It's Friday, I'm in love

Friday afternoon in the studio and it's hard to focus... A problem that Al and I seem to have on a regular basis. This used to be called an "orchid moment" but there is no orchid in the studio anymore. Instead we've got fish, Facebook and FreeAgent (our online book-keeping programme which we would recommend) to occupy us.

So what are we up to? Well, just made a draft film from clips we recorded with taxi drivers in Banchory. (Did any of you look at the video link throughout the Blog Title of last entry? Well worth doing if not - how many celebs can you spot?) Also working on 3D visualisations for our presentation to Banchory Town Improvement Group and tightening the whole proposal up.

Quoting for another really exciting project in Glasgow involving water-jet cutting a LOT of Cor-ten steel. At different stages at logos/branding solutions for - amongst others - a local rugby club, an egg farm, a mill, a smokehouse and a gallery. 

Still doesn't get away from the fact its Friday though...

I've taken a pic of my studio desk. Just because I can. Here it is... - FIN

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The Cure - Friday I'm In Love

Wish (1992)

Friday afternoon in the studio and it's hard to focus... A problem that Al and I seem to have on a regular basis. This used to be called an "orchid moment" but there is no orchid in the studio anymore. Instead we've got fish, Facebook and FreeAgent (our online book-keeping programme which we would recommend) to occupy us.

So what are we up to? Well, just made a draft film from clips we recorded with taxi drivers in Banchory. (Did any of you look at the video link throughout the Blog Title of last entry? Well worth doing if not - how many celebs can you spot?) Also working on 3D visualisations for our presentation to Banchory Town Improvement Group and tightening the whole proposal up.

Quoting for another really exciting project in Glasgow involving water-jet cutting a LOT of Cor-ten steel. At different stages at logos/branding solutions for - amongst others - a local rugby club, an egg farm, a mill, a smokehouse and a gallery. 

Still doesn't get away from the fact its Friday though...

I've taken a pic of my studio desk. Just because I can. Here it is... - FIN

BLOG TITLE

The Cure - Friday I'm In Love

Wish (1992)

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Yes, here we go again, give you more, nothing lesser

The best part of the last six weeks has been spent in the studio sifting through the mountain of material we gathered in the engagement period in Banchory. We have started our creative process with a focus on Scott Skinner Square as the centre point for Banchory. 

The concept behind our designs for the square are based on the work of Scot Skinner - a surprising and colourful character - certainly not lacking in self belief, adopting the pseudonym "King". He was great at self promotion (if he was around today he would have a better grip on Facebook and Twitter than I do!). He was a bit more rock n' roll than heel n' toe!

We have presented our ideas to the Council and are now gearing up for presenting to the Banchory Town Centre Group next week. We obviously don't want to give too much away at this point, but below are a few of our development sketches. 

Enjoy! - Al

P.S. Incidentally, I think the music video for our blog title this time around has the best line up to date.

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Beastie Boys - Hot Sauce Committee Part Two
Make Some Noise (2011)

The best part of the last six weeks has been spent in the studio sifting through the mountain of material we gathered in the engagement period in Banchory. We have started our creative process with a focus on Scott Skinner Square as the centre point for Banchory. 

The concept behind our designs for the square are based on the work of Scot Skinner - a surprising and colourful character - certainly not lacking in self belief, adopting the pseudonym "King". He was great at self promotion (if he was around today he would have a better grip on Facebook and Twitter than I do!). He was a bit more rock n' roll than heel n' toe!

We have presented our ideas to the Council and are now gearing up for presenting to the Banchory Town Centre Group next week. We obviously don't want to give too much away at this point, but below are a few of our development sketches. 

Enjoy! - Al

P.S. Incidentally, I think the music video for our blog title this time around has the best line up to date.

BLOG TITLE
Beastie Boys - Hot Sauce Committee Part Two
Make Some Noise (2011)

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Our bones forever in stone, Monuments of life

After all this great weather we have been having (mostly...) it has turned pretty grim here. Not stopped raining all day and really getting pretty cold. Even weather warnings of high winds. Back to normal then. Looks like Nicolette and the team picked exactly the right time to visit Scotland and do all the pre-production filming at Aldourie Castle last week!

