St Mark’s Avenue – Natural adventures

7855. St Mark’s Avenue (13)

The Chaotic Gardener, St Mark's Avenue, Bristol, July 2026 — The Chaotic Gardener, St Mark’s Avenue, Bristol, July 2026

One of the truly wonderful things that has happened to me this year has been finding and noticing orchids. I have always been aware of them, but can’t actually remember finding them before, which as a 62-year-old naturalist is quite extraordinary. Having found several different species this year, I am now super-aware of all things orchid, so coming across this piece by The Chaotic Gardener (AKA Stacy H.Art) in St Mark’s Avenue was pure heaven.

I don’t know the artist at all, but she has put her heart and soul into the ‘Pathways for Pollinators’ project, tidying up the area’s alleyways with planters and street art. The Chaotic Gardener has painted three orchids in this piece and labelled them: heath spotted, early purple and common spotted orchid. Wonderful stuff, and great to have some botanical accuracy represented on the streets.

Here are some of the orchids I have found:

Green-winged Orchid (Anacamptis morio), East Head, West Sussex, April 2026

Common Spotted Orchid (Dactylorhiza fuchsii), Cheltenham Escarpment National Nature Reserve, Gloucestershire, June 2026

Pyramidal Orchid (Anacamptis pyramidalis), Lawrence Weston, Bristol, June 2026

7843. St Mark’s Avenue (12)

3Dom, St Marks Avenue, Bristol, July 2026

Recently, a team of people from the local community have set about tidying up the back alleys in Easton, see more at @backtobristol. The tidy up includes the construction of flower boxes designed to encourage insects and pollinators and some fresh street art to decorate the walls. I am 99% sure that this unsigned piece is by 3Dom, but can’t seem to get verification from anywhere.

The piece is modest by 3Dom’s standards, but is full of symbolism. A bean-like stalk rises above the ground and cupped within the delicate petals of the flower is the planet Earth. So perhaps the story here is if we look after nature, nature will look after our home (it is the only one we have). The repeating decorations around the outside are typical of 3Dom’s style. Much more to come from this brilliant community project.

7565. St Mark’s Avenue (14)

Kosc, St Marks Avenue, Bristol, March 2026

I haven’t seen anything by Kosc for ages, so I am assuming that this is quite an old piece that I haven’t seen before, because it is quite a while since I last visited St Mark’s Avenue. I have just checked his feed on Instagram, and he painted this in August 2025.

This is a masterful combination piece with a character in green alongside four large stacked letters spelling his name. It is amazing how Kosc has been able to craft such an amazing portrait using only tones of green with black, extraordinary. I sincerely hope we don’t have to wait too long to see more from this hugely talented artist.

7549. St Mark’s Avenue (13)

Conrico, St Mark's Avenue, Bristol, March 2026 — Conrico, St Mark’s Avenue, Bristol, March 2026

This charming piece by Conrico is dated 2025, which gives you some indication of how infrequently I visit this spot. Given its age, it has lasted pretty well and hasn’t been tagged at all, the main tell-tale sign of age is the rain-splattered dust kicked up along the bottom margin of the piece.

A delightful and optimistic cat is featured, peering over the edge of a table on which sits some Japanese sushi, a culinary theme that Conrico has used before. For anyone who has owned cats, this is a familiar scene, especially the extended claws making ready for a smash and grab manoeuvre. Superb story-telling from Conrico.

7544. St Mark’s Avenue (12)

Sorts, St Mark's Avenue, Bristol, March 2026 — Sorts, St Mark’s Avenue, Bristol, March 2026

It has been a long time since I last visited St Mark’s Avenue, and it has been a long time since I last discovered a piece of graffiti writing by Sorts. So two long awaited events occurred a week or two back when I made a spontaneous decision to step into Easton.

There were a few pieces in St Mark’s Avenue that I hadn’t seen before, starting with this beauty from Sorts. By the look of it, this combination piece, with a cheeky character on the left, is reasonably recent, or at the very least it looks fresh, and there aren’t any rain and dust splatters along the bottom fringe, which you tend to see on older pieces. The letters are nicely presented and filled in quarters with contrasting colours and patterns. It would be great to see more from Sorts.

5830. St Mark’s Avenue (11)

Phour and Mates, St Mark's Avenue, Bristol, January 2024 — Phour and Mates, St Mark’s Avenue, Bristol, January 2024

For a little while, now, I have been aware that Phour has been painting with a new companion, Mates. Their combinations can be seen in walls and fences all around Bristol, but I think that this is the first post with both of them on Natural Adventures.

Phour, St Mark's Avenue, Bristol, January 2024 — Phour, St Mark’s Avenue, Bristol, January 2024

This collaborative wall is themed with chrome lettering on a red background. Phour, painting his distinctive and clean letters in a way that is very pleasing on the eye, kicks things off in this straightforward piece. Judging from the little bit of greenery in the letter ‘O’, I would guess that the piece has been here for a little while.

Mates, St Mark's Avenue, Bristol, January 2024 — Mates, St Mark’s Avenue, Bristol, January 2024

To the right, Mates makes his debut on Natural Adventures with some very nice letter shapes in chrome, with a black drop shadow on the red background. The letter design feels very familiar, and reminds me of the kinds of fonts you would see in children’s comics like Beano, The Dandy, Beezer and so on. Watch this space for more from this pairing.

5823. St Mark’s Avenue (10)

Conrico, St Mark's Avenue, Bristol, January 2024 — Conrico, St Mark’s Avenue, Bristol, January 2024

There is a convention in the world of street art, that is rarely followed, which suggests that when you paint over a piece by other artists, you tag them in your piece, and it is great to see that Conrico has followed that convention, with his piece on a garage door in St Mark’s Avenue, acknowledging Soap and Face 1st whose old piece he overpainted.

Conrico has a style all of his own, often looking like brush work, rather than painting from a spray can. This piece features a snail in a horrible dam setting, with a shell that presents an altogether more inviting scene. The contrast between the two parts of this piece tells a wonderful story of hope and possibilities. This is a really nice piece from Conrico.

3076. St Marks Avenue (9)

I was walking in Easton last week, without the dog, which meant I was able to extend my range a little further and go a bit faster than normal. I decided to visit St Mark’s Avenue to see if anything had changed since I last visited a few months ago. Much was the same, but there were a couple of these bright colour portraits which I didn’t recall seeing before.

Unknown, St Marks Avenue, Bristol, July 2020

Regular readers will know how I rarely post pieces by unknown artists, but sometimes they simply deserve to be written about and maybe I’ll get lucky and find out who the artist is in due course. The white face is decorated with colourful makeup and looks as if it is prepared for a festival of some kind. I think the portrait definitely looks better viewed from the right than from the left – amazing how different it can look from different angles. I have pictures of another piece by the same artist which I will post in due course – I hope with the artist’s identity.

Update 21 August 2020 – I believe this piece is by Rosalita

2930. St Mark’s Avenue (8)

This is the last piece for the time being from St Mark’s Avenue, although I still have several in the archive to share at another time. It is yet another masterful piece from Deamze whose work still occupies the dark recesses of various folders on my computer.

Deamze, St Mark's Avenue, Bristol, September 2019 — Deamze, St Mark’s Avenue, Bristol, September 2019

I am not overly fond of the Smurfs. I was just a little too old for them, when they first emerged onto our screens and so I sneered at the show considering it to be babyish. Furthermore, I just don’t like gnome type things. Deamze however has managed to create a rather special Smurfs piece in St Mark’s Avenue, probably some time ago.

The pink and blue shapes spell out DEAMZ although it is difficult to see from the tight angles of the pictures, and the cheeky little Smurf, like so many of Deamze’s characters is painting the wall with a spray can. Great work once again.

2929. St Mark’s Avenue (7)

I bring you the second piece from a little cluster of pictures I took in September last year from a visit to the exceptional St Mark’s Lane in Easton. This magnificent collaboration is from RichT and 45RPM.

RichT and 45RPM, St Mark's Avenue, Bristol, September 2019 — RichT and 45RPM, St Mark’s Avenue, Bristol, September 2019

The large wall is not unlike their tour de force which adorned the nightclub in Frogmore Street a while back, in terms of its style. This is a true collaboration where it is difficult to unpick who painted which elements of the work.

There is a magnificent story going on in this marine scene, both above and below the surface of the water, depicted in two different colour schemes. The underwater part is frenetic with a dangerous combination of large scary fish and high explosives. WTF?.

This is an extraordinary collaboration and probably doesn’t get seen as much as it deserves to. The narrowness of the lane makes it really tricky to photograph and I have tried my best with these pictures. This is so utterly worth the trip to Easton simply to soak in the detail of the scene. A stunner.

	Dan Antion on Thursday Doors – 27 Augu…
	Suzette Benjamin on Thursday Doors – 27 Augu…
	hitandrun1964 on Thursday Doors – 27 Augu…
	hitandrun1964 on 7872. Stapleton Road
	Sheree on Thursday Doors – 27 Augu…

	Dan Antion on Thursday Doors – 27 Augu…
	Suzette Benjamin on Thursday Doors – 27 Augu…
	hitandrun1964 on Thursday Doors – 27 Augu…
	hitandrun1964 on 7872. Stapleton Road
	Sheree on Thursday Doors – 27 Augu…

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: