Oliver Polanski

Oliver Polanski does urban graphic-y, photographic and drawn images. I love the use of line and texture with sillhouette, especially in the cash point one. And that the scenes are everyday life, right now. And I think he is depicting society going downhill - environmental damage, crime, war. His website is here: http://www.oliverpolanski.co.uk/

Colour Your Eggs :D

In a corner shop in Camberwell I found some wonderful things. This retro looking condensed milk with a creepy milk loving child on it (who kind of resembles my dad as a child a little) but even better........powder you boil with your eggs to make your eggs coloured :D This is clearly, CLEARLY genius :D My friend and I had no idea what it was but decided to buy some for the awesome rabbit with eggs packaging...when we asked the shop guy to tell us what it was we were thrilled with the response.

"It's as if someone had eggs and thought, wow, these are really good....but they'd be even better if they were green!" said my friend with glee :)

Walks and Kisses

Mmmmarsh.

Stripy grass! Click it to see!

Went back to Stu's parents house in the countryside yesterday for his dad's birthday :) Nice and relaxed and delicious food :) Me and Stu went for a walk together which was really really lovely. So peaceful. Stu took these photos except the one of the blinds. That's me enjoying dark/light contrast.

Shells in Theydon Bois

Yesterday my dad was in Theydon Bois to buy and sell at the British Shell Collector's Club Shell Show. He's a big fan of shells. I like them alot too, probably because of his beautiful collection, though they don't excite me enough to want to collect them. My gran came too and she commented that it's usually men that have an urge to collect things...this may be true. I took some nice photos anyway. And I have plans to draw shells next time I'm back at my parents house. Also, Theydon Bois is extremely pretty and relaxed. Did not feel like London...it's a proper village.

On my way I saw this lovely reflection of a church and blossoms in a shop window.

Really like these colours....

South African stamps on a parcel tape covered box!

Neapolitan Icecream Shell :)

Mmm soft grey and mottled.

Many many Cowrie shells!

Many many Cowries and giant shark teeth!

Theydon Bois

A stray star in the car park.

A streak in the sky, later, on my way to another place.

Umbrella + Blossoms = Happy Walking

Pretty :) I like peeping out from beneath my new umbrella that doesn't smell because I haven't left it wet in a plastic bag for long periods of time :) I like the many many blossom trees around here :) Taking the time to stop and photograph and smile cheered me right up.

Giant pendants to be!

Glee :) Look at these lovely sillhoutte picture frame things I found in the charity shop! I don't know which I like best - child holding crab or old man sweeping leaves! I plan to make them into over sized pendants :)

Lotte Reiniger

Lotte Reiniger is a huge inspiration for me. I think her work is stunning :D it must of been amazingly time consuming but so very worth it. Rachel at uni is always talking to me about animating my stories. I don't know how keen I am on that idea. I always think it sounds interesting. Then it doesn't feel right. Maybe it is beacause I prefer books to films...I'd rather make a beautiful storybook than a film. Perhaps I feel just because there is a story, every action doesn't need to be played out. Then again of course I do frequently enjoy films...and actions can be very beautiful. Animating my characters could be quite exciting and though I still don't feel right about it, like it wouldn't work, or it just isn't what I want to do...I may in fact enjoy it and be surprised by the results so I know I should push myself to have a real go...

Kurt Jackson <3

Kurt Jackson is my definite favourite artist. I love the energy and passion in his work. I think it's utterly beautiful. His paintings remind me of my childhood. And of happy moments when I can stop and breathe and appreciate. He paints the same scene repeatedly in different lights, moments. These paintings are memories. And they capture how beautiful England is :) I love England so much...I think sometimes people don't realise how lovely this country is. And it hurts to think what climate change might cause us to lose.

I love that he lives in Cornwall with a big vegetable garden near the sea :D and he paints the garden and the vegetables and his wife tending the garden. I know gardening is hard work but it sounds so dreamily idyllic. I imagine him spending his days painting the land he knows and loves so well and coaxing delicious fruits and vegetables from the garden and everything being simple and beautiful. Probably nothing of the sort but I like this idea.

The paintings are even more intensely wonderful in real life, I grab any opportunity to see them for real. I hope another one comes soon!

Watermelon Nights

How awesome is this!? :) So sweet and funny. Stop motion always impresses me...so much patience. Especially when it involves fruit or vegetables. I am a fan of the fruits and vegetables.

Greypants - Beautiful Cardboard

Look! A video of cardboard furniture making! By Greypants. Bit more sophisticated than mine though :) And these beautiful cardboard lamp shades that cast textured shadows. I still have alot of card...I wonder if I could something like this and incorporate imagery...

Christian Boltanski

Christian Boltanski is an artist who has done some sinister shadow installations :) I looked at these while making my first lamps and acheived a similar effect. Although mine was more relaxed than sinister. I'd now like to try something a bit more sinister though. So I've come back for another look.

Jonathan Yuen

One of the most beautiful websites I've seen. I love the sillhouettes and the animation. Very peaceful :) http://www.jonathanyuen.com/main.html

Griffin and Sabine

Griffin and Sabine by Nick Bantock is beautiful :D It's like The Jolly Postman for grown ups! Letters you take out of envelopes and read. It feels so intimate. A correspondence between Grffin and Sabine who have never met. It's a little magical and very charming and the illustrations make me very happy. Strange animals, weird things and detail :D It's a trilogy, I so want the other two!

Mmm vegetables

After reading the Grow your Own guide that came free with the guardian a few weeks back I have fallen in love with the idea of growing my own vegetables. As I'm only renting, I won't be starting a vegetable plot any time soon so my love will not be put to the test.

But I can happily look at drawings of fresh delicious vegetables! These I found on http://www.panteek.com/fruit.htm where I believe you can buy prints :) Mmmm.

My more immediate plan is to do drawings of vegetables. Much more doable than actually growing them!

James Lovelock - The Revenge of Gaia

This book has left me feeling terrified and hopeless. It is a good book though and I've learnt alot from it, how every aspect of the planet affects each other and works together. And how people are over paranoid about certain things yet do nothing really about climate change. That like during war, people accept hardship and rationing, that we could pull together and do something, and yet we don't, we won't really believe we need to until something catastrophic happens. By which time it may be too late if it's not already.

I now understand that we need to use nuclear power and stop using fossil fuel asap. Nuclear is less wasteful, more efficient, less harmful to the planet. Renewable energy isn't advanced enough for our needs yet and we need nuclear until it is. We are paranoid about nuclear for the wrong reasons, it is dangerous but we don't mind many more dangerous things.Lovelock uses a village near a dam in China and a village near Chernobyl as an example. About 75 people died as a result of Chernobyl. If the dam burst, millions would die.

I've been feeling like what can I do, I can't persuade people to accept nuclear energy, I can't get nuclear power stations built. I can't change peoples opinions and behaviour. Other folks like James Lovelock are trying and not really succeeding. Yeah he got me, but I aint doing anything. And I almost didn't read the book because it had gaia in the title and I thought it was some hippy book. I read it because it was borrowed to me. People who don't already care about the environment probably won't read it. Then again, like Lovelock says, fiction gets through to people. Maybe design too. Maybe I can do something... Bah. So much to think about :( I don't want to preach to people or anything. And there's so much I don't understand.

Recycle Chair :D

A while ago my housemate brought these massive rolls of corrugated cardboard home that they were chucking out where she worked. They sat quietly and uselessly here for months. The card is weak and there was so much and no one wanted it. It was decided they should go to the dump. This made me sad...so much cardboard wasted :(

My friend Stephanie at Garbage! might want them for her recycling project I cried!

Are you going to roll them to her flat? Everyone else asked me.

The answer was no, and Stephanie most likely has plenty of rubbish to be recycling and making into exciting new things. But I thought maybe I could do something with it, even though my housemates hated the cardboard and wanted to get it out of the house and didn't want me being silly....so I accidentally enslaved a friend who was staying with me into helping me make a rocking chair. By cutting out layer by layer with scalpels. It only took an hour! :)

The result was good. My housemates actually like it! A roll of card has been saved. And it's quite comfy. Yay.

I heart Poland

I had such an amazingly good time in Poland! We stayed with family I never knew I had before as our families had lost touch. They are lovely lovely lovely, cooked us lovely food and took us about. These are pictures from their home and from our visit to Pszczyna which had a castle museum place (where you must wear slippers over your shoes) and the cars got clamped dammit!

Karolina (my new distant cousin) and I showed each other music and videos on youtube which is where I picked up Efterklang and the shadow video in my March posts. She got good taste :) We also watched some Lost which made me want to watch it properly...and now me and Stu are spending far too much time watching Lost from the beginning.

Krakow is beautiful though I've not put any pictures in. My favourite favourite is the interior of St Marys church. It is stunningly beautiful! I'm not religious but I love beautiful churches and cathedrals. I never take my own photos inside religious buildings, I feel weird about it. But I will look for other peoples in a bit.

Salt mine is incredible too..salt miners carvings, statues and a whole church made of salt!

I can't remember the last time going abroad made me this happy...I usually find it a bit exhausting.

Have now looked for photos of St Marys but I can't find any that do it justice. Here's a link with other reactions and a description though - http://www.cracow-life.com/poland/krakow-st-marys

Pretty Cupcakes

I love baking :) yumyum :) I tried to make Peyton and Byrne looking cupcakes for my friends engagement party. Think they came out quite pretty. Definitely came out delicious. I always bake extra for myself (I got to make sure they're fit to give away! :D )

Flickr

Looking at shadow photos on flickr, never really browsed flickr before. Is fun. Having trouble posting them though so I'll just post this one for now. I like it, so simple and dramatic.

Pedro and Frankensheep :D

I can't believe how little I've posted lately! I've been enjoying a much needed rest. I'm loving pottering about the house, cleaning, cooking, watching tv and making furniture(!) have also been to Poland. Individual posts coming up, this one is for the amaazing cartoon I have just discovered! Pedro and Frankensheep! I've seen only two but I love the drawing, the voices, the songs and the storylines! It's short and snappy (which means it can hold my attention) and genius :D if only I could always be home at 3:25 or whenever it be on!

Ah! I can watch them online here - http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/watch/?category=pedro yay :)