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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You were the dreamboat pedalo...

As promised we said we would get something up here soon so will start with our week in Edinburgh working on the Halmyre Street mural with our buddies as part of Blameless (website coming soon!).


The whole project was organised by the superbly energetic Fraser Gray and Morvern Cunningham (of Leith Late fame)  and our theme was a watery one - which tied in well with the weather we had for most of the week!

Have a selection of images below from talented photographer and nice guy Eoin Carey (with a couple of iPhone pics by me) and a brilliant film from the equally talented and good folks at Cagoule Productions.

The s.s.Explorer rides the waves with all kinds of detritus and creatures below the surface while the sky betrays nothing of the turmoil beneath with birds enjoying the setting sun (which also represents the people of Leith - see the profile? Our contribution was a text piece breaking the surface reading "Wha'll Buy My Caller Herrin'". A song sung by the local fisherwomen of the of the past.

As usual, great fun, collaboration (with the discussion that surrounds that...) and also food - the best home-cooked Thai meal EVER.

Here's to the next one.

Oh, and for those of you who follow our musical additions to our posts its worth checking this one out. You would think the lyrics were written especially for this job... - FIN

photo © Eoin Carey 2013

photo © Eoin Carey 2013

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Glasvegas - Lonesome Swan
Glasvegas (2008)

As promised we said we would get something up here soon so will start with our week in Edinburgh working on the Halmyre Street mural with our buddies as part of Blameless (website coming soon!).


The whole project was organised by the superbly energetic Fraser Gray and Morvern Cunningham (of Leith Late fame)  and our theme was a watery one - which tied in well with the weather we had for most of the week!

Have a selection of images below from talented photographer and nice guy Eoin Carey (with a couple of iPhone pics by me) and a brilliant film from the equally talented and good folks at Cagoule Productions.

The s.s.Explorer rides the waves with all kinds of detritus and creatures below the surface while the sky betrays nothing of the turmoil beneath with birds enjoying the setting sun (which also represents the people of Leith - see the profile? Our contribution was a text piece breaking the surface reading "Wha'll Buy My Caller Herrin'". A song sung by the local fisherwomen of the of the past.

As usual, great fun, collaboration (with the discussion that surrounds that...) and also food - the best home-cooked Thai meal EVER.

Here's to the next one.

Oh, and for those of you who follow our musical additions to our posts its worth checking this one out. You would think the lyrics were written especially for this job... - FIN

photo © Eoin Carey 2013

photo © Eoin Carey 2013

BLOG TITLE
Glasvegas - Lonesome Swan
Glasvegas (2008)

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But if you're worried about the weather, then you picked the wrong place to stay

This weekend was the summer solstice, and we spent it ducking out of the rain and relishing patches of sun at the Solas Festival in Perthshire. Like the cliche goes the forecast for the festival weekend was cloud and rain.

Blameless (that being the proper noun for all us usual suspects that meet up to collectively clart something in paint!) were asked to do a large graffiti piece at the festival. 

We were told we would be painting onto "canvases stretched through the trees." A prospect that had us a little worried, with visions of bedsheets mud splattered and flapping in the wind! But to our delight, when we arrived we found the canvases right in the middle of the festival ground - stretched trampoline-tight, impeccably primed and with a cracking view of the stage (Thanks to George and his team)! 

Heard some great music including a bouncing gig from We Were Promised Jetpacks. There was also plenty of other great bursts of creativity with a buzzing performance from poet Harry Baker being one of the highlights.

We used the opportunity to experiment with some ideas and techniques that were sparked off at Freedom Versions V1 and have been brewing away every since. We hope you like what you see! - AL

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LCD Sound System - All My Friends
Sound of Silver (2007)

This weekend was the summer solstice, and we spent it ducking out of the rain and relishing patches of sun at the Solas Festival in Perthshire. Like the cliche goes the forecast for the festival weekend was cloud and rain.

Blameless (that being the proper noun for all us usual suspects that meet up to collectively clart something in paint!) were asked to do a large graffiti piece at the festival. 

We were told we would be painting onto "canvases stretched through the trees." A prospect that had us a little worried, with visions of bedsheets mud splattered and flapping in the wind! But to our delight, when we arrived we found the canvases right in the middle of the festival ground - stretched trampoline-tight, impeccably primed and with a cracking view of the stage (Thanks to George and his team)! 

Heard some great music including a bouncing gig from We Were Promised Jetpacks. There was also plenty of other great bursts of creativity with a buzzing performance from poet Harry Baker being one of the highlights.

We used the opportunity to experiment with some ideas and techniques that were sparked off at Freedom Versions V1 and have been brewing away every since. We hope you like what you see! - AL

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LCD Sound System - All My Friends
Sound of Silver (2007)

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As sure as night is dark and day is light

I was working on a proposal for a potential upcoming project this afternoon, and while looking for the site on Google Street View I stumbled across some footage of our John O'Groats project Are We There Yet?

It is good to be able to still walk around it, even though the bulk of the building has now been removed!

If you would like to have your own we walk along the Google line then click here.  - AL

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Johnny Cash - I Walk The Line

I Walk The Line (1956)

I was working on a proposal for a potential upcoming project this afternoon, and while looking for the site on Google Street View I stumbled across some footage of our John O'Groats project Are We There Yet?

It is good to be able to still walk around it, even though the bulk of the building has now been removed!

If you would like to have your own we walk along the Google line then click here.  - AL

BLOG TITLE

Johnny Cash - I Walk The Line

I Walk The Line (1956)

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My mind must be free, to learn all I can about me

It's been a pretty tough last couple of weeks personally, but in that time we were able to focus on something else and what a welcome distraction it was.

We were asked to be part of Freedom Versions v1 in Stirling. This is the beginnings of a 2 year project and were delighted to be re-united with some of the good folks who worked on Rough Cut Nation in 2009 and it was good to see folk again (although we see them pretty frequently nowadays!)

The big difference was how relaxed we were with each other and it really was a joy to be there (despite one particularly bad day of weather...)

The theme was based on the artists interpretation of Freedom in Scotland and in particular what it means around Stirling. Our piece was taken from a story and poem about John Damian - a 16th century member of James IV court in Stirling. By all accounts he was an Italian rogue and rumours abounded of his involvement in a murder and gambling debts. In his lifetime he was a priest, a doctor in France, an alchemist and eventually became the Abbott of Tongland.

He was also an early pioneer of flight and this was what we wanted to focus on. He made wings from eagle feathers and decided to race ambassadors to France. He jumped off the ramparts of Stirling Castle and promptly landed in the dungheap at the bottom of the wall. Despite a few broken bones and damaged pride he did come up with an excuse...that chicken feathers must have got mixed in with the eagle feathers, and of course chickens can't fly!

Talk about the gift of the gab.

A few pics from the work and more to come next week...    - FIN

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Candi Staton - Young Hearts Run Free
Young Hearts Run Free (1976)

It's been a pretty tough last couple of weeks personally, but in that time we were able to focus on something else and what a welcome distraction it was.

We were asked to be part of Freedom Versions v1 in Stirling. This is the beginnings of a 2 year project and were delighted to be re-united with some of the good folks who worked on Rough Cut Nation in 2009 and it was good to see folk again (although we see them pretty frequently nowadays!)

The big difference was how relaxed we were with each other and it really was a joy to be there (despite one particularly bad day of weather...)

The theme was based on the artists interpretation of Freedom in Scotland and in particular what it means around Stirling. Our piece was taken from a story and poem about John Damian - a 16th century member of James IV court in Stirling. By all accounts he was an Italian rogue and rumours abounded of his involvement in a murder and gambling debts. In his lifetime he was a priest, a doctor in France, an alchemist and eventually became the Abbott of Tongland.

He was also an early pioneer of flight and this was what we wanted to focus on. He made wings from eagle feathers and decided to race ambassadors to France. He jumped off the ramparts of Stirling Castle and promptly landed in the dungheap at the bottom of the wall. Despite a few broken bones and damaged pride he did come up with an excuse...that chicken feathers must have got mixed in with the eagle feathers, and of course chickens can't fly!

Talk about the gift of the gab.

A few pics from the work and more to come next week...    - FIN

BLOG TITLE
Candi Staton - Young Hearts Run Free
Young Hearts Run Free (1976)

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Let's change our roads, and chase them all around

The sun has been shining today (well for a while anyway...) but it certainly wasn't shining on Saturday when we were at the Inverness Bicycle Festival.

