4427. St Werburghs tunnel (290)

Every year, it seems that Mr Klue takes some time out from painting walls, which is a pity, but it makes his return all the sweeter when it does happen. Mr Klue has been busy lately creating his outstanding pieces at the ‘farm end’ of St Werburghs tunnel, which seems to be his safe, ‘go-to’ spot.

Mr Klue, St Werburghs, Bristol, April 2022
Mr Klue, St Werburghs, Bristol, April 2022

This piece returns to a running theme in Mr Klue’s art, which is a portrayal of the Mad Hatter from Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland – a rich source of inspiration for many street artists. The exaggerated top hat with the 10/6 ticket is matched up with a shirt and tie along with a smoking cigarette. There is something slightly unsettling, but also endearing about this piece. It is always good to see Mr Klue’s work, and I hope this will be a sustained effort from the fabulous abstract artist.

4404. St Werburghs tunnel (289)

Conrico, or Conrico Steez to give him his full name, is going through a bit of a purple patch and is both painting alone and collaborating in spots all over North Bristol at the moment. This Chinese dragon character intertwined with the word Conrico harks back to a dragon piece I photographed in August 2019 (pre-Covid, remember that?).

Conrico, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2022
Conrico, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2022

I say this every time I write about Conrico’s work, but he has a certain quality and style that makes his work look like it has been painted using a brush rather than a spray can, there is a certain texture and depth that he manages to get that is fairly unique. There is much to admire in this piece, and I am enjoying his high productivity at the moment.

Conrico, New Stadium Road, Bristol, August 2019
Conrico, New Stadium Road, Bristol, August 2019

4376. St Werburghs tunnel (288)

The last time I met these two, Benjimagnetic and Acer, they were painting this exact spot with an epic piece that regrettably had been painted over by the time I went back to photograph it. I wasn’t going to make the same mistake again, and having seen it on Instagram, made the tunnel my first port of call.

Benjimagnetic, St Werburghs, Bristol, April 2022
Benjimagnetic, St Werburghs, Bristol, April 2022

The left hand of this collaborative wall is a superbly clean and light piece of wildstyle writing from Benjimagnetic, spelling out BEN. The colours and shapes are inspiring, and the little grey shaded areas provide a little bit of solidity to the frame. Lovely work.

Acer, St Werburghs, Bristol, April 2022
Acer, St Werburghs, Bristol, April 2022

On the right, Acer continues to dazzle us with his highly stylised rainbow lettering, spelling out CHAOS. Is this a random word, or a description of the mad, mad world we live in? This is a thing of beauty and great skill, I love the grey shadows of the black shadows. An absolutely fabulous collaborative wall.

Benjimagnetic and Acer, St Werburghs, Bristol, April 2022
Benjimagnetic and Acer, St Werburghs, Bristol, April 2022

4375. St Werburghs tunnel (287)

This is definitely one of those occasions when you get more for your money, to loosely use an expression, because as we already know, street/graffiti art is completely free… imagine that, completely free art for all to enjoy, no entrance fee required. A double helping from Klashwhensober, which is surely a treat to savour. In this double act, we have two of his monikers, ‘Klash’ and ‘Sober’.

Klashwhensober, St Werburghs, Bristol, April 2022
Klashwhensober, St Werburghs, Bristol, April 2022

To the left is Klash written in his long slim lettering and a gorgeous transition fill from blue to pink, with some lovely patterns spanning the letters. The whole thing is coated in a kind of green goo, that Face 1st would approve of.

Klashwhensober, St Werburghs, Bristol, April 2022
Klashwhensober, St Werburghs, Bristol, April 2022

To the right of the pair of the work is the word Sober which again has lovely slim curvy letters and a superb red/orange 3D shadow shared across both words – with regard to the 3D shadow, Klashwhensober has a vanishing point somewhere behind the piece and the shadows work in both directions. The imaginative patterns and fills are a joy to behold, and a specialism that Klashwhensober works really hard on.

Klashwhensober, St Werburghs, Bristol, April 2022
Klashwhensober, St Werburghs, Bristol, April 2022

I met Klashwhensober again yesterday on the M32 cycle path, and it was another pleasurable experience. We chewed the fat for a little while, and discussed different pieces and styles, amongst other things. I think that we must have similar body clocks, as we keep meeting – three times now in just over a week.

