7199. Frome Side (54)

Marckinetic, Frome Side, Bristol, September 2025
Marckinetic, Frome Side, Bristol, September 2025

I first encountered Marckinetic’s work when he used to paint alongside Kid Krishna, but the frequency of his pieces dwindled to virtually nothing, that is, until now. This is an absolutely stunning piece under the M32 to which access has been freed up, having been more difficult over the summer months. This piece was painted as part of a collaboration with another artist whose work I didn’t recognise.

Marckinetic, Frome Side, Bristol, September 2025
Marckinetic, Frome Side, Bristol, September 2025

Unfortunately, there is a bit of unavoidable glare in these pictures, which don’t really do the piece justice. The whole thing looks like it is a spaceship travelling through space, there is certainly movement from left to right with the black smoke trails. Inside the letters of the piece, Marckinetic has produced his incredible cosmic patterns, a trademark of his work. The whole piece is awesome, and it is great to see his work after what feels like a long time.

7198. River Avon (94)

Asre, River Avon, Bristol, September 2025
Asre, River Avon, Bristol, September 2025

Since returning to painting on the streets of Bristol, it appears that Asre has been preferring his graffiti writing to his cheeky character pieces. I don’t know the reasons for this change, but he is smashing it with his letters.

Asre, River Avon, Bristol, September 2025
Asre, River Avon, Bristol, September 2025

This is a beautifully presented piece, where all the lines and decorations, inside and outside the letters, are clean and crisp. The three autumnal colour of the fill are beautifully distributed and brought to life with reversed out stars and spots. A thick border contains the letters well and on the outside, purple splats give the piece dominance over the surrounding graffiti without the need for buffing the wall. Lovely writing.

7193. St Werburghs tunnel (526)

Butch and Solar, St Werburghs, Bristol, September 2025
Butch and Solar, St Werburghs, Bristol, September 2025

Thinking back, it is quite unusual to see any work from the PLB (Placebo) crew in St Werburghs tunnel, but here, breaking the trend, is a two-piece collaboration from Butch and Solar. I suspect that there is a third artist involved in this piece in the form of the cat character in the middle, but it is unsigned, so I can’t be sure.

Butch, St Werburghs, Bristol, September 2025
Butch, St Werburghs, Bristol, September 2025

To the left is a really lovely piece of writing by Butch. I love his choice of letters, they really work for me, and the way he lays them out in a higgledy-piggledy fashion appeals. The letter fills in red are good and bounded by a strong orange line, all neatly placed on a white cloud background.

Solar, St Werburghs, Bristol, September 2025
Solar, St Werburghs, Bristol, September 2025

To the right, Solar has painted his customary slightly wibbly letters in striking red, with black decorations and an uplifting yellow drop shadow. The whole thing is vibrant and eye-catching and, from my perspective, shows great development and improvement/confidence from both artists. Who did paint the cat?

7191. M32 roundabout J3 (717)

Face 1st, M32 roundabout, Bristol, September 2025
Face 1st, M32 roundabout, Bristol, September 2025

At around the time Face 1st left Bristol about a year or so ago, he had been doing quite a lot of experimentation around his writing and different font ideas. On his visits back to Bristol, he has switched between his writing and his character combination pieces. This one is writing only.

Face 1st, M32 roundabout, Bristol, September 2025
Face 1st, M32 roundabout, Bristol, September 2025

The letters spell out FACE 1ST in a rather unusual typeface that looks like a first step towards calligraffiti, but has too many soft edges and freedom to be considered as that. I am a huge fan of Face 1st’s work and would like to see him painting more of his character pieces, and concentrating less on his writing, but I think that he might feel differently. A nice collaboration with PWA fellow Soap.

7190. Lucky Lane (6)

#DFTE, Lucky Lane, Bristol, September 2025
#DFTE, Lucky Lane, Bristol, September 2025

Our street philosopher, #DFTE, has been at it again, this time with a large mural piece painted during the recent Bristol Mural Collective paint jam in Lucky Lane. Nobody else does anything like this, so it is always easy to identify his work.

