24/01/19 VL Chris Evans, Q&A, Tutorial

Last night I wrote the first draft of the story for Bedwyr. It is about a biro I took apart. 

“We never seen him before”, “I had to wipe me peepers” Just a couple of residents from Greenville Drive that we interviewed about the incident that unfolded in the early hours of this morning. A milkman, unknown at this time, has been accused of causing a disturbance that has shaken this neighbourhood to its core and has left experts and the dairy industry baffled.

“Milk flowed from his veins”, sounds like the rantings of a madman or a farfetched hoax? We saw the footage. Simon, 44 witnessed the horrific act while stopping to chat with another neighbour. “I saw the notepad, I heard her say she’d be buying supermarket milk... then it happened”. Luckily for us he had the nous to film the whole event on his phone. Footage, that has been found to be unaltered and untampered with in any way, and which clearly shows the enraged milkman advancing upon the occupant (whose identity we cannot disclose at this time). he then proceeds to audibly hiss and grind his teeth before his terrifying display which left some elderly onlookers distraught and in need of medical assistance.

“I don’t know who he is, but he was all angles. Barely a man at all. A clinking flux of glass, milk and pure rage.” Simon then proceeded to tell us, “It was as if time stood still and he was all that existed. I eventually looked around and I could see plenty of us staring, transfixed waiting to see what he’d do next”. Another neighbour who didn’t want to be named shared with us that, ‘[they] all knew he’d kick off, he was ragin’’.

The milkman, already being dubbed ‘The dairy demon’ has since vanished, which he literally did before the eyes of the many onlookers, most of whom have left identical accounts with police. Our reporters wouldn’t have believed it if they hadn’t seen the footage first hand. A half back stumble of shiny black shoes and pressed white polyester. Seemingly reversing into an invisible room. Daryl, 38 lives on the other side of the victim. At the time of the incident, he was in an upstairs window looking down at the unfolding events. “He didn’t fit in, it was the uniform. They don’t wear that anymore you see. It was like he was from another time or place. I told my Missus and she said it sounds like something you’d see in the ’50s. All white and preppy, like in America and all that”. “He was fuming, you felt it before you saw it. Hurt my jaw, tensing. He was so pale but dark. His face was white but deathly dark, can’t explain it”. At one point Simon zooms in and records this darkened expression, twisted and taut. A triangle more than a mouth, studded with square chalk which shorten as he grinds them down in squeaks. Unusually he is wearing a hat but the brim it too short to explain the shadow which conceals his other features. A forensic team is currently examining the chalky residue left behind on the driveway.

What occurred next will shock our readers. The ‘demon’ can be seen shaking, which in turn causes crates of empties to rattle- which begins in tinkles and ends in a low, deafening hum which is where the footage takes a break. Simon had to lower his phone to cover his ears. “I knew I had to keep recording”, we cut to the milkman throwing his notepad down and twisting angrily at his pen. He shakes out the ink cartridge and pulls his sleeve up, revealing a sinuous forearm. To the echos of gasps and sighs, he jabs suddenly and violently into his arm. He then twists the pen, searching for something. “I used to love milk as a girl, but I’ve gone right off it now”, Lil, 84 was horrified to see a white substance fill the pen and trickle from it onto the occupants' doorstep. An act of defiance some wonder, at being snubbed in favour of Tesco.

Police have cordoned off the area but one of our reporters was able to access the next-door neighbours front lawn where she could clearly see the milk, still pooled around the step. A noxious smell emanating from a low mist which only inhabits the victim’s front driveway. Police are urging the public to come forward with any relevant information and advising all homes to cancel their milk rounds. 

I will give it a day and do a second version. I need to email Bedwyr and see if this is the whole thing or just one task. 

If it's a shorter one I'd like to hop onto another project.

I might change this into a more 'newspapery' style. 

“We never seen him before and I doubt we ever, ever will again!”, “I had to wipe me peepers.”

Just a couple of residents from Greenville Drive that we interviewed about the incident that unfolded in the early hours of this morning. A milkman, a man ‘o milk -unknown at this time, has been accused of causing a disturbance, a curdling, that has shaken this neighbourhood to its core and has left actual human experts and the dairy industry baffled.

“Milk flowed from his veins, white water squeezing on fat’’.

Sounds like the rantings of a madman or a farfetched hoax? We saw the footage. Simon, 44 witnessed the horrific act while stopping to stir with another neighbour. “I saw the notepad, I heard her say she’d be buying supermarket milk... then it happened”. Propitiously he had the nous to film the whole event on his phone. Footage that has been tested and proven not to be altered or tampered with in any way, and which clearly shows the enraged milkman advancing upon the unpasteurised, warm occupant (whose identity we cannot disclose at this time). He then proceeds to audibly hiss and grind his teeth before his terrifying display which left some elderly onlookers distraught and in need of medical assistance.

“I don’t know who he is, but he was all angles. Barely a man at all. A clinking flux of glass, milk and pure rage.” Simon then proceeded to tell us, “It was as if time stood still and he was all. A silver topped mountain. I did look around and could see plenty of us staring, transfixed waiting to see what he’d do next”. Another neighbour who didn’t want to be named shared with us that, ‘[they] all knew he’d kick off, he was ragin’’’.

