a quick hello from Japan

Two things to note so far:
1) I cannot deal with eating so much SALT! I swear I am dying, even though the food is great. Will tell you all about it when I get back.
2) I have been sleeping too much

The picture above was taken in Tokyo wholesale market at dawn on Monday. It was amazing. Hope you are all keeping well! x

Just a note about stripes and Welsh blankets

Whilst I'm away can someone get me this ticking striped bed linen (above and below) from Toast? I think I need it for my mental health. Really. Oh, and a beautiful Welsh carthen tapestry blankety thing like the one above would be nice too. Get them new or vintage here, here, here or here amongst many places, and get the amazing grey one above (gosh, my sleuthing skills are shit hot today!) here. I've also seen them in places like Labour and Wait in London, and eBay too. In case you want to know, my birthday is in December, but I am very happy to celebrate and receive gifts for, like, quarter birthdays or something :-). And I want that house in Wales to go with it! Do I ask for too much? :-) Do you get the feeling I am aiming this post at the husband, who never reads this blog? Do I not already have too much striped bed linen, only not in that grey/ecru colour? Shall I shut up now? (yes).


From Toast


Something a bit brighter, if you like, from The Linen Press

One Hundred Days - no.18

These guys are like characters from a weird story or something. Maybe I should write that story up so you can find out more about them? This is Marcel, who lives on caffeine and is a dodgy antiques dealer.

I am afraid today is my last day for a week. We are off to Japan tomorrow morning and I will be away until the 1st of February. If I have time I may post up some photographs of our trip whilst we are there, but if I don't, forgive me and come and visit me again in a week's time when hopefully I will have many enlightened and enlightening things to say about myself and the world at large. Or not. I may just go back to more internet shopping... :-)

Me, I have finished my work (just about, fingers crossed!) and can now make holiday lists in peace. Huzzah! Have a good week!

today I am STILL thinking about shopping

I'm so sorry for wittering on about shopping and clothing and other hideous girly things. I just saw today that Jack Wills have got their new catalogue out. Now, let's have a little discussion about Jack Wills. I am probably way too old to wear most of their clothes, and to be frank, their lookbook for this season is a bit Chelsea trampy. It's like the uniform that all those blonde young things along the Kings Road in London are wearing. Stupid short skirts and hoodies, with their swept back long hair and Ugg boots. Yeurgh! But there are a couple of sweet things if you look closely and filter judiciously.

If I had to buy Jack Wills today I'd have:


The Plumstead top, which looks like it has an interesting cut and would look good tucked into trousers or something like these:


Scotney Boyfit shorts.

I think this would be OK. Not too public school, not too Chelsea. I'd wear them with flat brogues, a chunky necklace and a boyfriend cardigan. Sigh. Now all it has to be is NOT winter any more. Damn!

Aubin and Wills, the company's 'older' sister, has a more mature look on the other hand and I prefer its styling. Now I'm getting properly excited about going to Japan. I wish I had a more interesting travel bag than my current one. How about these blanket bags for a rustic look?


Fosse bag


Glendurgan bag.

One Hundred Days - no.17

boots!

You'd think I might have stamped out my boot obsession by now, having just bought myself a pair? Not me! I was eyeing up these beauties from Free People in the US when I was on the hunt, but the $35 shipping rate was a bit steep on top of some of the prices. I wish I weren't such a miser! Now I look back on them, some of them might just have been worth the cost to ferry them over the pond to my waiting, adoring hands... If you have a scout around the site, there are some lovely brogues/oxfords too. Here are a few of the boots, with links:


Terri boot


Sausilito boot


Carley lace-up boot


Old English boot


Acme boot

I really need to think about something to write about other than clothes and accessories. I haven't been junk/vintage shopping in ages. I imagine I sound like a stuck record sometimes. Sorry to anyone who is finding me very very boring right now! I'm kinda bored of myself.

One Hundred Days - no.16

Sometimes I feel like the fella on the left. Back later today with some more shopping :-)

seriously...