Ourselves? We are thankfully indoors for a while but it's not quite so much fun costing jobs and putting those kind of details together. The good news is that we are doing it for our jobs in Banchory and in Derby which are taking shape nicely.

Derby is all ready to go - just a few small details to work on regarding risk-assessments and timescales but we are happy with the way its sitting now. We have also come up with names for the pieces which has taken a long time (maybe three years or so!). Will keep it quiet for now until the commissioner gives it the go-ahead.

Banchory is also ticking along nicely. We had a meeting with Nicola from Woodend Barn this week to outline some of our initial ideas and she was happy with the direction we were taking. Lots more to do on the overall plan and concept but for the moment we are learning about new materials and techniques. Its like being back at Uni - with the exception of actually doing something.

Rather than finish on a note like that. Someone whose work displays techniques and skills that we would love to master was Michael Grab from Gravity Glue. He is due to be in the final movie as well and what he does by combining rocks with patience is incredible. Definitely worth looking at his website. - FIN

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Foo Fighters - Statues

Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace (2007)

After all this great weather we have been having (mostly...) it has turned pretty grim here. Not stopped raining all day and really getting pretty cold. Even weather warnings of high winds. Back to normal then. Looks like Nicolette and the team picked exactly the right time to visit Scotland and do all the pre-production filming at Aldourie Castle last week!

Ourselves? We are thankfully indoors for a while but it's not quite so much fun costing jobs and putting those kind of details together. The good news is that we are doing it for our jobs in Banchory and in Derby which are taking shape nicely.

Derby is all ready to go - just a few small details to work on regarding risk-assessments and timescales but we are happy with the way its sitting now. We have also come up with names for the pieces which has taken a long time (maybe three years or so!). Will keep it quiet for now until the commissioner gives it the go-ahead.

Banchory is also ticking along nicely. We had a meeting with Nicola from Woodend Barn this week to outline some of our initial ideas and she was happy with the direction we were taking. Lots more to do on the overall plan and concept but for the moment we are learning about new materials and techniques. Its like being back at Uni - with the exception of actually doing something.

Rather than finish on a note like that. Someone whose work displays techniques and skills that we would love to master was Michael Grab from Gravity Glue. He is due to be in the final movie as well and what he does by combining rocks with patience is incredible. Definitely worth looking at his website. - FIN

BLOG TITLE

Foo Fighters - Statues

Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace (2007)

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Any colour you like

Last week saw us complete our third visit to Banchory since the project started, and it is safe to say that the community engagement aspect is well under way.

On Thursday we opened our Drop In Studio, on the High Street. The idea being that folk can visit us to find out about the project and to share their ideas. It also gives us a great chance to meet the community.

To help kick things off with a sugar rush we ordered cakes from the cracking Birdhouse Cafe and then rented an urn so that we could chuck a little caffeine into the mix!

On the first day we had somewhere around 60-70 visitors, very much due to Vhairi Walker who basically grabbed people off the street! Things went so well we opened the shop again on Friday afternoon and had at least another 50 visitors.

We started working on a series of short interviews with the team at Cordiners Sawmills. As well as meeting some lovely folk at the West Church Friday coffee morning.

We are looking forward to coming back down next week! - AL

BLOG TITLE

Pink Floyd - Any Colour You Like
The Dark Side of The Moon (1973)

Last week saw us complete our third visit to Banchory since the project started, and it is safe to say that the community engagement aspect is well under way.

On Thursday we opened our Drop In Studio, on the High Street. The idea being that folk can visit us to find out about the project and to share their ideas. It also gives us a great chance to meet the community.

To help kick things off with a sugar rush we ordered cakes from the cracking Birdhouse Cafe and then rented an urn so that we could chuck a little caffeine into the mix!

On the first day we had somewhere around 60-70 visitors, very much due to Vhairi Walker who basically grabbed people off the street! Things went so well we opened the shop again on Friday afternoon and had at least another 50 visitors.