We had been asked by IOTA to do some stencilled t-shirt's using a couple of designs we had done specially for the event so were quite happy to help out.

At the start of the day things really weren't looking promising at all with the rain tipping down (felt sorry for the folks at RockNess...even though I wouldn't have minded being there myself) but rain did slow down and then we had a proper queue of kids waiting to get a t-shirt. Was a bit manic but we got there in the end with about 125 t-shirts being done in 4 hrs!!!

Couldn't have managed it without the assistance of Kirsten from IOTA (THANKS!) and if we did it again would make sure we had a couple of extra hands to help out. - FIN

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Bombay Bicycle Club - Dust On The Ground

I Had The Blues But I Shook Them Loose (2009)

The sun has been shining today (well for a while anyway...) but it certainly wasn't shining on Saturday when we were at the Inverness Bicycle Festival.

We had been asked by IOTA to do some stencilled t-shirt's using a couple of designs we had done specially for the event so were quite happy to help out.

At the start of the day things really weren't looking promising at all with the rain tipping down (felt sorry for the folks at RockNess...even though I wouldn't have minded being there myself) but rain did slow down and then we had a proper queue of kids waiting to get a t-shirt. Was a bit manic but we got there in the end with about 125 t-shirts being done in 4 hrs!!!

Couldn't have managed it without the assistance of Kirsten from IOTA (THANKS!) and if we did it again would make sure we had a couple of extra hands to help out. - FIN

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Bombay Bicycle Club - Dust On The Ground

I Had The Blues But I Shook Them Loose (2009)

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Astronauts in the weightlessness of pixelated space...

Last Thursday we completed our third and final session with some of the pupils from Ullapool High School at an talla solais. We have been working with the idea of pixels which also creates a nice simple grid for cutting stencils. They all produced something different and we think they have done a great job!

It is now due to be part of a show at the gallery at the end of April.
We are now hope that this could lead on to a much larger project and commission to produce a large wall-piece.

Big thanks to the pupils and staff for taking part and being a well-behaved bunch (the pupils that is...) and also to Joanna at an talla solais for being so helpful (and for coffee/peppermint tea) - FIN

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Rush - Virtuality

Test For Echo (1996)

Last Thursday we completed our third and final session with some of the pupils from Ullapool High School at an talla solais. We have been working with the idea of pixels which also creates a nice simple grid for cutting stencils. They all produced something different and we think they have done a great job!

It is now due to be part of a show at the gallery at the end of April.
We are now hope that this could lead on to a much larger project and commission to produce a large wall-piece.

Big thanks to the pupils and staff for taking part and being a well-behaved bunch (the pupils that is...) and also to Joanna at an talla solais for being so helpful (and for coffee/peppermint tea) - FIN

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Rush - Virtuality

Test For Echo (1996)

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Go play a video game

What a day - the sun is shining, we've had lunch and back in the office after a trip to Ullapool for a workshop at an talla solais (a visual arts centre in the village with great facilities). Are going to be doing a few workshops there with a group of pupils with the intention of designing a big piece for somewhere in the village.

Had fun today with grids and getting them to sketch something small in a pixel pattern that we hope they will be able to spray their own tags next week. We made a wee example for them ourselves (Pacman based!) and sprayed it on the pathway with chalk.

Followed this up with a trip to Rhue Art and the new gallery. Fantastic space to show in... Good to catch up with James and Flick Hawkins over a mug of homemade lemon and ginger tea and hear what new work James is experimenting with.

Back in the office now and doing paperwork. Ah, the yin and yang of being an artist. - FIN

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Lana Del Rey - Video Games

Born To Die (2012)

What a day - the sun is shining, we've had lunch and back in the office after a trip to Ullapool for a workshop at an talla solais (a visual arts centre in the village with great facilities). Are going to be doing a few workshops there with a group of pupils with the intention of designing a big piece for somewhere in the village.

Had fun today with grids and getting them to sketch something small in a pixel pattern that we hope they will be able to spray their own tags next week. We made a wee example for them ourselves (Pacman based!) and sprayed it on the pathway with chalk.

Followed this up with a trip to Rhue Art and the new gallery. Fantastic space to show in... Good to catch up with James and Flick Hawkins over a mug of homemade lemon and ginger tea and hear what new work James is experimenting with.

Back in the office now and doing paperwork. Ah, the yin and yang of being an artist. - FIN

BLOG TITLE

Lana Del Rey - Video Games

Born To Die (2012)

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Inside out and outside in you bring eyesight to the blind.

Been a long day yesterday and got back up North at about 10pm but it was worth it... Spent the day finishing our large wall pieces in a new optometrists showroom in Inverness (Goskirk Pettinger) and it was great fun. We ran into a few challenges last week but dealt with them and its looking pretty good now. 

Idea behind it began with a discovery in an old kids textbook of a description of sight and used the words "without light we would be lost" together with a couple of other statements we have included on the walls. The eye is an incredibly complex and beautiful part of the body and even something as seemingly simple as eye colour is pretty amazing. We took an iris and took a very thin vertical strip from the middle of this including the pupil and expanded it horizontally to create a series of stripes which made up our back wall. We also used a couple of sketches of lightbulbs together with rods and cones which we tied together with the stripes... we think it works and look forward to getting to see it when the shop is complete. 

In the meantime, here are a couple of images of the work as it was completed today. - FIN

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Placebo - Eyesight to the Blind

B Side of Nancy Boy (1997)

Been a long day yesterday and got back up North at about 10pm but it was worth it... Spent the day finishing our large wall pieces in a new optometrists showroom in Inverness (Goskirk Pettinger) and it was great fun. We ran into a few challenges last week but dealt with them and its looking pretty good now. 

Idea behind it began with a discovery in an old kids textbook of a description of sight and used the words "without light we would be lost" together with a couple of other statements we have included on the walls. The eye is an incredibly complex and beautiful part of the body and even something as seemingly simple as eye colour is pretty amazing. We took an iris and took a very thin vertical strip from the middle of this including the pupil and expanded it horizontally to create a series of stripes which made up our back wall. We also used a couple of sketches of lightbulbs together with rods and cones which we tied together with the stripes... we think it works and look forward to getting to see it when the shop is complete. 

In the meantime, here are a couple of images of the work as it was completed today. - FIN

BLOG TITLE

Placebo - Eyesight to the Blind

B Side of Nancy Boy (1997)

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The first cut is the deepest, baby I know...

Last Friday we made our way to Edinburgh for the book launch of Rough Cut Nation at the newly refurbished Scottish National Portrait Gallery. It was a good evening and we enjoyed ourselves immensely! The new building has certainly changed and it was good to see it before its official opening.

Its been a few years now since Rough Cut Nation and the knock-on effects that have followed. It was needless to say, a great project - had plenty of publicity and ended up being one of the galleries most successful shows ever. Al and I had a blast working there and met some great folk and made a bunch of new friends - many of whom have worked with us on other projects (In Honour of September and Are We There Yet?)

Have put a few images here of the book together with an image we found while clearing the office the other week. Things don't change - we're still clowning around... - FIN

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Cat Stevens - The First Cut Is The Deepest

New Masters (1967)

Last Friday we made our way to Edinburgh for the book launch of Rough Cut Nation at the newly refurbished Scottish National Portrait Gallery. It was a good evening and we enjoyed ourselves immensely! The new building has certainly changed and it was good to see it before its official opening.

Its been a few years now since Rough Cut Nation and the knock-on effects that have followed. It was needless to say, a great project - had plenty of publicity and ended up being one of the galleries most successful shows ever. Al and I had a blast working there and met some great folk and made a bunch of new friends - many of whom have worked with us on other projects (In Honour of September and Are We There Yet?)

Have put a few images here of the book together with an image we found while clearing the office the other week. Things don't change - we're still clowning around... - FIN

BLOG TITLE

Cat Stevens - The First Cut Is The Deepest

New Masters (1967)

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...and the moon is smiling down.

As it's Friday thought I would add these 2 images of my happy little daughter playing in the Market with the Fairytale artwork we did last week... even pretending to be a "wolf dog" in one of them! - FIN

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Jump, Little Children - Smiling Down
The Licorice Tea Demos (1995)

As it's Friday thought I would add these 2 images of my happy little daughter playing in the Market with the Fairytale artwork we did last week... even pretending to be a "wolf dog" in one of them! - FIN

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Jump, Little Children - Smiling Down
The Licorice Tea Demos (1995)

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