Winter Blues 2011

Been a long time since I have posted anything for DP so I'm kicking off with one of the latest art shows that I took part it. The show was at The Egg Cafe gallery in Liverpool. For this show I submitted two pieces that I did during the summer before. I thought i would dive in to the world of abstract art. I wanted to create a visual piece with out using a brush.

I would get the paper or the canvas I was using and spread layers of paint on them. I would take a screen printing swiper and swipe layers of paint away. I would use acrylic paints but I would also make my own medium of paint by watering down liquid latex and then add certain inks and tea. I came out with some amazing colours.

The show it self went really well. There was a big turn out and a lot of people to speak to. This was the first show that I attended by myself and not know any one. The two pieces were Matterhorn's Campfire (image above) and Largeman's abyss (Image below). Named after a book and a film.

I wrote what happened on my tumblr at the show : -

Last Thursday (24th November) was the opening night for the Winter blues art show. Tho this would of been the 4th art show I would of been in this year, it’ll be the first one that I would of bothered to attended to. Not that the other shows where not worth going to, I just had other things on the nights that they were opening on. So with this in mind I sent out the word about the show and tried to form a band of people to go with. But it seems they where all busy or they did the cool kid Hollywood thing of “get your people to call my people.” Bunch of phonies getting worse each day. Determined to go I set out in to the windy night armed with a copy of George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four.

Hoped on the Liverpool train. Normally this ride is full of noisy people or theres at least one drunk. Tonight tho it was like a ghost train. No one in my carriage. Gave me time tho to start my book.

I arrived at the show a bit late. 15 Minutes, my thought was I don’t want to get there on the dot and no one else be there. Out side the building there was a couple smoking. “Well at least people turned up” I said in my head. Nothing worse then no one to turn up to a show that your part off. Climbed the spiral stair case the top floor where the show was taking part. I open the door and walk through.

I was greeted with a room full of people. Bit of a mixture of panic and excitement. What caught my eye tho was a woman pointing at a wall of paintings and been in a bit of a state. To make her worse she dropped her Iphone and cracked the glass screen. I seated myself a couple of tables down and sat in the middle of one of the big tables. Thought this way I could here what was going on with the woman but also I could over hear what other people thought about the show. After ordering some food and get a cup of tea in I came back to my seat and opened my book up again. But the woman was still going on. After doing a bit of ease dropping I over heard why she was going on to her husband. She was another artist taking part in the show. She had a problem with that her paintings had been split up on the wall which they were displayed on. Another painting had been put up in-between hers. I looked up and staring at the painting that had split hers up. It was one of mine. This actually made my night. Not that I’m a bad person… well I hope that I don’t come across as one but I thought “At least one of my paintings has made a impression on some one, good or bad I’ll take it.” At this point I was smirking away.

Food came and I was trying to do the hipster look of reading a old school sci-fi book whilst eating food and not giving a dam what other people thought of me. In my head I pulled it off. Finishing my food I had a walk around to see the other pieces of art in the show. I tend to get to be a critical bastard when it comes to other peoples art work. If it doesn’t interest me at all I’ll over look it or just think nothing of it. I guess thats a bastard thing to do and not in the spirit of things but what can you do? Some one who I did like was a piece by Hazel Mutch. She had painted blades of grass with inks. Impressed that she had used inks to a great effect. I have tried in the past countless times to use ink in my work. I just can’t seem to get blends right. So kudos to you I thought.

I never know how much to price my art work. With me still been a struggling artist still trying to make a name for myself you can’t really charge much for your paintings. If the painting is good enough people will pay. Well that’s what I’m told. Having a look around there was prints of peoples work. Nothing wrong with this but I always think you could put the original up for show but then have a note to say “prints on sale not original”. The prices that these people wanted tho was going in to the £££. So ridiculous to think your going to get that money for a print at a small art show. My paintings are only going for £50/60 each. I have only paid £95 for a Sam Flores print once, who is a well known artist in L.A. All other prints were around £40-60, but it’s there call on the price.

