Glasgow’s George Square Is OUR Rectangle!

The six new shortlisted designs for the revamp of Glasgow’s George Square have been unveiled and I’m almost speechless at how terrible and charmless they all are. ALL of them.

Luckily, I’m not completely speechless and I’d just like to take this opportunity to say this:

George Square Is OUR Rectangle! Leave those Victorian statues EXACTLY where they are!

The moving of Glasgow’s many Victorian statues like gigantic chess pieces is nothing new and it’s not that I or the many other people who live close to the square are against change. As a matter of fact, everybody I’ve personally spoken to is all for a revitalisation of George Square but, and listen carefully, as a PUBLIC and VERY GREEN space!

The statues that surround George Square have been discreetly moved over the years more than once but c’mon! They look so settled where they stand today. And everybody knows it except for the people in charge who very shortly are about to completely ruin George Square as we have come to know it.

Let’s take a look at the six new shortlisted designs for the Square and as always, click on the images to enlarge them.

Design One:

Design Two:

Design Three:

Design Four:

Design Five:

Design Six:

Design Six is apparently the current “most popular” design with Glaswegians. The best of a bad bunch I’d say.

I’m not very good expressing myself when I’m angry without using extreme profanities so here are some photos of how George Square has looked in the past…

1878:

1880:

1929:

1975:

Fireworks Night 2012:

…and here are two panoramic shots of how George Square currently looks today…

Don’t tell me what you think.
Write to Glasgow City Council and/or a decent Glasgow Newspaper you trust.
So not The Daily Record.

Keep right up to date with everything by visiting: Restore George Square.

You May Also Be Interested In…
* Future Glasgow
* The Glasgow Alphabet By Rosemary Cunningham
* Al Cook’s “Necropolis”

The Glasgow Alphabet By Rosemary Cunningham.

By illustrator Rosemary Cunningham, welcome to the Glasgow Alphabet!

A is for Armadillo!

B is for the (in)famous Barras Market

C is for the Clyde AND the Clydeport crane

D is for the Daulton Fountain in Glasgow Green

E is for E is for Eglinton Toll

F  is for the legendary Fish Plaice on the Saltmarket

G is for The GFT

H is for the Huntarian museum where weird and sometimes macabre curiosities abound!

I is for one of the three Teuchter Triangle pubs – The Islay Inn.

J is for Strathclyde University’s Jordanhill campus building – what a looker!

K is for the Kibble Palace in the Botanic Gardens!

L is for library. The Mitchell Library!

M is for the The Glasgow School of Art Mackintosh building!

N is for Necropolis. Great days out with the dead!

O is for Glasgow’s Grand Ole Opry.

P is for Panopticon!

Q is for Queen’s Cafe.

R is for The Theatre Royal.

S is for the Glasgow Subway system!

T is for The Tall Ship!

A very Glaswegian entry in the Glasgow Alphabet; U is for the Hielanman’s Umbrella at Central Station.

Architect Alexander Greek Thompson makes into the Glasgow Alphabet via V for St. Vincent Street Church!

W for Wellington!

X is for Glasgow Cross!

Y is for Yorkhill Childrens Hospital.

…And the Glasgow Alphabet finishes with Z for Glasgow Uni’s Zoological museum.

Good eh?
Keep up with Rosemary and her fabulous work by clicking right HERE.

You may also be interested in…
* Al Cook’s “Necropolis”
* The Tolbooth Steeple, Glasgow (PART I)
* The Tolbooth Steeple, Glasgow (PART II)

Album Artwork: “A Circus Of Vaginas”.

Hi folks, here is my latest album cover artwork for ”A Circus Of Vaginas” which is the debut of Glasgow lesbian Punk outfit, V For Vagina.

When will the album be released?
- I don’t know.

Where can you buy the album from?
- What am I, a swami? I just draw the pictures okay?

Do you know anything about anything Al?
- YES! A Woman’s heart beats faster than a Man’s and that’s a fact!

From sketching out the layout ideas to the finished piece, all in all, the album artwork took around 9 days to complete. I used a black bic biro pen (my favourite artistic implement) and some thick children’s coloured pencils on heavy duty, rough grained paper.

V For Vagina gave me one of the best illustration briefs I’ve ever received. They said:
“So long as it says: ‘Circus!‘, ‘Punk!‘ and ‘Lesbian!‘, and includes the colours red and yellow, you can do whatever you want with this album cover Al.”

So I did.

For Illustration Queries, contact:
brokenglasseye@hotmail.com

If you are interested in a copy of “A Circus Of Vaginas”, contact:
V For Vagina on Facebook by clicking HERE.
Me on Facebook by clicking HERE.

Here are some details from the cover…

You May Also Be Interested In:
* “Love Lust Tales”: Available For Pre-Order Now!
* My Comic Strip: Al Cook’s “Necropolis”.
* Album Cover Artwork: “Love Lust Tales”.

Larking Around Glasgow Cathedral (PART II).

The Tolbooth Steeple, Glasgow (PART II).

…From PART I…

These pictures are from a 1915 report on the future of the Tolbooth Steeple at Glasgow Cross..
One idea was to dismantle the steeple and move it across the road where the Mercat building is.

The Plans:

I think the idea was to completely open up the High Street to allow for more traffic.
They might have been onto something because these days, the heavy amount of traffic around the steeple is causing thousands of pounds worth of damage.

I think the steeple would have slotted into that spot just fine although,
I like it where it is.