Soker is an incredibly versatile writer, managing to conjure up no end of extraordinary styles for his usual SOKER letters, but this piece is, in my view, an extra special one produced during a recent birthday celebration paint for Sled One.
Soker, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2021
The colourful letters are framed within a beautiful flowery border that oozes pure class. It doesn’t take much more than the slightest glance to see that this is a masterful piece with an outstanding overall design, beautifully crafted fills and superb finishing. A supreme piece of graffiti writing.
I haven’t posted many pieces by Evey, mainly because I haven’t actually seen all that many. She tends to paint with other Resting Bitch Face (RBF) crew members, including Pekoe and Bnie, which was the case on this wall.
Evey, M32 roudabout, Bristol, March 2021
What I particularly like about Evey’s work is its simplicity and femininity (without being girly, if that makes sense). Her letters are nice and organic, but it is her fills, which are so often full of happiness, that show off her creativity. Although her work is still developing, there is something about it that I find incredibly attractive.
There have been few, if any, visiting artists during lockdown periods over the last year, which is what you’d expect, but the recent easing of lockdown measures has resulted in a little bit of movement. This fabulous collaboration by Big Inuk and Big Birdie is a welcome recent addition to this wall which hadn’t seen much in the way of turnover for ages. Sometimes it takes a non-local to get walls moving again.
Big Inuk, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2021
On the left is a fine piece of writing from Big Inuk who has visited Bristol before in recent years with equally impressive pieces. His skill is clear to see in this INUK writing, with some beautiful decorations and features.
Big Birdie, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2021
To the right is some equally impressive writing from Big Birdie who I have not featured on Natural Adventures before, so it is a big welcome to her. Again, this is the work of an accomplished graffiti writer, tight and clean, just what we like to see from visitors. I’m not sure where she is from but she is welcome to return any time.
Inuk, St Werburghs, Bristol, July 2018INUK, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2018
I can’t work out whether Lee Roy has been hiding from me for the last few years or whether I just haven’t noticed him before, but over the last few weeks his writing has appeared absolutely all over the place and I simply can’t keep up with it.
Lee Roy, M32 cycle path, Bristol, March 2021
This one on the cycle path is presented in a nice selection of blues and spells out LEEROY with his characteristic letter style. Some of the decorative work is a little untidy, but it sort of works with Lee Roy’s way I think. This is not the kind of perfection you might get with Rusk or Soker or Smak for example, but I don’t think it is striving for that. This piece is fun and that is enough.
It has been well worth the wait to see these two collaborating once again. Once a common sight, since last March, I think these two have only painted together a couple of times. This is back to the classic style for both artists, with their jagged spikes lettering.
Soge, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2021
On the left of the collaboration, set on a vibrant pink backwash, which if you look carefully is a tropical beach scene with ocean waves and palm trees, are the letters SOGE in an irregular formation. The letters look like the thorn forest in Disney’s Sleeping Beauty.
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2021
To the right is writing from Hire who has taken a break from his more recent representations to revert to old style work with a great result. These two artists absolutely smashing this style of writing which seems to be pretty unique to them in Bristol – I can’t think there are any other writers who do this. Great to see them back together and I am hoping it is the first of many more.
I realise that although I have photographed quite a lot of pieces by Bnie over the years I haven’t posted all that many on Natural Adventures. In fact that could be said of a great many artists. There are only a handful of artists that I will post everything I have, and they are, in no particular order; Laic217, Inkie, Kid Crayon, Sled One and 3Dom… in fact there are others, but I just can’t remember them right now. I suppose that this places a kind of ranking in my own mind, but I don’t think that is necessarily the case.
Bnie, Greenbank, Bristol, March 2021
This is a super piece of writing from Bnie with a really nice colour selection and 3D shadow shading. I like the way she has incorporated a little smile into the letter ‘B’ which is like a mash-up between Ryder and DFC1848. The way the colour shading works and the white accents work well together to give the whole piece a bit of a 3D lift. Note to self – post more Bnie work.
Shade One and Dibz have painted some fabulous collaborations over the last six months, but this one is probably the pick of the bunch. I was lucky enough to watch their progress for a while and have a quick chat. I’ve not met Shade One before, but he seems to be an affable guy, and I don’t seem to be able to avoid meeting Dibz at the moment, I think our biological clocks must be in sync.
Dibz and Shade One, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2021
This is a beautifully crafted piece and both artists are meticulous with the detail and clean lines. Dibz’s writing is as complex as ever with horizontally layered colours and shadows the offer a deep perspective. The writing serves as a foundation for the character piece by Shade One.
Dibz and Shade One, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2021
There is a wonderful symmetry and balance to this collaboration that makes it very easy on the eye indeed. I think the circle being referenced at the bottom in Dibz’s writing is really clever and brings a resolution to the whole composition. A brilliant piece from a couple of artists in peak form.
It may only be a small piece, but it is significant. I haven’t seen anything new from Lokey for such a long time, definitely more than a year, so finding this little gem on the side of a skate ramp was an absolute delight.
Lokey, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2021
Lokey is well known for his clever anamorphic writing which is created by some carefully designed letter shapes and shading techniques. I think that this little piece spells out LOKI from top to bottom. It was a sunny day when I took this picture and the whole thing is a bit bleached out which is a pity, but you can still see the quality and class ooze through this small work.
Thank you, Paul H for correcting my assumption that this piece was by Sled One. It is in fact by 3Dom, and was painted to celebrate Sled One’s birthday paint jam. In terms of the rest of the post, everything I wrote about Sled One is applicable to 3Dom. I will leave the post as originally written, because it is important to recognise how difficult it can be sometimes to get things wrong…
This wonderful piece of writing from Sled One is actually one half of a collaboration with himself, which in retrospect I ought to have posted as one, but without thinking I have split into two. Both elements of his work were part of an ASK painting session a couple of weeks back.
3Dom, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2021
Given that Sled One usually freestyles his work, which means he doesn’t paint from a design on a piece of paper in front of him, but with the freedom of his own mind, there is an extraordinary ease, confidence and flow that demonstrates his gift. Sled One is a truly gifted artist whose distinctive surreal creativity puts him in the highest echelons of character artists in Bristol (and beyond), and he is a great writer too. This is a fairly straightforward piece of writing, but often his writing is enhanced with character-like elements. Turning the inanimate into the animate is a speciality.
Relatively speaking, Rezwonk has had a quiet twelve months. Prior to the first lockdown a year ago, there was no stopping him and his collaborations with Decay and Nightwayss were a regular occurrence… it felt like barely a week would pass without at least one new ‘REZER’ gracing a Bristol wall somewhere. He has been missed, so seeing that he appears to be ramping things up again is pleasure to my eyes.
Rezwonk, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2021
This recent piece was part of a collaborative wall that was long overdue on this particular site which hadn’t changed for an eternity. This is a beautiful and technically accomplished piece in which he revisits his theme if incorporating rivets in to his letters, as if this were some large metalwork sculpture. The colours work nicely and there is a special something that makes it rather compelling. Great work, keep it up.
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