I returned to my seat and ordered another pot of tea. After sitting of for a while I over heard a woman say “Zephyrbaby thats a fancy name.” I tend not to say who I am when people mention me. I like to see what they say about me not knowing who I was. It seems for this show people enjoyed one of my paintings more then the other. I only entered two for this show. Largeman’s Abyss and Matterhorn Campfire. Largeman’s Abyss was named after the film “Garden state”. While Matterhorn Campfire was named after a chapter in the book “Dharma Bums” by Jack Kerouac. Matterhorn Campfire was the one pulling in the most people. I decided to get up and hover around it. There was other paintings near it so I decided to have a close look at them. What I could hear people liked the colours used and how it seemed to be painted (it was put in the description that i hadn’t used a brush and i guess people were trying to guess what i had used instead). I went over to the organisers of the show to have a chat. They said that my painting has got some good comments about it. I was pleased with this.. well who wouldn’t.

I finished off my cup of tea and decided to call it a night. Pretty successful I thought. Good comments and good food. Got the train back then called a taxi at the station for home. By this time the heavens had opened up and the walk home didn’t look to inviting.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year x

How to make a kite

Last time I mentioned (albeit briefly) that I was making some kites for the launch of From The Kites Of San Quentin's debut EP Mitochondria (which is out now as a pay-what-you-like download from their very own This City Is Ours Records). I sold one on the night and Kites are yet to decide which one they want but I still have two left as well, so if you want one drop me an email at andyandyandy_vine@hotmail.com. To say I was expecting not to sell any I consider that quite a result! Credit where it's due, I mostly used the directions on the website on the other end of this link, but some of their instructions were a bit ambiguous. So without further ado, here is the definitive guide to making your very own Dead Pheasant Kites kites.

You will need a plain shower curtain from Ikea, a packet of bamboo skewers, a ball of string, some sellotape, some parcel tape, some hazard tape, a permanent marker pen, a pencil, a pair of scissors, some all purpose or wood glue, a craft knife, a ruler and a cutting mat. And a cup of tea, naturally.

Excuse the slightly crappy photos here, the flash from my phone reflected off the steel ruler and my phone FREAKED OUT. What they are trying to illustrate is that you will need one skewer at 14.5cm, three skewers at 29cm and four at 4.4cm.

Glue the skewers together like so, with the shorter skewers either side of the longer ones for strength. Rip up a bit of a packet of blue tack so you don't get shouted at for getting glue all over the window sill.

The next bit is quite fiddly so the easiest way to go about it is by making a template first. This should be half the size of your kite's sail, in this case the vertical edge is 43.5 cm, the width is 29cm and the distance from the bottom to the point is 29 cm as well. That wasn't especially well explained, I'd draw a diagram but there's one right here which is great.

Lay it down on the shower curtain, which is of course folded in half along the vertical line, and draw around it. Might as well trim the shower curtain down as well, it's pretty unmanagable otherwise.

Once you've done that, cut it out with the craft knife and ruler. Looking good.

You'll probably need another cup of tea at this point.

Draw whatever you want on both sides of the kite now with permanent marker.

Go all the way around the edge of the kite with sellotape and fold it over to strengthen the edges.

Lay the horizontal spar onto the kites first and attach to the corners of the kite with parcel tape. Lay the vertical spar on top (short end at the top, obviously) and attach in the same way. Then glue the two spars together where they overlap.

Cut a length of string 175cm. Tie a loop knot in one end. Poke a couple of holes in the parcel taped corner either side of the spar and thread the knotted end of the string through. Then feed the other end of the string through the loop and pull it tight.

Do the same for the other end of the horizontal spar and tie it off. I used a slip knot for this end. This is now the bridle line.

