have now met Kid Krishna twice in the space of a week, in pretty much exactly the same spot, which is pretty amazing really, given that I had never met him before that. He seems to like painting in the tunnel area, and this stunner was painted about a week before I met him.
Kid Krishna, St Werburghs, Bristol, January 2022
A notable thing about Kid Krishna’s work is that is very often very intricate and busy, and of all the writing in Bristol, his letters are the ones I struggle with the most. The creature in the middle of the piece is, I am guessing, a spider from Mars and is in such stark contrast to the writing. This is the work of a very talented artist.
Trainers are quite a common motif in street art, and this is a fine example from 3f Fino in the tunnel, painted during a recent paint jam with LRS crew friends. The brown shoe, nicely designed in a cartoon style, is stuck to the floor with some sticky green goo (chewing gum?), where we find the letters FINO. 3f Fino also recognises his crew with the letters LRS making it into the soul of the shoe.
3f Fino, St Werburghs, Bristol, January 2023
Set on a red background, there is a lot to like about this piece, as it is different from the regular stuff you see on the street. 3f Fino is not short of a creative idea or two, and it is probably high time I published a gallery of his work.
As you read this post, I should be some 30,000 feet in the air, on my way to France. Timings of posts over the next week might vary, but I intend to continue posting while I am away.
An artist who never gets enough ‘airspace’ on Natural Adventures is Werm. He is really prolific and has been turning out his own brand of stylish graffiti writing on a fantastically regular basis.
Werm, St Werburghs, Bristol, January 2023
This excellent gold on red piece was painted in the tunnel alongside his LRS crew mates, during the very wet spell at the start of January. The colour fade in the letters is blended perfectly and also contains a few stars and spots for good measure. The writing spells out WERM, but has a kind of symmetry about it that is rather pleasing. This is a first class piece of writing from Werm.
It seems fitting that I should post a catch-up batch of Kid Krishna pieces only two days after I met the artist for the first time, while he was painting a roller piece at the entrance to St Werburghs tunnel. Although our chat only lasted a few minutes, I was able to find out so much about the artist, his work and his aspirations. Overall, turns out he is not a woman (see previous speculation) and is in fact a really nice guy.
Kid Krishna, Stapleton Road, Bristol, July 2022
There is me thinking that Kid Krishna was a new kid on the block (demonstrating how little I know) but has been around for a long time, painting with the likes of Sick Boy back in the day. He has been in his native Yorkshire for some years, but recently arrived in Bristol, and has been busy painting the streets since.
Kid Krishna, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, July 2022
Kid Krishna is a versatile artist, equally comfortable with graffiti writing as he is with painting characters, either using spray cans or rollers. He told me that he is looking at doing something quite different, and if it happens, we will all be in for a very welcome treat. Meanwhile, enjoy his incredibly unique and intricate writing in these three pieces.
So many of my recent posts of archived work from 2022 begin with a disbelief or confusion about how I managed to not post/publish the piece in question. However, that opening is becoming a little clichéd and although it is tempting, I will not begin this post that way.
Elvs, St Werburghs, Bristol, June 2022
I love this piece from Elvs – Beautiful writing and a Garfield… my life is complete. There are some pieces that speak loudly enough for themselves, and this is definitely one of those. I’ll leave you to enjoy it.
As with other prolific artists, I have had to group a bunch of pieces by Klashwhensober together to make sure that they get to see the light of day. This selection of pieces were all photographed in May 2022, although some may have been painted some time before then. It looks like I photographed the first ‘Sober’ piece before it was completed, and then again once finished (see Feature image). This was entirely accidental, and I only noticed they were different when I was putting this post together.
Klashwhensober, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2022
This red Klash writing, with squishy green bubbles, lasted rather a log time in this tunnel of the M32 roundabout as I recall.
Klashwhensober, St Werburghs, Bristol, May 2022
Another Klash piece, this time in the tunnel, with some nice blue transitions and decorations in the fills. I think that I would like to see Klashwhensober start to buff his walls first, because it would give his talent more of an opportunity to shine through, but this is kind of hard core writing and that is OK.
Klashwhensober, M32 spot, Bristol, May 2022
This piece presents us with a feast of colour and explosive elements, something that Klashwhensober excels at.
Klashwhensober, St Werburghs, Bristol, May 2022
Another Sober piece, again with a blue fill, but rather less frenetic than some of his work. Calm and concentrated.
Klashwhensober, St Werburghs, Bristol, May 2022
Finally, another burst of energy in the tunnel, this time with the added bonus of a curious red figure peeping over the SOBER letters. I don’t know how Klashwhensober finds the energy or affords the paint for his work, but I am only glad that he does.
Klashwhensober, St Werburghs, Bristol, December 2022
I think that it is probably safe to say that Klashwhensober has had a great year and that he is likely to have been Bristol’s most productive graffiti writer in 2023. I have been doing a bit of a trawl through my archives, and will shortly be sharing a host of pieces by Klashwhensober that never made it into this blog.
Klashwhensober, St Werburghs, Bristol, December 2022
This recent piece in the tunnel, spelling SOBER, is a stunner in which Klashwhensober has gone for a vertical split with the colouring (that faithful combo of pink and blue), and a smoking ‘volcanic’ rift between the two halves of the piece. This is beautifully painted and presented and offers real depth and movement. Fine work indeed. Look out for a Klashwhensober post in a few days.
There was a little bit of an RBF crew party in the tunnel just before Christmas, with a great turnout, and one of the artists, whose work I have not seen much of, is Wispa. Her writing and character might have been the pick of the bunch on account of the snowman, I mean who can resist this guy at Christmas?
Wispa, St Werburghs, Bristol, December 2022
Wispa is clearly an accomplished writer who typically writes WISP and occasionally adds a character, and with this piece she has smashed both. The letters are nice ones to play with, and give plenty of scope for fills, curves and straight lines. The triple border works really well, picking out the letters and helping them to stand out from the wall.
Wispa, St Werburghs, Bristol, December 2022
Raymond Briggs, may he rest in peace, would have loved this faithful rendition of his loveable character, right down to the cross-hatching on his hat and scarf. This is a fabulous Christmas piece from Wispa. I hope she comes back to Bristol soon with more great work.
I sincerely hope that we will be treated to a whole load more EVEN pieces by Evey this year, as I think she is one of the most improved artists during 2022. The more she paints the better she will get, and we are already seeing signs of more adventure in her work.
Evey, St Werburghs, Bristol, December 2022
This is a lovely piece from a recent RBF paint jam (there were two in quick succession) which has been finished very tidily. The five horizontal fills work nicely, and the borders and highlights are neat and tidy, bar a few yellow drips, which are rather nice. All in all a very pleasing piece of graffiti writing from Evey.
Happy New Year! I am in good shape this morning, as my boozing days are largely over and I had a quiet night in last night with just me and Mrs Scooj and the dog. We had been planning a small party, but Mrs Scooj was hit with a rather nasty bug, so that put an end to that.
It was a very cold day indeed when I met Acer One prepping this piece so I was able to stop for a chat and ask him about the piece, as he was using letters I was not familiar with. Acer One explained that it was a tribute piece for a recently deceased friend to many artists in the Bristol community, Dring.
Acer One, St Werburghs, Bristol, December 2022
The colours used in this piece are sober and the design gentle, without quite so many straight lines and angles that we are used to seeing from Acer One. A fitting tribute to a man who obviously had a profound impact on the artist. RIP Dring.
Natural adventures 