EDL at it again!

So! The EDL were at it again. They were angry about all the immigrants you see, taking their jobs and just generally being not British. The very presence of the EDL angered the anti fascists who turned out in even greater numbers, although being that there were only 20 or so of the EDL that's not saying much.  This of course meant that Wales had to donate it's entire police force to help keep everyone safe by locking down College Green essentially turning it into a makeshift prison yard and charging protesters with lines of horses.

It was all over pretty quickly to be fair and the police managed to avoid a potential 'Carry On' film by directing the Bristol naked bike ride to the otherside of town. Ooo matron!

A nice view over Bristol

Here's a drawing of a couple enjoying the view over Bristol from the top of one of it's landmarks; Cabot Tower.

Tipi tents in Queens Square

A couple of weeks ago a tipi village was erected in Queen's square Bristol. It was part of the 'Eat Drink Bristol Fashion' event which I guess is now going to be an annual event. It consists of a tipi Tapas bar made up of a series of inter-connected tipis, a series of stages and a market. They showed live cooking demonstrations as well as local musical talent.

It's a good natured event in the day; the tipis make a wonderful space to be in, but true to Bristol fashion it does tend to get rather messy in the evening which isn't really my bag. Each to their own I guess.

I chose to draw them erecting the tipis because that was when I had the opportunity to draw it. The seagulls are there to foretell the nature of the event that is to come and also to balance out the composition. It was surrounded by a wire fence but chose to omit that because I felt it would make the image too complex.

Tree protest

Bristol City Council has started on a new metro system that will cut through green space out towards Frenchay, getting the local eco-warriors up in arms. Rigging up a network of tarps and ropes people have been sleeping in the canopy for several nights.

The structures were really quite impressive, cocoon like. It's a feat of endurance that they are sleeping up there on these cold, blowy winter days. Speaking to a chap from the Feed Bristol group that grow produce in the surrounding allotments it appears to me that it would be a shame to lose the land. The arrangement seems very professional, utilising big poly tunnels that grow produce for many different causes.

Corn street at night, what a sight.

Here's the final image of Corn street at night. Generally pleased with it but feel the characters lack, well, character. I'd like it be a bit more like a Hogarth in technical ability but I'm pleased that it is comparable in principle.

There are plenty of subtle phallic references, the warm inviting glow of the bar with the dominating scale of the building I hope says a lot about how drinking culture manipulates and controls the masses. It's big business in it's worst guise.

 I thought it would be fun to show the progress of this one as I was afraid of putting the brush to the page for months, and you'll see why.

 

 From the preliminary sketch that you can see earlier in the blog I produced an under drawing that I was pleased with then after months of contemplation I applied the first wash which turned out like this...

AHHHHHH what have I done!? almost completely lost the under drawing. But alas with a lot of work I managed to bring it back together and feel proud for being so bold.

Maccy D's

An initial attempt to do a series of portraits sat in a Macdonalds in Bedminster, Bristol. It took a while to find a good spot to draw from but I managed a few. Not entirely the characters I was hoping for but it's a start.

 

Free Palestine! and Down With Tesco

So I set off to do some drawing on Saturday and stumbled across a protest heading past the Hippodrome. It was a group of Palestinians marching through town and with pen in hand I tagged along. They were stopping traffic but moving along before people got too annoyed, just enough to get themselves noticed. Quite an effective strategy it thought.

 

They were mostly Palestinians but with the usual token paranoid British protester who would stop and shout at every supermarket we came across, he even started on a G4S van claiming they built torture chambers. Sigh.

 

It was a small group but they really knew how to get attention and when to draw the line so good luck to them.  FREE PALESTINE!!!