Wandering Word BOOMTOWN / SHAMBALA 2012 mural - collab with Daddison (& work in progress, sketches etc)

This is a mural tryptich (sp?) I was asked to create by the wonderful people at Wandering Word, a travelling performance poetry and live music stage that goes to various festivals here in the UK. This year the stage went to Boomtown and Shambala.

I collaborated on the mural with my friend Dave (aka. Daddison)...

Visit his website here

...he did the monochrome patterny bits around the coloured figures (those were my bit), and he also designed the logo/typography that says 'Wandering Word'.

The three boards were standard ply which measures 8 x 4 feet. We painted the mural using Molotov paints and pens. They're pricey but worth it, imo.

I included some poetry in the image (as it seemed appropriate for a poetry stage), which can be seen in the both the girl's hair, the fox's fur, and in the fox's tail.
The text in the girl's hair is from a rather rare and special book lent to me by a friend called 'The Futurist's Cookbook'. According to Wikipedia, 'Futurism was an artistic and social movement that originated in Italy in the early 20th century. It emphasized and glorified themes associated with contemporary concepts of the future, including speed, technology, youth and violence, and objects such as the car, the airplane and the industrial city. It was largely an Italian phenomenon, though there were parallel movements in Russia, England and elsewhere. The Futurists practiced in every medium of art, including painting, sculpture, ceramics, graphic design, industrial design, interior design, theatre, film, fashion, textiles, literature, music, architecture and even gastronomy.'
The text describes surreal recipes and bizarre accounts of dinner parties. If you have very good eyesight you might be able to decipher some of it, otherwise I recommend you try and find the book, it's a funny, fascinating and bizarre.
The poem in the fox's tail is by Charles Bukowski, and the other one on the other part of the fox is by James Joyce.

Scroll down to see details, shots of the work on location at Boomtown and Shambala, work in progress shots, initial sketches, and some images I used as references & for inspiration...

For professional shots (including the one at the top of this post) of Wandering Word stage at Shambala, click here.

DETAILS:

BOOMTOWN:

SHAMBALA:

WORK IN PROGRESS:

SKETCH:

REFERENCE IMAGES: