Sub – Natural adventures

7391. Peel Street Green (58)

Sub, Peel Street Green, Bristol, December 2025

This is what I have been waiting for from Sub – a wonderful fusion of his extra-large letters and a creative fill. In my mind’s eye, this piece and the one from underneath the M32 mark a new level in his work, and is a culmination of tons of practice and development during 2025.

His SUB letters give the impression of being hollow and having the appearance of a pastry cutter, which is a clever effect. The void is filled with pink and blue ephemeral hexagons that appear to float in the space. Some green blobs distract the eye and round off the work – I can’t make up my mind whether they add to or detract from the piece. I hope that Sub will be able to kick-on from this fabulous end to the year in 2026 – I’ll be watching.

7376. Frome Side (66)

Sub and Bloem, Frome Side, Bristol, December 2025

2025 has been an outstanding year for Bloem and Sub, with both artists making great strides forward with their work. In particular, Sub’s steady progress is beginning to bear fruit as he introduces more ideas into his letters, particularly with his fills.

I have always felt that Sub’s letters were a little over large, but now that he is being more creative with his fill patterns, the space lends itself to something quite grand, like this repeating black and white pattern. This must have taken a while to complete freehand, but it was certainly worth the bother. A deep 3D drop shadow in dark red sets the piece off beautifully.

In the middle of the two pieces is a wonderful character piece of Betty Boop, skilfully and faithfully reproduced by the pair. I have a feeling that both artists were involved in the creation of this character. It is not the first time that Betty Boop has appeared in Natural Adventures (see below).

Bloem, Frome Side, Bristol, December 2025

Bloem continues with her outstanding work, and this Burberry check piece is simply brilliant. The letters spell out BLOEM, and the check design flows beautifully through the piece, swishing in all directions. I love the red smily face and strap handle. This is a supremely well crafted piece and a wonderful collaboration. Bravo!

7270. Monarch’s Way

Sub, Monarch's Way, Bristol, October 2025 — Sub, Monarch’s Way, Bristol, October 2025

In the centre of town, alongside the Harbourside (a floating harbour), there is a large office building called Canons House, locally known as the Lloyds building as it was the regional headquarters of Lloyds Bank, which they sold in December 2024. The Grade II listed building (only completed in 1991) is now undergoing a major redevelopment, and you know what that means… hoardings. The shiny white hoardings are not the easiest to paint, and the area is not one much frequented by street/graffiti artists, so finding anything of interest here is unlikely. However, Sub appears to have made himself at home with a couple of pieces, and there is a massive commission by Esme Lower too (coming soon).

Sub has been working hard, and is improving so much with his overall presentation. His fills have been getting a little more intricate with some nice details, and here he has created a wonderful marbled effect on the white background, making good use of the hoarding colour. I do wonder if his enormous letters might be holding him back a little – it is a lot of space to fill, and whether an additional letter, might give him more creative latitude. I’m sure he is happy with what he is doing, but I think he is ready to take a big step forward.

7066. M32 roundabout J3 (697)

I am rather liking it that Sub is starting to switch things up a little and push his boundaries. Because he has only three letters to play with, his pieces tend to be quite large and impactful, perhaps at the expense of subtlety or detail, but this piece is quite different from his usual fare.

Sub has offered up a scorching scene of burning letters, that meld into one block, set in a nighttime landscape. This is a great creative advance, and probably took him some distance from his comfort zone. One small detail that I’m sure he will have learned is to do the border last, so that it retains the crispness between the letters and the background. All good stuff, and plenty more to come soon.

6839. M32 roundabout J3 (670)

Sub, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2025

This is something a little different from Sub, who usually likes to go large and tends to be quite conservative with his use of colour. I am guessing that it might have been a bit of a dregs piece, I also think he is rather fond of newly buffed walls, and this one proved irresistible.

He has stuck to his simple three letter formula, with a deep, in this case unfilled drop shadow, but the obvious part of the piece is the splatter of colour throughout, keeping it lively and joyful. Sub continues to paint a lot and is gradually expanding his technique and scope.

