I am enjoying the discovery of Zinso pieces, and this was the second of three that I have come across recently. There is something rather attractive about the letters and the way they are worked, along with two wonderful blue arrows book ending the writing.
Zinso, St Werburghs, Bristol, May 2025
The colourful cartoony letters are filled with nicely blended greens, browns and blues with the exception of the ‘i’ which is a bright contrasting orange. The letters are set on a ping background and finished off with a sprinkling of lovely drips. Although Zinso is new to Bristol, the artist is clearly experienced and accomplished.
Kool Hand, Mr Crawls and Bean, Brunel Way, Bristol, May 2025
Well this is an unusual trio, but nonetheless a very welcome collaboration from Kool Hand, Mr Crawls and Bean. On closer inspection, I am guessing that it is actually two distinct pieces, a collaboration from Kool Hand and Mr Crawls and an independent piece by Bean, which is perhaps why it looks like an unusual coming together.
Kool Hand, Brunel Way, Bristol, May 2025
Kool Hand has been painting a lot this year, spreading his time between writing and characters. This piece is a profile of his famous orangutan character, which is synonymous with the artist. Constantly improving, Kool Hand has added more detail with shading and complexion.
Mr Crawls, Brunel Way, Bristol, May 2025
Mr Crawls just keeps on going with his gulls, and I just keep on going with photographing them when I see them. This is a nice one painted in his stylised cartoon format – nice and sharp. Difficult to read the expression on this one.
Bean, Brunel Way, Bristol, May 2025
Finally, Bean, who has made a quiet comeback in recent weeks, has painted this exquisite piece with two characters in blue tones spraying the wall. The larger character looks like he is ‘high’ floating on the fumes from the paint can. They have been busy painting the letters BEAN. This is beautifully presented, and it is a great pity that some wally has plastered mud on the piece – what is wrong with some people? A refreshing wall, that didn’t last to long.
Not every piece that appears on Natural Adventures is necessarily of the highest calibre, but that isn’t really the point. I like to include a representative spread of pieces from low end to high end, from spray paint to wheatpastes and from graffiti writing to portraits. I like to feature it all here, rather than creating something exclusive. The risk, of course, is that not everybody is going to like everything, although there will, I hope, be a broad enough spectrum of artwork here that most people will see something that they like eventually.
Pl8o, River Avon, Bristol, June 2025
I have included this piece from Pl8o, mainly because it has been a very long while since I last saw something from him. This piece isn’t going to set the world on fire, but it has a certain attractiveness to it. The letters are nice and uniform, and painted on a particularly challenging wall surface. I hope it signals a return to more frequent pieces from a graffiti writer I like a lot.
Wispa’s birthday paint jam in the tunnel is a gift that keeps on giving. The turnout for her birthday was excellent, and about half the wall space in the tunnel was re-decorated, which is a good thing as it needed a bit of freshening up.
Unity, St Werburghs, Bristol, June 2025
This is a wonderful piece by the very talented Unity who is a well-established and important member of the of the all-female RBF (Resting Bitch Face) crew. Although she doesn’t paint nearly as much in Bristol as I would like, it is always a pleasure when she does. I don’t think the photographs do this piece justice, as it was taken in the gloomiest part of the tunnel. Her writing is sublime, with superb blended fills and intricate patterning. A deep, double drop shadow in cream colours rounds the writing off perfectly. Great graffiti writing.
I don’t really need to dwell too much on haw Zake has been smashing it lately, his skill is matched by his creativity, and in this piece he has really gone to town. I also like the fact that Zake has returned us to the wonderful colour combination of pink and blue.
Zake, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, June 2025
Zake has combined three faces into one, to create something that looks like a primitive deity or something like that. The expressions on the faces, running left to right are contentment via uncertainty to some kind of evil rage. An interesting piece with lots to enjoy about it.
When I think about Bristol street art, one of the first images that springs to mind is a Rowdy crocodile. Somehow what he does and how he does it embodies a sense of mischief and humour, edge and naive art, and is at the very heart of the Bristol scene.
Rowdy, St Michael’s Hill, Bristol, June 2025
I love this little spot at the bottom of St Michael’s hill, which has played host to a few different artworks over the years. I love also that is obviously used to be a butcher’s shop and still has the old tiles. Some crocodiles and a radiant cat decorate the walls and window perfectly and ooze everything that Rowdy is all about. I love this.
Serm is an artist who doesn’t paint all that often, but his distinctive pieces are always a welcome addition. This time, he has gone for something a little different and cryptic, hiding his letters in the design.
Serm, Peel Street Green, Bristol, June 2025
The green fills and yellow drop shadows work well together, although I’m not sure about the white background that makes the whole piece look a little washed-out, and doesn’t create enough contrast with the letters. The green fills is a subtle blend of at least three tones which come together perfectly. I hope the wait for the next one isn’t too long.
It speaks volumes to the popularity of Wispa that there was such an enormous turnout for her birthday paint jam in St Werburghs tunnel, especially as she isn’t even a resident of the city. I know that she is admired by her RBF friends and that she is super-talented.
Wispa, St Werburghs, Bristol, June 2025
This is a wonderful birthday piece, spelling out her name. The letter fills are spectacular and so full of ideas, neatly enclosed in as light blue border and accompanied by a black and red drop shadow. I believe the clock character is by Wispa too, as it contains the same lilac paint that surrounds her letters. This is yet another very nice piece of work by Wispa.
What a beauty by Daz Cat. My first thought was who has he been collaborating with? – but there was only one signature and I realised pretty quickly that Daz Cat was trying out something a little new. I can confidently say that his portrait/cat character combination is a huge success, and I look forward to seeing more pieces like this from him.
Daz Cat, St Werburghs, Bristol, June 2025
There is a lot to talk about in this ‘self-collaboration’ and I’m sure I won’t be able to do it justice. Starting with the portrait, there are some obvious Daz Cat trademarks, particularly in the patterning in the eyebrows and hair. The proportions and perspective are near perfect, and I think that it demonstrates what I already knew, that Daz Cat is a very talented artist.
The cat character is more along the lines of what I’d expect to see. There is a story here. The cat is holding a snail which has a flower growing out of its shell – what it means, who knows? But it looks great. I look forward to more of these self-collaborations in the future.
It looks like wheatpastes are having a mini-surge in popularity in Bristol, and these are a couple of little cut-out sketches in Jamaica Street by Bethcub. What I particularly like about these is that they look like original pencil sketches, which somehow gives them a high One-off value (in my eyes).
Bethcub, Jamaica Street, Bristol, June 2025
Bethcub is an artist who is known for her studies, particularly of the human body, but occasionally ventures out onto the streets to paint, and now, it seems, to leave some wheatpaste gifts for us to enjoy. I am no art critic, so I don’t really know what I am talking about, but these line sketches are so beautiful, and capture the poise of the subject perfectly.
To find these little paste ups absolutely made my day, and I was sorely tempted to try and peel one off to keep as a piece of original artwork, but that would be against everything I stand for – public art for all. I’ll be looking out for more from Bethcub in future, and have at least one other of her recent pieces to share… watch this space.
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