Russian wonders

There are some wonderful images on Антуфьев. All cold and weird and far away and for the most part I have no idea what any of them are all about as it's all in russian. Via the wonderful Camilla Engman.

Buy me a bike please.

If I had a bike (I don't) I would definitely want one of these lovely baskets from FinnishDesignShop. Its tempting to buy a bike just so that I can have one.

I got some new glasses today. They're a bit art school but I guess I AM an art student so I should probably just face up to that and embrace it. Oh dear.

I am quite taken with this pin from Chocosho .

FINALLY Rosie Posie Pudding & Pie is a lovely blog from an edinburgh based student with a good eye for nice things. I'll be keeping an eye on it from now on I think.

Portfolios

This year as well as handing in a regular portfolio we also had to make a sort of proffessional one. This is mine, all hand bound and with a gocco printed cover. I just hope it doesn't fall to pieces before assessment tomorrow (I'm not an incredibly skilled bookbinder).

Books & Barbecues

It's been the most beautiful week here in Edinburgh, all sunshine and summer dresses and so on. Sadly I've mainly been shut away in the studio/my bedroom getting my portfolio ready for assessment next week. We did manage to get out for a barbecue on the meadows last night which was when the above photos were taken.




Whilst clearing out my folders I came across one of my assessment projects from last year. 'A Coney Island Love Story' was a book I made based on ' The Electric Michelangelo' by Sarah Hall. Looking at it now is kind of nice. Now that I have a years distance from the project I actually kind of like it. Which is a rare treat.

All the dead animals

Here's a drawing I did today. It was meant to be for my 'top secret but incredibly exciting' project but I dont think it'll cut it so it'll just remain one of those pictures without a purpose. Whic h is fine. I don't do enough pointless drawing at the moment , everything seems to be for something college related or something book related. Once this term is done I want to get back to keeping proper sketch books, not just books of notes.



Two illustrator loves combine to create a flawless object. Tea + graph paper = joy! Available from Fishs Eddy. I want one.

S&P

Incredibly endearing ceramics from Lola Goldstein. I've never really felt drawn to salt and pepper shakers before but this pair have changed everything.

I lovelovelove pretty much everything on Paperheart by Jessica Williams. Some wonderful college work and drawings but also some really nice, quiet photos.


I would also like to celebrate the crotcheted clementine. This one now lives in Brighton but I very much enjoyed his company when he was in Edinburgh. Who couldn't enjoy that?

That Was Good But You Can Do Better

Canadian lovelies Woodpigeon released their debut UK single yesterday on End of the Road Records. The 7" sleeve was designed by Jez and I (as part of design/illustration superduo Sing Statistics) and I think its pretty nice if I do say so myself. The songs themselves are wonderful slices of multi instrumented, jangly indie pop in a similar vein to Sufjan Stevens. It's available to buy here. Go go go!

More analogue

The lovely folk from Analogue have put some better photos of the mess I made on their wall on their Flickr. It doesn't look so bad.

Stuart Kolakovic has added Never Been (which was exhibited in Manchester last year) to his site. The whole things is epic and really really worth a bit of your time to spot all the details. Sigh. This guy makes me just a little bit sick.

Analogue

Today I finished work on trashing the wall (and window) down at analogue. None of these photos are particularly good so i'll have to post a link once more photos appear on the running amok blog. Being allowed to draw on walls and windows was ace (drawing on windows in pen is reeally satisfying) I only hope I didn't make too much of a mess!

This ace print by Jez is now available to buy from the Evening Tweed etsy shop. Nice.

Ranna (who runs a blog called Only Shallow ) is my new favourite style blogger. Her collection of dresses is beyond enviable as is her ability to wear feathered hairbands without look like a seven year old in a ballet class. Sigh.




Finally head to Stuart Kolakovic's blog to see his offering for that top secret project I mentioned a while back. Reeeeally nice.

Nice things

I love love love all the clothes in the Heimstone collection. Such perfect colours and shapes. Sigh.

(image via the wonderful For Me, For You)


Covers is a wonderful site that collects together some of the nicest book covers around and also some really nice bookcases. I am a big ol' furniture geek so i found some of these really exciting. Loser.

FINALLY Micah Lidberg BLOWS MY MIND. I've been known to get a little caught up in repeating pattern but his are awe inspiringly intricate. Amazing.


(p.s new work coming soon. i hope)

More bears

A quick sketch I did last night when I was absolutely meant to be doing something more constructive and useful. I do like bears.

Bears & Chairs

I'm back in Edinburgh after spending a lovely three weeks at home in Devon. I'm keen to get back to work. There's tonnes to be getting on with the most exciting being TWO books that i'm working on. One is top secret but the other is a short fiction/illustration experiment that Jez and I have been working on as part of our Sing Statistics guise. Its been a long time coming but now it's finally coming together I'm very excited. See some images from the book on my site. (The above image is totally unrelated by the way, I did it a while back)


I just framed up this lovely letterpress print that I got from Dutch Door Press a few weeks back. Hurrah! There are some amazing paintings of very boring things on Holly Farrell's site. I'm quite fond of this chair.

A super simple image for inside of CD i've been doing the artwork for.

The Sea & Lions

This image, from a series called 'God's Eye View' by 'The Glue Society is amazing. That is all that can be said.


My mum very sweetly tracked me down a copy of 'Un Lion A Paris' after I mentioned it in an earlier post. It is definitely one of the most beautiful (and largest) children's book i've seen in recent years. Sadly this photo (taken on my bathroom floor as, at the time, it was the room with the most light) doesn't do it justice at all.

A fairly quick drawing for something Jez and I are working on. Needs some work but I am quite fond of the wolfy do'.

This weekend also saw me take the first steps towards organising a project I thought up whilst sat in a lovely Rob St John / Tisso Lake gig in the tiny Collective Gallery in Edinburgh. Anyway now it is officially underway and its all looking very exciting. Seriously. I'm not going to get carried away and reveal all here but I will. Soon.

Finally a little sartorial flawlessness. I have mentioned before my mixed feelings on style blogs (oh gosh look how amazing those clothes are! oh gosh i hate the way i dress!) and this woman seems to sum up entirely how inadequate they can make you feel (i mean that in the nicest way possible, this woman can dress!). Below is one of my favourite outfits. I am so glad to be off to London this week for a little retail goodness.

Sky and Sweets

Nice Prints on etsy from Labpartners.




I am totally predictable when it come to my taste in photography. If its hazy and square and sad I'm almost certainly going to love it. There are some especially lovely ones on this flickr and deviantart from a guy called Blair who lives in San Fransico.

Trees in the Sacre Coeur

A new print is now up on my site and is also available to buy from my little shop. Hurrah.

Slow Burner

Bethan Lloyd Worthington makes lovely ceramics in Islington Mill in Salford. I'm particularly taken by these cute charm bracelets.



Jaakko Pallasvuo is someone I've been meaning to post for a while and tonight he has a print going on sale at Tiny Showcase so now is the perfect time. His work is ace, all kind of nice lines and watercolour patches and so on, really interesting stuff.

I'm going to get back on track with the regular posts again. Honest.

Nice blog here by the way.

Distractions

I am meant to be writing an essay but I've gotten a bit distracted. So I'm doing a huge post instead.
Above is a drawing from last term from an article about ukuleles. The ukulele was invented by portugese sailors who wanted to take their guitars to sea but couldn't find the space so this a drawing of uh...that.

Amazing Found photos here. (I love that bear so much)

I would love to own this book by Beatrice Alemagna. Alas it seems that it's only been published in france and the only copies I can find are super expensive. I guess looking at the lovely cover will have to do.

Also:
this is a bit funny.
some nice stuff here.

The other week I got a very lovely message from Caroline Gaedechens about my work. This was especially nice to recieve as I've admired her work for a while now. On top of her website she also has a great etsy shop where you can pick up lovely prints, original paintings and som amazingly lovely handmade gluhe monsters.

I have a love/hate relationship with street style blogs in that mainly I love them but i hate the fact that as a lowly student I can rarely afford to buy new clothes (alas I am yet to master that fine art of charity shop shopping). Anyway I stumbled across one (now seems sadly defunct) that was based in Edinburgh. Nice to see some familiar faces from around the city on there as well as spotting on of my posters in the background!

Finally. The ever amazing Maxwell Loren Holyoke Hirsche has some new images on his site. I love his work so much it hurts. Wow.

Books, Creatures & Ceramics

A VERY rushed bookcover project for Cormac McCarthy's 'The Road'. It's pretty poor. But better than the first two I came up with and it's due in tomorrow so it'll have to do (perhaps not the best attitude to take towards my degree. oh well, its the end of term.)

Big thanks to Gil Cocker who posted me on his great blog t'other day. Gil makes super nice knitted creatures (some of which are currently being shown off in Owl & Lion on the Grassmarkets) as well as being a final year graphic design student at eca.




Finally some lovely ceramics from Marianne Hallberg. I love the simplicity of the blue and white. So traditional and yet so mathmatical. Lovely.

This is an illustration I've done for a poetry anthology. Its a bit different from normal and I'm not sure how I feel about it. Oh well. That blue/grey is quite nice though.

Back to normal

OK so having spent the last few weeks thinking of all things fete I can finally get back to illustration. I intend to post more artists from now on as well as my own tat. So...
Firstly a print that I bought from Alice Melvin's suitcase of tricks yesterday. I try to avoid buying too many bird related goods (they're a definite weakness for us illustrators I think) but this one was so inquisitive looking and had such great colours that I couldn't resist.

Next up is Scott Balmer. There's some great liney pattern and scuffed textures in his 'drawn' stuff (I love lines so much and his are pretty ace) and the 'graphic' section is really fun too. I love his use of colour throughout. He also has a blog. Lovely stuff.