Over the weekend of the 16th and 17th August, it was time once again for two of the Homegrown Collective to join forces and hit another out of town paint jam. This time it was myself and Lowdown who were heading down to Peterborough for the Overground Live Arts Jam, held @ The Green Back Yard.
It was a late entry for me, Lowdown had been on the rosta for a few weeks and said I should contact Process Smith, fellow artist and one of the event organisers and see if I could have a board to paint. I got in touch and Process, or Stuart as he is also known, was happy to let me come down and paint and asked what size board I preferred. I chose the 'random square' option and said I looked forward to the event.
Our designated driver for the mission was Kane, Lowdown's close friend and film maker who was the icing on the cake for this particular outing. He was on the ball and had everything under control, where we were staying, where the event site was, very efficient.
As I said, I was a late entry and as such hadn't had much time to research the event or the artists involved, so I didn't know what to expect.
I was more than pleasantly surprised!
We'd driven down on the Friday night and stayed in a private little hotel just round the corner from The Green Back Yard where the event was held. Run entirely by volunteers, The Green Back Yard is a community growing project situated in a once derelict, former allotment.
Randomly beautiful I thought and the ideal place for a live art jam. Lots of greenery everywhere and quirkiness in abundance! (I kept thinking to myself, 'The One Five Eight lot would love this place'!)
As our hotel was only round the corner, we got there quite early, Lowdown keen to get set up and start putting his layers down. We met a few nice people who were setting up stalls and the decks etc but it wasn't quite time to start painting!
I chose a board that was leaning against a fantastic dome like structure and set myself up ready.
I got chatting to Tony Nero, a fine artist with mad skills and a great way about him. He set up nearby on an easel he brought with him, another one keen to get started and why not?!
I was quite excited to be there as more artists arrived and hadn't noticed the photographer from The Telegraph newspaper had turned up to cover the event. I had to be asked to get in the picture, still clutching my can of spray paint I was shaking up!
Soon, it was all underway and artists were starting to paint and Luke, Stuart's brother I believe, got the music kicked off with some funk, much to my delight!
Lowdown made a great start and had layers thrown up in no time. I think I was still in a daze, thoroughly enjoying my surroundings and realising who else was there to paint as I walked around and recognised some of the work going up.
I clocked Parlee's quirky characters and stopped to have a little chat with him. Having spoken at Sand Sea & Spray event not long ago, it was nice to catch up again at another event in completely different surroundings.
The contrast of urban art in amongst all the greenery and flowers was a nice change of scene and there were lots of things that caught my eye, including a scarecrow type figure made from junk and bits and bobs, which to me looked like a George Clinton robot made by Station from Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey!
Another good thing was that there were artists of all ages and disciplines painting together. I spoke to a few people who looked like they had been doing it a long time, but for them this was only their first or second event. Right behind me however were two masters of their craft, the brothers Idiom.
It was a treat to watch them do their thing. Two heads are definitely better than one!
Some of the kids' pieces were great, including one of my favourites from the whole event, depicting a Star Wars battle between Darth Vader and Yoda.
"Shut up Vader!" Ha ha! Genius!
There were so many different styles and mediums being used, it was great to see them all at one event.
The lad painting next to Lowdown was Lee Mason, a graphic designer I believe. This was a second or third time for him painting big and he made it look easy!
Kane was getting right involved filming myself and Lowdown and being on hand to help with large stencils.
Next to Lee was 'Spike Five foot 6', a tattooist and punk enthusiast. He was a good laugh and another one who had only 'gone big' recently, transferring his tattoo skills over to spray paint for events such as this. I also got chatting to Miss Wah, a fellow Posca wielder who also now uses spray paint for big pieces. Surprisingly shy at first, this lass got mad skills and a good way about her. (like most people I met that day!)
Sporting a rather fetching My Dog Sighs tattoo aswell!
I didn't get to talk to everyone I'd like to, sometimes you don't want to interrupt people as they paint, but I was more than happy to be there at such a diverse event.
Lowdown was killing it with the most detailed figure I've ever seen him do. I still think the photo looks like Sean Connery in The Rock. Must be the beanie!
The weather was pretty good for most of the day, only rained slightly earlier on, but nothing could ruin the atmosphere.
I'd decided not to go so tech on my piece this time and planned out a few possibilities in the hotel room the night before. I tried something new this time though- instead of putting a thick black outline round it, I left it white from masking off. Kieran, the young lad painting next to me said it looked better and that I should leave it. I agreed. But then later on, I just couldn't leave it alone and added in a thin black line round the white one!
Painting at the other side of me was Alexander North Airey, who was like me, a big fan of 2000AD and Judge Dredd comics. We both had the feeling we'd met before and we chatted away all day and even teamed up to defend the new Dredd movie when it came up in conversation that the Stallone one was better!
There were some amazing pieces on display by the end of it all. I wished I'd had more money to buy some artwork from the stall aswell.
Once I'd finished my piece, I went to find Process Smith and say hello and thanks for letting us come down and get involved. I asked if it was ok to have a go at some freestyle spray painting on the big wall behind Idiom and he said if there are free walls left, paint away!
Kane came over and filmed whilst I painted this, but the rain started to come down heavier so we had to pack the camera away. It was almost time to go. Lowdown was finishing up and was chatting to Lee and Spike who were almost done aswell.
I went to say good bye to Tony who was still working on his piece. Thick application of paint and using various ways to apply it, it was looking sweet AS when I left.
We chatted to a few people as we waited for Spike to finish with Lowdown's ladder signing off his piece. What a great day. I'm glad I got down to paint at such a unique event. I will definitely go again. Big thanks to Process Smith and his family for putting on such a great day and to all the other artists and people involved.
Thanks to Lowdown for the heads up and Kane for getting us there and back with panache.
Check out Overground Arts page at the link below