Who here doesn’t like an idiom? We certainly do. We haven’t painted one for a while so have decided to rectify that with ‘Sleeping with the fishes’. It’s unclear what led Tony 2 Chains to end up in this position but it’s clear he’s been here a while as there appears to be an octopus living in his brain cavity. It must have been bad though as they appear to have stapled his lips together. Harsh.
I’m pretty sure everyone is down with ‘sleeping with the fishes’ but if you’re unfamiliar with the idiom it’s an old school gangster cliche which means to be killed and have one’s body disposed of in a sea or other body of water. Apparently the earliest recorded use was in 1833 but the phrase was popularised by the 1972 film The Godfather. Mario Puzo’s 1969 book on which the film was based doesn’t actually contain the phrase but there is reference to a large dead fish wrapped in a bulletproof vest to signify the same thing, although the phrase itself isn’t used. So now you know.
With the end of lockdown now in sight, we can now start to start thinking about the future and that’s exactly what Margery here intended to do. Before she fell asleep all she could think of was holidays to far flung parts of the globe where she would be invited to urbane parties with exclusive guest lists where she was the guest of honour. She wasn’t yet sure why she was the guest of honour but that’s what she hoped to find out over the next night’s sleep.
Sadly that wasn’t the case. Instead of dreams of living the high life with the world’s elite, she had dreams that left her more exhausted than anything else. She found herself traipsing through clouds like the Care Bears but instead of frolicking in the sun she was chasing ducks but didn’t know why. It was all very confusing for her. On top of that, her teeth kept falling out and growing back every time the ducks would quack at her.
This seemed to go on for hours until at one point when she was within a couple of inches from grabbing a duck when her foot started to sink into the cloud she was walking on. Suddenly she fell through the cloud and was hurtling through the air towards the ever nearing earth. Just as she was about to hit the ground she woke up with a start, knocking the glass of water on her bedside table all over herself and her cat which proceeded to dash from the room clawing her leg viciously as it scarpered for safety. After looking at herself in the mirror and assessing the bags under her eyes and the damage done from the cat she wasn’t particularly looking forward to going back to sleep anytime soon…
Gather round for I have a tale to tell. I was on holiday when I thought I’d go for an afternoon stroll into the hills behind where I was staying. As I was wandering along the path I knocked a stone which started a small rockslide that seemed to terminate with a deep groan. Having watched too much Murder She Wrote I decided to put on my Jessica Fletcher hat and began an investigation.
After clambering down the small incline I was surprised to find a large head peeking out of the ground and grumbling to itself. To my shock he started shouting at me about being careful about where I was going and to watch my step in a deeply toned accent that I just couldn’t place. I apologised profusely and said I would be more careful in the future and he grumbled something unintelligible and seemingly went back to sleep. Now, what the moral is I’m not entirely sure but that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
After sleeping quietly in the corner of the studio for a couple of years it was time for Darren here to hit the streets. He’s been dreaming of busier times which have never quite materialised. Life is harsh Darren my friend…
He’s on plywood, was pretty tricky to produce and comes complete with lots of small nails and thread around the lettering. What on earth was I thinking? I can’t imagine what will become of him with all the sleeping he does but wish him all the best.
Our latest piece entitled ‘Busy being lazy’ came about as we were taking part in a battle on stencil forum Cut n Spray and the theme for the battle was ‘lazy’. Since this is a theme that is close to my heart i thought i’d try to muster the necessary effort to take part. The theme could be interpreted however you liked as long as there was a stencil on the final design.
After sitting around thinking/playing Black Ops for a while inspiration finally struck. From there it was a question of motivation and logistics. Thankfully i managed to save myself from terminal apathy and get myself to the hardware shop to buy the necessary bits and pieces. Working with plywood is quite fun although perhaps i should have got something slightly thicker than 4mm as problems started to arise when i was knocking the nails in as some of them would go straight through the wood. After a little trial and error i managed to get all the nails in and then came the thread…
Threading the nails was certainly something of a challenge (especially considering my earlier problems with anchoring the nails properly) but after the appropriate amount of swearing I finally managed to get it all attached properly. Now i just need somewhere good to get it installed and transport it there safely…
Hopefully we’ll be in with a chance of winning the competition with ‘Busy being lazy’ as surely it’s a truly inspirational piece? I’ll keep you updated as to the outcome…
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