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

The Beagle

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The lovely dudes at The Beagle in Chorlton asked if I’d like to paint them a new mural to bring the place some summery vibes. Nowt says ‘summer’ like cats having a beach party, right?

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High speed painting at @beaglesabout today.

A video posted by @thehammo on

Big cat outlining at @beaglesabout

A video posted by @thehammo on

Sketch-O-Matic Returns

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The Sketch-O-Matic booth gets another airing this Friday, this time at HOME. Once again, I’ll be one of the 55 artists frantically scribbling (and sweating) away in the dark, to draw portraits of the public in around 5 minutes. The event is on for 10 days, with a constantly changing rota of artists. Come and get an original piece of artwork for a bargain price!

I have two 2 hour slots this year.
Fri 4 Dec / 18.00 – 20.00
Thu 10 Dec / 17.00 – 19.00

Once you’ve been portraitized, do feel free to share a pic of your pic on Twitter or Instagram tagging them #SketchOMatic. Or post them on the SketchOMatic Facebook page.

Ooh, and here’s a link to a nice M.E.N article…

Sketch-o-matic-returns