Moomin stuff

Loving these Moomin trays, on offer on Achica today. I like the colourful one best. Various designs are also available full price here, here and here. Now I must get on with some work...

Geological volcano maps

These geological maps of volcanoes really caught my eye this afternoon on wired.com. They are like beautiful paintings. I would kill to have one of these on my wall, like our Great Britain map, geek that I am. I have a soft spot for geology from my first degree where I studied geology for two years. Click on the link to see all eleven of them.

Seen via Design for Mankind.

EDIT: in fact, there seems to be a possibility of purchasing some of these maps from the Geological Survey of Japan, although the actual mechanism of buying is somewhat cryptic! I think an e-mail might be the best start...

Pirate's Life

Just a link today: stunning hand-drawn animation for a music video. I wish I had the skill and patience to make something as beautiful as this. Sadly, I get bored just doing a 30 second animation of cat and dog silhouettes. Sigh.


We Cut Corners "Pirate's Life" from Kijek / Adamski on Vimeo.


Have a good weekend, kids.

the weekend

It was a glorious weekend here in the UK, even in rainy Wales, with temperatures in the upper twenties and sunshine to bask in. It was kind of sad in a way: like watching the death throes of summer, knowing that autumn - nay winter! - is just around the corner. Today it is bright and windy here, with the unnatural heat and humidity starting to dissipate.

Wherever you are, I hope you had a wonderful weekend. Ours was one to savour - my first free weekend since August. We started off at the new David Nash exhibition at Oriel Mostyn in Llandudno, which was pretty interesting. I'm not a big fan of sculpture, but I like Nash's processes and how his works continue to evolve even after they have been 'completed'.

Photo from Oriel Mostyn's website.

Next stop was Penmaenmawr, from where we hiked up a hill for a lovely walk amidst neolithic standing stones and stunning views of the coast and mountains. We had a picnic lunch overlooking a bay sprinkled with sailing boats, before completing the walk and returning to the village. 

On the main street through Penmaenmawr is an antiques shop called Perry Higgins (the website doesn't seem to be working right now!). Now, I'd heard about this place from some friends, and we passed by it in the car back in May, but nothing prepared me for how incredible it is. It is a warren of a building, with three stories and a warehouse crammed to the rafters with antique furniture, domestic ware and bygones. Everything was beautiful and there was just so much of it that we will have to make a return trip to have a proper rummage through it all. I didn't take any photos, I was so completely overwhelmed, but here are a few photos which I believe are from the website (via here).

We came away with two towel rails, a painted mid-century cabinet which we will use to store linen for now, a pair of bedside tables and a beautiful French bookcase/display cabinet that was a steal for its quality. I may take photos of these things at some point, but you know I'm not very good at that. On top of all this, the owner drove our purchases to our house on the same day! It was all very satisfying.

There. Enough of my jibber jabber for now!

a long-winded and rambling update

Hi kids. Yes, I'm here! It's been a hell of a month and after this coming weekend it's all going to change again. Sunday will be the last day that I will be open for Helfa Gelf - if any of you readers made it to my studio over the past month, thank you so, so much for coming.

I have had an immensely enjoyable, exhausting, humbling and encouraging time doing it. I have met a slew of wonderful people: too many to list all of them. Yesterday I mentioned Jenny, but I am also very lucky to have met local artists such as Helen Melvin, who is like a modern-day alchemist, cooking up natural dyes in her studio and making gorgeously rich images with her hand-dyed felt. Further up in the hills is Ruth Thomas, whose collagraph techniques made me wish I could have a go, and even further up are all the talented folk up at the Gales Gathering. I also enjoyed meeting Badge (blog, website), a recent graduate with a fabulously interesting and macabre portfolio of work. His studio mates, Wendy and Susie were also fun and talented.

 

It has been inspiring to have met so many creative people in such a short space of time. What has struck me over the course of the event is a common desire to support each other as independent artists, that all of us are doubtful sometimes of our own ability and need encouraging every now and then. A meet-up for a natter and a cup of tea is always a good thing too!

So what next? To be honest, I'm not sure. I think I need another holiday! Whatever the case, I am aiming to be back here and blogging more frequently again (don't I sound like a stuck record?).

Jenny Murray

A little heads-up today for my lovely friend, Jenny Murray, who makes the most beautiful ceramic domestic ware. I went to see her at the Cymru Contemporary Art Fair in Conwy on Saturday, and her studio is just down the road from our house. I couldn't resist buying a bowl and a delightful spoon, and I am sure I will soon fill my house with her work, I love it so much. I don't think she sells online, although she has an empty Etsy shop, which I hope she opens up soon for those of you who can't make it to North Wales!