4360. St Werburghs tunnel (286)

Finding Mr Klue pieces these days is a real treat, as they have become a bit of a rarity in recent months. I only know of one other piece he has painted this year, which I missed, on Turbo Island. So coming across this one rather made my day.

Mr Klue, St Werburghs, Bristol, April 2022
Mr Klue, St Werburghs, Bristol, April 2022

Mr Klue certainly hasn’t lost his touch, nor his knack for selecting beautiful colour palettes. This wall had played host to a magnificent 3Dom piece, which had remained intact for a very long time, but had recently been bombed. Once this happens, a wall will tend to undergo a renaissance and rapid turnover, so taggers and bombers play a role in rejuvenating walls, even if it is irritating. Beneficiaries of this new start are Mr Klue, being able to paint in one of his favourite spots, and passers by who can enjoy a fresh piece of work from one of our very best abstract artists.

4338. St Werburghs tunnel (285)

Rarely has an entrant to the Bristol street art scene been as dramatic as that of Asre. Although this is the first piece of his to appear on Natural Adventures, it most certainly will not be the last. In the last week or two, I have photographed more than ten of these character faces, most of which, if not all, will have been painted this year.

Asre, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2022
Asre, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2022

Asre is one of several new character artists in Bristol, and their numbers seem to be swelling. I wouldn’t quite call it a school or a movement, but it is definitely a thing. Asre’s cartoon-style characters are very nicely finished with thick line borders, but the feature details are really nicely worked too. I suspect the artist could probably create one of these with his eyes shut, given the amount of practice he puts in. Watch this space for more. A nice shout out to Bogat and and Klashwhensober too.

4294. StWerburghs tunnel (284)

With this extraordinary piece in St Werburghs tunnel, we get to see the diversification of work from the very talented Rozalita. Over the last few weeks, we have been treated to a range of subjects from Rozalita, but I think that this might be the first animal portrait, and what a beauty it is.

Rozalita, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2022
Rozalita, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2022

The tiger face, although not photorealistic, has a seriousness and sincerity about it that removes it from the cartoony style that sometimes accompanies animal pieces. There are many elements that come together well, and the mouth/tongue has been particularly well done. I believe that, as her work develops, some finer detail will improve. I think whiskers might have lifted this piece up a level. Superb work from Rozalita who is on a magnificent roll at the moment.

4288. St Werburghs tunnel (283)

The artist Merny has an extraordinary ability to convey very strong messages and emotions in the simplest of ways through his naive style that somehow seems to get straight to the point. Usually his pieces are quite witty or comical, but this one is tinged with sadness and desperation.

Merny, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2022
Merny, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2022

The character is bent over double with his head in his hands and alongside him is the caption ‘I’ve got no money’. Unfortunately, with a cost of living crisis heading our way and the impacts of the war in Ukraine, for which Russia (Putin and his cronies) are wholly responsible, this is a desperate image we can expect to see more of this year. Real people in severe difficulties. Well done Merny for tackling such difficult subjects with his art.

4281. St Werburghs tunnel (282)

In the gloom of St Werburghs tunnel is this wonderful Bnie piece, painted as part of an RBF paint jam including Evey and Pekoe. Once again, as so often with pieces in the tunnel, I had to do a bit of photo editing to get the true colours of the piece that had been somewhat washed out by the orange lighting in the tunnel.

Bnie, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2022
Bnie, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2022

Bnie has a lovely soft touch to her work. Her letters have a feminine touch, which is difficult to pin down, or perhaps it is because I know she is a female artist that I see the femininity in it. Suggestion perhaps, or is it a real thing? Anyhow, the letters have a stunning four colour horizontal palette with great transitions and the 3D shading is so utterly Bnie. A lovely piece.

4274. St Werburghs tunnel (281)

It is very easy to get complacent when artists regularly produce great work, which is something I try to guard against. We can take it for granted sometimes without recognising that each piece is a discrete and unique work, we just expect it. I felt this when starting this post, that this was another nice piece from Pekoe, but it is so much more than that, and requires a great deal of thought and effort on her part.

Pekoe, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2022
Pekoe, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2022

The piece was painted as the central part of an RBF collaboration with Bnie to her left and Evey to her right. Pekoe has returned to a theme she has used many times before of the portrait having a third (all seeing) eye. I just had a flashback to my biology lessons as a youngster and recalled the pineal body… also known as the third eye. Read up on it if you care to, it is interesting stuff. Great hair and a great piece that has been enhanced with colour correction as the original photograph is very yellow/orange.