I shut my eyes in order to see

Love love love John William Waterhouse.

Scribbles before bedtime

Have also been doodling before bed this week....I don't know what people with stuff coming out of their heads means, maybe it means I am stressed or something.

Some great things

Have you seen the Winter Olympics advert on the BBC? Its amazing. It was made by Studio AKA (who also made Lost and Found) and Jon Klassen, who makes beautiful, textural images. How does he make them look like that? I need to pick his brain. Incidentally he also contributed to a lovely book called "We are the Friction" which is full of imaginative stories and illustrations.

Just as I was leaving Canada back in October, promotion of the Winter Olympics had just started and there were soooo many cute cuddly versions of the Olympic mascots, I LOVE them. It took a lot of willpower not to buy one.

(spotted in Toronto)

Also whilst in Canada I discovered a cool artist called Sam Weber. His posters were up around Toronto and are haunting and surreal.

Brooklyn Superhero Supply Company

Imagine!

(not my photo, but HOW COOL)

On our recent travels we visited New York for four days, overall I found it less exciting than I thought it would be. However I absolutely fell in love with Brooklyn. Its a lot more friendly and quirky than Manhattan. Anyway, while we were there, wandering the streets of Park Slope we passed a shop called "The Brooklyn Superhero Supply Company". At first, we thought it was a joke, and we were wondering what it really was. But the more we peered into the darkened windows, the more we wondered if thats what it really was! Anyway, when we realised it was open we went in and it was AMAZING!

Basically, the BSSC is actually a non profit organisation that supports creative writing for kids. The store is actually a base for their workshops and inspires the kids imaginations by creating a exciting environment for them to work in. If I was a kid I would be sooo happy in there! It is designed so that the workshop is in a special superhero "vault" type thing and the walls are all filled with superhero products such as "Gravity" "Immortality" "Intelligence" and all manner of capes, gloves, tights and secret identities to buy. I wish I'd taken more photos but it was too amazing to take in! Never have I seen such attention to detail and also for a worthy cause. I have also just learned that it was founded by the amazing Dave Eggers (Mc Sweeneys, Where the Wild things are and A Heartbreaking work of staggering genius) - congratulations to you, you were already awesome and now you are triple times that.

Anyway. Here are some other photos from Brooklyn, both taken at the Prospect Park Farmers Market where we consumed lots of delicious food.

Raindrops

Oh I do love watching Ugly Betty. It is the only TV programme that makes me feel all fuzzy inside. Today it is raining again. I have also just decided that I want my next career to be working on the Harry Potter set in the creative department. How I intend to get this job I do not know but if I had a choice that would be where I'd like to spend the next year or so. hahahaha, unlikely. Look at what beautiful things I could be making!

This work belongs to Nicholas Saunders

Buongiorno!

(Grande Finale)

Evening loyal followers (up to four, hello Sam!)

Gosh I am tired this week, I can't wait until I finish work and can finally have a holiday (even though after that its back to the world of jobless nothing). Its been raining torrentially today so I thought I'd stay in to rest and catch up with a bit of blogging etc.

On the weekend we visited the 3D2D craft fair in Edinburgh, there was a fair amount of rubbish there but some outstanding art too. Amongst the usual stalls (and some weirder....dogs painted on feathers?!) we came across some amazing printmakers. Peter Standen really caught my eye with his etchings that blended real life with magic and imagination. I fell in love with his picture of Edinburgh all mixed up with whales and volcanoes and allsorts (above). We ended up buying lots of his postcards (some of the most beautiful we saw aren't on his website sadly). I also really liked Cath Outrams still life prints and Patrick liked John Heywoods work.

I also got to see QT's "Inglourious Basterds" yesterday. Amazing fun. I haven't seen such a fun movie in ages. Imagine if that was really what happened in WWII. It was a change from the usual war films that come out (nothing wrong with them), but it was nice to have a sense of humour and spirit back.

What else? I took some photos today in an old lab that isn't used anymore, it looks like it got stuck in time by accident. That was a long post, maybe I will leave it for now. Goodnight.