Bee In The City

New Bailey & Ellis Brigham Bees
IMG_1787City In The Bee
IMG_1320Benny The Bee
City In The Bee
My New Bailey sponsored bee echoes the murals that I painted in Stevenson Square after the Manchester Arena attack last year – to show positivity, solidarity with and love for Manchester. With so many bee motifs popping up across the city, I thought it would be nice to have a city, with a stylised Manchester skyline, within the Bee.
IMG_0616Blank bee
IMG_0682Spraypaint background.

IMG_0862Acrylic clouds and first buildings
IMG_0874Progress

IMG_0934Awkward angles
IMG_0904Backside ft. New Bailey and Civil Justice Centre

IMG_1270Concentration face
IMG_1126Losing light

IMG_4776Family portrait
IMG_1216Secret antennae bee

Benny The Bee
Sponsored by Ellis Brigham, Benny The Bee is named after Benny Rothman; a keen activist and rambler who in 1932 led a mass trespass of over 400 walkers on a route around Kinder Scout, to exercise their right to roam, in defiance of the government’s recent decision to deny ramblers access to parts of open country. The map on the base shows the route the tankers took from Bowden Bridge quarry, up towards Kinder Scout. The plaster on Benny’s head hints at the scuffles and confrontations that took place between gamekeepers and some of the ramblers.

IMG_1268Scruffy masking
IMG_1300Cocooning base in tape to cut map details from

IMG_1301Fox, carrying rat
IMG_1309Map stencils

IMG_1334Benny’s plaster
IMG_1324Benny’s backpack

Koffee Pot

Koffee Pot 2015

So Northern Quarter breakfast kings and bona fide Manchester institution Koffee Pot are finally ready to open this Saturday lunchtime, after their move to from Stevenson Square to Oldham Street. The new premises look rather swish, while retaining some of the original features salvaged from the old place. They got me in to paint an updated version of their original mural, which I painted back in 2006 (some of which has been rescued, framed and hung up in the new place). My style has progressed a little in 9 years, but I tried to keep the spirit of the original (below).

koffeepot

There’s a nice article in the MEN, with some more pics. Top Photo credit: Andy Lambert

Alphabet Brewing Company

Brand new Manchester brewery Alphabet Brewing Company asked me if I’d like to provide them with illustrations for their bottles and pump badges.
Hmm, a job that lets me try some ace beers while drawing horses with machine guns…
YES PLEASE!

1A-to-the-K-Label-Final
1A-to-the-K-Pump-Badge-2

1Space-Invader-Label-Final-A
1Space-Invader-Pump-Badge-Final
1Crate-Digger-Label-Final
Crate-Digger-Pump-Badge-FinalKERB-KICKER-Label-FinalKerb-Kicker-Pump-Badge-Final

A to the K (the first to be released) is a lovely drop, and is on various taps around town.
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