Here I took on another homeless man from Scotland and gave him a chance to be part of this unique experience of creating art with me at Blackrock Brighton.
The man was an alcoholic who ended up reducing and stopping his drinking as he worked with me for nothing on this display.
None of us where on benefits and where relying on the public liking our artwork.
He pick up every stone/pebble in this display and I balanced them into place.
To make such a display you have to find the right materials that look like what your going to create.
You never know how anything is going to turn out and what the weather will do to what you create.
We had to buy the bags for life to carry the stones in from what we earned and where donated tents/sleeping bags and sometimes food by the general public to create it.
After 26 days we where given an eviction notice for having tents up and sleeping on the beach.
This to me wasn't right because we where actually doing something for free that could of been a tourist attraction.
This is what had changed my life around from being homeless to being a travelling artist yet I didn't have the funding like big artists did.
I never went to university and never really seemed to fit into society until a drunken bet on the streets of Brighton changed my life forever.
Even though I create these masterpieces that no one can buy because they are free standing like a sand sculpture, it doesn't mean I am a real artist.
Many children want to be like me because they say I am living the dream but the reality is different.
I am only someone who is trying to survive in life by creating what I love for free.
I know what it is like to have no money and how hard it is to beat poverty in the UK.
Many people would not know how hard it is to do what I do and how much abuse I sometimes have to take while creating my art.
I thought this display a rock band made out of rocks/pebbles would be good for The BIGGEST Arts Festival in England but I was wrong.
Some people loose faith in what they do and in this occasion I did.
After spending 26 days from morning to night in a tent and public people helping us get clothes washed, bring us hot meals and most of all praise us for creating the finest piece of art they had ever seen what would you do?
I thanked them of course for helping us out and then the council decide to give us an eviction notice for having tents up and trying to better our life's
I cannot believe this display hit the national papers and did not believe the person who said it did.
Why because I no big artist am just a bum to many that should have a real job.
Yet why should I work in someone's garden when I can create my art for everyone to see like a chalk artist or a musician.
I do not have the funding to pay for a spot to do my art in Brighton which is the birthplace of my art and it could also benefit many local charities in the future especially homeless ones because we need these places.
Many people rely on these places but the homeless hostels are not for me because I am a creative person who wants to help and not waist away waiting to get into somewhere I have been before.
Here is the link below that was on The Daily Mail website below.
Sorry that I lost my temper and destroyed what I created but if the council was getting rid of us then why should I let them benefit from the public coming to see my display.
I had children adding their own art pieces and foreign students and teachers putting pebbles and stones into it also so they could remember their visit to Brighton.
I have grown to love this place and regard it as home but it looks like any beach is my real home now.
