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Home / Poetry and stories / The Believers

Posted on March 11, 2019March 11, 2019 by admin

The Believers

An eccentric life indeed; literary arguments, philosophical discussions, politics and pamphlets, marching and music – and sixty years of quiet love.

A part of the Portraits collection

Category: Poetry and stories

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For all overseas shipping please contact me before purchase.

Please get in touch if you are interested in purchasing any of my artwork which is not for sale in this shop.

mr.cronch

This just happened! I found out that my painting '

This just happened! I found out that my painting 'New Beginnings' has just been selected for a cheeky prize by @mockingbird_press!
I'm dead chuffed with this.
Time for a Friday night beer to celebrate!
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#mockingbirdpressart #newbeginnings #daffodils #stainedglassart #daisyart #sopretty #spring #springtime #nature #newgrowth #springflowers #daisies #decorativeart #daffodilart #natureartist #natureartwork #acrylicpainting #artoftheday #artistic #instaartist #creative #painting #mothernature #stainedglasseffect #flowerart #beautifulart #veganartist #naturedesign #paintingnature

'Cold Blood' (acrylic paint on A4 canvas board) 20

'Cold Blood' (acrylic paint on A4 canvas board)
2018

I painted this for a very personal reason. My friends and family fully support my vegan lifestyle, many of them are even semi-vegan themselves, and yet, despite knowing the facts written below, they ALL ignore logic and ethics when it comes to eating fish.
Why?

The oceans are farmed on an unimaginable scale. 90% of all common fish have disappeared since the 1950s, whilst governments and the fishing industry continue to promote the myth of 'sustainable fishing'. If the current situation continues the world's oceans are predicted to be empty of marine life by 2050.

Killed on an industrial scale.
Killed by consumer apathy.
Killed in cold blood.
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#marinelife #oceanlife #fish #fishing #underwater #sealife #painting #govegan #crueltyfree #veganism #animalrights #vegansofinstagram #veganuniverse #veganartist #veganlife #instaart #instaartist #artistic #contemporaryart #seashepherd #savetheoceans #underwaterworld #acrylicpainting #acryliconcanvas #meatfree #animalliberation #animalcruelty #fishfeelpain #coldblood #underwaterart

'Misery' (acrylic paint in A4 canvas board) 2019

'Misery' (acrylic paint in A4 canvas board)
2019

Turkeys are intelligent, athletic, socially sophisticated birds.

On factory farms they are taken from their mothers and housed in large, windowless sheds with up to 10,000 other birds.

They are genetically manipulated and drugged. They have their beaks and toes mutilated without anaesthetic.

Finally they are electrocuted.

A 10 year lifespan reduced to 20 weeks.

THEIR MISERY - FOR YOUR PLEASURE.
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#animalrights #govegan #veganism #vegansofig #vegansofinstagram #animalcruelty #painting #animalabuse #acrylicpainting #veganfortheanimals #meatfree #earthlings #animalwelfare #artofcompassionproject #herbivore #animalactivist #speciesism #animalrightsart #animalrightsactivist activism #ukartist #creative #instaart #artistic #contemporaryart #artoftheday #animalart #poultry #turkey #factoryfarming #turkeyfarming

'SHINE' (acrylic paint on A3 canvas board) 'From m

'SHINE'
(acrylic paint on A3 canvas board)
'From midday to midnight,
Giving life to the light'
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#art #moonlight #sunshine #acrylicpainting #moon #creative #arte #sunlight #artsy #arts #instaartist #contemporaryart #artistic #acryliconcanvas #originalart #fantasyart #gorgeousart #beautifulart #beautifulartwork #stainedglass #stainedglassart #stainedglasswindow #bluesky #shine #sunshineart #moonart #sunart #beautifulwomen #beautifulbizarre #decorativeart

The Suffering (acrylic paint on A4 canvas board)

The Suffering
(acrylic paint on A4 canvas board)

'Think occasionally of the suffering of which you spare yourself the sight' (quote from humanitarian and philosopher Albert Schweitzer).

I waited many years until I felt I had the experience at painting to be able to tackle this picture with enough skill, to be able to portray these abused animals with enough dignity and accuracy to do them justice.
It's not an unusual image in our society, just another factory farm. And that's what makes it so unbearable - that this is just another acceptable obscenity.

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#animalrights #govegan #veganism #vegansofig #vegansofinstagram #animalcruelty #painting #animalabuse #acrylicpainting #veganfortheanimals #meatfree #earthlings #animalwelfare #artofcompassionproject #herbivore #animalactivist #speciesism #animalrightsart #animalrightsactivist activism #ukartist #creative #instaart #artistic #contemporaryart #artoftheday #animalart #poultry #chickens #factoryfarming #chickenfarming

'HOME SWEET HOME' (graphite pencil on A4 card) Di

'HOME SWEET HOME' (graphite pencil on A4 card)

Directly inspired by photographs from investigations into UK egg farms in 2016. Farms that are ORGANIC, FREE RANGE, BRITISH STANDARD.

This is the BEST the industry can do.

Their 'Home Sweet Home'.

If you think this is uncomfortable and unpleasant to look at, then just imagine what it's like to live there. Each face I drew is an individual; a life; a sentient being. Each one suffers.

A possible decade of life reduced to this 72 week life sentence so that commercial companies can sell you eggs.

But of course they never show you where they come from.
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#batteryhens #vegansofig #poultry #factoryfarm #veganillustrator #eggfree #drawing #animalrights #veganartist #instaart #govegan #crueltyfree #veganism #creative #artoftheday #sketchbook #artivism #cagedhens #artsy #instaartist #chickensofinstagram #vegansofinstagram #arte #paint #hens #veganlife #farmlife #pencildrawing #artistic #animalrightsactivist

'Now you see me' (acrylic paint on A4 canvas board

'Now you see me' (acrylic paint on A4 canvas board)

Inspired by photos from undercover investigations on UK 'enriched cage' Egg Farms in 2016.

The 'superior' form of battery farming.

Caged with 40 - 80 others.
My share of the cage is just larger than an A4 sized sheet of paper.
This barren and overcrowded environment causes social and physical stress, feather pecking and cannibalism.
My beak is trimmed causing acute and chronic pain.
The sloping wire mesh floor causes lesions on my sensitive feet.
In the wild I would lay 20 eggs per year and could live for a decade.
In the cage I will lay 300 eggs and will die after 72 weeks.
I will leave the cage only when I am taken to be killed.

ALL THIS IS HIDDEN FROM YOU.

Now you see me.
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#batteryhens #vegansofig #poultry #factoryfarm #veganillustrator #eggfree #painting #animalrights #veganartist #instaart #govegan #crueltyfree #veganism #creative #artoftheday #sketchbook #artivism #cagedhens #artsy #instaartist #chickensofinstagram #vegansofinstagram #arte #paint #hens #veganlife #farmlife #acrylicpainting #artistic #animalrightsactivist

'Gassed' (acrylic paint on A4 canvas board) Since

'Gassed' (acrylic paint on A4 canvas board)
Since it's Easter Weekend and images of spring flowers, chocolate eggs and newborn chicks are everywhere (courtesy of our deeply superficial and fact-free advertising industry) I thought I'd post a timely reminder of some rather more realistic facts about those cute, fluffy little birds we all love so much....

In commercial egg farms eggs develop inside industrialised incubators.
At around 21 days the chicks hatch in tiered racks of trays.
They are placed on conveyor belts to be sorted.
Male chicks are removed, and these ‘rejects’ are gassed to death.
Until recently they could also be thrown alive into electric mincers.
This method is still legal.
40 million day-old chicks are killed each year in UK hatcheries.

ALL COMMERCIAL EGG PRODUCERS DO THIS.
Free Range, Organic, Enriched Cage.
THERE ARE NO EXCEPTIONS.
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#activist #activism #animalrightsart #vegansofig #painting #eggfree #instaart #govegan #crueltyfree #savetheanimals #veganism #creative #artoftheday #acrylicpainting #animalrights #artsy #instaartist #vegansofinstagram #chicks #eggs #veganlife #dairyfree #veganlifestyle #artistic #contemporaryart #illustrator #fineart #arts #factoryfarming #chickens

'Spent: the true price of eggs' (acrylic paint on

'Spent: the true price of eggs' (acrylic paint on A4 canvas board)

Naturally intelligent, social, sensitive, with a distinct hierarchy, a communal approach to rearing their young, producing only 20 eggs per year, and with a lifespan of up to a decade.

Unnaturally confined, suffering acute pain, calcium deficient, sickly, suffering physical and social stress, forced to produce 300 egg in their 72 week lifespan, until they are exhausted, unprofitable...

And 'spent'.

Free range, organic, 'enriched cage' - The true price of eggs.

NB: originally created for Viva.org.uk in 2016, the video I made of this painting had over 33,000 views on their Facebook page (far in excess of most of their others) proving that something in it had truly hit a nerve.
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#activist #activism #eggfree #vegansofig #animalrights #animalrightsart #instaart #govegan #crueltyfree #savetheanimals #veganism #creative #artoftheday #acrylicpainting #hen #chickens #artsy #instaartist #vegansofinstagram #arte #paint #veganlife #bestofvegan #veganlifestyle #chickenfarming #artistic #contemporaryart #illustrator #fineart #factoryfarming

'Down on the farm' (acrylic paint on A4 canvas boa

'Down on the farm' (acrylic paint on A4 canvas board)
2016

Permanently caged in a barren environment; with trimmed beaks, brittle bones, foot lesions; with overcrowding causing social and physical stress as well as feather pecking and cannibalism...

These 'enriched cages' allow each bird a space just larger than one A4 size sheet of paper. Every minute of every hour of every day of every week, for 72 weeks, before being removed for slaughter.

Just another day down on the farm.

(Painted using photographs from undercover investigations into UK 'enriched cage' egg farms)

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#batteryhens #vegansofig #poultry #factoryfarm #veganillustrator #eggfree #painting #animalrights #veganartist #instaart #govegan #crueltyfree #veganism #acrylicpainting #artoftheday #sketchbook #artivism #cagedhens #artsy #instaartist #chickensofinstagram #vegansofinstagram #arte #paint #hens #veganlife #farmlife #acrylicpainting #artistic #animalrightsactivist

'Broiler - portrait of a life' (acrylic paint on A

'Broiler - portrait of a life'
(acrylic paint on A4 canvas board, 2016)

Taken directly from undercover investigation photographs on UK farms.

Approximately 60 million broiler breeders are reared in Europe every year, producing 7.5 billion broiler chickens.
Since they are bred to become unnaturally obese, the feed of broiler breeders will be severely restricted and they will be kept permanently hungry to avoid the problems associated with the rearing of meat broilers.

The male breeding stock have their beaks trimmed, their combs removed and are declawed in an attempt to prevent damage to females during mating as well as to prevent feather-pecking and cannibalism due to the highly unnatural, intensive environment.
These mutilations are almost always performed without anaesthetic, causing severe and lasting pain.

Each female broiler breeder will produce up to 140 chicks in their artificially short lifetime.

Both Hens and Roosters will be allowed to live for no more than 10 months, when their peak egg production ends and they cease to be a profitable commodity.

This is the life of a broiler breeder.
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#speciesism #activist #activism #plantbased #vegansofig #painting #fuckmeat #instaart #meatfree #govegan #crueltyfree #savetheanimals #veganism #creative #artoftheday #savetheplanet #broilers #artsy #instaartist #vegansofinstagram #bethechange #veganlife #bestofvegan #veganlifestyle #paint #artistic #contemporaryart #illustrator #arts #animalrightsart

'Behind Closed Doors: the hidden world of broiler

'Behind Closed Doors: the hidden world of broiler breeders'
(acrylic paint on A4 canvas board, 2016)

Taken directly from undercover investigation photographs on UK farms.

Approximately 60 million broiler breeders are reared in Europe every year, producing 7.5 billion broiler chickens.
Since they are bred to become unnaturally obese, the feed of broiler breeders will be severely restricted and they will be kept permanently hungry to avoid the problems associated with the rearing of meat broilers.
Despite this 20% of them will still be culled due to lameness caused by this excessive weight gain.
Outbreaks of Campylobacter infection are common in breeder flocks.
50% of all antibiotic usage in Britain is in farming – most of which is in the broiler industry.
The male breeding stock have their beaks trimmed, their combs removed and are declawed in an attempt to prevent damage to females during mating as well as to prevent feather-pecking and cannibalism due to the highly unnatural, intensive environment.
These mutilations are almost always performed without anaesthetic, causing severe and lasting pain.
Each female broiler breeder will produce up to 140 chicks in their artificially short lifetime.
Both Hens and Roosters will be allowed to live for no more than 10 months, when their peak egg production ends and they cease to be a profitable commodity.

This is Life and Death…

Behind Closed Doors.
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#speciesism #activist #activism #plantbased #vegansofig #painting #fuckmeat #instaart #meatfree #govegan #crueltyfree #savetheanimals #veganism #creative #artoftheday #savetheplanet #broilers #artsy #instaartist #vegansofinstagram #bethechange #veganlife #bestofvegan #veganlifestyle #paint #artistic #contemporaryart #illustrator #arts #animalrightsart

'Unseen / Obscene' - Broilers on a UK farm, 201

'Unseen / Obscene' - Broilers on a UK farm, 2016
(acrylic paint on A4 canvas board)

Almost one billion chickens are killed in the UK each year.
98% of this 'broiler' production in the UK is intensive.

In the wild, chickens can live for more than 7 years.
They are intelligent creatures.
They communicate in sophisticated ways, displaying emotional empathy and the ability to problem-solve.
They show behavioural flexibility and make conscious judgments.

But in the factory farming system they are treated as nothing more than a commodity, enduring a grotesquely exaggerated growth rate, resulting in a life of suffering.
A life which ends with their slaughter at just 6 weeks old.

A single shed may house 30,000 birds (though sometimes the numbers are even greater).
Each individual bird has less room than one A4 sized sheet of paper.
The majority of these sheds have no source of natural light.

In these conditions the birds suffer from lameness, infectious diseases, heat stress, heart attacks, ammonia burns, starvation and dehydration.
Cannibalism is common.
47 million birds die on British farms before their allotted 6 weeks are up.

THIS IS THE BRUTAL REALITY OF LIFE AND DEATH ON A BRITISH CHICKEN FARM TODAY.

Suffering that is unseen.
Suffering that is obscene
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#speciesism #activist #activism #plantbased #vegansofig #painting #fuckmeat #instaart #meatfree #govegan #crueltyfree #savetheanimals #veganism #creative #artoftheday #chickenfarming #broilers #artsy #instaartist #vegansofinstagram #bethechange #veganlife #bestofvegan #veganlifestyle #acrylicpainting #artistic #contemporaryart #illustrator #animalrights #animalrightsart

'Baby Blue Eyes' This is my personal emojibaby. Ye

'Baby Blue Eyes'
This is my personal emojibaby.
Yes, it IS a little bit creepy and weird
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#painting #instaart #fantasyart #figurepainting #acrylicpainting #portraits #creative #portraiture #arte #artoftheday #artistic #instaartist #artsy #deviantart #weirdart #artoninstagram #darkart #beautifulbizarre #humanfaces #creepy #bigeyesart #surrealart #weirdartwork #babyart #baby #explodingbaby #babyblueeyes #veganartist

'Best of British' (acrylic paint on A4 canvas boar

'Best of British' (acrylic paint on A4 canvas board)
2016

When you see words like 'Red Tractor Approved' on the label of the meat that you buy, do you honestly believe that it means something?

Think again.

This is taken directly from a photograph taken by an undercover photographer on a UK pig farm. It is one of the most harrowing images I've ever chosen to paint. Hidden in the darkness, utterly forgotten and deemed worthless, other than as a few scraps of meat and fat, I wanted to give dignity back to this poor creature, to elevate her existence to the form of 'Fine Art'. I wanted her seen and recognised and for the viewer to feel empathy, no matter how hard it is to look at this image.
She is/was real. She deserves respect.

If, as a meat eater, you look in her eyes and feel nothing, then I despair for you.

We can do better. It's the simplest thing in the world. Choose a vegan lifestyle. What on earth is stopping you?.
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#activist #activism #plantbased #vegansofig #fuckmeat #animalrightsart #pork #painting #draw #veganillustrator #instaart #govegan #crueltyfree #savetheanimals #veganism #creative #artoftheday #animalrights #pigletsofinstagram #artsy #instaartist #vegansofinstagram #art #pigfarming #contemporaryart #illustrator #bethechange #pigsofinstagram #acrylicpainting #ukfarming

'Next in line' (acrylic paint on A4 canvas board)

'Next in line' (acrylic paint on A4 canvas board)
2018

Over 2.6 million cattle are killed in abattoirs in the UK each year.
Out of sight, out of mind.
As an animal rights activist/artist, I choose to see and to reveal what most people are willfully ignorant of, in the hope that at least some of these people will connect with the barbaric reality of meat/dairy production and choose to change.

This is a portrait of just one of those individual, sentient creatures in the endless slaughter line.
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#activist #activism #plantbased #vegansofig #fuckmeat #animalrightsart #pork #painting #draw #veganillustrator #instaart #govegan #crueltyfree #savetheanimals #veganism #creative #artoftheday #animalrights #pigletsofinstagram #artsy #instaartist #vegansofinstagram #art #pigfarming #contemporaryart #illustrator #bethechange #pigsofinstagram #acrylicpainting #ukfarming

'CAGED' (acrylic paint on A4 canvas) Another paint

'CAGED' (acrylic paint on A4 canvas)
Another painting from my 'Pig Project' series, inspired by undercover investigations of UK pig farms 2015/2016.

The 'Five Freedoms' of the UK Animal Welfare Council state that an animal's needs include:
(1) A suitable diet
(2) the ability to exhibit normal behaviour patterns
(3) any need he or she has to be housed with, or apart from, other animals
(4) protection from pain, suffering, injury and disease
(5) a suitable environment (how he or she is housed)

What's wrong with this picture?.
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#activist #activism #plantbased #vegansofig #fuckmeat #animalrightsart #pork #painting #draw #veganillustrator #instaart #govegan #crueltyfree #savetheanimals #veganism #creative #artoftheday #animalrights #pigletsofinstagram #artsy #instaartist #vegansofinstagram #art #pigfarming #contemporaryart #illustrator #bethechange #pigsofinstagram #acrylicpainting #ukfarming

SICK (acrylic paint on A3 canvas paper) 2020 A che

SICK (acrylic paint on A3 canvas paper)
2020
A cheeky and quite nauseating animation of my favourite artwork from last year - a heartfelt, sanity-saving, very cathartic outpouring of disgust at the corona virus/Trump-induced madness liberally spewed all over social media from our so-called 'civilised' species.
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#darkart #horrorart #surrealart #gore #creepyart #creative #contemporaryart #instaartist #artistic #portraiture #selfportrait #sickmind #gross #tumour #beinghuman #intestines #brainstorm #strangeart #weirdart #darksurrealism #bizarreart #macabreart #oddart #psychedelicart #beautifulbizarre #angryart #acrylicpainting #grotesqueart #coronavirus #humancondition

'Motherhood' (acrylic paint on A4 canvas) Part of

'Motherhood' (acrylic paint on A4 canvas)

Part of my 'Pig Project' from 2016, created using photographs taken by undercover investigators on UK farms.

There are 350, 000 sows in Britain. 900 for every large-scale factory farm.

During pregnancy 70% of these sows will be imprisoned in a farrowing crate for up to 5 weeks.
This highly unnatural environment can lead to abnormal behaviour, indicating prolonged stress and even madness.

In the wild they would build nests for their babies out of twigs and leaves. In Pig Farms they produce around 6 litters before being slaughtered at 4 years old.

THIS is the true face of motherhood in a Factory Farm.
Unnatural. Degrading. Inhumane.

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#activist #activism #plantbased #vegansofig #fuckmeat #animalrightsart #pork #painting #draw #veganillustrator #instaart #govegan #crueltyfree #savetheanimals #veganism #creative #artoftheday #animalrights #pigletsofinstagram #artsy #instaartist #vegansofinstagram #art #pigfarming #contemporaryart #illustrator #bethechange #pigsofinstagram #acrylicpainting #ukfarming

'The Forgotten' (acrylic paint on A4 canvas board)

'The Forgotten' (acrylic paint on A4 canvas board)
This harrowing image was taken directly from a photograph taken by undercover investigators on a UK farm in 2016. It shows a small piglet who has slipped through the floor of its pen, lying beneath the stall.
Another forgotten life.
Now memorialised forever in this painting.

This piece, painted early in my art/activist 'career', was first displayed at the 'ANIMUS' exhibition in Karamel Restaurant in London (curated by @louise.luminous), hanging between a @suecoeart print and a photograph by @joannemcarthurphotography, which is still one of the most emotional highlights of my life. It was also a part of the unique animal rights exhibition 'Through compassionate eyes' in Hartford, Connecticut in 2018
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#activist #activism #plantbased #vegansofig #fuckmeat #animalrightsart #pork #painting #draw #veganillustrator #instaart #govegan #crueltyfree #savetheanimals #veganism #creative #artoftheday #animalrights #pigletsofinstagram #artsy #instaartist #vegansofinstagram #art #pigfarming #contemporaryart #illustrator #bethechange #pigsofinstagram #acrylicpainting #ukfarming

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Please get in touch if you are interested in purchasing any of my artwork which is not for sale in this shop. UK orders only. For all overseas shipping please contact me before purchase. Dismiss