Tag: Veil

5458. M32 Cycle path (225)

Desi, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, August 2023
Desi, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, August 2023

Ooh! I love this recent piece from Desi, whose work just gets better and better. This time she is writing VEIL, one of her two variants, but with joined up script writing, which is a new and exciting development that works rather well.

Desi, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, August 2023
Desi, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, August 2023

I have often been quite critical of artists who don’t buff walls before they paint, because the underlying graffiti can often be distracting, but Desi, whether by design or luck, has managed to pull it off with this piece. The background somehow complements her writing and helps it to stand out. Beautiful curvy letter shapes are accompanied by great blue and pink fills (that B/P combo again), perfectly blended. I think that this might just be my favourite piece from Desi yet.

5293. Louisa Street (2)

Veil, Louisa Street, Bristol, May 2023
Veil, Louisa Street, Bristol, May 2023

When I accidentally discovered the hoardings around Louisa Street recently, it was a great surprise, and I guess I was a little annoyed that I hadn’t found it sooner. I don’t think that the hoardings can have been there for too long, or at least if they have, they have only recently been painted. I say this because as far as I can see there hasn’t been too much overpainting, and there is a lot of the blue board still visible.

Veil, Louisa Street, Bristol, May 2023
Veil, Louisa Street, Bristol, May 2023

Desi has produced this wonderful VEIL piece in pinks and blues and is showing great progress particularly in the complexity and design of her fills. The 3D drop shadow and border are nice and tight, and overall this piece demonstrates the strides she is making. I am looking forward to a summer of Veils and Desis.

Desi

A gallery of fabulous DESI and VEIL writing from Bristol artist Desi

Instagram: @cherrybombb20

all photographs by Scooj

Desi, M32 roundabout, Bristol, September 2025
Desi, M32 roundabout, Bristol, September 2025
Desi, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, December 2025
Desi, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, December 2025
Desi, M32 Spot, Bristol, June 2025
Desi, M32 Spot, Bristol, June 2025
Desi, Greenway Bush Lane, Bristol, February 2025
Desi, Greenway Bush Lane, Bristol, February 2025
Desi, Greenbank, Bristol, February 2025
Desi, Greenbank, Bristol, February 2025
Desi, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, January 2025
Desi, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, January 2025
Desi and Lupa, M32 roundabout, Bristol, January 2025
Desi and Lupa, M32 roundabout, Bristol, January 2025
Desi, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2024
Desi, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2024
Desi, River Avon, Bristol, August 2024
Desi, River Avon, Bristol, August 2024
Desi, Peel Street Green, Bristol, May 2024
Desi, Peel Street Green, Bristol, May 2024
Desi, M32 Spot, Bristol, January 2023
Desi, M32 Spot, Bristol, January 2023
Desi, Frome Side, Bristol, November 2023
Desi, Frome Side, Bristol, November 2023
Desi, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, November 2023
Desi, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, November 2023
Desi, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, October 2023
Desi, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, October 2023
Desi, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, October 2023
Desi, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, October 2023
Desi, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, August 2023
Desi, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, August 2023
Desi, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, March 2023
Desi, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, March 2023
Desi, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2023
Desi, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2023
Desi, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2023
Desi, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2023
Desi, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, January 2023
Desi, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, January 2023
Desi, Greenbank, Bristol, November 2022
Desi, Greenbank, Bristol, November 2022
Desi, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, November 2022
Desi, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, November 2022
Desi, Peel Street Green, Bristol, October 2022
Desi, Peel Street Green, Bristol, October 2022
Desi, M32 roundabout, Bristol, September 2022
Desi, M32 roundabout, Bristol, September 2022
Desi, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, August 2022
Desi, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, August 2022
Desi, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, August 2022
Desi, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, August 2022
Desi, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2022
Desi, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2022
Desi, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, March 2022
Desi, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, March 2022
Desi, New Stadium Road, Bristol, March 2022
Desi, New Stadium Road, Bristol, March 2022
Desi, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, January 2022
Desi, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, January 2022
Desi, River Avon, Bristol, November 2021
Desi, River Avon, Bristol, November 2021
Desi, River Avon, Bristol, September 2021
Desi, River Avon, Bristol, September 2021

5061. M32 Cycle path (200)

Evey and Desi, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2023
Evey and Desi, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2023

Desi and Evey are painting buddies and frequently meet up to paint together. In fact, I met them yesterday painting together with Peggy in Sparke Evans Park, a spot I have to return to, because they hadn’t completed their work while I was there.

Evey, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2023
Evey, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2023

As I have said on numerous occasions about both Evey and Desi, is that they are improving all the time. Evey has painted this rather nice bubble writing EVEN, but the most striking thing about it is that it is a tribute piece to her (I assume) grandpa, and the letters are sad ones and the ‘V’ is a broken heart.

Desi, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2023
Desi, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2023

Desi has gone with her Veil variant in this piece and offers up thee hearts – how lucky we are. The letters are nicely filledand the white spots add a bit of depth. I would like to see Desi start working on some more complex fill patterns, which I think she is ready for. (What am I? Some kind of school master? Cringe).

5039. M32 Cycle path (198)

Desi, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2023
Desi, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2023

This VEIL piece brings a splash of colour to the overhang under the M32 on the cycle path. Desi seems to prefer writing VEIL these days, and I have no complaints about that at all, the letters work well and allow her to express herself the way she likes to.

Desi, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2023
Desi, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2023

The word that springs to mind every time I see this is ‘colourful’ and when the photograph was sitting as a thumbnail in my ‘February folder’ it stood out from the crowd. Definitely an attention grabber. Nice letters, nicely presented, and another piece in Desi’s growing portfolio.

5007. Cumberland Basin

Desi, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, January 2023
Desi, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, January 2023

I met Desi earlier this week when she was painting a new piece in Dean Lane with her friend Lupa. I took the opportunity to ask Desi why she had started painting the letters VEIL, and her answer was swift and honest – “no reason, I just wanted to play with some letters”. So there you have it, sometimes there simply isn’t a backstory or meaning.

Desi, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, January 2023
Desi, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, January 2023

This is a very nice piece, simple in structure and well executed. Desi continues to improve, with strong fills and sharper lines, getting better with each new piece. It is interesting that most times (but not always, as I have learned to my deep embarrassment)  you can spot the gender of the artist. For example, it would be a rare thing for a male artist to put a heart instead of a dot on top of the “i” as Desi has done here. It is almost as if handwriting is transposed onto the wall in some way.

4589. M32 roundabout J3 (417)

Bristol definitely has it’s fair share of female graffiti writers; Mena, Evey, Lewse and Bnie to name a few, and it is great to watch Desi develop her writing and join this growing cohort. You will have seen work on Natural Adventures before, but using the letters DESI, however, recently she has switched it up a bit to write VEIL.

Desi, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2022
Desi, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2022

What is interesting is that although Desi’s letters may have changed completely, her individual style shines through, and she needn’t have signed it for people to know who painted it. This might be her best piece to date, it is really neat and tidy, and the fills are as good as I have seen from the artist. Much more to come from Desi, I’m sure.

1586. Raleigh Road, Tobacco Factory (12)

At the far end of the Tobacco Factory staff car park is this modest and ephemeral piece by Annika Pixie. It was painted during an annual weekend paint jam organised by Stephen Quick.

Annika Pixie, Raleigh Road, Bristol, June 2018
Annika Pixie, Raleigh Road, Bristol, June 2018

This wispish and haunting portrait is very much in the style that is associated with Annika. There are two things I particularly like about thuis piece…the veil-like see through curtain that sits between the subject and the viewer, and the nicely arranged stencils that surround the whole piece.