The milkman, already being dubbed ‘The dairy demon’ on social media has since vanished, which he literally did before the eyes of the many onlookers, most of whom have left identical accounts with police. Our reporters wouldn’t have believed it if they hadn’t seen the footage first pickle. A half back stumble of shiny black shoes and pressed white polyester. Seemingly reversing into an invisible room. Scientistic bodies are swabbing the area; misted eyeglasses, cold sweat, gravel and scratching explanations.

Daryl, 38 lives on the other side of the victim. At the time of the incident, he was in an upstairs window looking down at the unfolding events. “He didn’t fit in, it was the uniform. They don’t wear that anymore you see. It was like he was from another time or place. I told my Missus and she said it sounds like something you’d see in the ’50s. All white and preppy, like in America and all that”. “He was fuming, you felt it before you saw it. Hurt my gut and jaw, tensing. He was so pale and dark”.

At one-point our plucky lucky camera man zooms in and records this darkened expression; twisted and taut. A triangle more than a mouth, studded with square chalk which shorten as he grinds it down in squeaks. Unusually he is wearing a hat but the brim it too short to explain the shadow which conceals his other features. A forensic team is currently examining the chalky residue left behind on the driveway.

What occurred next will shock our readers. The ‘demon’ can be seen shaking, which in turn causes crates of empties to rattle- beginning in tinkles and ending in low, deafening, flooding hum which is where the footage takes a break. Simon had to lower his phone to cover his ears. “I knew I had to keep recording”, we cut to the milkman hurling his notepad down in anger and twisting quickly and angrily at his pen. He shakes out the ink cartridge and pulls his sleeve up, revealing a snake sinuous forearm. To a chorus of gasps and sighs, a dog, a whistle, a car, the wind. He jabs suddenly and violently into his arm. Loud tin, beat, sour. He then twists the pen deeper inside, digging for something.

“I used to love milk as a girl, but I’ve gone right off it now”, Lil, 84 was horrified to see a white substance fill the pen and trickle from it onto the occupants' doorstep. An act of defiance some wonder, at being snubbed in favour of Tesco. This is where the footage ends but accounts are interchangeable and unequivocal. Cold splashes which soaked the slippers. The victim supposedly slammed the door at this juncture, leaving the ‘demon’ draining in the cold, alone. Reeevvveeerrssiinng steps backwards, jerk. VHS glitch and gone, as described.

A low mist still inhabiting the victim’s front driveway. A scum, a smell. Fear and yogurt.  Police have cordoned off the laiche and are urging the public to come forward with any relevant information and advising all homes to cancel their milk rounds. Evidence marked as, ‘pen casing 1’, in our possession. 

VL Chris Evans

Initial thoughts were that I loved it. I think it was a combination of work I can admire and look up to, a strong work ethic, his sense of humour and his informal speech. 

I see what people mean when they say you need to own your work because when you do you become comfortable about it and you can talk about it easily and passionately. 

He has travelled and met so many people. I admire this, I talk about art being a vehicle a lot and I think this is what I take from his work. A lot of it is conversation and response to others. I am not going to analyse his whole working processes and final works because I'd only be guessing from an hours exposure. 

I went to the Q and A and I also thought that went well. Instead of us asking him questions in a formal setting he asked us questions about our work. I respond well to critical feedback, I like to be told something isn't working. He was blunt and told us things that would make our work stronger. He advised me to stop working on 'cafe' size work surfaces and push it bigger. So I took the wood I got yesterday from the workshop and I've nailed and glued it together to make one large piece. I'm glad I didn't think about it too much because I didn't go too logical and for example, paint small then nail them together. Chris said I could put more gestural, bodily movements into a larger canvas. 

I wished I had recorded what he said, I remembered about halfway through but I didn't want to ruin his flow. It was very good feedback. He thought the idea of sanding down into something sounded interesting. I'd also overheard Rick talking to his group yesterday and he was comfused about how people could be bored just painting a few pictures when the point is you have to do many many works. That it is like composing music and work has to go into it, no room for laziness. I thought about that and it's made me not assume I'll know how a work will go, so I must DO IT. 

Chris wasn't supposed to be delivering the lecture but we were all glad he did. I was late so I missed the part about his book regarding jobs. I thought about how I could apply and interview for different jobs, like a CV has to be re written for different roles. How it is framing ourselves, to a different audience each time. Like the work you and the home you. How I struggle with that and am just home me with everyone. Could I interview and be other versions, better versions of myself? How could I deliver that in a manner that would make it Art and not trying to get a job. 

I didn't really give much time to what a VL wore before Peter McLeish and his suit. Now I am aware of that and I realise things like that set the tone. Chris was casual and his talk was too. He responded to slides and the book I'd missed. He's clearly talked about his work before though because it was coherent and easily understandable. I was sat in the back, as not to disturb the lecture so I missed out on some parts that were quieter. 

I think what was most apparent was Chris' sense of humour, it is present in his work and in his ability to communicate with other people from all different backgrounds, spanning different languages. 

I was personally inspired because I often have ideas but I won't react to them. I will want to but I'll talk myself out of it. Some times that is legitatime and part of the editting process, othertimes it's because I then find the ideas boring or I lose confidence in myself to deliver the work.