Feathering my nest

I’m looking for some picture frames to put up the already awesome posters that I have, but in the process (and via the wonderful world of Pinterest) I’ve started to put together a wish list of other amazing wall candy.

I stumbled across this Etsy shop, The Entropy Trading Company, who have some amazing posters featuring quotes from books and films. My favourites so far are:

 

And this, which is my favourite (despite the American spelling). I love the clean design and the typeface is awesome. The arrow also reminds me of the arrows you see at some old tube stations, like Whitechapel. I found this via Dismount Creative, but unfortunately, the poster is no longer available.

I really want some neon/fluoro lettering, although I haven’t come across one that I definitely want yet. I do have a Pinterest board for this wish that I’m collecting ideas on, so if you spot anything good, link me up.

 

Right, time to go get those picture frames!

 

 

 

A sunny day in Glasgow

This weekend, the chap and I decided (in the tipsy haze of post-work drinks on Friday) that we would do a roadtrip up to Glasgow the following morning. True to our word, we packed up the car with CDs, bagels and travel sweets and headed north. The sun was out!

Glasgow is an awesome city. I thought it felt a bit like Manchester: quite arty, good vibe, friendly people. On the Saturday I mainly wandered before rinsing the Exec Lounge bar at the Hilton, then in the evening we hit up Brewdog for some awesome punk beers.

Today we went to the Glasgow Museum of Modern Art. They had three David Shrigley drawings, which made me happy. Love a bit of Shriggers. They were also showing a load of photos from the Glasgow art scene over the last few years – gallery openings, people hanging out, that kind of thing. It had a really nice feel to it, like a sense of pride in and hope for the local art scene. It made me feel like I needed to create something and do something different, or be part of something creative… Any suggestions?

All in all it was a lovely weekend, I’ve come back feeling totally relaxed and refreshed and ready to tackle the world. Glasgow is good for the soul!

The Creative Panic

I’ve shown love for my fellow bloggers before via my one a day blog, and I think it’s time you all witnessed the glory and wonder that is The Creative Panic.

Written (or should I say drawn) by Ben Hood, this is a collection of awesome drawings as part of the same project. He’s one of the most talented illustrators I’ve ever come across and this is my recent favourite:

Dude also does commissions and prints if you so wish to adorn the walls of your office/abode.

Enjoy!

David Shrigley duvet – neeeeeeeeeed!

This awesome duvet cover by one of my favourite artists, Scotland-based David Shrigley, is at the top of my lust charts of late:

Imagine how awesome it would be waking up and seeing that in the morning? Buy buy buy!

A visual ode to the One a Day project

How I sometimes imagine my fellow one a day participants of the One a Day project may see the world, via the ever-awe-inspiring David Shrigley:

 

#oneaday 149: Morning glory

I completely lost track of how many one a day blog entries I’d done this year and it turns out it’s 149. Maths has never really been a strong point. Anyway, the count continues with this…

I am not a morning person. Like most of my family, I love my sleep. A few years ago I used to think that sleep was for the weak (and for the week, as the majority of my waking hours seemed to be spent on dancefloors and at gigs from 5pm Friday until 5am Monday) and used to take great pleasure in spending all day in bed and all night awake. I felt like the night was something special, like I was in on a club that only a few lucky people knew about. I dubbed night time the ten hour secret and my friend and I toasted to this on a number of occasions. but nowadays, I love my bed. There seems to be nothing more luxurious than languishing, eyes half closed, letting myself slip and slide down into sleep, feeling that irresistable pull lull me back into a state of bliss.

Image from Froschekind on Etsy, click and be nice - buy stuff

But recently, I’ve been feeling that old feeling. Like every hour I spend asleep is an hour I spend missing exciting things that could be happening whilst I’m awake. Instead of rolling painfully out of bed at the last second that will feasibly get me ready for work in time and instead of using the snooze button as my morning crutch, I want to start waking up early. Don’t get me wrong, I love my job and love being up and out and about, but I’ve grown to detest waking up and being yanked from my sleepy reverie. But that stops here.

I want to enjoy the morning.

On the rare occasions that I have made it to the gym before work, I’ve felt brilliant all day. Now and again I lay twitching at dawn, itching to get up and write. I want to capture that feeling and bottle it and take a sip of it every day. I feel like there are only a few key hours that I’m really living at the moment and I want to make more of the day.

Image from TheSmallObject on Etsy - go and buy nice things from them

Days seem to be sliding by so fast at the moment and I need to make more of them.

So, adieu to sleep and good morning, Morning.

#oneaday 120: Abandoned Yugoslavian War Monuments

No, not the next superhype pitchfork post-pomo no-wave band, but actually what it says on the tin. I got linked to these amazing shots of Abandoned Yugoslavian War Monuments, commissioned in the 60s and 70s by President Josip Broz Tito and collated by Crack Two.

I think this is my favourite, from Niš. I don’t know whether I think it’s depicting green shoots of hope springing forth after the war ended, or whether it represents angry fists of the fallen, thrown skywards in anguish. Or maybe neither of those things.

They’re fascinating and even though they’re commemorating something that happened so long ago in the past – World War II – they look like they’re from the future.

Take a look at all 25 monuments for yourself – there’s something hauntingly beautiful about them.

#oneaday 105: mapping stereotypes

Today I thought I’d share with you to continue on a travelling theme as tonight will be my last night in Palma as you’re reading this, due to the fact that I scheduled this post on Wednesday, get me… Organiso! This is a collection of world maps according to stereotype. Of course, it’s just a bit of fun so don’t rag on me for laughing at it. You laughed too, admit it. Especially at the Switzerland one. Go on, give it a click. There are 12 of these images that make up a calendar of prejudice and you can buy them from Behance.net. The one below is the world according to the United states of America:

#oneaday 100: Draw a bird day

Draw a bird day is on the 8th of April each year. There’s a big story behind it which you can read here. It’s a memorial for a little girl essentially. But basically the idea behind it is to remember to cheer people up, even when they’re at their lowest. I drew a bird this year, here it is:

Hope it made someone smile!

#oneaday 99: Pate Modern

This has been the loveliest weekend in ages. I got whisked away to London by the boy for a weekend in the sunshine. We were going to a wedding and we ended up staying in The Waldorf Hilton, which is definitely one of the fanciest places I’ve ever stayed, I loved it.

The wedding was at a hotel in Kensington and was wonderful. Then today we well and truly did London, starting with a lavish breakko at The Waldorf, before heading out and walking through Covent Garden, up Oxford Street, going to Selfridges, walking over to Marc by Marc Jacobs (which I adored and bought some flipflops and a sharpie from) before heading over to Hyde Park, sunning ourselves and then getting the tube to the Tate Modern. I love the Tate Modern. There was a Joan Miro exhibition on and some really great sculpture. Here are some pics of what we saw:

Ai Weiwei’s sunflower seeds, very moving and makes you feel very small.

Another bit of sculpture.

the staircase in an artist’s chelsea loft in New York.

Jenny Holzer’s Blue Purple Tilt – I love this.

All in all, a marvellous weekend. I loved our London date today and it was the perfect way to say ‘bye to each other for a week or so.