The Nine Stanes

Mural by DF on Smiddy Wynd, Banchory
Screen-printed, rolled and painted Acrylic on panel (8 x 2 m) 

Commission to create mural in Banchory Town centre with DUFI Arts Ltd and artists including Fist and Fraser

Image depicts nearby neolithic stone circle transposed in the village with additional armchairs, with pictish carvings inspired by local history, trades and conversations with local residents.

https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/aberdeenshire/370251/deeside-town-square-given-a-splash-of-colour-as-revamp-progresses/

Smiddy Wynd Mural: David Faithfull

 For the Smiddy Wynd Mural I’ve taken my original ideas of the various historic (and prehistoric) routes along the Dee and integrated these with the local landscape and some of the ideas and imagery generated from initial informal chats with the local residents.

 These are also integrated with St Ternan, and both adopted and departed ideas of ‘home’. The focus on St Ternan ties in with Dufi-Art’s own Banchory branding as well as incorporating the colour palette selected by them and the other artists.

 All my current visuals are set in the location of the forest with the standing stones an ever-present echo of the past and the flowing river indicating the coming and going of people to and from 'home'.

 From the very productive conversations with local residents, other elements revealed, include the local history of an old lemonade and crisp factory on the original site of the sheltered housing as well as other local trade references. These include blacksmith’s tools referencing Smiddy Wynd and upholstery symbols relating to one resident's husband being an upholsterer, hence the furniture and couches in some of the sketches.

 These are to be balanced with other traditional icons of teapots, cups, tv’s and irons, etc. as familiar and universal icons of home and domestic life. Again selected in consultation with the local residents.

 My idea is to incorporate these local’s ideas of 'home' directly as icons/forms within the final mural composition. These might be as ‘runes’ on the standing stones or as overall patterns within the background forest artwork.

 Dufi-art's own Banchory identity and suggested colour themes would be integrated into the mural creating continuity across the work. Complimenting the resident’s runes, these would include DF"s interpretation of the Banchory Identity line and font with maybe St Ternan, staff in hand trampling by.

 My own colour palette would also reflect the local rural forest setting of the Nine Stanes – mossy lichen greens and muted stone greys with the soft pink of the local granite and a pale blue to reflect the river.

 Additional work on site prior to beginning the mural includes further conversations with the locals, with the view of generating more visual material personal to the town and researching the local history and landscape.

 - DF