göteborg

back from gothenburg! it was ace, perfect for a few days away. the weather was chilly but sunny, we ate good food (favourite was a vegetarian restaurant called solrosen in haga), had lots of café stops, beautiful autumn trees everywhere, lovely city buildings & countryside houses, & everyone was so helpful. our hotel (hotel cosmorama) was central but pretty inexpensive & really nice, i'd definitely recommend it.

wonder where we'll go next?

suitcase

we're off to gothenburg! looking forward to exploring somewhere new & hopefully uncovering a few of the kinds of places that make you want to return somewhere asap. see you after the weekend!

weekend away

feeling good after a long weekend away. spent time napping & sleeping accompanied by the sound of the tide, on beaches, drinking beer & not worrying about how i've barely done any work lately & how much i need to tidy. have given up on a book i was struggling to get into for months & have started reading something new. making pacts with myself to spend less time procrastinating online. funny how just a few days away from routine can make everything feel better.

few little things:
- this illustration by jack hudson is seriously smashing, it's fun to momentarily get lost in a piece of work.
- these hand-drawn badges by ruefive are close to destroying my much needed buy-less-things mentality.
- if you didn't manage to catch the first edition of lizzy stewart's wolfdream gocco print then have no fear, the second edition is just as beautiful.

wanderer returns

after a bit of a quiet period blog-wise, i'm back! life itself wasn't so quiet though; over the past three weeks i've either been getting some last minute things tied up, or been in another country! i got back yesterday from a short trip with my sister to toronto & new york city, & it already doesn't even feel like i've been away.

we had a great trip though. in toronto we spent a lot of the time exploring (mostly ending up either in kensington market or the west side of town), visiting lots of vintage & boutique stores, plus we met up with my friend ian & saw an inuit art exhibition & an ace jazz band, the happy pals, before i joined him & his friends for a party. my sister wasn't well some of the week which was a shame, & it was sometimes hard to find good places to eat (though when you found somewhere good it was really good), & the weather could have been better (but i got to wear a nice new hat which was a plus), but toronto's a good city if you know what you're looking for & what's going on - NOW is a great local paper to find out what going on. thanks to everyone who recommended places, plus a special thanks to anabela/fieldguided (& to geoff for telling me about it) for her amazing in-depth review of her toronto. i visited a lot of places she listed, & would have gone to more if i'd had enough time!

next stop was new york city, & it was nice to be somewhere a bit more familiar, if only slightly. the weather was awful when we got there, we had to write off our first evening of walking around thanks to the rain, but by the end of the week it was 25˚c & sunny so who am i to complain? we visited central park & the natural history museum, did shopping in uniqlo, anthropologie (four pairs of tights for $25 instead of $92!) & beacon's closet in williamsburg, brooklyn, which i definitely wish existed closer to home. visited a few flea markets, & while we didn't do much of the art gallery scene this time around, we went to MoMA on the free evening (not sure i'd recommend this, it was mobbed) & giant robot, where i met up with the lovely sara of brown paper bag. did a lot of walking, a lot of eating & a bit of people watching whilst sitting in parks in the sun. oh, how i miss the sun.

back to reality now though; i return to work tomorrow & my to-do list has doubled from what it was before i left. it's nice to have gotten away though. will need to start planning my next trip.

long weekend in london

i'm feeling pretty sleepy as i got back late last night after a long weekend in london. i had a brilliant time though, & it was so nice to escape my usual routine. myself & my co-workers got the train down on saturday, & i spent the evening with some old friends, eating fish chips & hanging out. on sunday we went to spitalfields market - i'm kind of glad it was impossible to find a cash machine there, otherwise i'd be the owner of a gorgeous new leather satchel, a beautiful chiffon dress & a much smaller bank balance.

i then went to check in at my hotel before heading off to leicester square to meet the lovely thereza rowe, an illustrator based in london who has a wonderful imagination & makes beautiful work. we spent a couple of hours chatting over hot beverages & exploring bookshops. just a short visit but it was great to meet her, i've borrowed the above image from our meeting (where you can see the prettiest little zine that she kindly gave me, plus my new fox friend) & you can see some more images over on her blog.