We started working on a series of short interviews with the team at Cordiners Sawmills. As well as meeting some lovely folk at the West Church Friday coffee morning.

We are looking forward to coming back down next week! - AL

BLOG TITLE

Pink Floyd - Any Colour You Like
The Dark Side of The Moon (1973)

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In this line of work, it never hurts to plan

In the last seven weeks, we have been tearing around the country like sales reps on double time.

Between: Fin running workshops in Dunoon; an exhibition install in Helmsdale; holidays in Mull (Fin wanted to see Balamory); holidays in Lake District (Al needed mint cake);  painting a mural in Leith with the Blameless crew; the start of our project in Banchory; and tremors of things in Derby; we have found ourselves on the road a lot.

Far too much for one blog so what we are planning is to do some posts over the next few days.

In the meantime here is a picture of a hedgehog. - AL

BLOG
Jeremy Messersmith - Deathbed Salesman
The Reluctant Graveyard (2010)

In the last seven weeks, we have been tearing around the country like sales reps on double time.

Between: Fin running workshops in Dunoon; an exhibition install in Helmsdale; holidays in Mull (Fin wanted to see Balamory); holidays in Lake District (Al needed mint cake);  painting a mural in Leith with the Blameless crew; the start of our project in Banchory; and tremors of things in Derby; we have found ourselves on the road a lot.

Far too much for one blog so what we are planning is to do some posts over the next few days.

In the meantime here is a picture of a hedgehog. - AL

BLOG
Jeremy Messersmith - Deathbed Salesman
The Reluctant Graveyard (2010)

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So move your feet to the summer song

Summer is well and truly here - although may in fact be already over if the weather forecast is right... but we're looking forward to all the exciting projects we have ahead of us. These include a couple of really cool paint jobs with our mates from Blameless (website coming soon) in Perthshire and Leith, workshops in Dunoon and a new Start/Finish line in John O'Groats. It's all good.

However, the job we are really excited about is in Banchory. Back at the beginning of May we replied to a call for artists to create a brand idea and implementation plan for Banchory town together with public realm works focussing on Scott Skinner Square. We were shortlisted and to our delight were selected as artists to do this! This is a BIG job with plenty of challenges but also with plenty of opportunities.

I made a visit there with Margo and the wee one to the River Festival on Friday and Saturday and it was good fun. Lots to do for kids (a beastie hunt in Burnett Park was a winner). Stalls, choirs, musicians, pipe bands - all very well organised. The ceilidh on Friday wasn't bad either with The Big Fat Electric Ceilidh Band doing their thing. Great to see the guys again and they had everyone moving to some great music...

All in all a great weekend. The big surprise was walking in to the local Tesco and spotting ourselves on the front page of the local paper!  - FIN

BLOG TITLE
YACHT - Summer Song
See Mystery Lights (2009)

Summer is well and truly here - although may in fact be already over if the weather forecast is right... but we're looking forward to all the exciting projects we have ahead of us. These include a couple of really cool paint jobs with our mates from Blameless (website coming soon) in Perthshire and Leith, workshops in Dunoon and a new Start/Finish line in John O'Groats. It's all good.

However, the job we are really excited about is in Banchory. Back at the beginning of May we replied to a call for artists to create a brand idea and implementation plan for Banchory town together with public realm works focussing on Scott Skinner Square. We were shortlisted and to our delight were selected as artists to do this! This is a BIG job with plenty of challenges but also with plenty of opportunities.

I made a visit there with Margo and the wee one to the River Festival on Friday and Saturday and it was good fun. Lots to do for kids (a beastie hunt in Burnett Park was a winner). Stalls, choirs, musicians, pipe bands - all very well organised. The ceilidh on Friday wasn't bad either with The Big Fat Electric Ceilidh Band doing their thing. Great to see the guys again and they had everyone moving to some great music...

All in all a great weekend. The big surprise was walking in to the local Tesco and spotting ourselves on the front page of the local paper!  - FIN

BLOG TITLE
YACHT - Summer Song
See Mystery Lights (2009)

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