Spooky Shelves

I dropped upon the amazing work of James Hopkins, a UK based designer who uses different perspectives, illusions and objects to create these types of images. At first glance you just see stacks of shelves and objects but when you give them a closer look you realise each object has been placed very carefully with much thought given. I am fascinated with skull's and would love to give this a go, but I wouldn't know where to start?!! Never the less I thought it would be nice to share these to get us in the mood for a spooky weekend! Happy Halloween!

Feeling Feline

I am a self confessed, massive cat lover, but unfortunately my partner does not share the same interest in the small furry things as I do because he is very allergic to them - so there's no hope in hell of me ever being a crazy old cat lady! (a secret ambition of mine) But whilst taking a look at Australian label Stylestalker's lookbook I realised I'm not the only one who shares a passion for all things cat related. Russian born, Melbourne based model Anja Konstantinova also admits she is 'quite obsessed' with cats and has taken the obsession even further with four cat related tattoos and even compares herself to the animal. It's not hard to see why from the amazing photo's from this season's lookbook, they make me think that some sort of feline related costume could be on the cards for halloween? - maybe minus the tattoos though...

Sneek Peek

I am currently working on a new brand for a macaron company, which I am really enjoying as I love macaron's and it gives me a good excuse to 'research' them. It's a really interesting brief to work with as I can use lots of colour and have a bit of fun with the design. So far I have designed the logo and chosen some colours and favored a kitch type style, but I have a brochure and a website to also create, including lots of promotional accessories too! I shall keep you updated on the progress and hopefully post the end results soon!

Pea Green with jealousy

For a long time now me and my sister have talked about getting together to write a children's book. With my sister currently studying a degree in primary school teaching, she has a vast knowledge of what children like and has asked me to create the illustrations - we make the perfect team! I've been researching for a while now, looking at different styles of illustration for some inspiration. Initially I first thought of the most famous childrens book's illustrators, such as Quentin Blake and Maurice Sendak, but it's only when i had a look at an old favourite book from my childhood that I became aware of Kevin Waldron.

I love his simplistic yet very characterful illustrations and the tone of the colours he uses compliment each other to create colourful, but not garish, friendly pictures. The images above are taken from my favorite book 'The Owl and the Pussy Cat' - a book that must have been read to me a million times before. Seeing these lovely illustrations brought the childhood memories of the story flooding back, it's definitely one I am going to have to track down and purchase, not only for the story, but the lovely images too!

A London Weekend

A few pictures from a lovely weekend darn south! We had some glorious sunshine to walk along Southbank with, stopping off at a cheese and wine festival and second hand book stall's. It was the perfect get away weekend. I have to apologise for the manic use of hipstamatic photography, im saving up for a shiny SLR so will be able to post some other types of pictures soon!...they do look pretty though!

Silent Film

I've just come back from a lovely weekend in London where the weather was perfect for wandering around the capital with my friends, and we got to see lots of interesting things! The only downer was that the exhibition I really wanted to see decided to stop working when we arrived, sods law I suppose - not everything can be perfect!

The exhibition was Tacita Dean's 35mm Silent Film, currently showing in the Turbine Hall at the Tate Modern. Its an 11 meter high projection to show case her love for the medium of film in all its glory. With positive responses from the Independent and the Guardian I was really looking forward to it, but unfortunately me and my friends only got to see the dark walls of the Turbine. Whilst we were sat on the floor staring up at the large blank screen I could imagine that the film would light up the large hall and look really effective, providing a small break from the bustle of busy London.

With the technical hiccup we had to leave disappointed, but these things happen! The exhibition does run until next March though so I may have to chance to go see it again - surely it can't break down twice?!

Never forgotten

Over the rainbow

 

The weather really can't make it's mind up today! One minute its sunny, the next thing you know there's a down pour of hailstone?! Although it's turned out dismal now we did have some beautiful rainbows over Leeds this morning, which reminded me of one of my favourite websites. It is called 'Here's looking at hue' - I love to look at this site now and again, pull some inspiration and get some ideas, or simply just to look at the pretty pictures. Each page of the website is a different colour and they host a number of lovely images which fall into the different colours of the rainbow. It's such a simple idea but the images look really effective when they are all colour coded and placed together, confirming that the best ideas are usually the simplest. I've pulled a few of my favourite images off to create my own little rainbow as we'll probably not see one for a while now Autumn has set in!

Come to life

Recently I stumbled upon the work of Anna Higgie, and I instantly fell in love with it. 

The sketchy look and nude tones remind me of one of my favourite artists, Egon Schiele, but these are in much more detail. They become life like and you can envisage the real person through the warmth and depth the picture's possess. A lot of her illustrations are fashion related, which is probably another reason I admire them so much, she collaborates with many magazines and events including 'Fashion's Night Out' to name just one. To my delight she has a shop on Esty so I will be able to purchase some of her enchanting work - I'll be running out of wall space soon!

P R I M A V E R A / 2 0 1 2

Today me and some friends managed to get some early bird tickets for Primavera Festival next year! I'm trying to curb my enthusiasm but this is proving rather difficult as I missed out on all the festivals this year, so as you can imagine, I'm very excited - not only to see some of my favourite bands, but to take in all the culture Barcelona has to offer !! All we have to do now is get a very large apartment booked to accommodate us all! I've got a while to wait yet, so for now I'll have to pack away my summer clothes with the indian summer and be patient, a thing that Im hopeless at - but all I know is this, 2012 is looking good already!

Under water

Recently I watched a lovely film entitled 'Submarine'. Directed by Richard Ayoade and taken from the novel written by Joe Dunthorne, Submarine is a British comedy that get's inside the mind of a teenage boy who has two objectives in his life: To lose his virginity, and extinguish the flame between his mother and an ex-lover who has resurfaced in her life. Set in the welsh valleys the cast includes, Paddy Considine, Craig Roberts and Yasmin Paige with the soundtrack written by Artic Monkeys front man, Alex Turner - so as you can imagine the songs are equally as great. It's the kind of film I love, a comedy but not so blatantly funny, touching and heart felt, a feel good film that you can perhaps relate too (especially the teenage angst!) - and a little added bonus, these pretty illustrative postcards of each character that came within the dvd case. 


I would recommend this film if you have not already seen it, you can watch the trailer here. (or if you know me, you can borrow it of course!)