Darcy Neal .com

Work completed for Audubon Zoo

admin — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 00:15:08 +0000

The Audubon Zoo in New Orleans just opened up an exhibit featuring our dinosaurs. This was a particularily enjoyable show to paint for because they wanted to have a certain level of detail with the paint jobs, which allowed us more time and freedom to do our best. Here’s the first of the press photos of the show being set up. You can see them on their website HERE.

Dino Painting Update

admin — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 00:15:09 +0000

Here’s a few shots of some of the paintings I’ve been doing at work. The color schemes vary widely, depending on who the clientelle is. Some individuals believe that the prehistoric creatures had duller skintones, while others believed they may have been vividly decorated. The need for diversity in my painting schemes is a challenge I enjoy.

Chasmosaurus

Megalosaurus

Iguanadon

Parasaurolophus

Art/Music Installation

admin — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 22:41:49 +0000

We had our first art/music installation/party at our house last weekend, now reffered to as the “Knight House”. The event was discussed on weshotjr.com, and there were performances by Operation Playmate (Eric Archer and Erich Ragsdale), Phantastes (Lars Larsen), and visuals provided by Tommyboy. There was also a wind tunnel art installation in one of the back rooms, as well as a community paint wall in the back yard. It was a great time and I met alot of interesting people that night. I hope to have more events in the future.

The Knight House: first event

admin — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 18:46:07 +0000

We’re having our first big gathering at the Knight House this Saturday, Sept. 20th. WeShotJr.com did a nice writeup about the event, with descriptions of the bands and visuals being shown. We’re going to be doing an installation in one of the spare bedrooms, and there will be a community paint wall outside as well. I’m hoping that this will help raise awareness of the art collective that i’ve been apart of, and I hope for many more events to come. Here’s WSJ’s description of the evening:

the knight house to open in denton on saturday

In case you didn’t know, there are a lot of things going on in Denton on Saturday night, and the one we might be looking forward to the most will occur at a house located at 1433 Knight St., which has been dubbed, strangely enough, The Knight House. Here is a bit about it, directly from the source:

The “Knight House” is a new house venue looking to cater to new media/electronics based artists. The house is run by Darcy Neal who is a fresh young texas girl trying to create a stir in the artistic culture of Denton County. She aspires to create an art collective in this new space. They have dedicated a room for painting and sculpture, another room that’s dedicated to works in clay, with a kiln and a wheel, and a space for electronic related gear and work.

Saturday’s line up looks very solid as well:

Phantastes
Operation Playmate
Tommyboy

And here is a bit about Austin’s Operation Playmate, who will also be playing the DMA late night on Friday night:

Austin “electro-naut ” Eric Archer conjures polyrhythmic electronic music from an array of hand-built synth and drum circuitry, a raw mess of bare boards and exposed wiring soldered together with love for minimalist design and generative composition. His recent work has been featured regularly in the Make Magazine blog, including “The Electric Gongs”, a sound art installation designed for Austin Childrens’ Museum.

Erich Ragsdale bio:

Erich Ragsdale is a musician, DJ, and filmmaker who deals in the synthesis of future art forms using forgotten media formats of the past. He currently performs with Low Red Center, mVsclz, Pataphysics, and recently completed “Stereopticon”, an installation of stereoscopic photography at Austin’s The Opera House.

See you there…

Changes:

admin — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 02:25:40 +0000

I recently relocated from Austin, Tx and moved up to Denton, Tx to take on my new job. I now work as a painter for this company that makes life-size animatronic dinosaurs. I’m really enjoying it, because I get to work on sculpture, painting, drawing, and animatronics! I was sad to say goodbye to Austin, but I have a feeling that i’ll be back someday… Apparently Denton has a unique noise-music scene, and I’ve seen quite a few impressive shows since i’ve been here. The cost of living is MUCH more affordable, which means that I will have a bigger allowance for projects, and i get to buy more components from Mouser and Tanner Electronics! I’ve been working with a group called the “Denton Artist Resource Collective” (D.A.R.C.) and I’m working on hosting skillshares at my house. Skillshare’s are meetings where people can come to learn a new craft/artform and share/teach any knowledge that they have to offer as well. Me and my roommate have set up the house to be able to accommodate different crafts/artforms. So far the skills we have to offer are ceramics, sculpture, video, painting, drawing, electronics, as well as a community graffiti wall for everyone to add to! So things have been good. I’m nearing the completion of some new electronic pieces, which means pictures will be coming soon….. (more…)

Stan Meyers Story

admin — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 20:12:09 +0000

Stan Meyers developed a vehicle that ran completely off of hydrogen,through a process that involves running a current through water. His vision was to market the product with the overall goal to better mankind and follow gods will. He was bribed as well as harassed to be quiet about his discoveries and studies. He turned down all the offers intended to silence him, and as a result, he was poisoned back in 98. His legend still remains, and the technology is still in use today (by individuals, not corporations of course).

Watch his video and read about his amazing story, he will not be forgotten. Explore the website for a bit too, there’s some amazing information on there. This is his signature that he put on all of his work, which symbolizes water being turned into fire.

I am currently in the process of converting my car engine to run partially off of hydrogen, and I encourage everyone to take apart of this SIMPLE technology. You don’t have to know much about electronics to be able to build it yourself, and you can always buy one premade online. Do everything you can, every bit will help.

Current Project: Hydrogen Modification

admin — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 20:12:10 +0000

I’m currently experimenting with modifying my car engine to run partially off of hydrogen. The hydrogen is extracted from water by running a current through it. It is extremely simple technology, and doesn’t take a strong electronics background to understand it. I found a great article that describes some of the different designs for it, including some great schematics for things such as an air/fuel ratio monitor, which will help to monitor the changes that need to be made to the engine once the hydrogen input is installed. The pdf’s have been saved on my del.icio.us and can be viewed here.

Amazing Software - Golan Levin

admin — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 19:34:52 +0000

My friend recommended this video to me through my del.icio.us… The visual/audio correlation totally floored me the first time I saw it. It is simple when you think about it, but really amazing to watch, and fun to play.

This will be a good 15 min for you

Project Housing/Enclosure Ideas

admin — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 08:27:29 +0000

Just as much as I enjoy designing and building different circuits and schematics, I equally enjoy creating the design of the piece. When it comes to musical insturments, I think that the way it looks can be just as important as the way it sounds. In the past i’ve used: old cameras, various thrift store boxes, aluminum cans, ammo cases, ect. Here’s a few items I picked up the other day, my favorite being the Zenith Computer Space Command remote. I thought the remotes would be a sturdy case for housing different guitar pedal circuits, while the camera would be more available to do with as I pleased…the blank surface area on the side of the box gives it a lot of potential.

Circuit-Bent Karaoke Machine V.2

admin — Fri, 16 May 2008 08:13:23 +0000

I Created a second version of the Karaoke circuit-bent Machine. This second version has been designed inside an old army ammunition case. It has a detachable lid w/ handle, and if it wasn’t for the power jack, it would be waterproof w/ the lid attached. I omitted the optional tape deck and changed the 1/8″ to 1/4″ jacks. The bends for this design are controlled w/ vintage army green switches I found from a surplus electronics store. I drilled and airbrushed the panel, and I will eventually label the different bends as well as put a logo name on the front of the box. I’m still trying to decide on a name. I have quite a few of the same karaoke toys i’ve picked up from various thrift stores, and I plan on selling them once I’ve come up with a final version.