monday was spent with work friends, mostly on our feet exploring some galleries. my favourite show was one i'd been looking forward to for a few weeks, céleste boursier-mougenot's commision for the curve at the barbican, which you can see above (not my image). in layman's terms, it was a huge room full of sweet & fearless little zebra finches inadvertently playing guitar! you can see a clip here.

back to reality now, but not for long; this time next week i'll be in canada! hooray for adventures.

travel tips

i can't believe how busy 2010 has been so far, & it's showing no sign of slowing down. one of the things i'm looking forward to (like you wouldn't believe) is a trip with my sister to toronto then nyc at the end of march/start of april. there's a mental list of things to do already (since my sister hasn't been to new york before), but i hate to think i'm missing out on the unique little spots thanks to just not knowing about them in advance. this is where i'm asking for your help: i want to know your preferred eateries, thrift stores, hangouts, recommendations, hidden gems & favourite things to do, for either city. any tips are welcome.

as a sort of continued entry from yesterday, my poster submission for central station's pop-up tour can now be seen around town. for a sneak online peek, you can see all the posters on superfly's (the poster project's organiser) website, plus there's a further preview over on formfiftyfive (which was a nice surprise).

& while i'm on the subject of nice surprises, seabear, the band, found my seabear illustration, & liked it enough to post on their blog. awesome.

feet, rushed off

gosh, been too busy to post this past week. was working, then went down to nottingham for a few days - mainly to see death cab for cutie (who were swell), but also to soak up some english sun & see the sights. no spare time again as i'm going back south, staying at home whilst nipping back & forth to edinburgh to invigilate during this show. will post something worthy of your time soon (maybe).

rival schools - so down on

dublin

after a small absence, i've returned from a little trip to dublin with alan. a nice little getaway, & so nice to go somewhere new, as i'd never been to ireland before. we stayed in a little bed & breakfast called the abc guesthouse, with helpful owners who made getting into the city centre very easy, & cheap thanks to the incredibly frequent buses.

on the first night we went into town for dinner & a wander, but didn't stay out late thanks to being incredibly tired after a day of travelling. we wandered down o'connell street, past the general post office, which you can see above alongside my terrible attempt at long exposure!

on our first full day we went to the temple bar area to look at little galleries & such. a couple of the exhibitions were pretty disappointing, but we found an ace little tea shop called 'joy of cha', & some interesting second-hand shops. the irish film institute felt like dublins equivalent to the dca (but not nearly as brilliant or resourceful). we also wandered down grafton street & into the market arcade where i bought the badges that you can see in the first picture, they were a bargain. we went to the national museum, & a swell little gallery called gallery 29 that sold lovely vintage posters, including huge prints of the old british rail advertisements. the picture above is of the glass awning outside the olympia theatre, i loved it. we went to wagamamas for dinner, then sat in a pub for a few hours drinking guiness & corona, & listening to some terrible/brilliant classics.

on friday we went to kilmainham gaol, which has a very interesting history that i could never recap here. it was made nicely digestible by our guide too. this took up most of our day, so in the evening we went for a tasty dinner at a restaurant called alfie's near grafton street. afterwards it was off to bed, thanks to an 11 o'clock flight today.

my lovely travel buddy & i in front of the ha'penny bridge. i think the worst thing about coming back from a holiday for me is having to catch up online when i get home!

benjamins - little tin heart

hello august

well, i feel like myself & life in general have become a blur lately, hence why there's been no updates on the blog front. in short: work, invigilation training at the edinburgh sculpture workshop (more on that another time), a visit to edinburgh city centre involving dodging fringe flyers & buying something's wrong by ruefive, eating yummy chinese & italian courtesy of my parents, work, alan coming to visit, making my first ever pot of soup (broccoli), the new batman film, booking a little holiday to ireland, making four 4m long banners for a club (or klub) night, & more work.

sometimes i think i've done nothing exciting, then i look back & i have! sadly the next few days involve simply more work. a lot of it.

d&ad

i'm finally back & settled at home. d&ad was an interesting experience, & i'm glad i went. the day of set-up was very nearly a disaster: paper & photo-mount do funny things. but calamity was averted, & the rest of the day went smoothly. tracey & i were to man the stand on the first night, the preview for those in the business, & it was interesting having a look at what sort of work other institutions were producing. apart from wandering & answering any queries, we got tipsy on unbelievably expensive wine, then met everyone else later at the pub.

on tuesday it was alan & i who were invigilating. an uneventful morning, as no-one really came to see the show until noon, which was when alan & i's shift finished. afterwards we had a look around the show: i don't even know if i got halfway through, there was so much to see. we also went to the victoria & albert museum to see the blood on paper exhibition. then later on, dinner at wagamama. i had the yummy saien soba dish. thinking about it makes me hungry.

on wednesday some of us went to the royal college graduate show. some of the work was great, & the production & finished pieces were so precise. i liked iro tsavalas books & illustration, & enjoyed seeing the work of ali hodgson, a duncan of jordanstone graduate. afterwards the new blood show had to be dismantled. i think i was glad: by the end of the three days it felt a bit too much like a popularity contest, with people being given marks for getting the most interest & jobs.

i also had a nosey to see which other entires had beat mine for the photography yellow pencil. i later found out the entry with a similar idea to mine won! i can't wait to see the book when it comes out. much congratulations to my friends jo & paul for clinching a yellow pencil!

now i'd better go get some food. it's back to work tonight: i haven't been in almost three weeks, so i imagine it'll be a bit of a shock to the system.

neutral milk hotel - two headed boy

london/liverpool polaroids

1. d&ad set-up

2. v&a gardens

3. wagamama toilets

4. stamford brook

5. alan is not a sap

6. three of seven

7. new brighton

8. liverpool 1

english travels

well! graduation was brilliant! i was a tad nervous, but needn't have been. the ceremony wasn't nearly as long as i'd expected, & as a result really nice. since those receiving BA's in art & design took up half the hall, i recognised a lot of people crossing the stage. it was lovely cheering on fellow illustrators & my closest friends, & although i apparently looked less than willing before my name was called out, i couldn't help smiling hearing a little collective cheer as i went to get hit on the head. it was bizarre passing vivienne westwood on stage too. the garden party was fun also, scouting around for people to get photos taken with: hard when everyone looks exactly the same! we managed to get nine out of sixteen of my lovely class for a group photo. it really makes me thankful that i had to share my studying with such a great bunch of people, even more so after hearing about some other departments. after a lovely meal with my family some of us headed out for a few drinks. i had a graduation hangover the day after, but it was well worth it.

alan & i went to brought ferry yesterday as it was his last full day in dundee before he moves out. we had a lovely wee day, visiting the castle & taking a long walk along the beach. he'll be back in perth in august, but it won't be the same as ten minutes down the road.

right now i'm in the middle of packing for london! i'm not looking forward to the megabus journey one bit, but hopefully new blood will make up for that. i'm going to liverpool/wallasey for a few days after for alans birthday party, before coming back to... nothing! from july onwards, it's time to start anew.

the decemberists - shiny

hello badge-maker

i got my new badge-maker on monday. cure excitement & a quick churn out of some "hello" badges. as i've no fear of a mass influx of e-mails, if you'd like one, comment or e-mail me. there are four variations of a theme, have a peek.

i went to see the edinburgh illustration degree show on tuesday with alan & my friend loren. i preferred this years to last, with a couple of strong favourites being sophie elm & emily sutton. for the first, i can't resist tea-themed work, & the second, who can resist birds, let alone an illustrator? there's a huge incursion of bird-related work in design & illustration, but it never gets dull seeing it done well. on a negative, i always seem to feel let down by typography when i visit work by other courses; i feel critical, but when someone doesn't have a grasp of type placement & fonts etc, it really affects the whole piece. it makes me appreciate the specific tutors we had for more design-based things. it's not all across the board of course, but when it's there, it stands out for me. enough complaining anyway, i enjoyed the show on a whole, & am very glad i went.

so, tomorrow brings graduation! i'm somewhat excited, but am looking forward more to sunday & the following week by far! london & newblood & liverpool!

