Writer – Page 121 – Natural adventures

5643. Hepburn Road (21)

Face 1st and Soap, Hepburn Road, Bristol, November 2023

A week or so ago I was drawn into Hepburn Road, because I could see two graffiti artists at work at the far end of the lane. It turns out that it was Biers and Bags painting together, which was a welcome surprise because, although I have met Biers many times, I have never yet met Bags, an artist horribly underrepresented in Natural Adventures. As I walked back up the street, I spotted this rather nice throwback piece by Face 1st and Soap.

I call this a throwback piece because it looks like the sort of collaboration that these two used to churn out regularly a few years back. Face 1st’s faces are simple, although decorated with a few splatters of green goo and Soap has reverted to his recognisable mega-tag of two mouths, that also have the overall appearance of a skull. Some lovely retro stuff in this somewhat overlooked spot.

5642. M32 roundabout J3 (523)

Logoe, M32 roundabout, Bristol, November 2023

This is one of several pieces painted by Logoe a few weeks back during one of his blitz weekend visits. I got lucky and managed to catch up with him while he was painting this one, and we chatted for a while. Logoe is truly one of the gentlemen of Bristol graffiti writing, and although not a resident of the city, you would hardly know it.

This is a rather special piece with his writing superimposed on a hillside horizon, cutting the piece into two segments with two colours, black and pink, that contrast differently with the letters. The writing is in a straight-line joined up script style, spelling out the artist’s name. Of course there are a few oval dots thrown in for good measure. Nice work from Logoe.

5641. River Avon (54)

I find it hard to believe that I have only posted 54 pieces from the walls that run alongside the River Avon, but that is perhaps a measure of the task I have set myself. I would guess that I photograph between 20 and 40 new pieces every week, but have the capacity to post a maximum of 21, more commonly 14. As you can see, there is a large deficit, which is actually considerably larger than that, because there will be many pieces that I don’t find at all. Notwithstanding this challenge, I shall continue to push that bolder up the hill, because I enjoy it.

Raid has been a little quieter than when I first became aware of his work, but is still turning out some lovely pieces from time to time. This piece stands out with its big bold letters and super colour scheme. It is interesting how some colour combinations really stand out, such as orange and green as in this piece, pink and light blue (the colours of the 2023 season) and black and red. Everything about this piece has been done well. Great letter shapes, lovely fills which are interesting but not over-busy and a well worked drop shadow and neat border. All in all, this is a very tidy piece from Raid.

5640. Cumberland Basin

Sait Bare, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, October 2023

Another debut on Natural Adventures – there seem to have been dozens of these this year – this time from Sait Bare, and it is quite some introduction. There is an awful lot going on in this busy piece of heavily disguised writing, but have a closer look, and you can start to unpick the piece.

The letters spell SAIT, although they are disrupted by two contrasting horizontally placed colour palettes. One scheme is made up of purples blues and reds and the other with chrome and blues with DayGlo green cosmic borders that looks like it has crashed down from above. The overall effect is stunning, if not a little confused. Possibly not one for those not well acquainted with graffiti writing. I’ll be looking out for more from Sait Bare.

5639. Sparke Evans Park (85)

Smak, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, October 2023

This was the piece by Smak that I had intended to post yesterday, but my system (a bit like a production line) got all into a muddle. This is a really classy piece with some hints of 1930s design in some of the letters, given a contemporary twist.

The piece was painted alongside a mammoth Halloween paint jam from two all-female crews, RBF and FKB (Full Killer Burners). Note to self – post the FKB pieces in a single post. Smak’s work is simply so classy, both in his overall design and in his extraordinary talent and skill. The colours used in this piece are rich and sumptuous, giving a commanding and confident aura to the piece. Brilliant work from Smak.

5637. Cumberland Basin

Haka, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, October 2023

I have managed to confuse myself with my pipeline of pieces in preparation for posting. This was meant to be a graffiti writing piece by Smak at Sparke Evans Park, but something has gone wrong with my system, so it is in fact this wonderful writing /character piece by Haka in Cumberland Basin.

In this piece, we see Haka returning to Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler for inspiration with this brilliantly recreated witch from their book ‘Room on the Broom’. The writing demonstrates an interesting feature of paint quality. The red fills, there are two have different strengths. The upper red is strong and requires only one coat. The lower red is thinner and unless several coats are applied, the patterns already on the wall will come through. This happens a lot with yellow colours too. There is usually a little guide on the spray can that tells you the strength of the paint. This would explain why some paint cans run out much quicker than others. One solution is to buff the wall first, but Haka rarely does that. Really nice work from Haka.

5636. M32 roundabout J3 (522)

Phour, M32 roundabout, Bristol, October 2023

Aah, the comforting and aesthetically pleasing letter form of Phour graces the pages of Natural Adventures once again. There are some arrangements of letters that just seem to work, and lend themselves to being written at scale on walls. Phour, Pl8o, Mest and Tes, are all good examples of this.

Although rather underrepresented on this blog, Phour is one of my favourite throwie writers, although his work spans the spectrum from quick and dirty pieces through to rather more considered and tight works like this one. Phour has painted strong black letters with a white drop shadow, a subtle horizontal line of bubbles and a red contrasting bubble backdrop. Overall a really nicely presented piece.

5635. Dean Lane skate park (658)

Dibz, Awkward and Fade, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2023

This is a rather interesting collaboration in Dean Lane, in which Fade and Dibz have done their thing, but have been joined by Awkward, whose big-eyed character faces are in stark contrast to Dibz and Fade’s sharp graffiti writing.

Dibz has written DIBZ and has a downwards and left facing drop shadow. Fade has written FADE and his writing has a drop shadow that goes up and to the right, which creates some imbalance in the piece (to my mind). Add to that the crazy character by Awkward and you have a collaboration made up of three great individual pieces, but the golden thread or flow is a little absent. Having made that observation, I still very much like the three core elements on this wall.

5634. M32 Spot (175)

Bnie and Wispa, M32 Spot, Bristol, October 2023

Every time I post pieces that have been painted on this wall (one of my favourites in Bristol), I am reminded that I have published a gallery of pieces from the wall over time (part of the ‘One Wall – Many Faces‘ series). I have just updated the gallery to include this lovely collaboration from Bnie and Wispa.

Both pieces have incorporated a wild and wonderful almost psychedelic fill patterning and colours and on the left, Bnie’s letter shapes also lend themselves very well to that trippy feel. This piece from Bnie is absolutely stunning and so tight, all the lines and borders are perfect and the fills magnificent.

To the right, Wispa gifts us another of her brilliantly conceived and busy pieces. As well as reflecting the colours in Bnie’s piece, Wispa has also introduced some of her own colours and touches, which doesn’t surprise me. I think, from observing her work, that Wispa has a very individual approach to her work and style, and even when collaborating, will stand out with some individualism. This is wonderful work from these two busy artists.

5632. Cumberland Basin

T-Rex, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, October 2023

It is always a huge and genuine pleasure to see work by T-Rex, and to know that she manages to find time to paint occasionally, which is probably very good for her own contentment, and definitely makes me and other admirers of her work happy.

This piece which appeared about a month after her last one in this spot follows the same format of the letters TREX and the end of the ‘X’ incorporating a dinosaur character. The piece as a whole is very nicely finished, and the colours and fills full of vibrancy and energy. Fun, joy and humour come across very strongly in this piece, and are characteristic of much of T-Rex’s wonderful work.

	M. on 7625. M32 roundabout J2 (…
	M. on Minor injuries unit
	skat on Minor injuries unit
	skat on Minor injuries unit
	Sheree on Minor injuries unit

	M. on 7625. M32 roundabout J2 (…
	M. on Minor injuries unit
	skat on Minor injuries unit
	skat on Minor injuries unit
	Sheree on Minor injuries unit

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