Category: rubbish

Count ‘Em

Posted on by Ricky

The Big Five

Lilly and I spent most of the month of June this year on a voyage across East Africa. We had an awesome time, and when we got to Kenya I had the opportunity to realise one of my daily illustrations from a year or so ago, by shooting the Big Five Game (With my Nikon!).

#1: Cape Buffalo
#1: Cape BuffaloWhat a filthy beast!

#2: Rhino
#2: Rhino (and friend)I particularly liked how an egret seemed to befriend this rhino

#3: Lion(ess)
#3: Lion(ess)We saw fully-maned lions and cubs too, but I like this photo the best!

#4: Elephant
#4: Elephant
The big one for us! Elephants are such wonderful creatures

#5: Leopard
#5: Leopard
I don’t know how our guides spotted this chap in the tree, but there he is, showing everyone how to flop!

If you liked these pics there are plenty more where they came from… We also got to meet Gorillas in the mountains and all kinds of other brilliant beings on the trip. You can check out a gallery of some more of my photos on Flickr here!

How My Mind Works or The Best Gif I’ve Ever Made

Posted on by Ricky

Factory (Click for a massive version)

I was digging through my archives last week and got completely distracted by this six-piece post-it drawing I did a year ago. After staring at it for a moment, I had the idea of turning it into an animated gif, so this weekend instead of watching it rain, I got to work.

I think it has to be the best damn animated gif I’ve ever made. It loops so perfectly, and it’s full of robots and washing machines. It’s a pretty good representation of what goes on in my mind too.

You can click it to load a huge version of the drawing if you want to check out some of the detail in it!

The Trickartt DJ Bio Generator is back!

Posted on by Ricky

Hospital Advent 2013Part of my sprint toward the end of the year involved getting the Hospital Advent calendar ready again. I drew a nice medical-seasonal Santa behind an X-ray screen for the artwork this year, which was a good starting point.

We at The Purple Gates like to believe the record label is more than just music, so across the 24 days of Advent, we give away a bit of everything. This includes nonsense from me, so when we were scheduling the calendar, the 22nd was allotted to Ricky Trickartt’s Wonderful World of Colour.

We started scraping the barrel for one of my inter web experiments. As proud as I am of WashMa.ch, the Hospital Officers decided it was too esoteric to share. Instead, they suggested I give my DJ Bio Generator from 2009 a little revamp.

Just in time for the 22nd, I did exactly that; it now has additional ludicrous options and more current references so you can make a sillier Drum + Bass DJ Biography quicker than ever. Check it out here, make your own bio in a snap, and if you’re really a DJ, paste it into your Soundcloud profile (or wherever you like to share your mixtapes). If nothing else, it sure beats taking the task of biography-writing seriously and doing it yourself!

A Farewell for my first Vespa

Posted on by Ricky

“I always told myself that I would ride this bike until death do us part”

It’s been an intense few months in Rickmansland. You may have noticed my daily creativities have not exactly been daily lately, as in the last day one was posted was way back at the end of June, which is when it all started.

My beloved, loyal little Vespa had another breakdown, and this time it was on the South Circular, about 25 miles from home. I had to abandon the bike in Clapham and get the tube home, so I could return the next day with a rental van and take it to a garage to get fixed. This experience was made that much more intense because I only had one day before Lilly and I were set to go and spend a week off in Sicily, where I tried to spend as little time as possible sulking about my dead Vespa.

Continue reading “A Farewell for my first Vespa” →

And We’re Back

Posted on by Ricky

Finally: I have restored everything from my Something Creative Every Day project which got washed away last month.

It will never be the same but it’s as good as it’s going to get! You can see the fully restored set here, or you can just keep an eye on me on your favourite social networks, as I should be getting back into doing daily creativities again now everything is back.

Thanks to all for their patience and support!

Hospital Bike Club

Posted on by Ricky

For some silly reason I have agreed to partake in Hospital Bike Club – along with some of our officers, I shall be embarking on a two-wheeled journey from Hospital’s HQ in South London to Brighton on Saturday 8th October, before Hospitality Brighton that night.