This is probably the fiddliest part. To make the flying line you need a length of string 15cm long. Tie a small loop knot in one end. Then find the middle of the bridle line and tie the flying line with a prusik knot. If you want. It was so fiddly that I did this for the first couple and then sacked it off for a normal granny knot so you know, do what you want. As long as it's in the middle I don't think it matters that much. Then tie some hazard tape to the bottom of the vertical spar for a tail and about 20ft of string to the loop knot on the flying line. You're a winner. Here are the finished articles, all numbered one to four on the back.

One of four, mixing desk. This one now belongs to one of the guys from Capac, who were supporting on the night.

Two of four, pedal board.

Three of four, Ableton.

Four of four, Moog.

It was an excellent night anyway. I believe there's some video footage knocking about, if I see any online I'll link to it here because the projections they had going on were incredible. Phil mentioned to me that they had some plans for the Sounds From The Other City festival next summer as well so keep your ear to the ground. Go and download the EP and if you want one of these things, let me know.

OH, almost forgot. The Vaporous Light album is out now on Akoustik Anarkhy. Go and get it, it's great.

Be safe x

Vaporous Light update from Andy V

Now then now then.

Since last time, Vaporous Light have released their second single,  Charming News / Lansdowne House. You can get for a mere pound (A POUND!) from their Bandcamp page which you can get to by clicking on that link up there ^. I've done the sleeve for this using a detail from the same artwork as the sleeve for The Eyes Of A Fool (and, incidentally, the CD for the album, but more on that in a second). Anyway, it's out on Akoustik Anarkhy as ever and it looks like this.

OK, so, the main news is this. I've also done the sleeve design for the eponymous album. Oh yeah. The band already had the artwork ready, it's by the same artist (Anna Garton) as the singles, so I had the job of putting it all together. It was a lot of hard work but I reckon it's paid off and I hope you'll agree. The band were a great help with plenty of input and we've just had it back from the printer! Hooray. Here it is.

Aaaaand here's a picture of it on Lego's turntable.

Ace in yer face. I'll take some more pics soon enough, it's a beautiful gatefold digipack CD that needs showing off. More importantly, I've just listened to it and it's a great album. Not sure when it comes out yet but as soon as I find out I'll update here.

In the meantime I've uploaded another couple of tracks to Soundcloud. First off is a new one. If you like the sound of drums and the moon, this is for you.


A College Noted For Knowledge by Autoflag

I've also re-uploaded an older track, Frankenstein's Monster Destroys Wigan Pier. This had looooads of plays, but for some reason it sounded like one second of glitch, so obviously it had been people playing it and then playing it again coz it didn't work. Anyway, it's best listened to immediately after Frankenstein Creates His Monster. Like this, yeah:


Frankenstein Creates His Monster by Autoflag


Frankenstein's Monster Destroys Wigan Pier by Autoflag

I'm off to This City Is Ours' second birthday party tonight at Centro dressed as a ghost (Hallowe'en innit) so see you there. After that I need to crack on with making some kites for the From The Kites Of San Quentin EP launch next month. You'd better be at that one, it's going to blow your tiny minds.

In a bit yo.

New stuff from Andy V, plus other new stuff from other people.

Stuff by Andy V. There's quite a bit of writing about it all here, he'd really quite appreciate it if you read it. Cheers, yeah?

Floating Fish mixtape by Autoflag

As you should be aware if you've been paying attention (that means you at the back; would you like to share it with the class?) we've been doing the posters for the bloody lovely This City Is Ours for a bit now. Here is the latest which takes place this Saturday and has been made by Lino. Andy V was going to go down, but he's going out in Warrington dressed as if he's in Hawaii. If you're unfamiliar with Warrington's climate, it is very much dissimilar to that of Hawaii. Should be fun though, he's hoping that Mr Phil's Golden Shower will be ready by then.

Alright Dead Phezzers! Thought I'd kick off this Logo shizzle! Not enitrely sure how i feel about this yet, the design OR the colours, but i wanted to get it down on paper....... well, digital paper atleast!

This City Is Ours #9

If you live in Manchester I think they've said it's illegal to NOT go to this! You better get on it...... like a....errr...... car bonnet.....