Artist and author Philip Battle is giving away signed copies of his book LADY SCREEVER, in return for a small donation to his Crowdfunding Campaign. Simply make a donation of £15 or more (to cover postage from your part of the world) and then private message us at the Lady Screever Facebook page telling us you've done so and including your name and address....Simples! 

Lady Screever is the story of Alice Colman, the world’s first female pavement artist.

At the end of the 19th century Alice endured inclement weather, overzealous policing, sexism, physical threats and marriage proposals to support her family by illustrating the streets of London. As her work captured the public imagination, she became something of a celebrity – not just in London, but around the world.

This is Alice’s story and her fight against social injustice..........

"There's a thing with an artistic license: you have to first be artistic if you want to use the license." – THE ART POLICE. (Kilmarnock)

We thought we would share with you some positive words and look to see exactly how we got to where we are today. That is not so easy to fathom; for those with scant knowledge about us and our art, we, (Catherine McMahon & Philip Battle) run a company called UrbanCanvas. We are street-artists, the only ones anywhere in the UK who are actively earning a full time living by producing world-class floor art for festivals and events. We have carved a major niche for ourselves by producing stunning large-scale and award winning works of art with the help of complete strangers and passers-by, involving hundreds if not thousands of people at a single event. 

Kilmarnock, Scotland

Our work has taken us all around the UK and many countries across the world. We have become world leaders in our field and our art has inspired new festivals and artists throughout the globe. For over 25 years, we have organised international street arts festivals and worked with and inspired some of the world’s top visual artists. We are well respected by our peers and have worked with a diverse range of people for many different cultures and communities. In 2001 we won the Business in the Arts Awards (North West) and were mentioned in parliament. 

We are the only street-artists to have EVER appeared LIVE, (not once but twice) at the Royal National Theatre in London and the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford. In 2002 we became the first artists to decorate the historic 400 year old walls of Londonderry, Northern Ireland, involving both Catholics and Protestants in the process. We have worked extensively throughout the Middle East, engaging thousands of people from all religions and castes. 

In Singapore, we were given special permissions to decorate the streets across the city, an extraordinary concession for a city where it is illegal to drop litter, chew gum or make graffiti. Whilst in Singapore, we were even guests of the British High Commission on the occasion of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth’s birthday celebrations. We are both well-read and educated people, who have written and published numerous books and papers on our chosen art-form.

Liverpool, England

Some quotes and private messages from our well-wishers:

"You've brought a lot of joy to people over the years and this is now our time to bring you some joy and some peace - or at least take one worry off your shoulders."  

"Your courageous and creative response to this awful attack is really impressive" 

"I can't imagine what you are going through, it's really bizarre!"

"This is where people rally round.....justice will prevail."

"what a horrible ordeal for you both but fantastic that you've found the strength to fight it ."

 "I wish I was flush enough to pay the whole lot off for you! I can't imagine what it's like for you both" 

"I'm very worried about your story. If I can, I' ll send a little money to help you. I hope it's OK with justice, the world is crazy!!! "

"I hope this all will go away soon and you'll be able to concentrate on your great work and happier things." 

So the questions remain; how and when was our “Artistic Licence” revoked and how did The Art Police allow us to go from being THAT into being THIS??? These are hard questions to answer: All we can do is to put our trust in the British legal system and hope in the law as a bastion of the British Constitution, a concept that underlies the very fabric of our democracy. We hope and trust that the courts will recognise the truth and justice will be served. 

It is a fact of life that a simple twist of fate could happen to each and every one of us and who could not say that "there but for the grace of God go I" - John Bradford.

.

Leytonstone, London

An enormous THANK-YOU for all your help and support, you have brought us such great strength and comfort; it is true to say that only in times of trouble or crisis do you really discover who your true-friends are.

Now we have a funding extension kindly provided by CrowdJustice, PLEASE keep SHARING and consider making another DONATION (or even two perhaps!!!) and tell your friends....this is an honest and just cause!  :) 

Luv & Best Wishes

Catherine and Philip xx      

Due to the extraordinary success of our Crowdfunding Campaign, the good people at CrowdJustice have offered us the opportunity to extend our pledge page by another two weeks. 

So instead of ending tomorrow (21st March) at 10am, the campaign will now be extended for another 14 days. Giving us more opportunities to raise extra funds for our legal challenges.

THANK-YOU once again for all your donations and making it such a great success.....it isn't over till it's over! 

Luv & Best Wishes

Catherine & Philip. xx   

Due to the extraordinary success of our Crowdfunding Campaign, the good people at CrowdJustice have offered us the opportunity to extend our pledge page by another two weeks. 

So instead of ending tomorrow (21st March) at 10am, the campaign will now be extended for another 14 days. Giving us more opportunities to raise extra funds for our legal challenges.

THANK-YOU once again for all your donations and making it such a great success.....it isn't over till it's over! 

