Andy Council and Ulow, St Werburghs, Bristol, November 2025
A quick one today, written late last night because we are on our way to Milton Keynes today for a family gathering. This superb Halloween collaboration from Andy Council and Ulow was part of the celebration paint jam for Minto’s birthday.
Andy Council and Ulow, St Werburghs, Bristol, November 2025
To the left is an amazing wizard hat by Andy Council, made up of a spooky graveyard scene. There is so much detail in this piece, but it is suffering a little from the low light levels in the tunnel. Next to the hat is a menacing pumpkin character by Ulow, which is the perfect Halloween monster. Both pieces are outstanding and a fitting tribute to Minto.
One of the very best character portrait artists in Bristol, who doesn’t paint as often as I’d like is Shade One. Fortunately the draw of joining a Ulow birthday celebration was enough to bring him out to create this absolute beauty.
Shade One, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2025
Shade One is a specialist at painting caricature portraits, where the subjects are completely on point, but don’t fall into the realm of photorealism. The girl, wearing a bucket hat, painted in greyscale, is absolutely beautiful. Her expression somewhat moody as she glances to her right. Shade One is surely an artist at the very top of his game.
Another fabulous piece from the ‘high-end’ paint jam honouring Ulow’s birthday a little while back. This one is by Rusk, a graffiti writer whose work I love, but who has been rather quiet over the last couple of years. I expect he is bus6 in other areas of his life, but he still has the skill and patience to turnout superb pieces like this one.
Rusk, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2025
The letters spell out Ulow, and are set on the grey-blue buffed wall, which was the same for all of the artists. This is a very special and technically brilliant piece in which the letters appear to be like a hollow framework, into which the colours have been ‘poured’. The two halves in different colours have been separated by a black horizon line, making a landscape effect. Shading on the letter edges provides depth. What an outstanding piece of graffiti writing. Bravo!
Although he has slowed down a little over the last few years, the quality of writing from Soker hasn’t diminished in the slightest, and in fact, if anything, continues to get better and better.
Soker, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2025
This is another excellent piece from the fabulous Ulow Birthday celebration paint jam last month. Soker has, like most of the writers on the day, picked out the letters ULOW, painted in a sumptuous colour palette of deep reds and oranges, with a molten lava look, offset and blended with a purple cloud around the letters. Stunning technique and oozing class.
Cheo, Dibz and Ulow, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2025
Lots to see and admire in this wonderful triptych from Cheo, Dibz and Ulow, painted during a ‘high end’ paint jam celebrating the latter’s birthday. The whole wall, (see last photograph) was sheer class.
Cheo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2025
First up in this little sequence of three is a brilliant B Boy character by Cheo, with his second piece of the paint jam. A perfect cartoon-style, with so much detail to enjoy, and of course the trademark bee.
Dibz, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2025
In the middle of this triptych is an outstanding piece of graffiti writing by Dibz which appropriately spells out ULOW. Beautifully designed letters and fills have to give way a little to some amazing exploding pink bubbles. A nicely balanced piece.
Ulow, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2025
Finally, all eyes are on the amazing character by the birthday boy himself. Ulow has painted an extraordinary comic-style full portrait of a young woman dancing, or so it appears. Ulow has created enormous depth with his perspective, and accentuated the muscle-tone incredibly skilfully. Truly stunning work from all three artists.
Minto, Cheo, Hypo, Ulow, Dibz, Soker, Rusk, Shade One and Turoe, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2025
Another quick couple of posts today… too busy with the dying embers of our holiday. This is a lovely piece celebrating Ulow’s birthday, and part of a sensational paint jam. Hypo has abandoned his letters in favour of ULOW.
Hypo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2025
When artists change their letters, I am left wondering if it is more of a challenge, or whether they can transpose their skills seamlessly. Lots of things to like about this piece, great colours, lots of fill decorations, and effective white highlights providing depth. A nice birthday gift.
Minto, Cheo, Hypo, Ulow, Dibz, Soker, Rusk, Shade One and Turoe, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2025
This superb little character piece by Cheo was painted in celebration of Ulow’s recent birthday. Although the piece is unsigned, it looks like it is by Sled Onebut is actually one of two by Cheo. It piece depicts a cheeky spray can eating a taco. Quite why I do not know, but it doesn’t matter.
Cheo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2025
Cheo has had a busier than usual year, and it was great to see this piece, celebrating Ulow’s recent birthday. One of a number of superb pieces from a gathering of some of the best and most established artists in Bristol. Top work.
Minto, Cheo, Hypo, Ulow, Dibz, Soker, Rusk, Shade One and Turoe, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2025
Without doubt, the paint jam celebrating Ulow’s birthday was the best I have seen this year, fending off some very stiff competition. The whole wall on the western side of the roundabout was colour themed and coherent and each contributing artist absolutely nailed it.
Minto, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2025
Starting at the right hand side of the wall, the collaboration begins with this superb car piece by Minto. The old Citroen vehicle has been brought to life as an animation full of character. The van is one of those converted for street food, selling Mexican food… I love the sombrero on the roof. The words read ‘Ulow, Me, High, Tacos’, which obviously makes some kind of sense to Minto.
Minto, Sled One, Cheo, Hypo, Ulow, Dibz, Soker, Rusk, Shade One and Turoe, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2025
I managed to get a wide-angle shot of the whole wall, which I will share at the end of each post from this paint jam. A real humdinger.
Subtle, Ulow and Minto, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2025
This fine trio of pieces was painted as part of Hypo’s birthday celebrations, and brings together Subtle, Ulow and Minto – quite a line-up. There is a whole lot of colour and talent on display, marking out this section of wall as being a bit special.
Subtle, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2025
To the left, Subtle has created a masterclass of colour and design, with some wicked letters spelling HYPO, set on a fabulous red background with pink spots, looking like wrapping paper around the writing. Outstanding stuff.
Ulow, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2025
We don’t get to see Ulow’s work all that often, so it is always a great pleasure to come across one of his characters. The superb presentation of different tones and shades create a wonderful 3-dimensional effect as if the character is walking straight out of the wall. A combination of simplicity and complexity all in one character piece.
Minto, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2025
Rounding off the trio is this busy piece of writing from Minto. The style here has as much to do with what is absent as it does with what is present, a little bit like Benjimagnetic’s writing. Lots of colourful splashes and unfilled spaces combine to spell out MINTO, in a complex arrangement. Altogether an outstanding collaboration. Bravo!
Rusk, Ulow and Corupt, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2024
At first glance, this piece might look like a collaboration between Rusk and Ulow, but regular readers will have seen the figure (by Ulow) on the right before in a collaboration with Hypo a short while ago. What has happened here is Rusk has gone over Hypo’s piece, but worked carefully to retain the Ulow character. It is rather nice to see Corupt getting in on the act too, with a nicely delineated piece sitting atop the others.
Rusk, Ulow and Corupt, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2024
Rusk, who has written RUSKY, has produced a banging piece of graffiti writing. It looks like there are five horizontal colour transitions in the letter fills, with some tidy lines in white and brown breaking things up a little. A tried and tested 3D drop shadow with ‘glowing’ yellow spheres dotted around the place lift the letters nicely. This is a nice and tidy piece from Rusk.
Natural adventures 