In our last Kick-About, we embraced the raw energy and instinctive mark-making of Karel Appel. This week, the focus shifts from expression to action. Our prompt is “Movers & Shakers”—an invitation to think about the forces that set things in motion. As always, the works that follow were made in a short time—and for all previous editions of The Kick-About, go here.
Graeme Daly
“Word prompts really get my brain pondering possibilities, so I had a few different ideas for this Kick-About. I had one of those insightful moments on a walk when a new idea felt stronger than the others, and I decided to run with it.
I searched through the many SD cards I have of random photos of London’s streets, as well as my photo library on my phone. I knew that I wanted to push the images further, to make them more painterly and respond to the prompt more effectively.
I used my favourite brush in Photoshop, which is my go-to when painting illustrations. The brush is flat and chiselled, with a slight texture, and I used it to smudge the photographs — mainly in vertical lines, but at times in other directions — to show the frantic nature of London and its many residents going about their days, suggesting the constant movement of the metropolis. I have both black-and-white versions and colour versions, and it’s up for debate which I prefer, but I think the colour shows London’s melting pot more clearly.“
@graemedalyart / vimeo.com/graemedaly / linkedin.com/in/graeme-daly / twitter.com/Graeme_Daly / gentlegiant.ie
Kerfe Roig
“Not being too excited about the current world’s movers and shakers, I was pleased to see that the phrase was somehow associated with the game of Snakes and Ladders. So I went into my collage boxes to see what I could find. Since I didn’t have that many ladders, I used staircases in most cases — and then added some snakes. It seems somehow fitting as a reflection of these times.“
Charly Skilling
“The phrase “movers and shakers” was first used by Arthur O’Shaughnessy in his poem Ode. In it, he talks primarily about the creatives of the world — the thinkers and writers, the architects and artists, the scientists and inventors. But I have noticed that, for many years now, the phrase has been used almost exclusively to describe financiers, businessmen, and wheeler-dealers of this world. To me, that seems… misguided.“
James Randall
“I began with a page of nine experiments and enjoyed them so I doubled the page size and fiddled up some shapes on the new right hand side. It started to look like another landscape so I added a sun and a dead tree and worked into the background. It still felt a little empty so added one figure and then a second. Several times I resized elements as the balance changed with more elements. I’m not really sure about it but they often have a life of their own.”
Phil Gomm
“A few things in the mix this time out: for those readers not familiar with UK television, there was a long-running programme on the BBC called Tomorrow’s World, which focused on future technology and science. I found myself thinking about how a low-budget programme like that might go about demonstrating the behaviour of molecules, electrons, or aggressive pathogens, imagining that I was in charge of producing the models for a live demonstration.
I was also thinking about those oversized models of molecules I’d seen at school and in books — tactile constructions of coloured balls and spokes. And then there were those toys you see stuck on car dashboards — nodding dogs, hula girls, swaying flowers — set moving and shaking at the slightest vibration.
With all of that in mind, I set about making a series of molecules, pathogens, neutrons, electrons, quarks — whatever — built from balls of air-drying clay and cocktail sticks. Once painted, I glued them to some compression springs and then set them jouncing around in front of the camera. I was mostly thinking about water molecules moving from ice to liquid to vapour, so turning these solid shapes into ‘smoke’ via a few seconds of long exposure.”
philgomm.com / behance.net/Phil_Gomm
Next time, we mark a milestone — six years of Kick-Abouts, a total of 313 weeks of prompts, experiments, and creative play. Your nudge this week is simple: select a favourite of your own work from this last cycle of Kick-Abouts and we’ll bring them all together for a small celebration of ‘doing’. For ease of reference, the sixth cycle of Kick-Abouts began at No. 131 with the one-word prompt, Lighthouse…
Red's Kingdom 
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