they might be giants - new york city

yet more badges

back from a couple of days away. edinburgh was swell on friday, it's been far too long since i'd visited. first stop was the fruitmarket gallery. saw the current show by lucy skaer, then proceeded to buy the sniffy-sniff button set by megan tucker. the badge purchases of the day had already begun. from there i headed to the grassmarket via cockburn street, & - as i'd suspected - the red door gallery was closed as they prepared for the mike inglis show that was to start that night. i've been told to come back soon though, hopefully i will. from there it was to my personal favourite; analogue. i spent a good long while in there, purchasing the take to the woods zine from a group show last year, which came with a nice button by the talented nigel peake. after pondering & chat, i made my way to owl & lion, a gallery/shop that opened last november. they had some lovely work up by ECA illustration students, & i bought another badge: this one was by ewan john. onto a little vintage/random objects shop just along the road where i bought two more vintage/random badges. the trip was finished with broccoli & stilton soup, & a cup of tea in chocolate soup. yum.

i'm glad the weekend & regular-work are over. time for more d&ad preparation this week!

david bowie - rebel rebel

other planets cannot be as beautiful as this one

a pretty screen-print by rob ryan. most famous for his 'paper cuts', i admire the man's patience & how precise he is! i was sad to read that he's opening a shop in london soon: sad because it's two days after i leave! but i guess this only entices a future visit.

a quiet yet productive day. some of the d&ad lot were in uni, so we organised our boards. mine is to be printed out tomorrow. i have so much to do before we leave still, i feel a list coming on. which is fine, because i do enjoy a good list.

i probably won't post for a couple of days as i'm going home for my mums birthday. i'm heading home a night early so that i can take a trip to edinburgh on friday; i haven't been since christmas eve & i'm looking forward to it! i'm going to pay the grassmarket a long overdue visit, fortunately friday is also payday. also on friday is my sisters college class exhibition. finding art wherever you go is exciting.

the faint - paranoiattack

badges forever

i just bought this contraption; a 1" button maker, graphic punch, & 1500 button parts. so, in roughly two weeks, i can make badges like a mother bitch.

we'll be leaving for london in just over three weeks. i've decided to display two of my D&AD photos on my piece of board, & have the rest of my work in my portfolio, which needs cleaning up. plus i'm going to take my remaining tea monsters down for display. after discussion & pulling names out of a hat, i'm going to be at the new blood opening night, along with our tutors & tracey. i also have a place for the portfolio surgery, which i'm pretty sure will scare me shitless beforehand. but as i'm not that happy with my portfolio, i reckon it can only help (hopefully). i've got to order some more moo cards before we go too. so much to do, so much more money to spend, so little time.

band of horses - the first song

notes of interest

• i am twenty-two!
  
• it seems my goal of displaying work in three different places will happen quicker than i imagined! one, in my degree show. two, concept work i did for an animation team last year is to be shown in aberdeen. & three, down at the new blood convention/show down in london in june.
  
• which leads me to, i'm going to london in june! i'm rather excited & nervous.
  
• it's four/five weeks until my hand-in. i'm just nervous. so much to do in so very, very little time.
  
• i have knitted two scarves since my resolution, & have started another today.
  
• i'm starting to stretch my first lobe piercing on my left ear! slow & steady, although i do feel impatient.

sigur rós - untitled six

resolutions

2008 has been 90% swell so far. new year was brilliant, my best ever with a few of my very favourite people. a lack of alcohol intake due to working the next day, but for extra pay i can't complain too much.

uni has had its highs & lows already; there have been a couple of troublesome weeks where motivation levels were non-existent. but as of this week things are a the best they've been this semester, so i hope it only at least continues.

in other adventures, within the first week i managed to leave the country, just like last year, although not quite as far. gay paree was joyeous, & it was just lovely to be somewhere else, as well as somewhere so pretty. i'm planning on return later in the year, fingers crossed.

i have got resolutions for this year. i just haven't written them down yet. so now i'll try, despite the late hour & need for sleep:

- visit at least three different countries

- display my work in some form at least three times

- stretch my first lobe piercing

- begin learning french, finally

- learn to knit, properly

- use my time more constructively than i currently do

- decide what to do in the second half of 2008!

- make the most of the next four months, because after that so many people won't be in my life as often as they are now.

belle & sebastian - i'm a cuckoo