I have been given the relatively easy end of the bargain here, because unlike my colleagues, my two wheels will be propelled by a tiny engine. This doesn’t make it much less daunting for me though – the trip from SE26 to the Brighton seafront in itself would be pretty much the longest journey I will have ever taken my tiny 50cc Vespa on in nine years of owning it, and my journey doesn’t even begin there, as I have a thirty-mile ride to the start line too.

Still, I can’t complain too much – Edgar, Riley, Zac and Tom will be doing this using the power of their own bodies while I buzz along with them, handing them sugary drinks and kendal mint cake to keep their energy up! Lilly may also be joining me to ride on the back, as it would be fun to film the event Tour de France style, with her facing backwards with a camera. We’re not sure on the legalities of that, but I will document the event one way or another!

So why are we doing this?

Well, aside from fun, we are doing this for charity! We are raising money for MIND, the mental health charity, which is a pretty awesome cause. You can donate money on our Just Giving page here. And if you don’t think my mammoth Vespa trip is worth it, then do it for the chaps who are actually pedalling the whole way!

Something Catastrophic Every Day

Posted on by Ricky

What a time for this to happen – just as this nice interview with me was posted, somewhere between upgrading my version of Aperture and my Flickr account, the past year of something creative every day has been completely wiped out. I don’t think I have much of a chance of reinstating it, but I have written to Flickr to ask for their help. In the mean time, please excuse all the broken images and links you will find with anything relating to the past year of something creative every day.

Farewell, Greetings

Posted on by Ricky

I was saddened to find that the greetings I painted and put up in the park last weekend have disappeared without a trace today.

The disappointing thing is they didn’t even last a week, but I guess this is what you have to expect in the topsy-turvy world of unrequited art. I am slightly reassured, though, that they have made somewhat of a clean getaway, because it doesn’t suggest vandalism caused their end.

The optimist in me wants to believe someone took them because they liked them, but as their disappearance is so tidy, it’s likely that the relevant authorities (perhaps whoever put the frames up?) took them down. I would be reassured by this if the frames are actually filled with whatever was intended of them in the near future though.

Oh well. At least I got some good photos of them when they were up, as visible in the aforelinked blog post.

Me and my Fridge

Posted on by Ricky

It’s funny how you can get so used to some things that you forget they’re actually pretty unusual, then when it comes up in conversation, you remember how odd they are. A good example of this is my fridge.

When I was thirteen, my parents were refitting the kitchen. Instead of getting a new fridge, my Mum had the idea to get me to paint the one we already had like a Warhol soup can. I was learning about his work at school at the time. It was a great idea – thanks Mum! – so I went for it, and the fridge became what it is. It’s consommé not because it’s anyone’s favourite, but because I liked the second line of text on the bottom half of the can.

The fridge outlasted my parents’ marriage though, and when my family home was eventually sold, I decided the fridge was too novel to get rid of. I disconnected the motor so it no longer chills, but the light still works!

For a short time in smaller dwellings, I used it as my wardrobe, but over the past few years it has been happily serving as one of my art supply stores. It is now home to everything from post-it notes to pencils, spray paints to sweet wrappers, and I wouldn’t swap it for anything else!

A Non-Permanent Unrequited Public Art Installation

Posted on by Ricky

Since I moved to Rickmansworth a few years ago, I have taken an almost-daily walk around the local park, the Aquadrome. I chuckle at all the waterbirds and see child after child fall off their micro-scooters on my travels, but it mostly serves to keep me fit. None of my jeans fit me any more, which is a nice problem to have.

A couple of months ago, I noticed these two frames erected by one of the entrances:

I figured they weren’t filled at the time so the concrete they were affixed with could set. So many weeks have now passed that the seasons have changed but the frames still haven’t been filled. The Rickmansworth Festival in the park came and went too, and I thought for sure they would be filled in time for that. Alas, they stayed empty.

Then the idea hit me – why not fill them myself?! I’m not down with vandalism, so I figured I could staple some canvas to them without causing any lasting damage, and I had a nice little project for the Bank Holiday.

I took a little bit of inspiration from Austin, Texas’ Hi How Are You? frog, which has become a bit of a landmark around there as they seem to appreciate the greeting. Perhaps my people will appreciate it too?

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