I was in one of our local hostelrys – the White Horse (on Brixton Hill) – yesterday evening to see about a little bit of new work that the manager wants us to do for him (see here, here and here for previous escapades at the White Horse) when he remarked that the piece we had done in the small corridor leading to the gents toilets (see below) had been mentioned in a review by Time Out. After a little bit of internet research i found the article and I particularly like the fact that it is described as a ‘bizarre S&M horse mural’ (you can read the full review here). Now you don’t get praise like that every day…
We finally managed to get our Star Wars commission finished this week (see here and here for earlier blog entries). It was done as a commission on an 8ft x 5ft wall for a 6 year old Star Wars fan extraordinaire (yes, he even has the Star Wars bed sheets like i used to have). As he was more of a fan of the newer films I thought it best to stick to the new look clone trooper (originally designed by Genndy Tartakovsky for the animated/comic series) and throw in some design elements.
The clonetrooper on slate (see here) has also now been framed and is also hanging in pride of place on the other wall. The best part was obviously finding out how the recipient felt about his new mural. He was pretty excited and will apparently be the envy of all his friends! All in all a most satisfying conclusion…
You can check a very, very short video (just 15 secs!) below. We couldn’t use our video camera as the room was too small and it could only focus on a small area of wall so we just put some still shots to a great little Star Wars soundtrack…
I’ve emphasised previously just how honed our womble-like instincts are these days and how we pretty much can’t say no to anything that we can possibly paint on or that could potentially be useful at some future point. To further elaborate this point we recently acquired a couple of doors that had definitely seen better days (and that are surprisingly heavy!)
After a little deliberation to decide what to get on them it was decided that the first one should be out of our door as soon as possible as it was really blocking the place up. Quite how it was decided to put a dancing bear on there i’m not entirely sure but these things are what they are. We seem to have had some had some influence from Banksy in the definition of the bear’s feet (i.e. they aren’t there) but thankfully i don’t feel that detracts from the overall message.
After carrying it a fairly short distance it was released into the wild and will probably be where it was deposited for a fair while as it definitely takes two to move these things. A prize to anyone who knows where this one is. Keep your eyes out for the next one sometime soon…
I’m not sure crabs (or at least crab-style walking) is entirely the most suitable inspiration when creating a picture but that’s all i could think when i saw the original photograph of this lady in her ever-so-slightly odd posture. This was a quick piece done mainly because i liked the original image.
Having been asked if we could do a picture featuring none other than the ‘love’ obsessed French skunkPepe le Pew I hastily got on my internet researching hat and saw what i could come up with (basically if you are some form of black and white animal he will attempt to have his wicked way with you!)
After looking for quotes from Pepe i came up with some absolute corkers and must confess that i’m at a loss why he isn’t much more popular today. I mean, come on, a french skunk that is perpetually looking for love must be some kind of comedy gold. Especially when lines such as “I am ze captain, and you are ze first mate. Promotions will follow quickly!”, “Permit me to introduce myself. I am Pepe Le Pew, your lover” and “I pierce you with the ack-ack of love, flowerpot” are ascribed to him. I could easily do a couple more pieces using just Pepe le Pew quotes.
Anyway i finally settled on using ” You know, it is possible to be too attractive” as i thought it would be particularly fitting on a mirror we had lying around the house (another item brought home that was found on the street). Once i’d cut the classy skunk striped text and got a few hearts on there it was just a matter of putting a stencil of the great skunk himself on there just to remind whoever is gazing at the mirror of one of his viewpoints on life.
Cheers
id-iom
id-iom
Title: You know, it is possible to be too attractive!
Media: Handcut stencils and spraypaint on found mirror
After much fiddling with the footage, soundtrack and editing software i finally have something to present… Ladies and gentlemen our newest video ‘Fool come save me’!
As the spot we were painting/filming wasn’t very well lit i have had to brighten the footage considerably which has led to a degradation of quality but i suppose that’s just one of the trade-off’s i’ve had to make with this little video. I’m particularly pleased with the soundtrack and how we’ve pretty much got it synced with the footage. It definitely looks better in person and if you are ever in Paignton you should head upstairs at the Lighthouse and check it out.
We headed down to Paignton in Devon on the weekend to assist with the redecoration of a venue called the Lighthouse. After a busy day’s stencil cutting on Friday it was an early start (for a Saturday) and a 4 hour drive to the English Riviera. We arrived in Paignton at 12.30 to an overcast sky and a healthy seaside wind. Thankfully there was enough space to paint inside as i didn’t fancy our chances with a massive stencil and one of my arms in a cast with the wind driving off the sea.
We managed to get one large piece done called ‘Fool come save me’ (she measures about 6ft x 5ft) and numerous smaller bits done. It’s always good to catch up with various people and make some new friends – especially easy when you have disco bag on hand to help out with some tunes.
After getting our work finished we decided to get some fish and chips for dinner and then have a couple of drinks on Paignton seafront (yes, i did feel like i was 17 again) before too long we got moved on by the police (again feeling very much like i was seventeen again) and we then spent an hour or two drinking by the harbour, pictured above (as apparently this was allowed whereas drinking on the seafront wasn’t) before moving indoors at a local hostelry and then back to the Lighthouse for some after hours fun. All in all a great weekend away.
Hopefully a little video will be forthcoming once i manage to stick something together… Watch this space!
For this little piece i came up with the title first and it was all just plain sailing from there on in. I think it may have been after i was listening to ‘Suspicious minds’ that this one came to mind – although it’s always tricky to be sure. The stencil is quite small and i’m reasonably happy with the result. I think next time i should probably try and get a crisp note for such purposes.
As somebody commented on flickr apparently it is illegal to deface dollar bills so i’m just glad i don’t live in the U.S. as i would hate to have a knock at the door for doing this…
I think i’m finally getting a bit of a better idea of how to work the video editing software which is definitely a good thing. We have already done a post on Jealousy (see here) but i have now managed to work the video into something watchable. Our green eyed monster was a quick hit (well – quick for us at about 45 minutes) on an abandoned wall. He’s about 8ft tall and definitely has something of a worrying look in his eyes…
As avid readers of our blog will know we have already covered our work up at Emirates Stadium for Arsenal(see here) but i have finally managed to create a short video of the Centrepoint logo we were commissioned to produce.
After so many failed attempts to turn our raw footage into an edited video that it is completely laughable i have finally managed to produce one very sub-standard video for your viewing pleasure. I realise that it’s probably not the most fantastic bit of video you have ever seen but i think i’m finally getting the hang of the video editing software we’ve got. It takes ages to crunch the HD video we shot and hopefully my next attempt will be somewhat jazzier although only time will tell. I should have proabably cut some of the footage out but that will have to wait until i’ve mastered the trim function – which could well take some time so you’ll have to bear with me…
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