6299. St Werburghs tunnel (438)

Bloem, St Werburghs, Bristol, August 2024
Bloem, St Werburghs, Bristol, August 2024

Ah, what a joy it is to witness the genesis of a graffiti writer. I believe that this is only the second piece of graffiti writing that Bloem has painted, and her artistic skills are such that you simply wouldn’t know that was the case.

Bloem, St Werburghs, Bristol, August 2024
Bloem, St Werburghs, Bristol, August 2024

This piece of writing is clean and tight, with fabulous colours and a nicely buffed background to help the whole thing stand out, and stand out it does. Her letters are very nicely arranged, beautifully filled and finished off with a decent 3D drop shadow and tidy border. I like the shout-out to Sub, who painted the wall opposite. Bravo!

6274. St Werburghs tunnel (436)

Benjimagnetic, St Werburghs, Bristol, July 2024
Benjimagnetic, St Werburghs, Bristol, July 2024

This intriguing piece presented me with a bit of a riddle, until I paid proper attention to it. Sentinel 793 is the musical alter ego of Benjimagnetic, and this piece featured on his Instagram feed as a prop for his music, combining his two passions/talents.

Benjimagnetic, St Werburghs, Bristol, July 2024
Benjimagnetic, St Werburghs, Bristol, July 2024

It is definitely a departure from his usual work, and takes an original idea and presents it really well. The name of the track (I guess) is ‘Some things change’, which accounts for all the small writing that makes up the whole 793. I like the way the 793 numbers interlock and slightly stand out from the wall with the skilful application  of white shaded borders. Something a little unusual.

6243. St Werburghs tunnel (435)

Grimes, St Werburghs, Bristol, July 2024
Grimes, St Werburghs, Bristol, July 2024

An important part of becoming established in whatever field you operate in is presence and consistency, without either of which it is all too easy to fall off the radar. Grimes, since his arrival in Bristol, has been both present and consistent and has been noticed for it. A third element is quality, because you can be both present and consistent, but also rubbish, like a lot of taggers for example, but Grimes’ work is fabulous and lifts him above the norm.

Grimes, St Werburghs, Bristol, July 2024
Grimes, St Werburghs, Bristol, July 2024

This is a really fabulous purple and orange piece which, like all of his work I have seen, is full of energy and movement. It is interesting to note the impact the texture of the wall has on a piece, for example the right-hand quarter of this piece sits on a more bumpy surface, whereas the left-hand side is painted on a smoother rendered section, and you can see the difference. Everything about this piece is god, and I continue to enjoy this journey.

6239. St Werburghs tunnel (434)

Dusce, St Werburghs, Bristol, July 2024
Dusce, St Werburghs, Bristol, July 2024

I happened upon Dusce while he was painting this piece, and immediately deduced that he was not an artist I have seen before. As I always do, I gently struck up a conversation, and gathered that he was visiting from London and this was the first piece he had painted in Bristol. He was very young and despite having obvious talent appeared to be on the quiet side, not giving away very much – perhaps he thought I was going to shop him for painting an illegal wall (they are all illegal in Bristol).

Dusce, St Werburghs, Bristol, July 2024
Dusce, St Werburghs, Bristol, July 2024

The illustrative piece with his writing front and centre tells a story of pollution, framed in a rather 1970s way – this kind of imagery was much more common when I was growing up than it is now. There is a little smattering of The Simpsons about the theme too. The writing is very nice if a little understated. I expect we’ll be seeing more of Dusce as he progresses.

6177. St Werburghs tunnel (433)

3GV, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2024
3GV, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2024

There are many pieces I see every day, and I look at them and I am left wondering who painted them. These tend to remain in my archive folders and get left behind… until some time later, it may be months or sometimes years, after I have established the identity of the artist, I will take a quick scan of an old folder and drag out the piece for posting. This is one of those pieces by 3GV from March this year.

3GV, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2024
3GV, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2024

The combination piece features a flat combination piece of the letters 3GV bookended by a couple of street characters. 3GV has an unusual style, that suggests he is a self-taught artist, but I have no evidence for that, just my intuition. There is not a lot of depth to the piece, but it is nicely filled and bordered with a thin yellow line. I think I may have several more 3GV pieces lurking in my archive somewhere.

