2nd Sunday blog & an interview

My second blog of 2011 is now up on the AOH website. And there’s an interview with me by Paul Dutnall on Festival Radio available at Soundcloud.

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They’re back!

Two of my murials are back outside the Astoria, just in time for the Brighton Festival, where I’m showing prints again in the Dragonfly House.

Also, I just blogged my Open House adventures this Sunday on the AOH website.

May in The Dragonfly House again

Well folks, it’s that time of year again and on Saturday I’ll be showing prints old and new at The Dragonfly House, 48 Ditchling Rise, Brighton all the weekends in May. Come and say Hello – I’ll be upstairs above the plan chest. Lots of other good stuff to see and buy too!

I also made a video interview with Rob Peel, last year’s Brighton Festival Award Artist of the Year, for AOH. I couldn’t get the Vimeo video to embed on their site, so here goes for this YouTube version:

The future of Black Rock

It was to become an ice rink – now, according to the Argus it’ll be a ‘temporary’ coach park!

2010 in review

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Fresher than ever.

Crunchy numbers

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 1,900 times in 2010. That’s about 5 full 747s.

 

In 2010, there were 18 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 39 posts. There were 16 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 840kb. That’s about a picture per month.

The busiest day of the year was May 14th with 86 views. The most popular post that day was Astoria.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were facebook.com, fredpipes.blogspot.com, fred.eu5.org, news.bbc.co.uk, and obama-scandal-exposed.co.cc.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for saltdean lido, fred pipes, saltdean, embassy court brighton, and fred pipes blog.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

Astoria May 2010
2 comments

2

Saltdean Lido November 2010
3 comments

3

Saltdean Lido in watercolour June 2009
3 comments

4

Astoria hoardings May 2010

5

Astoria photo shoot June 2010

Astoria to be demolished?

The Argus is reporting that the Astoria cinema, home to my murals, could be demolished to make way for a ‘business centre’! I’m surprised there hasn’t already been a mysterious fire in the night! Too many Art Deco buildings have been demolished since I moved to Brighton, just because they are not Regency!

On the BBC (website)

Woo Yay! My murials make the BBC (South) website – not bad for a dilettante artist / semi-retired illustrator from Bury, eh! Thanks to Helz for the heads-up.

In the Argus

Moi in the Brighton Argus, Thursday 10 June 2010, p2 – the council press release almost word for word. There was also a mention by Dan Thompson on the RAG Artists and makers website.

Astoria photo shoot

After the Council photo shoot last Friday outside the Astoria in which I posed with Matt’s pretend palette and brush, here is the press release, keep an eye out for City News sometime soon! Photo by Hannah Brackenbury.

Old Astoria brightened up by Art Deco images

Brighton & Hove City Council has installed Art Deco paintings, commissioned from a local artist, on the former Astoria cinema site in Brighton to brighten up the unused site.

The paintings feature local landmarks in the retro-style of 1930s posters and include an image of the Astoria cinema, specially drawn for this display.  Other images on the building include Shoreham Airport, Embassy Court and the Seven Sisters.

Councillor Dee Simson, Brighton & Hove’s cabinet member for community affairs, said:  These gorgeous paintings really brighten up the place whilst also linking back to the building’s heyday in the thirties.  Not only does the building look better, it’s well known that looking after your local environment makes residents feel safer and more secure.

Artist Fred Pipes said:  I was very flattered when the council asked me to help with this project, particularly as the paintings fit so well with the Astoria’s history.  There are lots of great examples of Art Deco design and architecture around this area and I jumped at the chance to include the cinema in the collection.

The city council’s environment improvements team works across the city to reduce the number of unsightly buildings and has recently spruced up Preston Street and the former Charter hotel in the city centre and Upper Bedford Street in Kemptown.

Arty magazine

If you turn to the last page in the Winter 2009 issue of Arty magazine, you’ll see a feature on Yours Truly as ‘Personal View’. The issue also features my neighbour Angie Meaden Bonnel, who lets me show work at her Dragonfly House.