6769. River Avon (78)

Alas, we leave France today, our skiing adventure over for at least another year, but it will be good to get home and reunite with our son who has returned from his travels in Thailand. I haven’t left myself much time to write today’s posts, as we have an early transfer down the mountain to Chamberis airport. I will start with this piece from the ever-improving Sub.

Big bold black letters (only three of them) have customary deep drop shadows in grey, creating a chunkiness Sub specialises in. Some random pink splatters break up the large black surfaces. A wispy blue background finishes the piece nicely, with a few subtle spots mixed in. Sub is a very busy boy.

6734. Greenway Bush Lane (4)

Sub, Greenway Bush Lane, Bristol, January 2025

The great thing about a new graffiti spot, such as the long hoarding at Greenway Bush Lane, is that you can spread your wings a little and occupy as much space as you like without the awkwardness of painting over someone else’s work. Sub has ‘gone for it’ with his large SUB letters and a couple of smaller signatures, just in case you weren’t sure who he is.

Sub continues to develop his writing, and his familiar chunky letters and deep drop shadow (in two shades) are going from strength to strength. The pink plasma strip runs nicely through the letters, which in their monolithic form are rather flat. To me, it feels like he is locked a little into his format, and to go to the next level, he might need to try something different, and then import his discoveries back into his customary style. Having said that, he seems to be very happy doing what he is doing, and that is the most important thing.

6702. Frome Side (50)

It is really important to give credit where credit is due and to recognise the determined efforts of artists looking to practice and improve. One such artist is Sub, whose giant letters are to be spotted all over Bristol. I think it is fair to say that his pieces are impressive but not quite exceptional, and with more work refining his style, we could be witnessing something quite special developing.

This combination piece includes a pink anime cat, which I think might be a Pokemon character called Mew. The big bold letters have a characteristically deep drop shadow, making them look very chunky indeed. It is great to see Sub experimenting with bubbles and some mesh work on the background. Sub is definitely one to watch.

6654. M32 roundabout J3 (650)

Sub, M32 roundabout, Bristol, December 2024

The Bristol City Council have continued on their mission to buff some of the popular graffiti walls, probably as a community service offer for offenders. It is a futile exercise, creating new clean backdrops for graffiti writers and street artists, let alone taggers and bombers. Sub moved in on this spot reasonably quickly, marking it out with a couple of drafts, reserving the space, before painting this large piece.

Sub is working really well to improve his work, and it is certainly paying off for him. His colour selection for this piece is wicked, his 3D drop shadow effective and his plasma cloud is a nicely worked feature, but I feel that with such large flat letters he needs to experiment a little bit more with fills or decorations. This is a fine eye-catching piece, and I fully expect to see further development this year.

6558. M32 roundabout J3 (641)

Sub, M32 roundabout, Bristol, November 2024

Sub paints his large three letter pieces reasonably often, but I have been waiting for one that has the ‘wow’ factor, and with this enormous piece on the roundabout, I think he has pretty much got there. I first saw this piece on Instagram, before I photographed it, and was actually really keen to go and see it for myself.

I think that the buffed wall really helps in this instance, and the colour selection of orange and blue works really well. Sub has paid great attention to the dimensions of the drop shadow, which drifts off to the left. There is a fusion of his letters, through which the blue fill bleeds across the piece. The thing I like the most is the thin line patterning, which is just about right. Any more decoration and it would look fussy, any less and it would look bare. In my view, this is Sub’s best piece to date.

	scooj on Thursday doors – 8 Janua…
	scooj on Thursday doors – 8 Janua…
	scooj on 7391. Peel Street Green (…
	scooj on Thursday doors – 8 Janua…
	scooj on Thursday doors – 8 Janua…

	scooj on Thursday doors – 8 Janua…
	scooj on Thursday doors – 8 Janua…
	scooj on 7391. Peel Street Green (…
	scooj on Thursday doors – 8 Janua…
	scooj on Thursday doors – 8 Janua…

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: