Tag: Writer

5687. St Werburghs tunnel (391)

Zaenone, St Werburghs, Bristol, November 2023
Zaenone, St Werburghs, Bristol, November 2023

I think I might have to revisit my archives, because I have only recently become aware of the great work of Zaenone, but am told that he has painted in Bristol before. Perhaps I photographed but didn’t post his work because I didn’t know who he was – a little job for me over the Christmas break, maybe.

Zaenone, St Werburghs, Bristol, November 2023
Zaenone, St Werburghs, Bristol, November 2023

This is a lovely crisp and clean piece of writing, superbly presented on a yellow, grey and black background. I think that sometimes backgrounds are underrated, but they can make or break a piece, so thought is needed, and it is obvious that Zaenone has thought about this one. The letter fills and transitions are beautifully done and not overcomplicated or busy. I haven’t seen enough pieces by Zaenone to know whether he always incorporates ‘bookend’ characters, but in the two pieces I have seen, he has, and they are a unique and fun contribution, which really makes his work stand out. Looking forward to more from him in Bristol.

5685. Dean Lane skate park (666)

Minto, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2023
Minto, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2023

Minto’s recent appearances in Bristol are very much appreciated, and although he has had a long association with the city, it looks like he might be painting here more regularly. There are a few artists like Minto who are graffiti writers, that incorporate artwork and a story into the letters to create a kind of fusion. In this piece, Minto has written his name, or parts of it, into the side of a camper van.

Minto, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2023
Minto, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2023

This is not the first camper van piece I have seen by Minto, and I think it might be a kind of ‘thing’ for him at the moment. The piece is nicely painted, and I particularly like the ‘happy’ wheels, reflecting a mountainous wilderness at sunrise. Great stuff from Minto and I look forward to seeing a lot more.

5684. M32 roundabout J3 (533)

Laic217, Soap, Zake and Face 1st, M32 roundabout, Bristol, November 2023
Laic217, Soap, Zake and Face 1st, M32 roundabout, Bristol, November 2023

The Pirate Wall Art (PWA) crew have been a constant presence throughout 2023, adding to their ranks and adapting/growing/improving their artwork along the way. This is a lovely combination of pieces from Face 1st, Zake, Soap and the recently adopted Laic217.

Laic217, M32 roundabout, Bristol, November 2023
Laic217, M32 roundabout, Bristol, November 2023

Starting on the left is a fabulous melting face piece from Laic217. The disintegration of faces is a common theme in much of his work, and in this one the purple skin is dripping off, revealing a pink skull beneath. I love the addition of arrows piercing the smiley’s eyes on the bucket hat, although the beautifully worked shadows of the shafts are not consistent… where is the light source?

Soap, M32 roundabout, Bristol, November 2023
Soap, M32 roundabout, Bristol, November 2023

Next up is an outstanding piece of animated writing from Soap. He has incorporated characters from the cartoon show Adventure Time, namely Jake the Dog and, I am guessing, a Princess, but I don’t know which one. The letters spell SOAP in an imaginative way, and although painted in my least favourite spray paint colour are utterly awesome.

Zake, M32 roundabout, Bristol, November 2023
Zake, M32 roundabout, Bristol, November 2023

Zake has been switching things up lately, and in this piece he has painted a three-quarter cartoon profile, and this change of aspect means he has to think about shadings for a slight profile and the side of the head. He has managed to transition pretty well and incorporated tons of depth and texture with light and dark shading.

Face 1st, M32 roundabout, Bristol, November 2023
Face 1st, M32 roundabout, Bristol, November 2023

Finally, we have Face 1st, who has written the word FACE with a deep drop shadow, giving the impression that the letters are cut from a deep block. No girl’s happy faces on this one, but he has included a nice shout out to chill. Great work, once again from the PWA crew.

5683. Dean Lane skate park (665)

Mr Crawls, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2023
Mr Crawls, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2023

I love this door in Dean Lane, it creates a nice frame for character pieces and is definitely a candidate for the occasional feature on this blog, One Wall Many Faces. This time around it is the turn of Mr Crawls to occupy this space, and he has done a very nice job of it indeed.

Mr Crawls, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2023
Mr Crawls, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2023

As the year has progressed, Mr Crawls has become more productive, his pieces appearing all over the place, and more recently in collaborative form with Mote. I am not entirely sure what kind of bird this is. The hooked beak would suggest it is a raptor, but the colouring and characterful expression has gull written all over it. Of course, it is fictional and not a bird we recognise, mostly on account of a fine pair of horns. Great fun from the effervescent Mr Crawls.

5681. Frome Side (24)

Bbygwya, Frome Side, Bristol, November 2023
Bbygwya, Frome Side, Bristol, November 2023

Sometimes she writes FLUX, but on this occasion she has written LUXE, that is how Bbygwya rolls. Although she hasn’t painted a character for her piece, her letters are very well executed in this contribution to Bnie’s birthday and Vozie’s Baby celebration paint jam underneath the M32.

Bbygwya, Frome Side, Bristol, November 2023
Bbygwya, Frome Side, Bristol, November 2023

Bbygwya has done a great job with her fills in this piece, that I don’t quite know how to describe, magenta squiggles on a purple base I guess. The stars are very clever, giving off a kind of yellow glow or aura. A nice contribution from Bbygwya on what must have been a great, fun day.

5680. Brunel Way (248)

Dibz, Fade and Smak, Brunel Way, Bristol, November 2023
Dibz, Fade and Smak, Brunel Way, Bristol, November 2023

Here we have yet another classy collaboration between Dibz and Fade only this time they are joined by Smak in this Halloween extravaganza. The wall, as I have mentioned several times in the past, might be great fun to paint, especially if it is raining a little, but it is a devil to take decent photographs of unless the light conditions are perfect.

Dibz, Brunel Way, Bristol, November 2023
Dibz, Brunel Way, Bristol, November 2023

On the left, Dibz has painted a creepy ‘zombie’ hand clutching at a spray can, putting a finishing touch on the writing to the right of it. The letters are beautifully worked, and Dibz has adopted the traditional colours of Halloween pieces, namely, Orange, purple and black.

Fade, Brunel Way, Bristol, November 2023
Fade, Brunel Way, Bristol, November 2023

In the middle section, Fade has kept things simple with sticking to writing only with what looks like FADER, but could be something else altogether. All is neat and tidy with the piece as we’ve come to expect.

Smak, Brunel Way, Bristol, November 2023
Smak, Brunel Way, Bristol, November 2023

On the right-hand side, Smak has joined in with the festive fun with some very fancy letters and a skull character peering over the K to the right. The backdrop to the whole thing is a wonderful spooky silhouette of dead trees and towers, finished off with some autumn leaves sweeping across the entire length f the wall. A classy collaboration from three fabulous writers.

5678. M32 roundabout J3 (532)

Mind49, M32 roundabout, Bristol, November 2023
Mind 49, M32 roundabout, Bristol, November 2023

Well this one took me a little bit by surprise, because it is a piece of graffiti writing from Mind 49 who doesn’t usually major on his writing, in fact I think this is the first writing only piece I have seen from this talented artist. Some of his portrait and other pieces have included a few letters, but nothing on this scale.

Mind 49, M32 roundabout, Bristol, November 2023
Mind 49, M32 roundabout, Bristol, November 2023

Everything that you’d expect to see from a good graffiti writer is here… nice letter shapes, great colours and fills. The only thing that I think he needs to work on, and I am being super-picky, might be his outer border, which can be really unforgiving if the line is very thin. All in all, great to see something different from Mind 49, although, to be fair, all of his work is different from piece to piece. The piece fits a time context, with the ‘Free Palestine’ shout out.

5675. Frome Side (23)

Pekoe, Frome Side, Bristol, November 2023
Pekoe, Frome Side, Bristol, November 2023

I am only an occasional visitor to the Frome Side spot, which sits underneath the M32, adjacent to the M32 Spot, and access is a little tricky, especially in the wet weather, but particularly for the dog. I tend to save up my visits for a time when I can go alone, which these days isn’t all that often. I actually combined this one with a big shop at the Eastville Tesco.

Pekoe, Frome Side, Bristol, November 2023
Pekoe, Frome Side, Bristol, November 2023

What a treat awaited, a full wall of RBF paint jam pieces to celebrate Bnie’s birthday with a Rugrats theme. Pekoe absolutely came up trumps with this piece. She has smashed it here, combining her writing with a brilliant portrait of a Rugrats character (Susie Carmichael), and painting each of the letters in the style of the cartoon series, including a letter brick, a ball and a skipping rope. What a brilliant piece from Pekoe, demonstrating her talents with both characters and writing.

5673. Hepburn Road (23)

Biers, Hepburn Lane, Bristol, November 2023
Biers, Hepburn Lane, Bristol, November 2023

About a week ago I posted a piece by Biers which was not too dissimilar to this one. Similar colours and of course overall design of WD40, and incorporating a to cartoon character with ginger hair and glasses. The character from last week’s post was Dexter from Dexter’s Laboratory, but I am stumped by this character.

Biers, Hepburn Lane, Bristol, November 2023
Biers, Hepburn Lane, Bristol, November 2023

I was lucky enough to bump into Biers while he was painting this alongside Bags, but he hadn’t started the character, so I couldn’t ask him directly who it was. It is good to see that Biers is out and about again with his very ‘Bristol’ style of graffiti writing. I have mentioned this before, and I don’t know if this is a perception or a real thing, but I think that different cities and districts have ‘house’ styles, and Biers typifies the Bristol ‘house’ style.

5672. M32 roundabout J3 (530)

Hypo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, November 2023
Hypo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, November 2023

Last week I posted a piece by Hypo that showed something of a development of his style into a more cryptic wildstyle approach. This piece on the other hand is the more familiar graffiti writing we expect to see from Hypo, and what a colour-burst it is too.

Hypo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, November 2023
Hypo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, November 2023

The letters are clear to read, and there is a real sense of joy and optimism about the piece. The colours come together as if they were sweets in a jar and the whole thing looks almost edible. I love the design, and the colour fades and decorations, I think though, and I know I am nit-picking, that the black shadow might have been a little tidier. Beautiful work from Hypo.