Earlier on this month, there was a very well attended RBF (Resting Bitch Face crew) paint jam in Sparke Evans Park, celebrating Desi and Even’s birthdays. This piece is one of the birthday girl’s offering, and it is really rather good.
Even, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, January 2025
This combination piece, brings together some lovely curvy letters in Even’s classic style and the ‘V’ is replaced with a fabulous smiling Cheshire cat. The piece is really bright and joyful, and certainly stood out on a rather cold and wintery day. There is so much more great work to post from this particular paint jam.
Living in Bristol is, for so many reasons, a privilege and a joy, especially if you like a dusting of cosmopolitan urban heritage and culture. There are many things to be proud of and other things, such as the trade in slaves, tobacco and alcohol, that need to be understood and processed. It is a city that has a sense of excitement and a buzz about it, and I am sure that the street/graffiti art culture adds to that sensation.
Squire, Brunel Way, Bristol, January 2025
We have a lot of visiting graffiti writers and artists that come to paint here, and every time I go out taking photographs, I find work by artists I have never encountered or noticed before. This writing by Squire, isn’t a style I recognise, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they are a visitor, just that I haven’t seen their stuff before. I like the letter shapes and the simple but effective black fill and purple pattern, set on a chrome background. A nice piece of writing.
Kool Hand always brings his own very distinctive character style to the party, and has been doing so for some years now. His pieces usually feature animals, in particular, orangutans, leopards and crocodiles. His preferred approach is to have bold black outlines and string colour fills.
Kool Hand, Greenbank, Bristol, January 2025
This piece, painted as part of a collaboration, features a green leopard wearing a bucket hat, a pretty cool character. The colours are nice and strong, and Kool Hand has used two-tone green shading to emphasise light and shade, offering a little depth to the character. It is always a pleasure to find Kool Hand pieces, and observe how he is constantly improving and evolving.
It would be great to know a little bit more about Wispa. She floats in and out of Bristol like a Willow the Wisp. Her Instagram is @willow_the_wispa, which might speak to her itinerant lifestyle. OK, news just in – I checked her Instagram that leads you to her web page, and here is an excerpt from her biography which helps to unravel the mystery somewhat:
I write Wispa, and am a female graffiti/street artist from the south of the U.K. I have been painting for 2 years. I paint all over the country, and have painted in Miami (United States) and Barcelona (Spain) as well as London, Bristol, Brighton and other U.K. spots I like to hit. Writers that really inspire are the likes of: Miss Motel (40hk), Samer, Dime, Isie Ldn, Spat, Zoegen (Miss Buns), Sterling & Skore.
Wispa, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, January 2025
In this combination piece, part of a huge paint jam celebrating the birthdays of RBF friends Desi and Even, Wispa has painted some stunning letters and a Japanese animation character from the Studio Ghibli. The letters are beautifully laid out with great colour selections and wonderful fills, and the character is so very neat and tidy. Wispa is without doubt an extraordinarily talented artist.
Dirtygypo, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, January 2025
It almost felt as though Dirtygypo had been forgotten. His pieces just weren’t appearing from last autumn onwards, and I was wondering whether he might have left town. It was great, therefore, to come across this recent piece in Cumberland Basin, and all is well.
Dirtygypo, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, January 2025
It doesn’t matter how hard I try, I simply can’t make out Dirtygypo’s letters – I am beginning to think that the word ends with GG, but even then I am uncertain. There is plenty of movement in his letters and I like the incorporation of the character on the left-hand side. I’m sure that his work will all make a great deal more sense once I can decipher the writing.
Lis (Le Imposter Design), Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2025
So it looks like Lis (Le Imposter Design) has found herself some cans (perhaps they were a Christmas present), and given some full-on spray-painting a go. I absolutely love it when artists get a taste for street art and broaden their horizons, and Lis has found the perfect spot for a bit of practise.
Lis (Le Imposter Design), Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2025
Naturally, her subject is still very much mushrooms, but this time without the precision of fine brushes to mark out the detail. When you move on to spray paint, everything has to be scaled up, but I have to say she has done a great job with these eyed fungi. I would think that she has used cans before, because these are nicely painted, and she has a steady hand, but sometimes people are simply naturals. I wonder where Lys will take us next… all aboard!
Slightly coincidentally, I published a gallery of Mr Crawls’ work this morning, which included this wonderful bird character as the most recent picture in the gallery. Scroll back eighteen months or so, and this piece feels like it is a modernised version of one of the first pieces I saw by Mr Crawls. Something that both he and his painting partner Mote have done exceptionally well is gently upgrade their styles, and this one may be setting the scene for Mr Crawls for the year to come.
Mr Crawls, Greenbank, Bristol, January 2025
The bird portrait is highly stylised, rather than caricature, and the boxy look creates a completely different sensation for the viewer. Even though the lines are straight, for the most part, Mr Crawls has managed to squeeze out some expression and emotion in the bird’s face. There is a lot to like about this style, and I’ll be interested to see if he takes us in a new direction.
One of the favourite books of my youth was Fungus the Bogeyman by Raymond Briggs, an illustrator and author who wrote some of the finest and most touching comic strip books of the time. Fungus the Bogeyman spanned the generations very cleverly, and is full of witty puns and literary references. On starting this post, I have been searching for my copy of the book, but seem to recall I leant it to a cousin years ago. I might just have to buy myself a new copy.
Haka, Brunel Way, Bristol, January 2025
Haka has captured the essence of Fungus the Bogeyman perfectly in this piece, and the spot itself is exactly the kind of place that you’d imagine the character to lurk on a damp, foggy night. As with all of his pieces featuring children’s characters, Haka has remained incredibly faithful to the original illustrations. My favourite piece of the year so far.
Desi and Lupa, M32 roundabout, Bristol, January 2025
Ladies of the PWA crew have started the year with some real momentum, and have broadly had a busy period. This conflation piece from Desi and Lupa looks gorgeous in the evening sun. In my experience, it is quite unusual for two artists to merge their names and share a style in this way, and I have to say I rather like it. Within the crew, there are all sorts of combinations that would be fascinating to see, although I sense that this might be a bit of a one-off.
Desi and Lupa, M32 roundabout, Bristol, January 2025
Desi has contributed the VEI, and probably L, and Lupa, the UPA. They have set the pink writing on a traditional purple brick wall background, and the Christmas hat from PWA’s Zake can still be seen behind the letters, providing some temporal context. A fine and true collaboration from Desi and Lupa.
Natural adventures 