Mervyn Peake and Maeve Gilmore

Most people know Mervyn Peake for his Gormenghast Trilogy, but few venture beyond those books to discover his talent for drawing and painting. He was an illustrator as well as a writer, bringing to life on paper the products of his extraordinary imagination. I would definitely recommend reading Letters from a Lost Uncle, a fantastically strange and often hilarious series of typed and illustrated 'letters' written by an Arctic explorer to his nephew. It is a work of genius.


I received a notification this morning of a new exhibition of some of the work of Mervyn Peake and his wife Maeve Gilmore, to be held from 9th July until 28th August at Viktor Wynd Fine Art in London. The gallery is associated with the Last Tuesday Society, which you should check out if you're a Londoner - pretty weird and interesting stuff to join in with, if that's your kind of thing.

Images courtesy of Viktor Wynd Fine Art, The Last Tuesday Society, and an unknown source (for the Letters image) on Flickr.

I am off to Italy tomorrow for a week, so it's goodbye until then. I hope to resume more regular blogging once I return - hopefully the work will ease off a bit for the summer and I can spend more time doing my own thing. Pigs might fly.

a few things for Friday

I really should stop shopping for a house that I STILL do not own. Grrrr... I can't help it, I'm sorry. It's driving me nuts, but I can't stop looking for lighting and sofas and chairs for my imaginary new home.

So today I thought I should share a couple of non-housey things instead.


Firstly, I took part in a Secret Valentine exchange, organised by the very sweet Alicia of Alicia Rose (website, blog, Etsy, Twitter). We were each given the address of another participant, and had to send something handmade to them for Valentine's Day. I received my gift from Alicia herself, and I was stunned by her generosity and the loveliness of her gifts. She is a talented embroiderer who makes images using her sewing machine (a technique I have never been able to master) and turns them into art for your walls, cushions, tote bags and all sorts of other goodies. I received some note cards, a lovely lavender sachet and two of her art pieces. Now I definitely want a nice house where I can display these!


In Karen's sewing world, this rabbit, temporarily named Konstantin, came into being as a birthday gift for the husband last weekend. I added the silly Russian hat because his head looked a little bare without anything, and the heart because he lacked colour. All very silly. He only speaks Russian and likes to eat borscht and dumplings.

Have a great weekend, all. I'll try to be a better bunny and do some drawing for the blog next week.

Painting

I wanted to have a little dialogue with myself today about painting. I don't call what I do with watercolours 'painting' - it's more like colouring in, you know? I am a drawer more than I am a painter, if that makes sense. But I used to paint, back in the days when the whole world was still my proverbial oyster and I felt like I still could be anything that I wanted. I am sad to say that I feel that my horizons seem to have narrowed since then, entirely through my own fault and timidity, and it has been many years since I last picked up a proper paintbrush. Last time I handled acrylic paint was in 2006. Last time I handled oil paint was 2004. Yeah, that's a while.

For some reason artworks in acrylic or oil paint seem to hold more artistic gravitas than, say, watercolour in the eyes of most people. I can't really explain it - is it some kind of historical relic - that old masters used to sketch and make studies in graphite and watercolour before launching into their 'final piece' - the big, expensive canvas painted in extravagant oil paint? Is it the feeling that a watercolour is a sketch, or often executed at speed that gives it more of a 'throwaway' reputation? Do the solidity, opacity and physicality of thick paint endow it with more artistic clout? Whatever the case, I always argue that there is just as much merit in a well-executed watercolour painting, if not more. The medium of watercolour is unforgiving - you can't just paint over something you've cocked up or it goes muddy, your paper bobbles - it reveals every decision, every mistake and every success. The very best watercolour artists are my heroes.


Richard Parkes Bonington, the short-lived landscape painter, used both watercolour and oil. The luminosity and translucence of his glowing watercolours impress me far more than his oil paintings. There is something wonderful about how an artist must edit all the choices he will make before he commits his brush to the paper, so that every wash that he lays down is the right one, in the right place. The economy and spontaneity of watercolour are qualities that take a lot of skill to master. If you ever get the chance to see Bonington's watercolours, held in the archive at the Wallace Collection in London, I urge you to go. They are breathtaking.


On a more contemporary note, did you see the winner of the Sunday Times Watercolour Competition this year? The winner, Emma Haworth, also paints in oil - the image above is the winning watercolour painting, and the image below is an oil painting titled 'The Winter Park'. What I love about the watercolour image is how the medium used is so evident in the translucent tree trunks. I think that is delightful and would like to see it in the flesh.



Anyway, what's my point here? I am no great watercolourist, but I find it comes to me more naturally than other painting media. Maybe it suits my slapdash, can't be arsed, let's get this done quickly attitude? :-) No, I devalue my work this way. I think the fussiness, the forward planning required, and the brave breath that you have to take before laying down a big wash are things that appeal to me. But all that said, I would like to take up 'proper' painting again. In fact, I just ferreted out an array of acrylic paints from our house-moving boxes and have them lined up on the husband's desk facing me like a firing squad. Paint, or die. Now I've just got to go away and think of something to paint! Oh dear.

What do you think about painting? Which medium do you find the easiest to work with? Is it a good thing to push myself to try out new things and leave the comfort zone? Why am I so crippled with fear when faced with a blank painting board, whereas I can face blank paper without similar apprehension?

Yorkshire

What a marvellous few days I have just had! I feel like we kind of deserved it after the trials of house selling that we have been burdened with lately, and it was a hugely welcome break from sitting at home twiddling my thumbs, waiting for work to come in.

We went to Yorkshire on a whim, after hearing that my parents and sister had booked a hotel there for a couple of nights. They, of course (!), were very pleased when the husband and I decided to join them and, because he is a Yorkshireman, the husband could therefore act as an unofficial tour guide to the holiday places of his childhood.

We stayed, as I told you last week, in a railway carriage hotel called The Sidings, near York. I've written about railway carriage living before (and here too), so it was a chance to see what it is like. It was fun and quirky, but not the best place to stay if you like things a bit more luxurious than what was on offer. The decor was a bit tired, it was rather cold at night even in summer, and unless you are an extraordinarily sound sleeper, the violent rattling and vibrations from the freight trains passing by at night could be seriously disturbing! I would only recommend it as one of those experiences that you'll never forget :-) Nevertheless, the hotel retained a faded beauty and I was delighted by the little details to be found on the train carriages.



That last photo is of the four-poster room, which costs £10 more per night than a standard room. Needless to say, miser that I am, we stayed in a regular room :-)

Where did we visit? Knaresborough, Whitby (AMAZING fish and chips at The Magpie), Scarborough (gorgeous banana milkshake at the famous Harbour Bar), the North York Moors, Yorkshire Wolds and the Yorkshire Dales. All in roughly two days. Holidays with my family are always conducted at breakneck speed. There were waterfalls, walks, beaches and picnics. Crazy but fun!


Knaresborough.


The Harbour Bar in Scarborough.



Evening view from the Yorkshire Wolds.


Gordale Scar, Yorkshire Dales.

We had a house-fixing day on Saturday involving handing over fat cheques to plumbers :-(, followed by a rummage at a car boot sale and Toy Story 3 on Sunday. The film was exceptional, a constant delight - it left us quite speechless.

I hope you all had a good weekend too!

Thanks!

Image by Mola Mo.

Today I would like to share two lovely people who have just featured me on their blogs. The first is Kat Black of Anything Goes, who is from South Africa and has a great eye for design and art. The second is Mola-Mo from Norway, who writes about artists that inspire her and also posts up sweet drawings from her sketchbook. I am constantly amazed at how the internet can bring people together who would never meet in ordinary circumstances. And I am amazed by the generosity of the people I come into contact with through this blog. Thank you, everyone!


Cat bird house by John Casewell, seen via Kathblack.

Hopefully I'll have time for another drawing this afternoon. Things are a bit quieter here this week... for now!

Work and stuff and Peter Callesen

Goodness me, more work is coming in! I am both pleased and tired. One of the jobs, fingers crossed, will be doing paper cut-outs using *gasp* my own hands and a scalpel and NO computer. I really hope this one works out. I did a test for it today and the response has been good so far. I like the sore patch on my index finger now. It feels like I've done something proper!

So I'm likely to be busy again and not around here as much as I'd like. Apologies in advance.


In the spirit of all things amazing and paper-cutty, here's a link to the work of Peter Callesen (that's his image above, not mine!), an artist I discovered a few months ago and whose work is quite similar to what I will be trying to achieve. I love how he manipulates the paper once he has cut it out of the sheet so that it becomes something different, even 3D. Some of them look like he simply cannot have made them out of one sheet of paper, but whether he has or not, the effect is often marvellous.

The Sketchbook Project 2011

The Sketchbook Project, organised by the folks at Art House Co-op in Brooklyn, has been running for a couple of years now and the sign-up for the 2011 project was launched in May. The premise is that they send you a bar-coded Moleskine cahier and a theme, and you create a sketchbook based on that idea, then send it back to them. All the sketchbooks are taken on a library style tour across the US, then find themselves a home at the Brooklyn Art Library where they are catalogued and available for the public to view. Themes that you can choose include: 'dirigibles and submersibles', '(your name here)', 'I'm sorry I forgot you' and 'it will be fun, I swear'.

Sounds like fun, no? You can enter for $25 until October 31st this year, with sketchbooks to be returned to them by January 15th 2011. I might join in the fun. What do you think?

On the other hand, I could just choose a theme and fill a Moleskine cahier based on that and then NOT send it anywhere, but that would be defeating the object of the project, wouldn't it? The whole point is sharing your ideas and kind of 'releasing' them out there so they aren't just stuck on your own bookshelf where nobody gets to see them. I think it's a sweet idea.

bye for now

I'm off to London tomorrow for a gander at the Van Gogh exhibition at the Royal Academy before it closes. Then I'll be attending a booze-fuelled screening of the latest Dog Judo, animated by my lovely friends at 12foot6. I can't wait to be in the city again for a day out.



On Friday we will be up at the crack of dawn to drive to Wales where we are staying for five nights, house hunting and enjoying the outdoors. Tragic news - the house with the pine kitchen and lovely outbuilding (pictured above) sold this week! I'm gutted. It was, for me, by far the best of the lot, with about an acre of lovely flat garden and only one neighbour. However, there are a few others lined up for us to nose around - a couple of enormous townhouses in need of renovation and some farmhouses in the middle of nowhere. I am so excited! This is the best part of moving house, the snooping around :-)

On the other hand I have some good news. After a couple of rounds of haggling, we have sold our house! All we can do now is cross our fingers and hope it all goes through smoothly. I am awaiting their 'cold feet' withdrawal already :-(...

Now I've just got to sell this damned flat in London and we are ready to go.

I'll be back next Thursday with news and pictures from our travels. Have a great week all. I hope you are doing something fun too. And thank you for stopping by! x

Reverse graffiti

Ever heard of reverse graffiti? I hadn't until I came across it yesterday on the Salvoweb blog and followed a link to this example in South Africa (above), inspired by other projects around the world, including this one in California (image below). I think it is a really beautiful way of making street art - I like it better than regular graffiti, which doesn't appeal to me a lot of the time. It just seems more organic and natural.


In the UK you can even commission your own, perfectly legal, reverse graffiti as advertising or whatever - from these people :-)

Yuri Norstein

Yesterday I was frantically trying to come up with ideas and a treatment for a new animation job I've just received, and I went off on some over-ambitious plan to make the film using a combination of Flash, Photoshop and After Effects. I wanted it to look a bit hand-made, like traditional paper cut-out animation, or the silhouette animation of the incredible Lotte Reiniger (here's Hansel and Gretel). I also referenced the sweet end credits of the Lemony Snicket film, 'A Series of Unfortunate Events'. I've not seen the film itself, but the credits are great fun.


So I was scrabbling around for examples to send to the client, and remembered one of my very favourite animators, Yuri Norstein. He worked using paper cut-outs under a traditional rostrum camera, moving each element with painstaking attention to detail, creating the film frame by frame. I admire such dedication and patience since I lack so much of it myself! His chef d'oeuvre, his masterpiece, will always be the gorgeous and melancholy 'Tale of Tales' (watch part 1 here), but a lot of people find it weird, over-long and a bit tedious despite its luminous beauty. When you consider that he created everything using bits of film and paper (as well as some clever lighting - that fire in the early scenes was created from reflections of a real fire!), rather than fancy computer effects, it is truly breathtaking. His skill and vision still make me dizzy with wonder and envy.


One of his other, much shorter and funnier films is 'The Hedgehog in the Fog'. So if you're feeling like something a bit lighter, this is the one for you. It is a delight.



Of course I'm not about to make something as beautiful as any of the things I've shown you, nor am I intending for my film to be close in style to them. I just thought you might like to look. Plus I'm quite convinced that the client will hate what I've done and ask for something else :-)

Wrangler Blue Bell Website

Check out this website for the Wrangler Blue Bell Spring Summer Collection. It's great fun. Seriously, go there and play. NOW.

Happy happy weekend! I am entertaining my mad family at home on Saturday and then working my arse off on Sunday. Hooray!

Handmade school in Bangladesh

I have never written about architecture before, nor does it interest me a whole lot, but I came across this amazing school in Bangladesh via Salvoweb's blog today and had to make a note of it. I think it is a wonderful project - built by local craftsmen, children and adults, all working together to create something really special. I adore those vibrant doorways - those colours make my heart swell with joy. And the use of natural, locally sourced materials is a great thing too. I think it is utterly beautiful, both inside and out. Check out the link above to read more and see more images. Here is a brief extract from the Designboom article:

Hand-built in four months by architects, local craftsmen, pupils, parents and teachers,this primary school in rudrapur, a village in north west bangladesh, uses traditional methods and materials of construction but adapts them in new ways. the architects, anna aeringer from austria and eike roswag from germany, made every effort to engage the skills of local craftsmen, helping them refine processes and learn new techniques that they could then use to improve the general standard of rural housing.





All images from Designboom.