War Pig

The launch of the War Pig is almost upon us, and in the effort of secrecy I have taken past pictures of the War Pig off  my blog, after the 11th february they will be back up again.
I have been working on a children's story of the War Pig which I finished yesterday and have sent off to Blurb to be printed, what a blooming adventure that was, firstly making up the story, maybe not that difficult as I made up stories for my children a lot of the time, but more surprisingly is that I have illustrated it, obviously I can't put all the pics up here, but as a taster I have posted the Polden Pig.
When the book is published you will be able to read it and order copies.  I will also make an ebook which will as a bonus have me reading the story as well. What joy.

Snow today.

New Book, Lacewing and Trowbridge latest

Yesterday I installed Lacewing and very proudly it sits in its new wet environment.

On wednesday I took samples to Cheltenham for the Trowbridge job and all was terrific there as they loved all the samples so all systems go for the new year as the production team take over.

Now to settle back for a few days into the readiness of christmas and the ensuing madness that produces, some say the end of the world, some just say that is a euphemism for christmas!!



Heres to a brilliant 2013 and those chinks of light, maybe some sun, maybe less rain, yes to more experimentation and music, more instruments in the pipeline, hopefully more collaborations and some cracking venues.

Blimey. nearly forgot.  A new book by Kyra Cane called makings and drawing has just been published and my work is within the covers.  It is a book about how makers use drawing in their work through different media from pencil to computer to directly, it feature many different artists.  A must for all!!  Here's the link:  http://www.amazon.co.uk/Making-Drawing-Kyra-Cane/dp/1408134519

Trowbridge et al

The job in Trowbridge has started.  A brewery trail for a new housing estate on the site of the old Ushers bottling plant.  It might not sound much but rather wonderfully it is. The client is very forward thinking and the opportunites to create something of value here is very good, at the moment I am designing various samples for a meeting later in december and then hopefully production can begin in the new year.

The various gigs have all gone well and I am creating a new music room at home.

River's wood has been very wet and not too much activity to date.

The War Pig and the Gimlet- Eyed Mariners

The 'War Pig' has been sited on a Roman Legionaires diseased banner flying high over a raging battle ground somewhere in deepest Somerset, authentication to be sort.

The Gimlet-Eyed Mariners gig on Saturday 24th Nov  at 7.30 for 8.00 at the congregational church, Wiveliscombe, after their recent rehearsals all I can say is get along we are sounding brilliant!!!!

Lacewing

A private commission
The 'Lacewing' is made from charred Douglas Fur it stands at 2 metres

The Travails of the War Pig

What a story this is, indeed the travails of the war pig should be written by someone more learned than myself:  I found this pig in the backroom of a shopping mall in Taunton, already this is wrong, this poor pig is a state of disrepair, no pride, it life story hidden amongst the detritus of the consumer society.  The War Pig's story is a sorry tale,  These pigs used by the Romans to frightened the War Elephants were coated in resin and pitch and set fire to, and then, squealing let loose to run amuck amongst the elephants, scattering the poor frightened beasts and so defeating their foes. Not many War Pigs survived, but recently on the Polden Hills, an excavation found the remains of  a 'Trojan War Pig' these are very rare and we are lucky to have this one preserved so well in the soils of west somerset.  From the shopping mall to my studio for the forensic examinations, creation of stretchers and in readiness for a tour of the county, The War Pig is ready, ready to spread the word, to tell of the futility of war, of the use of animals in the tactics of death, the corruption of generals, the War Pigs story is ready to be unleashed.

F.T. Playing at I-Park. Whitley Arts Festival

I have finished editing Roman's film of me playing the Fibonacci Tree in I-Park and I have put it onto my vimeo site:  https://vimeo.com/51516343  please go see as the instrument  sound great and Roman's footage is marvellous.
The Gig in Reading at Whitley Festival went very well, the students from Theale Green Community School did wonders in the small time we had together to rehearse and perform the piece, I would like to thank them for all their good work and good spirit throughout the project I would also like to thank Gemma their teacher and Matt the technician for all their help and to perform as well.

Thanks to Edmund Harcourt for putting the event together on a shoe string of a budget he really did amazingly well.

St Mary's itself, what a great venue.