Andy Council, Gloucester Road, Bristol, October 2025
Towards the Horfield end of the Gloucester Road you will find the Horfield Dry Cleaners. Above the shop is a wonderful mural by Andy Council that has been there for well over a year, I just haven’t had an opportunity until recently to photograph it.
Andy Council, Gloucester Road, Bristol, October 2025
In all honesty, the photographs don’t do this piece justice at all, because the colours and detail are a little lost. It might have been better to zoom in on different elements of the mural to convey the artwork more fully. If you look carefully, you might spot a turtle, an octopus, a manta ray, an ammonite and a manatee with a football pitch on its back. Each of the animals is crafted with Andy Council’s technique of stitching component parts together to create a recognisable whole. A great mural.
I was rather hoping that this lovely turtle piece by Lis was going to last a while at the entrance to St Werburghs tunnel, but alas it was painted over after about a week. I was surprised, because it was painted on a bit of wall which has had a rather low turnover in recent years, and it was a fine and rather iconic piece, very much in keeping with the zeitgeist of the area.
Lis, St Werburghs, Bristol, July 2025
I would say, with a touch of bias as a former marine biologist, that this is one of her best pieces to date. The Turtle itself is accurately represented, and the lines pretty clean and decorations tidily done. Lis’ inexorable progress continues apace.
Conrico has a fabulous touch. His work often looks more like a brush painting than one created with a spray can. I know he uses banana caps a fair amount, because he told me, and he gave me one once to try at home, and these might help with the level of detail he achieves.
Conrico, Brunel Way, Bristol, June 2022
The partially submerged turtle, swimming through foamy waves is beautifully painted, in particular the well observed colourful scales of the shell. I would consider Conrico to be a true artist who has obvious talent and has managed to upscale his work onto larger canvasses really successfully. A fine piece.
When an artist augments another’s work and it is done well it is both skilful and diplomatic. In this instance, 3Dom has added a fantasy abstract seascape to a remarkable turtle originally painted by Louis Masai a couple of years back.
3Dom, New Gatton Road, Bristol, January 2019
3Dom seems to have undergone something of an epiphany recently and is creating some really interesting abstract work at the moment, fantasy scenes that feel familiar but that are utterly imaginary, like the sea bed here. I believe that 3Dom’s work has in some way added to Louis Masai’s work in a sensitive and dignified way. Definitely a case of the sum of the parts being greater than the individual components. Brilliant new work, giving a new lease of life to the wall.
Louis Masai, New Gatton Road, Bristol, December 2016
In spite of the Council’s determination to eradicate street art from The Bearpit, there seems to have been a recent resurgence in visits from artists. Nothing like the turnover of a couple of years ago, but any new pieces are welcome. This is a lovely new piece by Nightways featuring a monkey sporting spectacles and a turtle on his hat. An interesting study and something refreshingly different from much of what we are used to seeing in The Bearpit.
Nightways, The Bearpit, Bristol, December 2018
This piece though brings me to something of a dilemma I have. I posted a piece by the artist back in August this year – it was a rather nice green monkey piece at Dean Lane. Recently, the artist contacted me through Natural Adventures and thanked me for posting it, but asked me to take the image down because he didn’t like it and he didn’t want people to see it (on a digital platform I guess) as a first introduction to his work.
His exact words are:
Hi, I love that you have made this post about me but I just really don’t like this piece of art that I made. It came out abit of a flop. Can you please take this post down as I don’t want it to be the first thing people see of my work when they type my name into google. Many thanks, nightways
Now, Natural Adventures is a ‘warts and all’ kind of blog. It is also an archive of street art and graffiti in Bristol, some of it good and some of it not so good, but it is an honest record of what is out there. I take pictures of art that I find and write about it, simple as that.
I hold all of the artists in great respect and am in awe of their talent, but as I see it, once they have committed a piece to a wall it is out there to be judged, enjoyed, tagged, photographed, whatever. The question I ask is whether I should respect the polite request of Nightways to take down my post of his work or whether I should politely decline. There is a risk that I might piss him off or a risk that other artists start asking for their posts to be taken down. I’m not sure what to do. Any thoughts?
I thought I’d kick off Upfest 2018 with one of the highlight walls of the festival which speaks volumes to me (a marine biologist by training), and really brightened things up.
One of the less celebrated, but nonetheless special, walls at Upfest is this side street, Mount Pleasant Terrace, just off North Street. Previous occupiers of this wall have been Sokar Uno (2016) and My Dog Sighs and Snub 23 (2017), so it has a great pedigree. This year the mural went big, spreading beyond the first floor and covering the entire end of row wall.
Louis Masai, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
At first glance it might not be obvious that this is a Louis Masai piece, but a closer inspection gives away some of the tell tale signs, such as a patchwork turtle, and of course a signature!
Louis Masai, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
I was pretty spaced out at the festival, absorbing so much visual information but not really seeing things right in front of me – sensory overload if you like. I didn’t take a proper look at the wall until the scaffolding was down a couple of days later and then it hit me, this is a brilliant piece by Louis Masai.
Louis Masai, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
There is so much to look at in this coral reef scene, but of course it comes with an environmental message, and there floating around the reef are a couple of Tesco bags, which once seen can’t be unseen.
Louis Masai, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
I love the way that he entered into the spirit of the Simpsons theme of the festival and presented us with a cartoon mutant fish with three eyes gawkily cruising across the reef. Some serious messages interspersed with a bit of fun. A great piece to start with. Hats off to Louis Masai.
It is always great to see one of Louis Masai’s works close up, and this is no exception. I have actually visited this work several times recently, but the pictures have not been too good, mainly because of the shadows cast onto the wall from the tree in front of it. Hwever I got there in the end on an overcast day.
Louis Masai, New Gatton Road, Bristol, December 2016
The messages that Louis Masai brings to his work chime for me, and I like the way he draws attention to some of the world’s more pressing issues relating to the environment and wildlife. To do so with such brilliant artwork is a rare talent. I hope his work turns a few heads and perhaps encourages people to take action, in whatever form that might take.
Louis Masai, New Gatton Road, Bristol, December 2016
Louis Masai has produced dozens of these animal quilt pieces recently, and they seem to work so well, bringing together the organic and inorganic and injecting life into them. This particular piece is well worth a look, and can be found just on the edge of St Werburghs at the end of Mina Road.
Louis Masai, New Gatton Road, Bristol, December 2016
This is one of several spectacular murals by Zase in Bristol. Zase, originally from Slovakia now operates out of Bristol, and runs a business called Zase Design.
Zase and Dekor, Cottrell Street, Bristol, August 2015
Most of his works are large and bold, and generally pleasing to the eye. The site of this mural is fantastic, and it will be seen by thousands of people heading for Tesco or Ikea every day.
Zase and Dekor, Cottrell Street, Bristol, August 2015
Dekor is a French muralist specialising in photorealism. He often works on large murals with Zase. He also has interests in the hip hop culture for which Bristol is famous.
Zase and Dekor, detail, Cottrell Street, Bristol, August 2015
It is also great to see that, although it has been here for a few years, it has remained clean. It is also interesting to note that Zase’s contact address is also in Cotterell Road.
Zase and Dekor, detail, Cottrell Street, Bristol, August 2015
The marine theme and large scale make this a favourite.
Natural adventures 