6166. St Werburghs tunnel (432)

Mr Klue, St Werburghs, Bristol, June 2024
Mr Klue, St Werburghs, Bristol, June 2024

Mr Klue is having another of his purple patches – he is very much a peaks and troughs kind of artist, and this one in the tunnel is one of several new pieces in his favourite spot. Mr Klue is also posting a lot of old pieces on his Instagram account right now, which is almost like a retrospective exhibition – and most enjoyable.

Mr Klue, St Werburghs, Bristol, June 2024
Mr Klue, St Werburghs, Bristol, June 2024

This piece follows the familiar formula of wispy ephemeral writing that spells out KLUE, using the blue tones that he loves so much. I hope that this productive period continues, because Mr Klue is another of those artists whose work underpins the diverse scene we have in Bristol.

6151. St Werburghs tunnel (431)

Mr Klue, St Werburghs, Bristol, June 2024
Mr Klue, St Werburghs, Bristol, June 2024

Mr Klue has been smashing it, not only recently, but for years with his original abstract ephemeral graffiti writing. He definitely favours painting in St Werburghs tunnel, where virtually all of his pieces have been in recent years. He used to paint in the Bear Pit in the good old days, and a few other spots in north Bristol, but his range appears to have narrowed.

Mr Klue, St Werburghs, Bristol, June 2024
Mr Klue, St Werburghs, Bristol, June 2024

The letters, as usual, spell out KLUE, and have a slightly more solid look to them than some of his pieces. His favoured blues and purples are carefully positioned to create light and shade and add perspective to the piece, which the yellow lower edges and white upper edges amplify. A lovely example of this enigmatic artist’s work.

6143. St Werburghs

Zake, St Werburghs, Bristol, June 2024
Zake, St Werburghs, Bristol, June 2024

Most of the photographs that appear on Natural Adventures are taken while I am out walking the long-suffering dog. Just occasionally, when he is in one of his more stubborn moods, he drags me in a different direction to my well trodden beat, and on this occasion he discovered this Zake piece on the side of a caravan in St Werburghs.

Zake, St Werburghs, Bristol, June 2024
Zake, St Werburghs, Bristol, June 2024

I have no idea how old the piece is, but it looks like some of Zake’s older work. Three wonderful cartoon-style face characters are bobbing on a splashy sea, or that is how it looks to me. His work is centred around light and shade and reflection, and it is brilliant to see how the blue of the water is reflected on the underside of the faces. A nice discovery by Rover.

6139. St Werburghs tunnel (430)

Zaenone, St Werburghs, Bristol, June 2024
Zaenone, St Werburghs, Bristol, June 2024

We get three main types of artists in Bristol, broadly speaking. The resident artists who paint regularly, or at least are present in the city. Artists who visit on a reasonably regular basis, but live outside the city, and whose work can appear in fits and starts, and artists who visit usually as a one-off either for a festival, or to paint in Bristol because of its reputation as a street/graffiti art hub. Zaenone fits into the second category, and it is always great to come across his work.

Zaenone, St Werburghs, Bristol, June 2024
Zaenone, St Werburghs, Bristol, June 2024

This recent piece in the tunnel is colourful and beautifully presented. It comes without the character bookends that I have become accustomed to, but it is clean and crisp, and the buffed background gives it plenty of space to shine. The letters spell out ZAEN1, and apart from the ‘E’ are beautifully filled with blended colours. A colourful drop shadow with bars completed the piece nicely.

6134. St Werburghs tunnel (429)

Mr Klue, St Werburghs, Bristol, June 2024
Mr Klue, St Werburghs, Bristol, June 2024

Every year, almost like clockwork, Mr Klue springs into action and follows up with frenetic activity for a month or two before slowing down again for the autumn/winter. This piece marks an up tick in activity which has produced several gorgeous ephemeral works in his favoured spot, St Werburghs tunnel.

Mr Klue, St Werburghs, Bristol, June 2024
Mr Klue, St Werburghs, Bristol, June 2024

The abstract smokey writing style adopted by Mr Klue makes for difficult reading, but this piece is easier than some to read, and you should be able to make out the letters KLUE, if you look hard enough. I’m not sure that Mr Klue gets the credit he deserves for his unique style of graffiti writing, probably in part due top his modesty, so this is a big shout out from me for his consistently brilliant work.