What a nice thing to see, another piece from Esme Lower, who appears to be getting a little more active on the streets of Bristol lately. Her letters MELO are, I am assuming, a conflation of the end of esME and the start of LOwer.
Esme Lower, Greenbank, Bristol, August 2025
Her artwork in this piece is beautifully thought out, with her merged letters decorated with some lovely daisies around the outside. Such is the fill running through that if you didn’t know it spelled MELO, you might have missed the letters altogether. A nice confident piece.
Cheo, Dibz and Ulow, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2025
Lots to see and admire in this wonderful triptych from Cheo, Dibz and Ulow, painted during a ‘high end’ paint jam celebrating the latter’s birthday. The whole wall, (see last photograph) was sheer class.
Cheo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2025
First up in this little sequence of three is a brilliant B Boy character by Cheo, with his second piece of the paint jam. A perfect cartoon-style, with so much detail to enjoy, and of course the trademark bee.
Dibz, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2025
In the middle of this triptych is an outstanding piece of graffiti writing by Dibz which appropriately spells out ULOW. Beautifully designed letters and fills have to give way a little to some amazing exploding pink bubbles. A nicely balanced piece.
Ulow, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2025
Finally, all eyes are on the amazing character by the birthday boy himself. Ulow has painted an extraordinary comic-style full portrait of a young woman dancing, or so it appears. Ulow has created enormous depth with his perspective, and accentuated the muscle-tone incredibly skilfully. Truly stunning work from all three artists.
Minto, Cheo, Hypo, Ulow, Dibz, Soker, Rusk, Shade One and Turoe, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2025
Another quick couple of posts today… too busy with the dying embers of our holiday. This is a lovely piece celebrating Ulow’s birthday, and part of a sensational paint jam. Hypo has abandoned his letters in favour of ULOW.
Hypo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2025
When artists change their letters, I am left wondering if it is more of a challenge, or whether they can transpose their skills seamlessly. Lots of things to like about this piece, great colours, lots of fill decorations, and effective white highlights providing depth. A nice birthday gift.
Minto, Cheo, Hypo, Ulow, Dibz, Soker, Rusk, Shade One and Turoe, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2025
Tunnel entrances are always difficult to photograph, especially on sunny days, as you can see from this light/shadow image taken at the second tunnel in St Werburghs. The poor photo doesn’t detract from the quality of the graffiti writing by Hemper.
Hemper, Boiling Wells Lane, Bristol, August 2025
Writing in his short-form HEMS, Hemper has provided a checked background, which is inspirational, and, using three colours, one step age and of the simple concept. The yellow letters, incorporating two characters, are outstanding, with brilliant use of black and white highlights to give 3D depth to them. The work of a genius (I rarely use the term, but in this case I believe it to be true).
Pura Decadencia, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, August 2025
Pura Decadencia has smashed it with this gorgeous piece of writing alongside the M32, behind the Black Swan. Her overall style and skill had been on an upward trajectory over the years, and she is now turning out some outstanding graffiti writing pieces.
Pura Decadencia, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, August 2025
The regular letters are filled with yellow, light blue and green with patterns reversed out from colour to colour. The letters are bordered confidently with a thick red line that helps the letters stand out. A yellow plasma line runs through the piece, and it is all presented on a black buffed wall, without which it would risk being swamped by surrounding artwork. Excellent graffiti writing from Pura Decadencia.
From time to time in the past I am sure I have seen the letters EMCE before, but it appears that I haven’t posted anything from the artist before, so this is, I suppose, a debut piece on Natural Adventures, and one of two, at least, painted in Bristol recently.
EMCE, Brunel Way, Bristol, August 2025
The overlapping letters, in a solid style with pointy bits, each have their own colour presented in a pleasing transition. Lift is provided by a thin orange border and some nicely painted white highlights,, all finished off with some decorative drips. A nice piece of graffiti writing.
Slim Pickings, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2025
It is a very long time since I last posted anything by Slim Pickings (TES), not because he hasn’t been painting, but because I have been so squeezed by unbelievable volume of street/graffiti art being painted over the last few months. To make up for lost time, here are two pieces painted during the same session in August.
Slim Pickings, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2025
For a long time Slim Pickings would repeat the same basic form of his TES letters, rarely deviating from the archetypal form other than adjusting the fills and the odd accessory decoration. With these two pieces he has thrown in some slightly different designs. The one with the pink background is a bit of beauty.
I have mentioned a couple of times recently that Cort has been having a surge this summer, not only in the quantity of his graffiti writing pieces, but also in the quality of them. This is another example of his unusual writing style on one of the large wall spaces at Peel Street Green.
Cort, Peel Street Green, Bristol, August 2025
Cort has been playing with all sorts of variants of his letters this year, and this one spells out KORTOS. The irregular shaped letters are verging on the ‘anti-style’ form, but have enough regularity and recognition to remail as conventional graffiti writing. The fills are nicely designed to run through the letters in a coherent pattern. I love the two characteristic black spots on the ‘T’. The wall is sensibly buffed, helping the letters to really stand out on the irregular white background. This is a beautifully designed and presented piece of graffiti writing.
I have waited a long time to see this wonderful piece from Biers. Over the last few months, Biers appears to have lost his mojo a little and has been painting infrequently and tending to use the short-form version of his WD40 moniker. It happens for artists from time to time – you can’t be on top of your game all of the time.
Biers, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2025
I hope this piece marks a return of the longer form combination pieces that are so typically the wonderful work of Biers. I don’t know who the character is meant to be, but I really like him (looks like a teddy boy to me) and I love the way he contrasts with the colours of the letters and background. The fills in the letters are outstanding With some nicely done reversed out circles in black and gold. The res patterns look like little viruses wafting over the piece. All in all a great piece and one, I hope, that encourages Biers to return to his former glory.
This is another clear and unambiguous message painted at the Bristol Mural Collective’s Palestine protest paint jam held last month on the long hoarding at Greenbank. The piece is by Rtiiika, which, although unsigned, is so characteristic of her style.
Rtiiika, Greenbank, Bristol, August 2025
‘Gaza is starving’ – ‘Let aid in now’, two messages that have been persistently ignored by the Israeli Government. Every day brings new stories of the war crimes being committed by the Israeli Government, and still the international community does nothing to stop this. Trump is impotent and has been played by Netanyahu. Is it only me that sees the parallels between the Israeli state’s behaviour now and their justifications, and the behaviours and justifications of the Nazis during WWII? Surely the irony isn’t lost? One might have expected more compassion from a people who experienced some of the worst persecution in modern history. BTW, this does not make me an antisemite, just in case anyone was wondering, but it makes me very much opposed to the fascist elements of the Israeli Government.
Sorry, but I had to go there. Normal service will resume immediately.