I think I'm going to have to wind down the blogging for a few days - this deadline isn't a joke any more and I am falling behind by the minute. I mean, animating a pair of lungs throwing themselves off a diving board is not to be laughed at. So I will be posting lightly this week, and then I will be away in Japan for the whole of the following week.

Hopefully I will see some amazing and inspiring new things to talk about, and maybe get some drawing done whilst I'm there. It's hard to get excited about something when you've got no time to think about it much. But I know I am really looking forward to it.

Today I thought I'd show you another photo of my family - this time with my wonderful Dad in flip flops and some quality knitwear.

One Hundred Days - no.15

Oh dear. I'm a day behind! Here is Monday's drawing - a weirdo going to a fancy dress party or something.

As ever, I hope to have something more to say for myself later today. And maybe another drawing on time!

the weekend...

was dull. I worked hard. We made and ate some good food. That was kind of it. I need to get out of the house.

In order to entertain myself, I:
1) Did some shopping on eBay (grey wool Jack Wills sweater, tweed 1940s pencil skirt...) and ASOS (new navy cardigan, stripey tunic). Naughty me!

2) Tried wearing my hair in a topknot (felt ridiculous, but I actually really liked it - very arty. Gotta be careful I don't make myself look 40 years old though, or like an extra from a Chinese martial arts movie).

3) Seriously considered wearing high waisted peg leg trousers. They can look great on some people and awful on others. Not for the faint-hearted, nor those worried about their bum looking big. I think I'm not tall enough, and they really should be worn with vertiginous heels which aren't really my thing. Worn with flats I would look like a fat dwarf.

4) Thought about canvas army surplus bags, mostly from this site. There are some quite nice foreign bags out there - not your usual grungy studenty webbing bags - with leather linings, leather straps and nice details. I think I would like one as a kind of sketchbook/paints bag. Or do I have too many bags already?



Finnish respirator case



Swedish canvas rucksack


French leather-lined satchel

One Hundred Days - no.14

Sunday's picture, late again. This isn't easy! Sometimes I feel like I'm just doing this for the sake of keeping a promise, and just dashing something off that will do. I've been so busy - working all weekend - that I've not even been out of the house for ages and am uninspired.

I will be back later today.

One Hundred Days - no.13

Can't be arsed today. Tired. Want to go to bed.

One Hundred Days - no.12

Some French-looking cat things for you this afternoon. Sorry I won't be posting much over the next week - suddenly a proper, hairy, rabid and drooling deadline is looming i.e. I've gotta finish this lung stuff before I bugger off to Japan!

One Hundred Days - no.11

This one is for yesterday.

I'm stupid busy today doing work (still the lungs! I promise you a peek of them when I've finished), so I won't have much to say for myself. Will be uploading today's drawing later on. See you then.

today...

Because of this post on Turned Out, I have been thinking about:

1) Super-chunky gold necklaces worn with casual clothes. I think I need more statement jewellery.
2) How I don't speak to my sister often enough.

Image from Turned Out.

One Hundred Days - no.10

This little dude is based on my very favourite teddy bear. He likes anchovies on everything.

Things I have been wondering about

1) Whether moving the parting in my hair further to the left will make me more interesting.
2) Whether I can get away with wearing blouses.
3) Whether I need more mustard yellow, my favourite colour to wear.
4) Whether it's OK to be wishing it weren't quite so cold any more and wanting to wear shorts teamed with tights and knitted sweaters, Aubin and Wills stylee:





What do you think of the Aubin and Wills look? Too toff-like? Too blonde Chelsea girl? Or is it cute and preppy - you know, the stripes, the plaid, the sweater dresses? They are a sister company to the very posh preppy (but rather nice!)Jack Wills, so should probably be approached with caution. But I think maybe it would be OK in moderation because I'm Chinese and I won't, as Kat puts it, look like a Tory girl if I dress like this. Not the shoes, mind. I couldn't do those shoes.

Sorry, I keep writing about clothes...

this picture rocks

My sister looks like a little Liam Gallagher type here in her khaki parka. Look at the furtive expression on her face! Priceless.

One Hundred Days - no.9

as promised...

I said last Friday that I would show you my new boots. In the end I didn't buy any of the pairs I was mulling over in December. Unfortunately they are quite fashion-standard and not that weird: I went for a pair of worker boots from, of all standard places, Faith. They are a bit like the Frye boots I was looking at, but taller (good) and with no silly zip (also good). All it means is that it takes me five minutes to put them on :-)

I do have quite muscular legs so I have to be a bit careful, but if I wear them with the right clothes I hopefully won't look like a bloke. Some florals or cute stripes should do the trick, or I could do bare legs and patterned socks in the spring. Right now this type of grungy boot is ubiquitous, but I am hoping that they will not be so 'fashiony' by next winter so I can look appealingly out of date come then. I think they will look better once I've battered them around a bit.

I'll be back later with some more, but non-sartorial, nonsense.

One Hundred Days - no.8

behind our house

We went for a walk on Saturday in Rowney Wood, which you can see in the photos of our view across the field behind the house. The snow here has not been nearly as bad as in other parts of the country, and the area in which we live isn't very hilly, but there is a bleakness that is quite stunning sometimes.




The photo of the trees and the two paths leading off on either side is a little bit Hockney-esque, don't you think?


It was freezing cold and I couldn't feel my fingertips after only 45 minutes despite my sheepskin gloves. A retreat to the house was necessary.

One Hundred Days - no.7

Sorry. Sunday's drawing is late and poor...

More to come later today!

One Hundred Days - no.6

One Hundred Days - no.5

Hm. This one hundred days thing gives me an easy way out of writing something interesting every day. All I have to do instead is toss off another rubbish drawing to put up here. That said, I have not been having a particularly interesting time recently - just working working working for the last three days, so I have very little to say for myself. I have solved the boot dilemma, though, and will find the time this weekend to photograph my new and rather masculine footwear for next week.

I'll see if I can write something more interesting later today but I'm rather busy, so if I don't, have a great weekend!

One Hundred Days - no.4

For today, a particle physicist.

auction action

There's not much going at Willingham Auctions this weekend, but I did spot a couple of nice things that I can't afford:


Field microscope with a collection of interesting slides including "an ovary of an American cockroach" for £60-120.


Two very large (19" tall) glass domes with wooden stands for £100-160.

One Hundred Days - no.3

Hm. This work thing is getting in the way somewhat. Sorry these drawings are a bit slapdash - haven't had much time to think about anything other than how animate a pair of lungs doing stretching exercises and lunges. My life is pretty odd sometimes! I'll see if I can write something later today.

One Hundred Days - no.2

Superrat can make your workload disappear. I wish :-(

Yes, the work has landed and I am animating lungs. Yes, lungs.

I forgot to say...

we are going to Japan at the end of this month! Eep! I can't quite get my head around the idea, which is probably why I haven't mentioned it yet. I can't wait - the food being the most exciting part. I love Japanese food, or what I have experienced of it anyway. We will be at the husband's conference in Himeji for two days, and the rest of the time we will spend in Tokyo.


And thanks to my lovely friends at Jelly who mentioned some of my work as their favourite for 2009, including the work I did for the Skoda Yeti (this is a big file and will probably only play properly over a fast connection). It has been a pleasure working with you all :-) and I REALLY should be doing some work for you right now instead of blogging. Oops!

My next One Hundred drawing will be up later today.

One Hundred Days - no. 1

Cripes! I seem to have signed up (a bit late) to take part in One Hundred Days to make me a better person after I saw that my illustrator friend, Lauren, has signed herself up to draw a picture a day. I have pledged to draw something every day for one hundred days, starting from today. I am currently awaiting to be inundated by work commitments (boo hoo!), but I shall try my very very hardest to do this! Here is no.1: