This is my 80th post from Purdown, but if I am honest, it feel like an awful lot more. Daz Cat seems to like it up here and the square format of the concrete blocks seems to suit his designs. It is always far more difficult for writers to fill a square space than for character artists.
Daz Cat, Purdown, Bristol, September 2024
Daz Cat has painted a cat (naturally) curled up in the square. The blue cat is wearing a fabulous orange striped shirt and shorts combination, and looks really rather cute. The cat is smiling and there is a good feeling all round about this piece. I will never tire of Daz Cats’ cats.
Fade, Pekoe and Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, August 2024
Every once in a while I go back a month or two into my archives looking for pieces that get missed or overlooked but that deserve to be published on Natural Adventures. How I let this one pass me by I’ll never know, but it is a wonderful collaboration between Fade, Pekoe and Dibz.
Fade and Pekoe, Dean Lane, Bristol, August 2024
Fade and Dibz paint this wall a lot, and I mean a lot, so it is really nice to see them hook up with Pekoe to collaborate with them. There is a strong spider theme coming across in the collaboration, and Fade’s letters have webs suspended from them and forming part of the fill. The dark letters are topped with a nice red colour for variation, and he has painted a tidy 3D drop shadow. Nice stuff from Fade.
Pekoe, Dean Lane, Bristol, August 2024
Pekoe has painted a small portrait centrepiece between the two writers, of a woman with a red face and spider hair theme going on. I don’t know if this is a fictional Pekoe character or whether is is meant to be some kind of spider woman character, but it is nice and tight and beautifully presented (a rose between two thorns?)
Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, August 2024
The Tryptich is completed with a fine example of wildstyle writing from Dibz, whose letter fills, decorations and colours reflect Fade’s on the other side. I would have liked to have known more about the spider theme, but my curiosity will have to remain unresolved until I next meet one of the artists. A nicely finished themed collaboration.
This is Mr Klue a little outside his comfort zone, painting at a location other than St Werburghs tunnel. It would seem that he was somehow persuaded to venture away from BS2 to join in the World Wall Stylers challenge ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit’, and he has kept to the theme colours, although his writing isn’t especially on message.
Mr Klue, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, August 2024
Mr Klue’s writing can be difficult to read sometimes and you have to take it on trust that he usually writes KLUE, but in this piece it is much clearer and you can make out the letters quite easily. It is great to see that he has managed to get out into the sunlight before retreating to the comfort of his tunnel.
Vozie, Frome Side, Bristol, November 2023Vozie, Cheltenham Paint Festival, Cheltenham, July 2023Vozie, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2023Vozie, Greenbank, Bristol, May 2023Vozie, Elton Street, Bristol, April 2023Vozie, Greenbank, Bristol, April 2022Vozie, St Werburghs, Bristol, December 2022Bnie, Vozie, Pekoe and Evey, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022Bnie and Vozie, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022Vozie, St Werburghs, Bristol, November 2022Vozie, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, September 2022
Erviti and Caro Maggs, Muriel Alleyway, Bristol, August 2024
A quick sidestep back to the end of July and start of August when this magnificent collaborative mural was painted by Erviti and Caro Maggs on one of the few hot and sunny days we had this summer. Both were participating in the Bristol Mural Collective mini-festival organised by Rtiiika.
Erviti, Muriel Alleyway, Bristol, August 2024
It is fascinating to see the take from two different artists painting the same subject using the same colour palette and seeing what they came up with. Ervitti has painted the vase and flower in what could be described as a fragmented style, and there is certainly something a little unusual going on with the portrait. It almost feels like a modern take on cubism – a really interesting piece.
Caro Maggs, Muriel Alleyway, Bristol, August 2024
Adjacent to Ervitti’s piece is Caro Maggs’ take on the same subject, which is an altogether softer and more literal representation of the vase and flowers. While the vase appears to be a little rough around the edges, the flower, which looks like a peony, is absolutely beautiful, and definitely steals the show in my eyes. The combination of pieces offers something really special and fits the spot perfectly. Great work.
When I first came across this piece, I really wasn’t too sure what it meant, but photographed it anyway, because it is a clean and classy piece of writing with an important message. It turns out that it is by Vane and is a get well shout-out to his friend Holly, AKA Mena – regular readers will know that she is a Bristol writer who had an accident in Thailand recently and is currently recovering in the UK.
Vane, Jamaica Street, Bristol, July 2024
This is a heartfelt and touching piece by Vane, who, although he is a Bristol artist, hasn’t appeared on Natural Adventures all that often. I think it says much about the graffiti/street art culture in the city that so many artists have rallied around Mena and painted messages of support for her over the last few weeks. I hope her recovery continues well.
Another wily old fox from Foksymoron, this one hiding from view under Brunel Way, in a place that only a few skaters and cyclists will ever really get to see and enjoy. This fox is so laid back, he spends much of his time on hid back.
Foksymoron, Brunel Way, Bristol, July 2024
Although Foksymoron has been painting foxes for a long time now, it is the scale and dynamism of his pieces that is catching at the moment, and it would seem that he has taken his art form to a new level. Of course, these aren’t the most polished pieces of street art and are a character version of a throw up, but they are full of character and have their own story to tell
Sait Bare and Zake, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, July 2024
I think that Zake is not only incredibly prolific, but is also one of those artists who is happy to collaborate with anyone. Some artists are quite particular about who they collaborate with, but Zake, it would seem, just loves to paint with other artists. In this piece he has teamed up, to great effect, with Sait Bare.
Sait Bare and Zake, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, July 2024
The writing, spelling SA(I)T, is by Sait Bare and is typical of his non-conformist letter shapes and cloudy fills, a style that takes a little getting used to, but which is really growing on me. The ‘i’ is supplied by painted by zake in the form of one of his distinctive cartoon portraits, whose body makes up the stem of the ‘i’ and whose head is the dot on top. This is an unexpected and rather successful collaboration, and I suspect not the last from this pair.
Sometimes wildstyle graffiti writers can be guilty of overthinking their work, and I feel that Werm went through a phase where he did just that, and while his pieces were technically awesome, they were, for my taste, just a little too over-complex.
Werm, Brunel Way, Bristol, September 2024
This one is a recent work in a series of bilaterally symmetrical graffiti writing pieces that Werm has been focussing on. He tends to work in themes and ideas which he runs with for six months or so, and then moves on to some new concept, constantly evolving and improving. The colours palette is very ‘Wermy’, and by that I mean contains reds and cream, which he uses a often as a combination. This is a nice piece, and well worth buffing the wall to provide a clean background.
I have been aware of Risky’s writing about the place for some while now, but I would say that in the last six months or so he has really upped his game, and is turning out some rather nice writing and some interesting fills, where his earlier pieces were perhaps cutting his teeth or practising.
Risky, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2024
This one in Dean Lane follows a fairly basic formula, and has been executed really well. The letters RISKY are in two tones of red giving a basic light/shadow effect, which provides depth to the letters. The writing has a contrasting green drop shadow and the whole thing is bordered with a dark blue line. There is lots of thought and care that has gone into this piece of graffiti writing, and I look forward to this continuing evolution from Risky.
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