumberland Basin
	Sheree on 7352. Cumberland Basin
	paulh121 on 7350. Hillgrove Street (9…
	Bill Bisgood on Thursday doors – 11 Dece…
	scooj on Thursday doors – 11 Dece…

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