Luv & Best Wishes

Catherine & Philip. xx   

As many of you following this case will know, our original court dates were vacated due to technical legal issues. We now have two new dates of 7th May for the criminal case (Wirral Magistrates Court) and 21st May for the civil case (Liverpool Civil & Family Courts).

Wish us luck!

The unique value of crowdfunding is not so much the money, it's more about the community and we have been blessed by having such kind and caring people around us. We can't begin to tell you how much we agonised over setting up a crowdfunding page; would people be interested in our story? Would anyone bother to give anything? The thoughts of failure grew to almost insurmountable proportions during the three months when we wrestled alone with our problems. Trying to keep it to ourselves and be detached with our pain. 

Being on the wrong side of the law has been a very strange experience for us and we went through periods where we were convinced that nobody would believe a word we said! 

Thankfully we have friends who know us better, people who find it "totally bizarre" and "extraordinary" that we should find ourselves in such a situation. People who have given donations and shared our page without questions or judgments. We thank-you all from the bottom of our hearts for making this CROWDFUNDING campaign such a success. Not only have we reached our target of £5000, but with your help, we have by far exceeded it. 

TOTALLY AMAZING!!!! and we can now appear in court with full confidence and without the unfair financial burden of having to defend ourselves. It is a great weight off our mind. 

 "....whatever the cost may be......we shall never surrender"  

We still have a few days to go, so PLEASE, if you haven't done so already CONSIDER A DONATION or share on your social media network. 

Luv & Best Wishes

Catherine & Philip xxx

We have almost reached the halfway mark in our CROWDFUNDING campaign and thanks to your generous donations we are almost 50% funded towards our Stretch Target. 

Many thanks for all your pledges no matter how small, you have made a real difference, we have been amazed and feel MUCH LOVED.

We hope you will continue to support us in our quest for justice; PLEASE KEEP SHARING on social media and perhaps even ask your friends and colleagues to do the same. We have been wrongly charged and are completely innocent of any accusations against us and look forward to proving our case in court.

Luv & Best Wishes

Catherine and Philip xx   

The Smiling Spider

Our criminal court case has developed legs: It should have been heard in Liverpool yesterday (25th Feb 2019) but because of technical issues with some of the evidence, has now been moved back to the 7th May 2019 at Wirral Magistrates Court. Although on the face of it this prolongs the agony, when our dearest wish is to get it over and done with, it could work to our advantage. 

We now have more time to prepare our case and it gives us the perfect opportunity to share with you (our supporters) this wonderful piece of art by Odilon Redon (1881).

Please keep the faith, keep sharing and donating.

Luv & Best Wishes

Your friends

Catherine & Philip xx

“Most people in this situation would plead GUILTY just to avoid lawyer’s fees and court costs”….REALLY!!  This is one of the first pieces of advice we were given when we were arrested.

Would you plead guilty if you were innocent??

With the cutbacks on legal aid funding and ‘court discounts’ given for early guilty pleas, the system is weighted towards 'being guilty' whilst the innocent are penalised for doing nothing; it is easy to understand why legal representation is out of the reach of many people in society and why so many are taking the path of least resistance by pleading guilty to crimes they have not committed.

SOMETHING HAS TO BE DONE TO RIGHT THIS WRONG!

Thank-you for your support, please keep sharing, please keep giving to enable us to reach our target. .

Luv & Best Wishes

Philip & Catherine x

Many thanks for your generous donations, they are very encouraging to us and please be assured that every penny raised will go directly to our legal team. 

Just to let you know that we have two up and coming court dates - The first is Monday 25th Feb 2019, at the Queen Elizabeth Courts in Liverpool. This will be an all day affair to decide the CRIMINAL CHARGES set out against us by Merseyside Police and the second is a CIVIL INJUNCTION against us, to take place on the 14th March 2019 at the Family and Civil Courts in Liverpool. 

We are INNOCENT of ALL CHARGES and together with our legal teams will be robustly contesting all these false claims against us. People have said to us that there must be more to all this, well we can categorically confirm that there is MORE TO ALL THIS but we can't discuss these details at present, hope you understand. 

Please keep sharing this page on your social media feed and encouraging people who you may feel can help and support us. 

THE TRUTH WILL OUT!

Luv & Best Wishes

Catherine & Philip xx 

THANK-YOU soo much for all your donations, no matter how small, it means so much to us. 

ALL funds go directly to our lawyers (DPP Law) They are part of LEGAL 500 - one of 500 top ranking law firms in the UK, specialising in unlawful arrest and actions against the police. According to the Crowd Justice website, if we get 50% of our funding target after three days of launch then we are doing very well. You guys SMASHED THAT TARGET after only two hours of launch and by 9pm last night (19th Feb) we reached 100% of that initial £1000 target. 

Yesterday was a very emotional day for us: We are OVERWHELMED and touched by your generosity, but it's not over, to anybody knowing, the cost of legal support does not come cheap and we have a stretch target of £5000 to help pay for more if not most of our legal costs. PLEASE continues to champion our cause and shared daily on your social media network. PLEASE make it happen! 

Luv & Best Wishes

Philip & Catherine x