#DFTE, Lucky Lane, Bristol, September 2025
#DFTE, Lucky Lane, Bristol, September 2025

‘Dream big and believe in yourself’ are fine words, and just the confidence boost we could all do with from time to time. It reminds me of a wonderful piece of graffiti that used to be in the centre of Bristol that simply said ‘You look beautiful’. #DFTE’s big and bold letters have the most wonderful drips, something he has developed and perfected over time. I still haven’t yet met the artist, but it is just a matter of time I am sure.

7188. Cumberland Basin

Ments, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, September 2025
Ments, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, September 2025

Aha! how absolutely blooming brilliant to come across this outstanding piece from Ments, an artist whose abstract work I have long admired, but who rarely seems to paint these days. This piece was painted alongside Sled One, both of whom were pioneers in ‘colonising’ this particular wall – now a firm favourite with local and visiting artists.

Ments, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, September 2025
Ments, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, September 2025

There is a fluidity to Ments’ work, which comes across in this piece. Everything is carefully thought out, the colours and shapes, and even the scatter of blue shards bursting from left to right. A very classy piece that highlights how much Ments’ absence is felt.

7185. M32 roundabout J3 (716)

Soap, M32 roundabout, Bristol, September 2025
Soap, M32 roundabout, Bristol, September 2025

Soap doesn’t seem to paint all that often these days, especially since his PWA collaborator has moved to Herefordshire. It was therefore a wonderful surprise to come across this absolute belter from him a couple of weeks ago.

Soap, M32 roundabout, Bristol, September 2025
Soap, M32 roundabout, Bristol, September 2025

I cannot really express how much I like this piece of graffiti writing. The letters are in a fancy thin script style, which, once you get your eye in, you can see spells SOAP. What makes the piece special is how the letters in green interact with the stunning pink background and all its decorations. Brilliant work from Soap.

7184. M32 Spot (207)

Mesk and ES3, M32 Spot, Bristol, June 2025
Mesk and ES3, M32 Spot, Bristol, June 2025

This is one of my favourite spots in Bristol, and is the perfect place for a double (and sometimes triple) collaboration. This time, Mesk has combined his talents with ES3 (an artist I don’t know), set on a sharp yellow background.

Mesk, M32 Spot, Bristol, June 2025
Mesk, M32 Spot, Bristol, June 2025

Mesk has kept things simple, which is incredibly effective in this case. His overlapping letters cascade from left to right in a slightly decreasing height. The tidy fill in four wavy horizontal bands is all that is needed here, and the solid border/drop shadow does some of the ‘heavy lifting’. A phenomenal piece.

ES3, M32 Spot, Bristol, June 2025
ES3, M32 Spot, Bristol, June 2025

To the right, ES3, who I assume was visiting Bristol, and whose work I am not familiar with, has painted a fun combination piece. A cat character with crazy eyes is painted alongside the letters ES3, which mirrors the fill style of the adjacent Mesk piece, but in red colours. The piece is rounded off with a drop shadow and blue border. Definitely a gratifying find.

7183. St Werburghs tunnel (525)

Jee See, St Werburghs, Bristol, July 2025
Jee See, St Werburghs, Bristol, July 2025

Jee See doesn’t paint too much these days, but it is always great to find one of his SEISMIC pieces. This one from earlier this year in July was part of a Free Palestine paint jam, once again using street art as a place to comment on the issues of the day. This and other pieces offer a commentary and through this blog, I record them, archiving a little slice of our local and global history.

Jee See, St Werburghs, Bristol, July 2025
Jee See, St Werburghs, Bristol, July 2025

Jee See has been writing his angled SEISMIC letters for as long as I have known him, which must be ten years or so. In this piece the letters are draped in the colours of the Palestinian flag. No further words are needed. We all know what is happening. We all know that the Israeli state is committing genocide. We just want it to stop and to bring peace to the region.

7182. M32 roundabout J3 (715)

Hypo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2025
Hypo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2025

I don’t think I have too much to add to all the words I have already written about Hypo this year. He has been simply sublime, turning out piece after piece of such high quality, and all the time improving too.

Hypo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2025
Hypo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2025

This is a stunner, painted in the vibrant colours of fire; red orange and yellow. The hot piece is filled with these colours blended in different horizontal sequences through the HYPO letters. Adding to the base layer of shape and colours, Hypo has added white highlights and starbursts that create depth to the letters, added some bubbles for interest and bordered the whole thing with an ice cold line which includes some wonderful dips. A masterful piece.